Luna's Dreamscape Journey

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: Vocal Duel
Chapter 2: A Snack to Die For
Chapter 3: Showtime
Chapter 4: Adventure
Chapter 5: Faceoff
Chapter 6: Plunder
Chapter 7: Expedition
Chapter 8: Agent
Chapter 9: Delinquency
Chapter 10: Drifting
Chapter 11: Story with a Twist
Chapter 12: Champion
Chapter 13: Throw Down
Chapter 14: Party Pooper
Epilogue

Prologue

She tore through the endless void of the night sky, her wings beating ever harder to hasten her nocturnal flight. The massive appendages scooped the air around her, and with the strength of a dozen pegasi, the feathered limbs propelled her to further heights. For a time, her flight was a gentle one, with only her breakneck speed taking away from the otherwise calm experience. However, for the sole sake of the thrill of the move, she slightly adjusted her wings, and sent herself into a dizzying spiral. The harsh forces of the spins joined wind against her face, sending a bubbling laugh through her throat. With the full moon above, the stars bearing witness, and her heart filled with joy, she fell to the earth.

Just as she was about to hit the point of no return, the mare reversed the slight adjustments she had made in her wings moments before, and leveled off into a speedy glide. She had timed it perfectly—the water of the lake below just inches from her outstretched legs—so that when she lowered a single forehoof, she was able to skim the surface of the glassy pool. The shadowy forms of fish below her darted in all directions, avoiding what they perceived to be a monster from above as it created a slight wake in the otherwise perfectly still lake surface.

Joy and excitement filling her entire being even further, the mare let out the most genuine laugh that the lake had heard in its entire existence. Ever careful to make sure that her trajectory never deviated, she allowed the very tips of her longest primaries to dip down slightly. Finally, the edges of her wings skimmed the water under her, sending a small spray of fresh water against her legs and flank. The mare didn't mind at all that her blue coat was slowly getting soaked with the chilled water, and instead, squealed in elation.

Looking up towards the horizon, she spotted a lonely gazebo situated on an island in the middle of the lake—the large white structure standing out against the deep blue expanse of the night sky. Slightly tilting the trailing edges of her large wings, she pulled up slightly, bleeding away speed as she prepared for a landing. For how elegant she could make it look, it was a simple process really. All she had to do was make sure that she hit null velocity right when she was over her landing target, and with a flap or two of her wings to stabilize, she would bring her four hooves onto the crisp grass. In fact—if she pulled it off just right—she could literally stall just an inch or two above the ground, meaning she wouldn't even need to flap her wings to land gently.

Sadly, tonight was not one of those perfect nights, for the blue mare required those few extra flaps to make sure that she didn't tumble during her landing. With all four hooves firmly on the ground, she beat her wings one last time to whisk away any lingering water, tucked them against her body, and began to explore the small island.

By far, the most interesting landmark was the curious pavilion in the center of the island. Fashioned in a circular shape, it was built out of local wood from the region. Looking around though, getting enough wood from such a small patch of land—even if the island had once been nothing but a forest—would have been impossible, so the material must have come from the mainland. Peering across the water, she saw that the distant shoreline was barely visible over the horizon, making the importing of wood from the mainland a monumental feat. Just who went through all of the trouble to build this thing?

Her thoughts were broken by a single orange butterfly that danced across her nose, the small creature the only other living thing for as far as the eye could see. Furrowing her brow, she cocked her head to the side. “A butterfly? At night? Curious...”

The urge for answers took over any other desire the mare had, and with the most timid of movements—the mare doing her best not scare the creature away—she followed it. Its flight was erratic at best, several loops, twists, and sharp banks mapping out a flightpath that would've put even the hardiest pegasus into nauseated fits. The mare couldn't help giggling lightly at the thought of the Wonderbolts trying to replicate the maneuvers and, more amusingly, the consequences of their attempts.

Finally, the butterfly settled on a single yellow flower that sat in the middle of the otherwise featureless patch of grass. The beautiful insect slowly moved its wings as the delicate appendages kept the creature's balance upon its perch. As quiet as a mouse, she crept up to the flower, and after slowly settling down onto her belly, stretched her neck close enough that her nose was nearly touching the butterfly. She was so close that, if she had the desire, she was sure she could push the thing off with a simple large breath.

Slowly, the creature turned around, and as if it was aware of who she was, looked straight at her. She was lost in a trance as the two of them—their sizes differing by so many magnitudes—looked into each other, each judging the others' intentions, and trying to discover whether the other would try anything. The mare leaned in slightly to get closer—

Suddenly the insect screamed, “PRINCESS LUNA!!! WAKE UP!!!”

“WAAAAHHH!!!”

“Princess Luna!”

Luna awoke with a start, the princess scrambling on top of her bed in fright as a result. Her legs were tangled in the sheets, and in her half awoken state, she pictured herself completely ensnared by some sort of hideous monster. Of course, this led to even more struggling, which led to becoming more tangled up, which again led to more struggling in a cruel and vicious cycle. This culminated in a violent flailing of her legs, a roll to the right, and her sudden introduction to the area rug below.

Groaning in mild pain, the night princess looked up from the mess she was mostly under—her vision mostly obscured by a sheet wrapped around her head. Wishing so much that she could glare at the pegasus in the doorway, she sighed. “What do you require, Captain Vigilant?”

The guard, even after her ridiculous display, showed no outward signs of amusement. “It is time for you to raise the moon, and begin the Night Court.”

Luna groaned in exasperation. She had occasional trouble keeping track of time, considering her room didn't have windows, nor clocks to speak of. Her magic flaring for a scant second, the mare teleported herself a few hooves to the right, releasing herself from the snare of the grappling sheets. With that situation rectified, the mare nodded as she spoke, “Very well. Lead on then.”

The midnight blue pegasus scrunched his brow a little. “My apologies, Princess, but may I advise you clothe yourself in your... public attire?”

“Hmm?” Luna looked down at herself, and lightly blushed at what she saw. Instead of her normal garb consisting of her cutie mark regalia and crystal slippers, she was naked save for a set of socks that went nearly to her shoulders and hips. Sure, ponies typically went without clothing both while sleeping and in everyday life, for the feeling of fabric on their short hair almost always leading to the most irritating itchiness. However, there was something about wearing warm socks to keep her legs nice and toasty during her daytime sleep that hooked her the moment she tried them.

Of course, she had to have been caught in the frilly-trimmed pink polka-dotted ones.

“My apologies!” Luna took a step back in embarrassment.

The guard shifted his gaze to the left, but was otherwise expressionless. “It is alright, Princess. Would you like me to leave to give you a few minutes to get dressed?”

She was thankful for the insanely stoic nature of her captain. “That shall not be required.”

As quickly as she could, she whisked off the sleepwear with her magic, and quickly deposited the laundry in the hamper for the servants to take care of. With another flash of magic, she brought the necklace that lay on her bedside table to her neck, quickly followed by her crown to her head. It only took a few moments to complete all of the tasks, and after taking a few steps forward, she stepped into her slippers.

A smile now on her face once again, she spoke, “I am ready, Captain.”

The pegasus looked back at her, and nodded. “Very well, Your Highness.”

With a leisurely pace, two walked into the empty hallway. The pair of ponies, as similar as they looked, were so vastly different. Just by going by their coat and eye colors, one could suppose that the two were possibly related. Even his cutie mark—an eye with a downward facing crescent-moon pupil—was curiously similar to the her own. Of course, that was where their similarities ended, and the vast list of differences began.

The average-sized pegasus was as loyal of a guard as Luna could ever dream of having. She had originally taken his calm and unemotional nature as a sort of weakness, the alicorn suspecting at first that her sister had given her the reject of the day officers to be her night captain. That suspicion was quickly extinguished after the first instance an “attempt” on her life was carried out. A few days before the attempt, there was a report that a red colored stallion that wanted Equestria returned to a monarchy would be visiting her court. Granted it had been a false alarm—the stallion in suspect merely wanted to study the transition from monarchy to diarchy—but the speed and intensity that the pegasus took down the stallion with was astonishing. From that day forward, she trusted Captain Vigilant Watch with anything, including most of her personal thoughts.

Sure, Celestia's personal guard, Captain Shining Armor, was nopony to trifle with, but Luna wouldn't trade captains for anything.

“Captain Vigilant Watch?” Princess Luna looked to her left.

Her captain looked slightly to his right, yet never ceased to inspect the halls and doorways all around them. “Yes, Princess Luna?”

“I would like to thank you, for everything.”

“Of course, my princess.”

A smile on her face, her steps had a little more pep in them now. As always, his outward demeanor was as calm as an early dawn's lake surface, but through the six seasons that they had been together, she had learned a few of his tells. He didn't have many, and they were almost impossible to guess. In fact, it was only her observant nature and her constant contact with him that allowed her to notice any of them at all. For instance, right now Captain Vigilant's ears—even if they were constantly shifting to focus on sounds all around them—were much more fluid in their movements than before. It was this sudden shift of their movements that betrayed the stallion of the newfound comfort in his thoughts. She wouldn't dare say that he was happy—Luna wasn't sure if the pegasus was ever really happy—but he was at least satisfied with the mood surrounding the pair.

Of course, that mood soured as soon as they reached their destination—the Eventide Balcony.

“Captain.” She frowned.

Captain Vigilant nodded as he spoke, “Keep watch out here until you return?”

Luna nodded as well, and began walking forward. “Just like any other night.”

As slowly as she could, as if to try and delay the inevitable ordeal, she walked through the sun and moon emblazoned curtains covering the opening, and instantly felt the blazing sun shining on the right side of her face. Now outdoors, the alicorn walked up to the railing of the south facing balcony, and with a level face, took a deep breath of fresh air. It wasn't often that she came outside while the sun was up, the last time she was actually outside for any significant amount of time was when she was purified of... her other self. Otherwise, the only times the night princess was outside while her sister's sun was up was for these transitions. This was mostly because of logistical reasons. Since she was forced to be awake when her moon was up, she had to sleep during the day.

“I see that you are early for once,” a regal voice from behind her spoke.

“Blame my captain.” Luna never looked back. She didn't need to to look back at the pony behind her to know who it was.

The two remained silent for a time, the exchange of words not needed for their next action. Finally, the sun began to slip below the horizon, painting a picture in the sky that the greatest of Canterlot's artists could only dream of achieving. Hues of orange, blue, along with light dabs of purple spread through the clouds—the sun showing off its power for one final moment before it would be commanded to surrender the sky to its lunar counterpart.

Luna took a few steps back, and stood to the left of her sister, Princess Celestia, as the pair both faced south. Simultaneously, Luna and her sister tapped into their souls, and brought out their most powerful of magics. Her sister's entire body glowed a blinding yellow, and with a flash, the sun responded to her will. Slowly, it slipped below the horizon, signaling both an end to the day, as well as the moment for the next phase of the sisters' private ceremony.

Luna's turn now upon her, she charged her magic, and while encased in a chilling light blue aura, lifted her body off the ground. While her link with her moon was just as invisible as Celestia's was with her sun, she could just feel her magic pull at the massive body below the opposite horizon. With a delicate nudge, she willed the moon to start its movements across the sky, initiating the start of another night.

Slowly, she lowered to the ground, turned to her left, and as the stars in her mane glowed that much brighter in response to the moonlight, she smiled at her work. The night would be a bright one—a waxing gibbous moon relieving the sun of its duties. Instinctively, her magic had forced the appearance of the thousands of stars in the night sky, the bright orbs of light slowly appearing as the magic left over from raising the moon ignited the small fires above. Sure, her sister was much more powerful than her—the sun required that much more magic to constantly shift—but her night sky was a masterpiece that Celestia could never dream of achieving, no matter how powerful she was.

Luna frowned, and with a small spark of magic, ignited a few stars that weren't turning on on their own.

“I apologize, dearest sister,” that regal voice rang in her ears yet again. “I didn't have a chance to properly say good evening. I hope you slept well.”

Again not bothering to look behind her, Luna instead watched the stars above. “As well as I possibly could.”

The painfully cheerful voice continued. “As always, your night looks magnificent. Every night, I assume you'll never be able to surpass the sheer wonder of the previous, and like every night, I am proven wrong.”

“I am sure you do not believe such things each and every night, but your sentiment is appreciated nonetheless,” Luna said as she gazed up into the stars. Scrunching her forehead slightly, there was something missing. With a small smirk, she realized the mistake, and shot a miniscule bit of magic into the sky, lighting the final star for the evening. Sitting down lightly, she couldn't help but to admire her masterpiece.

Of course, that was all ruined when she saw her sister circle around to her left, a worried look on the alicorn's face. Softly, Celestia spoke, “Did I say something to upset you, Luna?”

Luna resisted the urge to mockingly chuckle—instead deciding to shake her head. “'Tis more complicated than a simple misspeak, dear sister.”

“What is it then?” Her sister sat down next to her, and with a smile on her face, moved to wrap a wing around her navy blue body.

As soon as the feathers tickled her back, Luna shrugged off the appendage. A slight tinge of annoyance making its way into her voice, she spoke, “Do you really desire to know?”

“Of course, Luna. Why else would I ask?”

She sighed, preparing herself for a conversation long coming. All the days of dreaming and the nights of thinking about this event finally coming to fruition. Celestia had given her the opening, her sister was open to the onslaught of accusations and potential insults, and Celestia would be completely caught off guard. It was a perfect setting to how Luna wanted this to go.

Of course, as always, instead of saying those few words, she went with another, yet still an important reason for her despair. “For as much as everypony has tried to tell me otherwise, nothing has changed. Not really. The majority of our ponies still ignore the beauty of my night, and take for granted the work I put into it. Sure, some ponies stay up until the late hours, but those that do are drunken loons that are pitiful excuses of their species as a whole. Would be best if they didn't even bother 'honoring' my night with their drunken debauchery at all.”

“Luna!” Celestia's eyes grew wide. “You aren't trying to insinuate—”

“No, sister. I do not intend to turn into that... monster again. You do not need to worry. I am merely... bored with the current state of affairs.”

“You shouldn't feel that way, Luna.” Celestia frowned as she lowered her voice. Again, Luna's sister attempted to wrap a protective wing around her—the older princess succeeding this time. “Think of all of the sailors that use your stars for navigation, the astronomers that study all of your stars and the moon you command, all the colts and fillies that use your moon to get home at night, and don't forget all ponies everywhere that wish on a falling star. It may not seem so at first, but everypony enjoys the night you give us. I myself find myself gazing into your masterpiece most nights, always admiring the work you put into it.”

Luna wanted so desperately to shrug the wing off of her back again, but unlike the first time Celestia had attempted to put the wing around her, she just let the white wing lay against her. The younger sister sighed as she grudgingly accepted the pity. “All are... possible, I guess, but I am nothing compared to you. The Lunar Court is a sham, and nopony wants to see the meager Princess Luna. They all seek the Great Princess Celestia during your day. I am merely a princess because I am your sister, and no other reason.”

Celestia looked on with a smile. “You exaggerate Luna. I am certain that the Lunar Court has had many major contri—”

“Five.”

“Five?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “That is how many ponies have sought my council during Lunar Court.”

“Five each night is nothing to be ashamed of!” Celestia smiled wider as she spoke, “Why, I wish I only had five a day. Would make everything so much easier for me.”

Luna groaned. “No sister, I mean five total.”

Her older sister's smile froze at those last six words. “Total? As in—”

“As in for the seven hundred ninety-six of my nights since I retook the throne under you, I have received five visitors total. Trust me, I've counted.”

Celestia's smile was no longer present on her face, a saddened frown now painted in its spot. Tightening her wing's hold on her sister, she attempted to salvage the situation in any way possible. “Well... considering what kind of history most ponies have been taught, I’m sure that most are merely... ignorant of the real Princess Luna. Maybe many ponies don't know the Lunar Court even exists as well. Besides, those five must have been important visits.”

“Important? Important!?” Luna's eyes flew wide as she glared at her sister, her voice cracking in anger as she yelled. “Would thou like to hear about my visitors? My first was some underage whelp that was dared by his classmates to pluck a hair out of the 'evil Nightmare Moon's' mane. The second was one of thy 'upper crust' mares that had no actual intention to talk to me, but merely intended to use me to get to thee. The third was a stallion out of Manehattan that had no motivations except for the urge to have intercourse with a princess—trust me when I say that I be glad Captain Vigilant Watch beat the idea out of him. The fourth was that stallion that my captain also subdued, the one that we so foolishly thought wanted to kill me. Finally, the last pony to visit my Lunar Court decided, in his drunken wisdom, to use one of my best tapestries as a lavatory!

“So do not thou darest try and tell me that thee would wish thou hath less ponies visit in the day. I could not tell thee how excited I would be to have half as many visitors as thee hath. I cannot tell thee how much I...” Luna stopped herself, and slowly lowered her head, “... I just wish I mattered.”

“Oh Luna.” Celestia leaned her head too close, and rested her chin on Luna's head. “You do matter. Think of all the wonderful and amazing things you have done for Equestria since your return. You completely overhauled the tax code, changing the impossibly long and unreadable law into the most simple of documents. Think of how you saved Canterlot University and the rest of the Equestrian education system with the change of a single word in the original law. That's not even mentioning how much of a help you were with dealing with the deer of the Cervidiana Kingdom. I have no idea how I ever got things done here without you there by my side, my dearest sister.”

“Yes. Yet you were hailed as a heroine for each event, while I received no such praise.” Luna snorted in frustration.

Celestia pulled her head away, and looked at her sister with pleading violet eyes. “I had no idea you felt this way. Is there anything I could possibly do to help?”

After a second of looking into her sister's eyes, she looked away at the near insult. “No. There is nothing that you can do to help me.”

Her sister leaned in to try and meet eyes again. “Are you sure there's nothing that I ca—”

“I think 'tis time that I start the Lunar Court,” Luna interrupted, finally shrugging the wing off of her. Never once did she look into her sister's eyes. “You should be getting rest anyway—'tis well past your typical bedtime.”

Celestia frowned, but after several seconds, pulled her head back. “...Alright then, Luna. Just remember that I love you.”

Luna refused to look at her sister as she whispered, “I am aware.”

Slowly, her sister lifted herself onto her hooves, and without another word spoken between them, turned, and exited the balcony. As usual, Luna did not bother to watch her sister leave—Celestia always being the first to depart the wretched balcony. She didn't need to watch to know that her sister took one final look back before retiring for the night, her older sister doing so every time that the two did not see eye to eye—the occurrence happening more and more recently.

Sighing, the navy blue alicorn looked across their shared kingdom, and watched the lights of all the towns and villages around the castle blink into existence. A single tear burned across the mare's cheek as she thought about her and her sister's strained relationship. When she first came back and was purified, it was the happiest she had been in the longest time. Ponies in Ponyville and the surrounding lands had come out for the impromptu party at her return, and she was hailed as an equal to her sister. That day, she truly felt loved for the first time in... in longer than she could remember. Sure, in the ensuing year, there were the few things that irked her, like the uselessness of the Lunar Court, the wrongly placed praises directed at her sister, and even the fact that she had to wait several weeks to have the windows removed from her bedroom to prevent the sunlight from keeping her awake, but they never tempered her positive spirit.

And then Nightmare Night came.

It was the strangest thing. Ponies that once relished her return now were truly fearful of her once again, as if she was still Nightmare Moon. Maybe it was because she no longer looked the part of a small child, and more like her true self under her moon, but whatever it was, it was a nightmare for herself more than anypony else. At one point, she had even temporarily banned the ancient holiday, leaving everypony in Ponyville thoroughly depressed as a result. Thankfully, due to the actions of her sister's student Twilight Sparkle, she had come up with a reasonable middle ground, and learned to love being the bad pony of the holiday.

But after that night, her eyes were truly opened, and she started to realize how the ponies in her kingdom really felt about her. Whereas before, she had merely thought that the ponies didn't know her very well, and that was the source of the discomfort, she now knew that wasn't the case. Now, she realized that it wasn't just a discomfort, it was a mixture of both hatred and fear. The hatred came from the aristocracy, while the fear came from the lower classes of society, and both emotions were shot against her and nearly everything she represented. Sure, nopony in Canterlot had the gall to outright voice their reservations about her to her face—the sole exception being the juvenile delinquent wanting one of her hairs—but the sentiment was obvious enough. It just made her want to... to...

Luna sighed, and willed herself to relax her nerves. Slowly, she stood, and with a final glance towards the night sky she had just crafted, she made her way inside. As soon as she passed the doorway to the inside hallways, she found herself walking alongside her captain.

Fidgeting her wings slightly from the lingering emotions, she heard Captain Vigilant speak, “Princess, is anything the matter?”

How easy it would be to voice her opinions to the only pony, outside her sister, that she felt close to. However, even if she trusted him with nearly any secret she had, she couldn't put this sort of mental stress on her protector. “'Tis nothing, Captain. Nothing you should concern yourself with at least.”

“Very well, Princess. Is there anything I can do to aid you?”

Luna tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't help but to frown slightly. “Nothing. Let us just worry about making sure the Lunar Court is ready to receive visitors.”

“And I win yet again!”

“Of course you win again! This is a filly's game, and that's all you are! A filly!”

“Please, you're just upset that you've lost thirty-two times in a row.”

“Shut up!”

“You shut up!”

“No you!”

“You!”

“WILL THOU SILENCE THYSELVES!?” Luna shouted, her voice reverting back to the archaic Royal Canterlot voice for but a moment.

The two guards next to the hopscotch course instantly stood straighter, a little bit of fear in their eyes. “We're sorry, Princess!”

Luna groaned, and shifting her weight from atop the throne she sat on, waved a forehoof in the air as she muttered a reply. “I apologize as well. I am likely as bored as you, and my nerves grow... short as a result. As you were.”

Nodding, the two began to start another game hopscotch. All around her, her stallion guards were doing various activities in the throne room that, if Celestia or one of the day guards were to observe, would have been quite embarrassing to her entire battalion. Besides the two guards to her left that were playing that “filly's game,” there were the four guards playing poker, the two that were getting their manes styled by each other, the three that were reading by the door, the seven that were playing charades, and the final two were sleeping on top of one another in the corner. Only Captain Vigilant was standing at the ready, and while Luna knew he so desperately wanted to yell at the guards to shape up, she had informed him that she would rather they relaxed, much to his displeasure.

Luna rolled onto her back, bringing her forelegs to her chest. Kicking instinctively with a hind leg, the alicorn looked at her captain. “Captain Vigilant.”

He turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye. “Yes, Princess?”

“Can you do me a favor, and scratch my belly?” she spoke, begging in her mind that he would say yes.

“Sorry, but I must refuse, ma'am.”

“But whyyyyyyy?”

“Because, Princess, not including the obvious breach of professionalism, I swore to protect the crown to the best of my abilities, no matter the situation.” The pegasus captain turned his look at the rest of the soldiers as he grumbled, “Like several of my soldiers are currently failing to do.”

“Do not be so melodramatic.” Luna waved a dismissive hoof in his direction as she explained, “'Tis a slow night, and I do not desire to have you stand at attention for nothing.”

Her pegasus captain turned his head back towards her. “Very well, Princess, but I must decline your initial request regardless.”

Princess Luna groaned internally, and closed her eyes. Oh how she wished that she could have the night for herself every once in a while. Celestia, while she normally was busy with her Solar Court, always made a point to leave the castle every so often to visit the cities and towns of her kingdom. In fact, every few months, she made sure that she visited some of their neighbor nations. However, there was no point in Luna ever doing these sort of things, her nocturnal schedule not very accommodating to anypony that she would desire to visit. Still, the urge to just fly off and... and...

An idea hit her.

“In that case,” Luna rolled back upright, and lifted herself back onto her hooves, “I am going to take my leave.”

That statement caused her Captain to turn and look at her directly. “Take your leave? In the middle of Lunar Court?”

“Indeed, Captain Vigilant Watch,” the alicorn said as she grinned. “Are you planning on stopping your princess?”

She nearly died at his reaction—the pegasus working his jaw, trying to find some sort of rebuttal that would keep her in court. However, she knew there was nothing he could say, and the simple fact that he was trying so hard was adorable. By the way his face finally returned to its normal stoicism, she knew the exact moment he gave up his fight. “Not at all, Princess Luna. I shall assemble an escort.”

“Oh, that will not be necessary. I believe I can handle myself.” The princess smiled as she started to make her way to one of the rear doorways.

Just before she left the room, she heard a final call for her, “And what should I tell any visitors that arrive?”

She turned, and smiled one final time. “Inform them not to urinate on the tapestries.”

For the second time that night, Princess Luna found herself leaning up against the Eventide Balcony's railing, the cool marble chilling her forelegs. Closing her eyes, she took in all of the smells and sounds of the night around her. The wind against her mane had nary an effect on it as the ethereal hairs waved on their own accord. Still, the influence of the wind would not be denied, the sweet fall wind finding solace in blowing against her folded wings, bristling each individual feather in response, tickling her sides lightly.

Suddenly, she leaped over the rail, and with the brightest of smiles, careened down the seemingly endless expanse. Flashes of her dream from the day before entered her mind, and the mare—determined to reenact the most exciting moment—spread her wings. Her face contorting with concentration, she tilted the trailing edges of her wings slightly to send herself into a spinning dive. The feeling of dizziness washed over her, and for a brief moment she lost orientation of what was up and down in the world. Just as she was nearing the most critical of moments, she saw the lights of a village ahead, and using it as her point of reference, straightened out, and took to the skies.

Her flight didn't take her nearly as close to the ground as she was in her dream. Instead, her flight path took her about a hundred meters above the rolling hills of the Canterlot outskirts. Of course, trying to cut it any closer from that much of a dive would most likely end with her resembling less a pony and more a glass of grape juice. Granted she probably wouldn't die as a result—being an eternal alicorn had the perk of immortality by conventional means—but the idea of not only holding a nightly Lunar Court, but trying to do it from a jar didn't quite suit her fancy.

The speed that she tore through the air at was breakneck to say the least, the wind painfully burning against her face as she flew. Even with her mane and tail as ethereal as it was, the sheer force that the winds were putting on each were enough to send both whipping behind her. Luna's eyes began to water as she blew past mile after mile, the mare eventually forced to squint her eyes against the blinding pain. Her wings were angled backwards slightly from the air tearing at her feathers, but this only served to make sure drag they would have on her forward movement was not of any significance.

“Woohoo!” Luna yelled out. Sure it was nighttime, and sure she was a princess that should abide to a certain decorum, but tonight, she left all of that behind to become a normal pony. Well, normalish, for as much as she wanted to think otherwise, she was still as close to the Avatar of the Moon as you could get.

She suddenly found herself zipping over a village just below her, and only then realized she had no idea what direction she was going. As much as she desired to do otherwise, she had to find out where she was even going, so the mare pulled up, bleeding off speed as she traded it for altitude. A few seconds later, she found herself several hundred meters higher in the air as she was before, and right when she achieved the stall, the alicorn began to flap her wings. Her large wings keeping her aloft, she took view of the landscape around her.

It didn't take long to realize that the settlement below her was the notable village of Ponyville, the tell-tale building in the center shaped like a carousal and the fields of apple trees on the outskirts being the two most identifying landmarks to the place. For as small and quaint that the village felt, it was quickly becoming a large town, with the urban sprawl just starting to kick in. The buildings and roads were becoming much more sophisticated as the population grew, trading wood and dirt for brick and cobblestone respectively. Of course, the vast majority of the settlement was still an unorganized collection of houses radiating from the central square with simple dirt roads connecting them all together, but give it a few decades, and the place would look vastly different.

Off to the southeast, the wild and constantly changing Everfree Forest grew rampant, the wooded area very unique compared to the rest of the kingdom. Unlike the rest of Equestria, as well as the vast majority of the rest of the world, the forest was not only capable of growing on its own, but thrived on its untamed nature. Many times, ponies had tried to bring order to the forest, but every time, they found that any form of nature in that area was impossible to handle, the clouds moving against the pegasi's will and the plants growing wild despite the earth ponies' best efforts.

Slowly leaning forward, the night princess began to fly over the forest. It had not always been this chaotic of a place. In fact, a grand city used to exist where the very center of the forest now lay. The city, at one point, was the grandest in the world, and no other urban area could hope to contend with its power. In that time, it had become so large that it had encompassed large swaths of land around the princesses' former palace, where the two sisters ruled in harmony.

That changed abruptly one thousand two winters ago, when Luna decided to rebel against both her sister and all of Equestria, and as a result, destroyed the fabric of magic and order in that region forever.

The mare shook her head, forcing the terrible memories out of her mind. Even if she regretted what she had done, and wished that she could take the last thousand winters back, the thought that Princess Celestia, her own loving sister, would decide to send her to the moon for a millennium instead of any other logical or just manner of punishment was unforgivable. Her sister had told her only once that she was sorry, and it was a weak apology at best. How could that mare live with herself thinking that she was so high and mighty compared to—

Luna took a breath to calm herself down; it wasn't time to think about those kinds of thoughts. For now, she wanted nothing more than to enjoy her night, and take joy in the wind in her face. Of course, when she finally snapped out of the thoughts, she realized how far she had flown into the forest It was as if she was instinctively flying back to her former home, the top of ruins of the old palace just in sight. Looking behind her, Ponyville was barely visible over the treetops, and behind that, the mountain that Canterlot Castle lay on. It was strange, after living in the center of one of the larger cities of Equestria, to be so far from anypony. It was as if—

Wait... what was that?

Luna dove into the forest, making sure that she avoided every tree and branch that attempted to impede her progress. For a flier of her size, such dexterous movements weren't easy to pull off, but millennia of flight had taught her a thing or two about how to twist and turn through tight areas. Sure, she was lightly scratched by a few small branches—surely they must have jumped towards her out of nowhere—but by the time she landed on the ground, she was no worse for wear.

Where she landed, though, was a curious question. She had apparently landed in a decently sized clearing, though the various trees surrounding the clearing choked out most of the moonlight above. In fact, if it wasn't for her being Princess Luna, she was sure she would've been forced to throw up a light spell to see at all. In front of her was tree that reminded her very slightly of Twilight Sparkle's home in Ponyville, except much more... exotic. The trunk of the tree twisted and turned everywhere, and with the addition of gnarled branches twisting in every direction, it gave the yellow-brown tree a look resembling a creation from a nightmare. In the trunk, a trio of holes were carved, the largest creating a simple door, while the other pair became crude windows, the glassless openings as simple as they came. Atop the doorway, a strange mask peered out, as if some sort of inanimate sentinel watching for whoever might invade the private territory.

The question that remained though was who would live in a terrifying place like this?

Taking a quick look around, she illuminated her horn, and with a small flash of power, the alicorn became nothing more than a dark mist in the night. She knew that what she was about to do was wrong, and on any other night, she would have left whoever was living in the tree alone. However, this was her one night of freedom, and on this night, she would not be stopped. So instead of the sensible decision of turning around and leaving this place in peace, she zipped through one of the open windows.

Materializing back into her natural form, the alicorn glanced around the darkened room. All around her, objects that were obviously originating from the Zebronia Nation surrounded her. Wooden masks hung on the walls, various potions and oils hung from the ceiling, and at least half a dozen pots and bowls of different sizes adorned the shelves along walls. In the very center of the room, a massive fire pit was made up, with probably the largest cauldron Luna had ever seen placed on top of it. The home was simple with no real sectioning off between rooms—the entire place being one massive chamber.

A quiet voice pierced the silence, “You will never ever beat me... for my skill you have never seen...”

Luna's hair on her back shot up in fright, the mare nearly tripping over a few stools from her jump. Whipping her head around, her eyes fell on the source of the voice: a female zebra. In fact, if she recognized her correctly, it was the same story teller from the Nightmare Night so many months ago. Fear somewhat dazing her thoughts, Luna was ready to start babbling excuses and apologies for breaking into the innocent mare's house.

That was, of course, until the zebra rolled over, and mumbled again, “To that award, you will have no right... for I will best you this very night...”

“A dream,” Luna whispered to herself as she approached the sleeping zebra, the slow rise and fall of the sheets a constant reminder of that fact. It had been a long time since the alicorn actually observed somepony sleep—she was always too busy with the Lunar Court to ever go out and break into anypony's house and watch. From the sounds of it, the mare was having a very curious dream, though the details were impossible to discern.

Unless.

“So just what are you dreaming about?” The navy blue alicorn smiled. Completely disregarding the mare's privacy, the voyeur smiled to herself, and ignited her horn. With her smile growing wider, she whispered one last time, “It would not hurt anypony to have a peek...”

Finally, Luna's horn made contact with the mare's forehead, and with a rush of images, Luna dove into the zebra's dream, and for a short period of time, lost all connection to the outside world.

Chapter 1: Vocal Duel

A dark haze enveloped all of Luna's senses, despite the clarity that the spell should have been giving her. In response to this, she attempted to refocus the frequency of the spell to find the best synergy between her own thoughts and the thoughts of the zebra. It was usually a surprisingly simple process—given how complicated it sounded—but as precious seconds passed, her frustration began to mount. Sure, she knew that she was picking up something, but with all of the interference, she couldn't tell exactly what it was that she was picking up.

It had been a long time since she had looked into another mind, the solitude of the moon making it slightly difficult to practice. Even after returning from her millennium long banishment, finding time for these sort of activities—considering that she was, at least in name, a full blown princess—was next to impossible. Of course, the last time she had done a Memory Extractor spell was definitely not for the sake of her amusement.

The thought of several soldiers screaming in agony as she tore information she needed out of their heads—among other things—entered her mind.

Shaking her head, even if technically she didn't have a head in here, she redoubled her efforts into aligning to the right frequency. The difficulty of this task was magnified because she was using the Memory Extractor spell in a way that it was never meant to be used—instead of reaching into a mind and yanking out past events, she was merely looking into the current thoughts of the subject. All of a sudden, the haze began to disperse, and more distinct—albeit muffled—voices began to cut through the garbled slurs.

Smiling to herself, she tweaked the spell slightly more in an attempt to clear up the static. Apparently that was all that was needed to get through, and as she shortened the wavelengths of the magical resonance more and more, she was met with more success. Colors started to form in lieu of the static, and while the sounds became much more crisp, it was becoming increasingly apparent that the sounds consisted of the collective garble of a large crowd. Such volume could only be produced by hundreds or thousands of ponies, with each attempting to talk over the rest in a futile attempt to be heard. One final adjustment, and the scene finally came into view.

What she saw was the most interesting room that she had ever seen... well... since she came back from the moon. All around her, the walls looked as though various sheets of metal had been bolted together, giving the room a very industrial look. Above her, dozens of various sized chains hung from the ceiling—the dangling links of metal hanging down until they were only a dozen or so meters from the floor. Assuming this was just one room in a much larger building they were in, this must have been a massive structure, for this room alone was capable of seating around a thousand ponies. It was hard to make out what any of their faces looked like though, which was not surprising. In fact, she was surprised that there was this much detail and organization, despite the fact that this was a dream.

Echoing all around her, there were two sounds that reverberated throughout the large room. The first was the obvious chanting of the ponies in the chamber, their words completely incomprehensible to the alicorn mare. Though, like their faces, she was fairly certain that they had no actual words to discern anyway, so Luna didn't bother trying to understand them. All that mattered was that they were all chanting for some sort of event to finally begin. The only other noise that she could make out was a dull thumping of bass, the constant thudding provoking the audience into more of a frenzied fervor.

As for the mist, it still remained, but it wasn't from the lack of being in the proper frequency with the zebra's dreams, but more because of several smoke machines that were most likely hidden in the building somewhere. All of the smoke culminated around the front of the room, where a massive stage had been constructed. For now, there was no event taking place atop the wooden platform, but Luna suspected that very soon, that would change.

That very event began just moments after Princess Luna thought about it, for walking onstage was the most curiously dressed unicorn she had ever seen. The white stallion was dressed somewhat similar to many of the stallions that would attend a formal ball, but the colors were much more flamboyant. Everything from his stove-pipe hat to his jacket was a bright crimson, with yellow trim all along the seams. His undershirt popped out from beneath, the bleached white ruffles standing out vibrantly against the colored jacket.

His horn flashed a light blue, and with a smile, he pulled a microphone to his mouth, and began speaking in an overdramatic voice. “For too long, there have been two of 'the bests' of our time. From the ponies, the griffins, to even the greatest the dragons have to offer, these two have dominated every single opponent that they have come across. For too long, each has claimed to be the best, yet they never dared to put their bits where their mouths are, and contend with their rival. Tonight, that problem changes, for I give you, Equestria's best!”

The crowd picked up their chanting chorus as the announcer smiled. Waving a hoof to his left, he again bellowed, “In this corner, I give you the newcomer to our great land. She hails from lands beyond our great borders, in the great plains of the Zebronia Nation. Very recently, she immigrated from those exotic lands, and took up residence in the mysterious Everfree Forest, where she now calls home.”

Can this stallion become any more ludicrous?

“Now,” the unicorn got even louder as he shouted, “the mare has decided to take up the trade we all know and love, the art of music. Her kind are known for their rhymes, so lets see if that gives her the advantage this day! You know her, you love her, give it up, for Zecora, the Zebra!”

The crowd went absolutely nuts, chanting Zecora's name as she came out from behind the curtains. If it wasn't for the fact that she didn't have a body, Luna was sure that she would've done a spit-take, for what the zebra was wearing was, to say the least, absolutely ridiculous. The zebra had half a dozen bright golden hoops around her neck, which shined in the spotlight of the stage. In addition to these, a golden necklace was somehow wrapped around her neck—the amulet attached to the chain adorned with a massive sapphire. Her legs had even more golden hoops wrapped around them, complementing the—once again—golden shoes that she had on all around her hooves. Covering the back of her head and her flank, the mare had a dark blue silk covering with a black and golden trim. Rounding all that off with a large golden tail tie, large hoop earrings, and a golden headpiece adorned with yet another large sapphire, she looked... well... like a native of the Zebronia Nation.

“Miss Zecora,” the unicorn walked up to the zebra, and placed the microphone to her face, “is there anything you would like to say to your opponent?”

A sly grin appeared on her face as she leaned into the mike. “When he goes up against me, that fool better watch out, for when he minces words with a zebra, they will be nothing but shouts!”

“Oooooooooh!”

Was... was that supposed to be an insult? That was the worst insult I have ever heard!

“Looks like we have a feisty one today!” the brightly dressed announcer yelled as he smiled. Stepping away from Zecora, he bowed his head. As he announced this time, his voice was much softer. “In this corner, we have potentially the greatest champion this industry has ever seen. A native to the hills west of Fillydelphia, he was once merely a minion of an ordinary gang of diamond dogs. Now that he has escaped that life of endless labor, he now rules our world without contest... until now. He needs no further introduction, I give you...”

The announcer paused for a few moments to build up suspense. “...Snoop, theeeeee Dog!”

If the crowd went nuts earlier, they now went into a whole new level of insanity, for instead of woots and hollers from the ponies, there was now a constant dog-like barking. Once again, Luna was glad she was not drinking anything, for the diamond dog that walked onstage was many magnitudes more ridiculous looking than Zecora. To start, he was walking onstage with a mare under each arm, causing Luna to roll her eyes in response. However, the craziness definitely didn't end there, for the dog was also wearing a large pair of aviator sunglasses over his eyes—an interesting piece of attire considering how dark it was already in the room.

Around his neck, dozens of oversized pieces of jewelry hung down nearly to his waist, the pieces of precious metal clinking together with every motion. That, along with the giant diamond stud in his left ear and the massive diamond ring on his right pinky finger, and Luna realized that he must have dressed himself in the dark. That wasn't even mentioning the curious sweater—it had some sort of hood like a travel cloak— he was wearing, the tight braids that were fashioned into his brown head-hair, and the cigarette in his mouth.

“Snoop,” the announcer nearly galloped over to the creature's side, “you heard what Zecora said about you while you were backstage. Is there anything you would like to say in response before you two begin?”

Suddenly, Snoop snatched the magically held microphone out of the air, and brought it up to his mouth. “I just hope that this zebra brought some sunscreen, because she's about to get burned!”

“Ooooooooooh!”

…I take back what I said before. THAT was the worst insult I have ever heard.

The announcer pulled a second microphone out of nowhere, and smiled. “It looks like these two have their wits with them tonight! Looks like this is going to be a contest of the ages, the showdown the century, a monumental clash of titans, so let us begin... A RAP BATTLE!”

…A what battle?

Suddenly, the cheers, while still loud, quieted slightly, and the thumping of the bass intensified. Music also joined in, though like the thumping, she had no idea where it was coming from, or what band was playing it. The worst part was that the melody and harmony were generic at best, and something a filly could probably come up with at its worst. There were no lyrics, although that was most likely what Zecora and Snoop were about to create—though if the lyrics were as terrible as the background music, she was leaving this dream in a heartbeat. However, all of that said, as bad as everything sounded, the beat was actually pretty intense, and she was sure she would've caught herself tapping a hoof in sync a few times if she had a hoof to tap.

Snoop took a few steps forward, and with a toothy grin, began to... well... technically sing.

All you fillies and colts, welcome to the show.
This is a rap battle, that we're here to throw.
So sit yourselves right down on your cute little flanks,
as I take this zebra, and make her walk the plank!

Regardless of what Luna was thinking, and whether something like this should actually be considered music, the cheering of the fans in the crowd told her that the audience thought it was the greatest thing this side of Equestria. Snoop was smiling even wider now, and pointing at Zecora, he continued.

This here little mare, right down yonder,
makes this diamond dog rightly ponder.
What makes this mare think she's better than me?
Is it because she just can't really see?

How ridiculous she looks, in that silly attire,
Aw, just look at that long face, maybe she's a big crier?
I hope she's not, 'cause she better be on her guard,
When I do tell her she looks like nothin' but lard!

“Oooooooh!”

For as... interesting of a event his was, apparently the dream crowd was really getting into it. Luna had to admit, she cringed at that last stab he threw at the zebra, though it was partly out of how absurd all of this was. Still, Zecora didn't look like she lost any of the pep that she started with. Indeed, she looked like she was even more ready for a counterattack. The diamond dog took a few steps back, and with a mocking bow, gave the stage to the striped mare. Zecora took a few steps forward, and with the unicorn announcer holding her microphone for her, she began.

Look at this old scrappy dog, he looks quite sour.
It's probably 'cause it's I, who has the power.
Don't you understand, this is my kind of game,
when you fight me like this, you will end up lame.

So you grew up in the hills west of the city.
To that fact I am forced to say, 'What a pity!”
All the great skill in our Equestrian realm,
cannot save us when your voice does underwhelm.

Why don't you give up right now,
while the crowd still does allow.
For if you continue, you'll be pelted with eggs,
but as for now, you'll be kicked between the hind legs!

Slowly at first, the shouts of excitement grew in the crowd as Zecora held a hoof in the air with a growing sense of superiority. It was then that Snoop, the Dog, fixed his sweater-like garment, and took a few steps forward, so that he was standing right up next to the zebra. He and Zecora glared at each other with narrowed eyes, and with Snoop landing the first verbal punch, they began to mince words each other.

So little mare, you ready to take it to the next level?

Certainly, my thick pup, if you can contend with this devil.
You really think you can beat the best in Canterlot?

I should be the one asking, for it's you shall soon rot.
You are stupid at worst, and at best, aloof!

Don't cause me to laugh and trip over my hoof,
for you are like nothing, while I entertain the masses.

Please! I think somepony needs to stop and get her glasses!
But enough! I shall defeat you with the word orange!

Ha! Don't you know that I could just say two words: door hinge?
But can a fool like you think of one for purple?

Purple? That word is easy, the color burple!
Can you contend with the color silver?

Silver is easy, it is... umm... liver?

All of a sudden, the entire crowd roared even louder, laughter and insults being slung at the poor zebra onstage. It was obvious that she was taking the insults to heart, for the mare had lowered her head, and had resigned herself to the judgment of the audience. Out of nowhere, various pieces of fruits and vegetables—from tomatoes to cabbages—began to be thrown at the mare. With nowhere to run, she just stood there, and took every single hit.

As for the announcer, his face was beaming, “Well, this is an upsetting turn of events for Zecora, the Zebra, to say the least! It looks like Snoop, the Dog, has clinched his victory! Snoop, how do you feel about this?”

“There is nothing that can take away from this victory for me. I came here, and did this for my mama, and—”

Are you ridiculous? So atrocious! Insanity!
The only thing even worse than you is feces!

The ponies in the room instantly fell silent as the lyrics echoed in the room, the background melody and bass being the only sound to accompany the words. All eyes were torn away from the now very shocked zebra, and were now placed onto the diamond dog standing onstage. Nervously smiling, he took a few steps towards the announcer, and tried to—

What a laughable and embarrassing face you have!
It's as if you were dropped as a fill—

The music cut to an abrupt stop, and with the most awkward of pauses, the entire auditorium held its collective breath. Other than the occasional murmur of confusion, there wasn't a sound to speak of. The announcer, earlier just seconds from boisterously proclaiming the diamond dog's victory, now stood there with a gaping mouth, his microphone dipping slightly as his magic waned. The only movements in the room were the erratic motions of the audience as they tried to make sense of what was happening, the nervous fidgeting of Snoop on stage, and the dimmed shimmering aura of the telekinesis spell around the announcer's microphone.

Suddenly, a lone voice from the audience called out, “What was that!?”

Then another, “That was the sound system!”

“What's going on?”

“He was lip-syncing!”

“What!?”

A flood of hostile emotions erupted all at once, the ponies in the crowd screaming and yelling at the diamond dog onstage. There was no shortage of anger, and while it was impossible to identify each individual voice, but it was certain that they were demanding for two things in particular—blood and refunds. The announcer, unsure what to do, merely tried to hide from the horde of ponies slightly offstage—the audience now venting their increasing rage—so as to both avoid their collective wrath, as well as prevent a rush of ponies trying to get their money back.

Holding up his hands, Snoop tried to calm the crowd. “Hey, there's no need to get hostile, right? Look, I only did it because I have a sore throat, but remember, I can still wipe the stage with this zebrUFF!”

A tomato smacked into the diamond dog's face, sending him flying back behind the curtains. Taking a chance to regain a sense of decorum, Zecora took a few steps forward. “Everypony, will you please calm your hostile emotions. I am aware that you are all angry, just like I am with troublesome potions. Remember what I do when I—”

“I have a better idea!” The white unicorn appeared by Zecora's side, his microphone in tow. “I declare that tonight, and for the rest of history, the greatest rap artist to ever grace the land of Equestria is... Zecora, the Zebra!!!”

As the crowd exclaimed their approval of the new champion, Luna shook her nonexistent head. This was by far the strangest thing that she had ever seen in her entire life, and she was sure that nothing would ever top it. Granted, dreams did strange things, but dreams weren't typically this weird... right?

Slowly, Luna de-powered her Memory Extractor spell, and as the roars of the crowd grew dimmer, she left the mare's dream, and reentered the real world.

Chapter 2: A Snack to Die For

The soft crunches of fallen leaves were the only sounds in the forest as Luna walked through the middle of the clearing. The near-silence was a welcome respite from both the blaring music and the boisterous yelling from the dream just a few minutes prior. By the time she had finally dropped her spell, her head had been throbbing with a migraine from the ear-splitting ordeal. Now though, her mind's dull ache had receded, and organized thoughts were finally able to form once again.

Her eyes focused on nothing in particular, Luna thought about the dream she had just been in. She knew that zebras were talented rhymers—their native tongue revolving around a rhyming scheme—but how many in history had actually taken up the career of professional singing? Four? Five? Luna personally couldn't think of any, but she knew there had to have been a few out there at some point in history. On the flip side, she was absolutely certain that not a single diamond dog had ever gotten into the musical trade. There weren't many facts on why this was the case, but personally she felt it was because of how utterly savage the species was. This, plus the fact of how structured and organized the music in the dream was, were huge detriments to their species.

Of course, that was assuming that the sounds in that dream could actually be considered music.

Spreading her vast wings, the Night Princess gave a quick hop, and with a strong few flaps, ascended into the air. It was slow flying trying to make it to the sky—the thick foliage of the Everfree Forest's canopy preventing a straight shot to the air. Several times, Luna was forced to imitate some kind of tree-dwelling creature, using her wings to aid in her hops from branch to branch. Thankfully though, after nearly a full minute of careful navigation, she broke through the final layer of leaves and branches, and her eyes were met with the beautiful sight of her moon.

Luna beat her wings faster, forcing her back and chest muscles to work harder as she fought for altitude. When she finally made it above the scant cloud cover, she leveled off, and relaxed into a leisurely glide. However, even through the relaxing flight, thoughts of the dream continued to bother her. Did all ponies dream in the way that the zebra did? She had only invaded the minds of other ponies a few times in the past, and in all of those cases, she never actually went into their dreams. Not only was that step unnecessary for the procedure, but considering the ponies were awake the entire time, there was never a chance to try. Of course, most of those ponies had also had information ripped out of their brains, forever scarring their minds.

For a brief moment, images of the dozens of vegetative stallions and mares flashed in her mind, before she pushed the thoughts out.

Looking down at the ground, Luna suddenly found herself gliding over nearly endless fields of apples. It was these very fruit trees that told her that she had returned to Ponyville, or at least its outskirts. Hundreds upon hundreds of apple trees dotted the moonlit landscape, too many for the princess to count in a single flight over. Each tree had over a hundred apples. Each field had well over a hundred trees. All together this added up to... well... to a very large amount of fruit that could be harvested from the orchards.

Her stomach growled slightly at the thought.

Just visible over the tree-filled horizon, Luna saw what must have been the core of the property—several larger buildings jutting out of the ground. The fruit trees that had once dominated the landscape were now only on the sides, making way for the the collection of buildings. The vast majority were smaller structures like chicken coops and sheds, but there were two of particular significance. The first was a fairly large barn, and while she could see that it was mostly typical, the strange mural painting depicting a smiling sun and a smiling pink pony on one side was... unique. The second structure was some kind of residence, large enough for a fairly sizable family. Even in the moonlight, Luna could tell that the house was the same color and style as the barn before—minus the cartoonish mural.

An idea formed in the mare's head—this was the perfect time to test whether zebras and ponies dreamed the same way.

It was this reason alone that caused Princess Luna to bank left, and slowly begin her descent across the apple orchards. Like a vulture observing its next meal, she slowly circled the house below, gliding ever closer to her target. With every rotation, she found herself falling further and further, her form coming closer and closer to the house below. Finally, after three minutes of leisured gliding, she began to hover just a few meters above the backyard.

From her circling, she was able to discern by the way the windows were spaced that there were four main rooms on the second story. In a house like this, all of the bedrooms—except possibly the master bedroom—were placed upstairs, so the likelihood of finding a pony in blissful sleep was high. Of course, that was where all knowledge of the situation ended, and the mountains of uncertainties began. Which room should she pick? Assuming all four of the major rooms upstairs were bedrooms, how could she know if any even contained a pony? In fact, assuming there was a pony in the room, how could she know that the pony inside the one she would go into was asleep, and not merely relaxing? What if she went in, and found a pony who was completely awake? Having the pony freak out at her home invasion was not a situation she wanted to find herself in.

After careful and dedicated observation, she decided to go for the only window that was actually open. Smirking to herself over the stupidly obvious choice, her horn flashed with a dim blue glow before she became a mist in the night. Darting though the air, she slipped through the gap in the slightly ajar window, and after making sure that she had enough room to reform, began to coalesce back into her alicorn-self. It was a simple process, and when it was all said and done, only five seconds had passed between her turning into the mist to reforming inside the room. A smirk on her face, she faced the bed with her modified Memory Extractor spell.

She almost ruined any chance to inspect this pony's dream right there, for the sight before her sent a muffled snort of laughter through her nose. The pony on the bed—a bright red stallion—completely covered the poor piece of furniture with his massive body. The bed itself slightly bowed downward in the middle from the immense weight of the pony on top of it, though thankfully—at least for the stallion, not the bed—the weight was from muscle, not fat. The stallion had curled himself slightly, and in his forelegs, he held...

Another chuckle escaped her lips. “Is... is that a little filly's doll?”

Observing him a little longer, she realized that the stallion—his crimson coat complimenting his straw-yellow mane—was not somepony that she had ever met before. Seen? Maybe during the party after she was freed from the moon or during Nightmare Night, but they were never actually introduced. A pity, for making sure that all of his relatives knew of his doll-snuggling habits was an opportunity that would be sorely missed.

A shiver emanated from the stallion's body, and frowned slightly shortly after. This took Luna back lightly. Slowly, as to not disturb the stallion, she lit her horn, and bent down. “Just what are you dreaming about, my little subject...”

“They're here for vengeance, ain't they?”

Luna wasn't sure why he muttered that or whom he was muttering it to, but it was the only thing he said to himself before he grew quiet. She could hear the wind blowing outside, the sharp bite of the cold air sending painful daggers into anypony that felt it. Unfortunately for the stallion, the cracks of the old home were not sufficient enough to block the near hurricane-force winds—the red pony shivering constantly from the cold. He looked briefly at the window, and after following his gaze, the princess saw that the night sky was completely black, with not the moon nor a single star visible through the thick cloud bank. She swore she was able to see small tendrils of frost start to build up on the glass panes—sure signs that tonight was going to be one of the worst winter nights Ponyville could ever experience.

The stallion shook his head, and after clearing a thought from his mind, he began to take a few careful steps forward. Even though he walked slowly, the soft taps of hooves on the wood were still easily heard, no matter how hard he tried to muffle them. Luna heard the red pony curse to himself over the noise, and for a brief moment, Luna wished she could aid him by casting a noise canceling spell or by giving him paws like a cat, but like the dream before, she was merely an observer. The stallion slowly made his way to the slightly ajar door, and with a gentle hoof, he—

An unnatural moan echoed through the building, making Luna's nonexistent hair stand on end. It seemed to have the same effect on the stallion, for he quickly bolted to the side of the door and did his best to hide against the wall behind the thin wooden barrier. For a few seconds, the only sound in the room was the wind outside, for the red pony somehow was able to attain a phenomenal level of silence. Still, whatever was through that door was not a natural creature of Equestria, and there was no certainty that simple sound would be needed to identify the stallion's location.

Luna's eyes grew wide, for as soon as she ended those thoughts, a shadow passed across the far wall of the hallway just outside the door. She squinted her eyes, but still couldn't make out what it was. All she knew was that it was big and round—bigger and more bulbous than anypony should possibly be. However, whether that meant that the creature was fat, or if it meant that it was filled with... something... she wasn't sure. The creature slowly shuffled by, giving no clue to whether it was a biped or a quadruped, though Luna's experience of Equestrian creatures and their movements indicated the latter was a much more likely.

The creature stopped, shifting its weight slightly. She couldn't identify where the head was supposed to be, or by extension its sensory organs, but she was confident that it had either heard, seen, or smelled something. Luna was sure that that something was the stallion, but she had no way to warn him of the impending danger. It turned towards the door, and with a slight movement, it advanced half a meter forward, and inspected the room.

Luna was never happier to be both invisible and incorporeal.

Another second passed, and with a final look around the room, the monster stepped back into the hall, turned to its right, and shambled away. A cold chill once again took over the room—the wind outside putting even more pressure on the already strained window. At any moment, that glass could shatter, bathing the entire room in the blistering cold of the outside tundra. Thankfully, it held for now.

The stallion waited almost a full minute after the monster left the doorway before he finally stepped out from behind the cracked wooden door. He must have known that there would be more of the grotesque things out there, but whether from bravery or stupidity—or maybe a combination of both—he continued moving out from his hiding spot. He took a single last look around the bedroom, the room surprisingly pristine compared to the mood that the place held, before he sighed, and turned towards the door.

Without a second thought, albeit with a slight amount of shakiness in his hooves, he made his way through the door. Suddenly finding herself on the wrong side of the doorway, Luna willed her being to move. It was something she had never imagined doing in a dream, and the feeling was the strangest thing she had ever felt. It was similar to when her stomach lurched from a steep dive, but instead of just her stomach, it was her entire body that felt the nausea. It didn't help that when she passed through the wall, the feeling intensified by at least a magnitude of ten.

The urge to vomit was that much greater as well.

Suppressing her gag reflex—assuming she even was capable of things like that in this form—she looked around once more, the mare searching for the stallion. While she was thankful that the creature was nowhere to be found, she began to slightly panic from losing the pony in question. Luna turned in every direction, looking towards both ends of the almost endless hallway. Thankfully, after she turned to look down the other direction of the hall, she finally saw him slowly moving through the long passage as he looked through every doorway, his steps still muffled by his slow movements. Braving that awful feeling once again, she moved behind him, and joined him in looking into all of the rooms they both passed.

Every single room they looked into was the same—a twin bed, a bedside table, a simple lamp on top of the table, a dresser on the right wall, and a window at the far wall. Every single room had the same earthy color scheme, and each was chilled by the same blistering cold as the ones before it. The most unnerving part was the condition that each was in, for each room looked as though it was completely uninhabited, with nary a single flaw in any of them. It was becoming more than a little eerie to look into each as she passed by the dozens upon dozens of identical bedrooms, but she continued on with the stallion. Even if she was aware that it was simply a harmless dream, at least for her, she couldn't help but feel a growing sense of panic.

This is not a normal delve after all, and this something much more... sinister than a simple dream. Can I... can I possibly be harmed here?

She shivered at the thought, and willed it away the best she could. Such an outcome was impossible, for her body was still in the normal world. Still.... it wouldn't hurt anypony to be safe, just in case... right?

Moving along as close to the ceiling as she possibly could, she hovered over the stallion. Door after door passed by, and still everything inside each of the rooms was the same. She took a quick glance in front of them, and saw that the hall only had four rooms left to look through—two on each side. The revelation brought a relieved sigh from the mare. All they had to do was look through the last few doors, and then they could turn around.

…

…Why are there still rooms here?

Looking ahead of the two of them, Luna was shocked to see that there was still four doors in front of her. She was certain before that the hall didn't go any farther! She could see the end of it! It didn't make sense! They were moving forward... weren't they? Trying to figure out what was going on, Princess Luna turned her vision behind her, and gasped.

There were only four doors behind her.

That... that is impossible! We've searched through at least a hundred rooms! What is going on!?

A wounded cry echoing through the hall shook her out of her thoughts, and forced Luna to look down. Eyes widening, she realized that the stallion that she had been following this entire time had disappeared. Desperate, she began to look in all directions and every nearby room to see if she could find the pony in question. Luna's emotions growing frantic, she desperately searched room after room, trying to find the other pony in her group.

Where did he go!? Where is he!?

Thankfully, she found the red pony shortly after that—the stallion sitting in the middle of the eleventh bedroom she looked in. This room was much different than the rest, for unlike the pristine nature of the rest of the sleeping quarters, the entire room looked as though a ungodly amount of fighting had occurred within. The bed was completely mangled, the dresser was broken in at least six places, the lamp was more fitting to be in a scrapyard, and the bedside table was now seventeen different pieces of splintered wood. The floor below had two kinds of liquid: one clear, and one disturbingly red. Luna could only hope that she was wrong at guessing the second liquid's identity.

Moving around the stallion, she realized her identification was sadly correct.

Just in front of the heavily shaking stallion, lay the bodies of two ponies. The first was a young mare, no older than twenty winters, cut down in the prime of her life. A distinct memory of this mare at both Nightmare Night and as one of the Elements of Harmony flashed through Luna's mind, and even if she knew it was all a dream, she couldn't help but to feel a deep sorrow over the mare's demise. The orange mare looked anything but peaceful, a large gash across her neck being the source of the disturbingly large pool of blood on the ground. Add in the shredded hat strewn across the floor, and it was a grisly sight.

Applejack.

Of course, that only made it worse when Luna looked at the second victim. She was just a filly—not even old enough to have received her cutie mark yet. The small yellow filly thankfully didn't appear to have died in as much agony as the other one had. If there was any mercy in this hellish place, then at least this child did not have to die a slow, painful death. It was strange looking at her, the child's small body curled up in a little ball so that it looked as though she was merely asleep, trying to use her own dream to escape the terrifying world around her.

Sadly, the carnage in the room around all of them told the truth of the young child's fate.

For the first time in what felt like an hour, the stallion spoke—the words coming out surprisingly well considering his previous sobbing fit. “Ah'm... Ah'm so sorry. Ah'm so sorry Ah couldn' save ya two... Ah'm... Ah'm jus' so sorry...”

For as much as the stallion deserved a moment of peace, it would not be granted to him this night. Instead, a sudden scraping followed by a ghastly moan echoed from the corner of the room. Both the stallion's and her own gazes turned to the corner, and they saw the terrifying round shape of the murderous creature. The monster began to slowly make its way towards where the stallion stood, its lurching motions making Luna's hair stand on end once again. For a moment, she swore that he was going to take the monster on, and fight to his last breath for what he saw happened to the ponies on the ground—surely dying in the process. Thankfully, he did quite the opposite, and after a last forlorn look at what must have been his siblings, he turned towards the door, and—

He yelped as another creature—one that had somehow quietly made its way inside—lunged at him.

The stallion was barely able to move his forelegs in front of him before the bloated monster fell on top of him. The maw of the creature—the orifice hidden from Luna's view—must have been mere inches from the pony's red neck. Left and right the stallion moved his head in his attempts to shift out from under the huge weight, to no avail. Red forelegs attempted to grip onto the creature's equally red skin, but the stallion's hooves could not find a good grip. Instead, he continued to slip along the slick surface of the monster's flesh. To aid the stallion, Luna ignited her horn, and moved to shoot a powerful ray at the monster.

Nothing happened.

Right. I cannot influence dreams. Very smart, Luna.

She could only watch as the stallion fought desperately for survival, the grotesque being on top of him being having strength that was more than a match for the pony's own. The fact that the second monster in the corner was approaching did nothing to quell the Night Princess' worries for the stallion. Inch by precious inch, the attacker lowered himself closer to the dreamer's neck, hungrily attempting to taste the first bite of pony meat. Just another precious inch, and—

Suddenly, a burst of strength rippled through the stallion's muscles, and with a last ditch attempt to roll, got out from under the demon. With another roll to his left, he got to his hooves. A predator's roar erupted from the stallion's throat as he delivered a swift buck to the monster's side, driving the evil beast to the ground. There was no time for celebration though, for the sounds of more of them in the hall entered the room.

Run!

As if following her command, he tore through the doorway and sprinted down the unnaturally small hallway. Luna followed the best she could, barely able to keep up with the running stallion. Heavy panting emanated from his mouth, the fatigue of his previous rumble already showing. The hallway pressed down on them—the smothering floorboards cracking with each heavy hoofstep he took. The hall extended for miles—an impossible distance for the stallion to traverse in time to get to safety. Still, he ran, attempting to escape from the legions of creatures that were beginning to pour their way out of the doorways around the pair.

Around them, the room itself began to fight against the desperate ponies. To either side, the once pristine bedrooms were now perverted with destruction and decay. The ceiling began to press down on the hall, forcing Luna even closer to the ground. Walls that once were clean and cold to the touch were now warped with a building inferno around them. The stench of rotting flesh filled the already stale air, forcing Luna to swallow another bout of vomit. How the stallion sustained himself without gagging was a mystery.

The room flared with a red glow, the light dimming the already dark hall. The hordes of attackers finally began to press upon the lone pony, their sickly red skin brushing up against his red hair as they closed in. It was only by the grace of luck that he was never pinned by the monsters on either side of him. The sounds of the room filled with groans of the terrible beasts, shuffling noises enveloping the air as they moved in on their meal. Once or twice the stallion nearly tripped, but every time, he regained his footing and galloped even further.

Literally out of nowhere, the hall ended with a cliff-like staircase. The stallion attempted to stop his forward movement, but there was no chance he could stop in time at the speed he was running at. With a frightened cry, the stallion found himself tumbling down the endless stairs, Luna powerless to aid him in the slightest. Sounds of hardened muscle slamming against oak wood reverberated through the chamber, the fall never slowing until he hit the very bottom. Indeed, it was only after he reached the end of the staircase that he landed with a hard crack against the wall, his body growing still.

Come on! Get up! Get up get up get up get up get up—

With a wounded groan, he shakily stood on his hooves, raising his left foreleg from obvious pain. Thankfully, he didn't have much farther to go, for in front of him the doorway to the outside—and potential safety—stood in all its glory. He began to hobble across the foyer, the sounds of the creatures still all around him. Luna looked, and saw that other than right in front of him, the stallion was completely surrounded by the creatures. Limping feebly, he somehow made it to the door in front of him—the peeling paint and cracked wood the only thing between him and his salvation. The stallion put his injured foreleg against the door, and with whatever strength he could gather, pressed it open.

He fell into the creature on the other side.

The stallion had no chance of escape. As soon as he realized what had happened, he was already thrown on his back. Struggling with the first in a useless attempt at escaping, several more of them moved in, and aided in pinning the stallion. For as terrible as it was, Luna was grateful that they hid his body, the sounds of ripping flesh and snapping bone filling the air.

There was nothing that she could do, and sadly, she found herself listening to the dozens upon dozens of bright red apples feast on the pony below.

“AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!” the stallion yelled, sitting up in his bed suddenly. The sudden motion threw Luna off balance, the mare stumbling slightly backwards into the deepest shadows of the room. The only light in the entire room was the dim light of her horn, the light casting a terrifying blue shade across her features. The crimson pony turned towards her, and with his scream raising an octave higher, continued his overpowering panic-attack.

She herself was panicking at his reaction. The urge to run overpowering every other instinct, she quickly turned back into a mist in the night, and darted into the sky. All the while, that blood-curdling scream continued, the lights of the house behind her flickering on being the last things she heard and saw of the residence.

Chapter 3: Showtime

Princess Luna's black form tore through the sky above Sweet Apple Acres, the alicorn still an amorphous mist. Her movements were erratic as she frantically darted left and right as she rose into the night sky. Several seconds went by as she rose higher and higher into the air, until she was just above the lowest of the clouds above the farmhouse. Slowly, her form came to a stop, and with much calmer movements, she gently allowed herself to drift over one of the larger patches of cloud cover.

She quickly coalesced back into her natural form, and with a single flap of her blue wings, landed on the clouds below. With a heavy sigh, Luna closed her eyes, and allowed her legs to buckle and her body to collapse onto the natural pillow beneath her. She didn't want to think about anything that was going on around her—the thoughts of the experience moments before much more frightening than she wanted to think about—so instead focused on her breathing. It was only marginally successful, her thoughts continuing to drift to that experience again and again.

With a much more audible sigh, she used her forelegs to cover her eyes. “That was close... and unpleasant.”

Luna decided to lay there for some time further, the mare having no desire to move after the experience with the dream. Instead, she looked up, and tried her best to lose herself in the view of her moon. Like before—when she was focusing on her breathing—it was only marginally successful, and her thoughts continued to dwell on the dream from just minutes before. The entire time she was in the nightmare, she knew that the entire thing was harmless to her, even if it was as vivid as reality. Tartarus, even that stallion wasn't in any real danger! So why did she begin to panic as much as she did? It wasn't a question with a good answer.

With another heavy sigh, Luna closed her eyes, and willingly allowed herself to relive the entire experience of both inside and outside the dream. As she thought to herself, the one moment that started to stand out more and more was that brief moment—just barely more than a second—when the crimson stallion looked right into her eyes, and screamed. It was not like the screams of the ponies that she met during Nightmare Night almost a year ago, but one of absolute terror. The best way to describe it was that it was the scream of a pony begging for his life, even if he knew that there was no hope of changing his fate.

She flattened her ears, and with a dark chuckle, murmured, “Heh... not like it is the first time that a pony screamed at me like that though...”

Deciding that laying here moping over the situation on this lonely cloud was not constructive to her supposed night of happiness and fun, she spread her large wings, and with a leap, took off into the sky. She flapped her wings a few times to pick up a small amount of speed and altitude, until she finally leveled off and took to a much more leisured flight. In contrast to the furious speeding flight that she took from Canterlot, she found herself less using a flapping motion to keep her aloft and more the angle and shape of her wings.

It was relaxing to fly like this, and found that it was much easier to let her mind wander when flying and taking in the sights below as opposed to just laying on a cloud. Below her, the vast fields of apple trees continued to expand across the landscape—as they did to both her left and right as well. However, it would only be a few seconds longer before she would fly over Ponyville proper on her way back to Canterlot.

In the outskirts of Ponyville, several hundred meters from the border of the village—yet well outside of Sweet Apple Acres—a single solitary house drew her full attention. It was interesting to look at, considering that ponies were much more inclined to be communal rather than solitary, but maybe the pony—or ponies—in this house found the distance from Ponyville not too much of a hassle. Regardless, the home was fairly simple, with all of the standard accessories that a simple residence like this should have.

Of course, the curious aspect about this building was that the lights on the lower story were on this late into the night. In fact, Luna suspected that it was a few hours past midnight by this point—well past the normal time that ponies finally went to bed. To say that whoever was awake was “burning the midnight oil” was an understatement. With this sole exception, every other house that she could see in Ponyville was dark, with the ponies inside each enjoying the dreams that sleep brought them. Curiosity taking over, the mare tilted her wings slightly, and went to investigate.

Just like at her previous destination, she slowly glided her way down in wide circles around her target, never beating her wings once as she slowly fell from the night sky. Upon finally making it within a few meters of the roof of the residence, she lit her horn, and shifted into the mist-form that she had been making frequent use of tonight. Her first thought was to do what she did last time, and simply seep into a slightly open window. However, upon second thought, she decided that going through a second story window would not aid her very much in her mission to figure out why these ponies were still awake. So instead, she dove towards the front door, and after taking a careful peek under the small crack underneath it to make sure nopony was looking in the direction of the entryway, she flowed inside.

Once inside the residence, she quickly darted to the right to hide behind a wall. Instantly a loud and furious voice from a mare screaming at somepony entered her ears. “—and every Celestia damn night you do this! Just once—just once—I wish you would come home sober, and act your damn age, you stupid, insensitive mule!”

Another voice, this one much heavier and deeper than the previous, rebutted just as loudly, if not more so. “Don't you give me that crap! I’m the one who makes the damn bits in this house, and I'll do what I want with them!”

“Make the bits my flank! You only make enough to get yourself drunk every night. I’m the one that makes the bits that puts the Celestia dammed food on the Celestia dammed table! If it wasn't for me, we would've STARVED!”

“Oh don't get on all 'self-righteous' on me, you stupid little whore! You and I both know how you get those dirty bits, and it ain't from your waitress job! You do your repulsive shit, take your bits, and flaunt them in front of me like the little bitch you are, just so you can yell at me!”

“How... how DARE you think that I make those bits for myself! I do all those Celestia dammed things for our Celestia dammed daughter!”

“Our daughter? Our daughter!? Our damn daughter my flank! She doesn't even look like me!!”

“Screw you!”

“Screw you, and screw that dammed filly! If I had half a mind, I would—”

Luna zipped up the stairs as quickly as she could—the alicorn unable to stand listening to the terrible argument any further. Weren't ponies supposed to be happy and carefree all the time? That's what she had seen ever since her return, with maybe one or two exceptions, with one of those exceptions being her own Captain Vigilant. Hearing these two argue... no... verbally assault with each other completely shattered that mental image of her subjects. Were these two just part of the exception that she had heard about, and most ponies were still living in happiness and harmony? Or maybe this is what most ponies were like outside of the public eye—terrible creatures that would fight each other, fathers that would abandon their children, and stallions that would pay mares for such... carnal services.

While Luna wanted to believe in the first one, considering the mare's other profession and the fact that it appeared to be a lucrative one, Luna was inclined to believe the second.

With the sounds of yelling still filling her ears, she finally made her way upstairs, and found only four doors up there. From the left, the first door was a simple linen closet—that much was obvious just by looking at the closed bifold door. The second room was a simple bathroom with the standard amenities to go along with the room. As she peered in, the only noteworthy thing about the bathroom was that there was only one set of toiletries—a single toothbrush and a single manebrush being the most prominent of examples. This led her to believe that it was only the filly that used this bathroom, while the paren... no... the adults had a separate bathroom in the master bedroom. Said master bedroom was in front of Luna—the door slightly ajar—and while she could easily see into the open doorway, she had absolutely no desire to look inside the room that those two slept in.

To Luna's right, a closed door separated herself from the final bedroom, the one that most likely had the mentioned filly within. As the sounds of arguing continued to enter her ears, she looked near the floor, and noticed that the light was out inside the bedroom—a sure sign that the filly was at least trying to sleep. Luna was still in her mist form, so it was only a matter of slipping through the small crack to get into the bedroom.

The room was fairly mundane, especially for a pony this age. The walls were mostly bare, with the only decoration a single framed picture of what looked like the filly and two of her friends playing with her in a field on the wall above her bed. Other than the picture and bed itself, there wasn't much else in this room. A single desk sat against the right wall, though from the looks of things, it was used more as a shelf for random clutter than anything else. The only other thing of note in the entire room was the occupied bed, which was situated in the far left corner.

Sadly, even with the door closed, Luna could hear the the constant yells and screams of the terribly broken couple downstairs.

Coalescing back into her alicorn-form, Princess Luna slowly walked up to the small bed, and frowned at what she saw. On the bed, a small orange pegasus shivered in the dark. The filly had curled herself up into a ball on her side, her wings and magenta tail visibly twitching in unease from the noises outside. Short, frantic breaths passed through the small pony's nose, to the point that the filly must have been on the verge of hyperventilation. Through her closed eyelids, her eyes darted in every direction in what must have been a terrible nightmare, not to mention the tears that cut across her cheeks. At some point in the night, she must have bucked off the sheets, for they were bundled up at the hoof of the bed, long forgotten in her terrible slumber.

Luna scowled. How dare those two think about themselves before their child. The mother was slightly redeemable, for while she did perform such terrible things, at least the mare apparently did them in an attempt to take care of the small filly. The father, on the other hoof, appeared to be an absolute monster when it came to their home life, as well as an alcoholic and pitiful excuse for a pony. Luna had half a mind to storm downstairs, give those two a piece of the Lunar Goddess' verbal wrath, take the filly, and save her from this atrocity. Sadly, she knew she couldn't do anything even remotely like this—the scandal of stealing away a child without warning would be irreparably catastrophic to the image she had been working so hard to build after her return.

Not to mention her dearest sister wouldn't approve, though Luna didn't give two bits about that part.

Snorting a frustrated breath—and with a hardened glare—Luna brightly ignited her horn. She turned, released the spell that she had charged, and shot the door she had just come through. With a muffled thud, the spell impacted the door, and it spread through every single wall of the room as well as the window on the far wall. Almost immediately, the sounds of the arguing ponies from downstairs were reduced to a hushed muffle, leaving the room in a blissful silence. She made sure that the spell held, and when she was sure that it was properly in place, she cast another spell onto the walls of the room.

With a smile, the Night Princess whispered, “There. That silence spell will activate every night for at least a few years...”

Now much more satisfied with the mood of the room, Luna turned back towards the bed. She took the discarded sheets into her magical hold, and with a slight tug, pulled them over the small orange body, so that only the filly's large head poked through. That job complete, Luna—carefully as to not wake the small child—used her magic to gently stroke the filly's magenta mane, and tried to do her best to straighten out the tangled mess in the process. Finally, Luna began to hum a slow tune that she learned from her mother well over a millennium ago—a lullaby that was as slow and calm as the night was dark.

It took a few minutes, but the combination of the strokes, the song, and the now properly placed sheets—as well removing the awful noise from outside—began taking effect. The small filly's body stopped quivering in unrest, her eyes began settling into a much more relaxed state, and the tears that once leaked out of her eyes had now dried up. Even more heartwarming was the small smile that began forming on the small pegasus' muzzle—a much happier dream replacing the previous nightmare.

Finally, Luna's soft lullaby came to an end, and with a smile, she softly whispered, “There. All tucked in and ready to sleep.” Luna sniffed. “Like a good sister would help you do...”

Even with the thought, it didn't hurt her upbeat mood. Now that the filly was in a much more pleasant dream, Luna felt that her job here was finished, and with a happy sigh, she got herself up onto her hooves, and made her way towards the window—the thought of going back through the room downstairs, as well as the argument, was not on her list of priorities. She was glad that she made this particular pit-stop, for she had been able to help the small child, at least in—

The filly's voice whispered through the dark, “Rainbow Dash...”

That brought the alicorn's attention back to the filly behind her. Her attention now firmly on the small orange pegasus, Luna turned around, and made her way back to the bed in the corner. Still tucked under the sheets, the pegasus had snuggled deeper into the warmth of her bed, her little nose still sniffling slightly from her previous crying. Little movements from under the sheet—right around where her wings would be—rounded out how completely adorable the scene was.

With a smile, Luna prepared her spell, bent down, and touched the tip of her horn to the small filly's head.

High above the ground in the clouds above what looked like some kind of stadium in the middle of nowhere, Luna's gaze fell over the landscape. The cloud that she had appeared next to was the only one in the large expanse that was the mid-afternoon sky. The breeze was slight, and while it was much more preferable to fly when when there was no wind at all, the slight wind was something even the most amateur of pegasi could handle. Adding to the wonderful breeze, the air was just the right temperature for a pony to relax or play in.

On the cloud itself, stood two ponies. The first was the orange pony that the dream was created by, her coat and feathers blowing slightly in the wind. She was just slightly larger than she was in the real world, though all of the proportions—from her wings to her head—were exactly the same as her normal filly-self. Her wings fidgeted with anticipation for the flight that was most likely soon to come. It was impossible to see her face from this angle, but Luna could imagine that the filly had a steeled stare of determination on her. Her flank was bare of any cutie mark—the child apparently unable to dream of a suitable mark for herself—but from the looks of it, she either didn't notice, or didn't care.

The second pony on the cloud was much more familiar, her rainbow mane flowing in the breeze as she walked up next to the child. Suddenly, the older mare spoke, her voice rough and scratchy compared to a typical mare's. “Are you sure about this, Scootaloo?”

The filly—apparently named Scootaloo—chuckled as she shook her head. “You act like you think I’m not good enough to do this.”

“You and I both know that I don't feel that way,” the older mare said as she nudged her companion with her shoulder. “I'm just worried that you don't realize how complicated this actually is.”

Scootaloo chucked for a few seconds, before she turned to the pegasus to her left. Still chuckling, she flapped her wings a few times in eager anticipation. “Hey, you said that I was good enough to do this no sweat, right?”

“Right...”

“Well then don't worry about it so much.” As quickly as her confidence peaked, Scootaloo looked down, and lightly kicked the cloud under her with a forehoof. “You do believe in me... right, Rainbow Dash?”

Not even waiting for a second, the rainbow-maned pegasus leaned her head closer to her companion, and gave the pony a quick friendly nuzzle. “Of course I do.”

“And you... you're with me. Right?”

Rainbow pulled back, and with a smile, gazed into Scootaloo's eyes. “Squirt, no matter where you go, I’ll be right there behind you for support.”

That seemed to calm the filly's nerves, for she gave the mare a quick nod, then faced back to the front of the cloud. The pair stood there for a while longer, letting their mutual company give them the strength and comfort that they were probably going to need in whatever event that was apparently coming up. The wind whistled across their bodies, sending both of their tails flying to the side. It was a interesting thing to see—the two heavily contrasting pegasi happily standing there on the cloud—but the thought of the two very close friends together in wonderful harmony put a smile on Luna's nonexistent face.

I just wish this filly had a life as happy as this dream.

Suddenly, the two flared their wings wide, and with a running jump, began a terrifyingly swift dive towards the stadium below. Luna moved her form closer to the edge of the fluffy cloud so that she could see the aerial display below. Before the two even began, the alicorn could see that each had a fairly distinct trail of colors—Rainbow Dash with a prismatic trail and Scootaloo with a magenta one—following them as they tore through the sky. It wasn't long until both turned skyward again, and with the entire stadium below cheering, they began their routine.

It started off as a somewhat laid back flight, with the two pegasi starting off with simple flips and turns, allowing both the crowd below to become enraptured with the two as well as giving the pair a nice little warmup. For an opener, it was a fairly simple experience, but it was just enough to give the audience below a nice little spectacle of what was to come. The entire time, the pair mirrored each other move for move—every time Rainbow did a flip, turn, or barrel roll, Scootaloo did the same.

After a few seconds of carefully planned yet simple maneuvers, the two—currently a fair distance away from each other—shot skyward, heavily beating their wings to gain the precious altitude apparently needed for their next series of tricks. They eventually became level with the cloud where they started the entire routine, and with a near perfect right-angle turn, approached one another. As soon as they got close, they both banked to Luna's left, eventually impacting each other with their hooves. The harsh hit against each other's hooves forced the two to bounce in the opposite direction while they continued to fly hard to the side. Again, they both banked towards their partner, and with the same amount of force as the previous hit, slammed their hooves together again, and like last time, broke away.

They repeated this move at least half a dozen times—each cycle only lasting about a second—until their speed began to bleed off too much for them to continue. The pair dove towards the ground, their speed increasing by a factor of ten as they did so. As soon as they neared the stadium itself, they went to impact each other again, only to stay close to each other this time. Now together, they made a sharp turn up, so that both were flying side-by-side just a hundred meters above the ground. With speed that would rival the swiftest Wonderbolt, the two tore just a few meters above the heads of the spectators in the stands.

Luna used this opportunity to whisk her way down from her cloud perch, so that she was in the stands themselves. It was an easy process, for it was only a simple teleport spell that was needed—the fact that she didn't have her horn apparently wasn't an issue—and within a second, she was in the proper place to witness the best of the action. Granted the movement sent new waves of nausea that were much stronger than in the previous dream, but the feeling was slowly becoming manageable.

The pegasi, upon passing the far end of the stadium, broke off into opposite directions with their speed intact. As they circled around the arena, the sound of the cheering crowd nearly deafened the alicorn, and as soon as they passed the quarter mark—so that they both were on opposite sides of the stadium—they blasted towards one another.

It was only then that Luna noticed the forming Mach cone appearing in front of both of the ponies.

As soon as they were near, they both banked right, and quickly began a neck-breaking right turn that took both of them into a slowly ascending spiral around the other. The rainbow and magenta colors of their trails began to blur into the other's, until they both merged into one single column of multicolored winds. Up and up they flew, their move turning the formerly calm day around them into a massive swirling colored clouds.

Are those two creating a tornado!?

Indeed, the beginnings of a funnel cloud was beginning to form, yet the pair never stopped their sharp spiral motions. Eventually—after the tornado reached self sustainability—the two split off in opposite directions once again, allowing the tornado to continue to form on its own accord. However, as the tornado began to grow more and more intense, the two pegasi turned back around, and sped back towards the swirling vortex they created. Again, Luna noticed the Mach cone forming around the front of both pegasi.

Just as the very tip of the tornado touched the ground, the two ponies slammed into the walls of the colorful tornado, punching two holes into opposite sides of the weather system. Instantly, the tornado destabilized, exploding from the two missiles that punched through it. Spiraling swirls of all of the colors of the rainbow—plus magenta—reverberated through the sky alongside a crackling thunder. Once again, the deafening cheers and yells of an excited crowd deafened the princess to any other noise in the air. Even the once raging tornado—now nothing more than slowly rippling colors in the sky—could not overpower the noise of the cheering.

But... where are the two pegasi?

Out of the corner of her eye, Luna barely made out the forms of two pegasi tumbling erratically through the sky. As quickly as she could—considering she was still a mist—Luna flew herself towards where the two mares were falling just before they disappeared behind the far wall of the stadium. Soon, Luna was able to make her way above the highest rim of the stands, and upon getting there, was able to make out where the pair were heading. From the speed and trajectory that they were moving at, as well as accounting for any potential attempts at correcting their fall, she placed their landing to be within a distant forest.

As quickly as she could, she sped towards the wooded area, hoping that she would get there in time to... well... she wasn't sure what she would be able to to do. Regardless, Luna hoped that she would be able to get there to—if nothing else—witness the end result of the fall. Faster and faster she flew, until she quickly reached the very edge of the forest before her. Heedless to whatever danger might be inside, she tore through the outer edges of the forest, and made her way inside.

In a nice little spring of good fortune, it only took a few seconds for Princess Luna to find the pair. They had apparently used a few trees to slow their fall, before landing in a larger patch of shrubbery. In actually, it only because of the luck from moments before that Luna was able to find them, for the only thing that she could see from either of them in the bush was the very end of Rainbow Dash's colorful mane and tail. The only other sign that the two were in there was the small rustling of the struggling mares.

Rainbow Dash was the first one to pop her head out of the bush, and while her mane was covered in twigs and scuff marks, she looked no less for wear. For a few moments, the mare was somewhat dazed from the sudden fall—her eyes literally spinning in their sockets. Eventually, Rainbow shook her head, ridding it of the disorientation, and with a small giggle, looked around the bush under her.

“Come on, you silly filly.” Rainbow Dash giggled as she continued, “It's time for you to get out from there. Lazy time is long over.”

Slowly, the second pegasus rose from the bushes, and with the exception of the coloration, she looked very similar to how Rainbow looked right now. Small bits of twigs and leaves stuck out from her mane, and her orange coat was completely scuffed up from the massive amount of dirt and grime that she gathered on the way down from the sky. Also just like Rainbow Dash from earlier, the mare's eyes were spinning in her head, giving the mare a slightly comical look. The only other difference between the two was the gratuitous amount of tree sap all over her body.

“But I don't wanna go to school today,” the pegasus filly slurred as her head wobbled from side-to-side slightly. “I just wanna go out and play with Rainbow Dash...”

The older mare giggled again, shoving the younger filly slightly. “Equestria to Squirt! Come in, Squirt! This is Rainbow Dash calling!”

Scootaloo shook her head, and finally getting her bearings, turned towards Rainbow, and smiled. “So... did we do it?”

“If by it, you mean did we completely send that crowd of ponies into hysterical excitement, then yes. Yes we did.”

The filly smiled. “All thanks to you.”

Again, Rainbow shoved the filly to the side slightly. “Hey, I’m not the one that came up with the routine. That was all you. I was just learning from the greatest pegasus in all of Equestria!”

The pair began laughing at that suggestion—a genuine laughter of blissful playfulness. Shoving the cyan pegasus back, Scootaloo sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned her head against Rainbow's shoulder. “We both know you're the best.”

Returning the smile, Rainbow closed her eyes, and leaned her head against the filly's. “True... but you come in a close second.”

For a while, the two just sat there—their bodies still mostly in the bushes—with their heads resting on each other. It was a sweet sight to say the least, and if this wasn't in the middle of a dream, Luna would've left these two to their own private time. Sure, the fact it was a dream still meant that she was invading the private thoughts of Scootaloo, but it wasn't like Luna was doing anything to harm her or anything. In fact, if anything, this was all meant to help the filly... right?

Probably not.

It was a long minute before Scootaloo sighed, and whispered, “Rainbow Dash?”

“...Yeah?”

“I love you, Rainbow Dash. You're the greatest sister ever.”

“I love you too, Squirt.”

Luna smiled to herself as she watched the two ponies lean against each other, giggling to themselves as they sat in the shrubbery. She felt that now was a good enough time to leave the filly's dream to herself, and slowly ended her spell. The last thing she saw of the dream was the smiling faces of the two pegasi.

Luna pulled away from the filly's forehead, and with an ever-growing smile on her face, watched as the small pony giggled to herself in her sleep. As the filly continued to murmur the older mare's name in her sleep, Luna once again made her way to the window, and with a slight use of her magic, opened it. She morphed into a mist once again, and quickly whisked herself just outside of the window—quickly morphing back into her natural state soon after. Beating her wings heavily to keep herself in a hover, the Night Princess turned back around, and with one final look at the adorable filly inside, closed the window.

Chapter 4: Adventure

With a hard flap of her wings, Luna leveled out her flight path and began gliding just below the slight cloud cover. Below the mare, the village of Ponyville sprawled out in all directions. Although the settlement seemed so large from here, it was still small enough that at even at this height, she could see every border. Other than a few streetlamps and the occasional residence, every light in the village was out, creating a darkness that made her night above that much more glorious. It was much more pleasant to view the stars in Ponyville, for when she could see past the cloud cover, their radiance was greater than in the perpetually bright Canterlot sky.

No matter how hard the alicorn tried, she couldn't wipe the little smile she wore off of her face, and it wasn't because of the glory of her night. Everything the little filly from ten minutes ago dreamed about was completely adorable. Sure, by the way that the child looked at herself in her dream, if Luna had straight up said to the filly's face that she was adorable, Scootaloo would most likely find it insulting. Of course, that was also assuming that Scootaloo didn't completely flip out at the presence of a princess.

Thinking for a moment, Princess Luna once again wondered if there was anything she could do to help the filly. Well... there were many things she could do—everything from giving the mother a high paying government position, putting Scootaloo in foster care, to even possibly raising the child as her own in Canterlot. Being one of the princesses of Equestria tended to have little benefits like that, so she was certain that if she decided on a course of action, no matter what it was, it would be done.

However, all of that said, the million bit question was if there was anything Luna SHOULD do for the filly. While providing a well paying government job might help, who was to say that the mother wouldn't use the money for her own pleasures? Luna barely knew how responsible the mare was after all. As for taking the child from her parents, that was not an option that should ever be considered except for the most dire of situations. Such a decision, while always well intended at first, could do so much damage to the innocent filly's mind.

Thankfully, this situation did not seem dire—at least in the short run.

“Regardless,” Luna whispered to herself, “I suppose I could monitor the filly in the future, as well as speak with my aides to determine if there is a course of action suitable for the situation.”

That problem resolved, at least for now, Luna went back to thinking about Scootaloo's dream. There was one part of the dream that she quickly became transfixed by. It wasn't the setting. It wasn't the audience. It wasn't even the curious amount of knowledge that the inexperienced flier appeared to have—though that might be related to the subject that Luna was thinking about. Instead, it was the companion that Scootaloo had the entire time.

“Rainbow Dash,” Luna whispered to herself.

That name rang a bell, and not just because Scootaloo had said it many times in her dream. Thinking back, Luna realized where she knew the name from—Rainbow Dash was one of the Elements of Harmony. Luna had looked into the identities of her saviors enough to learn what their names were. While she didn't remember the specific Element she was, what Luna did remember was that this was the same mare that had been incredibly... annoying when it came to the amount of pranks she had played last Nightmare Night.

It was then that Luna decided her next destination, and with a quick spell, divined the general direction of where Rainbow Dash lived.

Banking to her left, Luna quickly set her sights in the direction that the spell was pointing her. Impatient to get to her next destination, she began to quickly beat her wings faster and faster, quickly becoming a speeding bullet in the sky. At these speeds, it didn't take long for Luna to leave the airspace above the village, and she quickly found herself soaring over the rolling hills between Ponyville and Canterlot.

It was around that point that Luna finally gazed upon Rainbow's house. If she were asked to describe the place in one word, Luna would be forced to use the word “extravagant,” and not in an entirely flattering way. The house was more akin to pegasus design than the earth pony design normal to the village, as huge cloud banks were forced together to create the house. It appeared that the comparatively inexpensive building materials had been put to good use, for the house was well within the realms of a mansion, with the highest rooms in the tower looming over the landscape below. Add in several spewing fountains and waterfalls of rainbows, and it made for quite the residence.

Luna couldn't help but roll her eyes as she approached the over-the-top residence. “Quite the humble and modest pony, I see.”

Assuming that the mare's bedroom was on the top floor, Luna aimed herself towards one of the open windows on the top-most level. Without skipping a beat, the alicorn shifted herself into a mist—mostly to make sure her wings didn't plow their way through the sides of the cloud window—and passed through the open passage without trouble. As soon as she was inside, she realized that the top floor was definitely not the bedroom, with random exercise equipment being the big clue. Therefore, she was forced to begin roaming the residence for her target.

Thankfully, it was a quick search, and Princess Luna found the mare in question the next floor down. She quickly shifted back into her natural form, and after making sure everything was in order, looked at the pegasus in question. It was an amusing sight to behold, for the mare had apparently fallen asleep while reading what must have been a riveting book. Luna didn't recognize the book in question, but she assumed it was an exciting one for Rainbow Dash, because it was draped over her face as she slept. The pages of the hardcover slightly muffled the loud snores that the mare was making, though they were still sufficient to drown out most other noises. Other than that—and the fact that Rainbow Dash had sheets matching her cutie mark—the room was a fairly mundane navy blue.

Luna couldn't take the suspense any longer. Taking a few steps forward, she quickly ignited her horn, and after shifting the book away from the mare's forehead, bent down, and lightly pressed the tip of her horn against the mare's head.

“I demand that you untie me!” Rainbow yelled.

Very swiftly, Luna was able to adjust to the frequency of this dream, and therefore was able to quickly get a view of her surroundings. Rainbow Dash was, strangely enough, dressed up in an olive green shirt—vests were much more common when it came to both mares and stallions. A tan pith helmet somehow rested on her head, despite the fact that the pegasus was lying on her back and didn't have it visibly secured with a chin strap.

The room around Luna and Rainbow was very dim—the only light coming from torches in each corner of the room. Apart from those small beacons of light, the gray stone walls stood mightily and seamlessly with the exception of a single doorway on the left wall, leaving Luna to suspect that they were in some sort of castle. Halfway up each wall, various carvings of the three pony races wrapped around the room, each one unique compared to the others. The center of the room was at least a full floor lower than the floor near the walls with large stone steps leading downward, making the room look like some kind of mock-arena. The only other interesting aspect to this somewhat bare room was the large stone slab situated in the center, like some kind of table or altar.

Oh, and there was the fact that Rainbow Dash was tied to the stone slab—that was fairly notable too.

Suddenly, a wild laughter echoed through the chamber, sending slight shivers down the pegasus' body. Three griffons strode through the doorway as the laughter continued to flow through the room. Concerning their appearances, the two in front were exact matches of one another. Both had brown feathers with a white underbelly, both were wearing a gray vest with a matching gray helmet, and both were completely expressionless as they gazed upon the restrained Rainbow Dash.

On the other hoof, the third griffon looked much different. His feathers were black along his back, though his belly was just as white as his companions. Along the upper surface of his beak, a thin dark smudge marred the normally orange structure, though whether the black was natural or simply dirt was ambiguous. While he was also wearing a gray vest, along one of the sleeves he wore a red armband, with a black outline of a frowning face inside of a white circle.

This third griffon let out a laugh identical to the one from a few seconds earlier. He then took another step forward, and smiled. “So, Rainbow Dash, you thought you could stop the might of the 'No-Sea' Party?”

Rainbow turned her head towards the griffon, and with a scowl on her face, replied. “I knew you were the one behind this, Stinkenden Gänsegeier Kot!”

“Please, just Stinkenden to you, Fräulein Dash. I believe you have been attempting to thwart my plans for long enough to have each other on a first name basis, don't you think?”

Rainbow didn't bother replying to the statement. Instead, she struggled even harder against the ropes wrapped against her. “You'll never get away with this, Stinkenden!”

Stinkenden chuckled as he flew closer to her. Landing next to the mare, he slowly began to run a single talon along her side—the grotesque touch causing her to fruitlessly attempt to pull away. Her struggles only served to cause the griffon to laugh again. “Ah, but you see, Rainbow, I already have. You were all that stood in the way of my ultimate goal. All that is left is to destroy you, then I exterminate the seaponies, then I take the world for the glory of the Avian race!” Together, Stinkenden and his two minions began to laugh at the apparent inevitability of their conquest.

Seaponies? What are seaponies?

She wasn't able to dwell on the thought further, for Rainbow's stern and determined voice cut her off—the mare addressing the laughing griffon next to her. “You're a monster.”

“A monster? Nein. I am not a monster. I am merely a visionary of our glorious future, where the 'No-Sea' party purifies the world of the filth in the oceans.” Turning his tail towards Rainbow, he began to walk away. “Now, please allow this overly complicated series of devices end your life as I see to my victory.”

Looking up, Luna was shocked to see that where there was once nothing, there was now a large series of devices in some sort of Rube Coltberg-style contraption. There was a lever attached to a rope which fed through three dozen pulleys that would hit a ball down a chute, flip a switch that would... well... Luna wasn't sure what it would do. In fact—maybe it was because this was merely a dream—many of the steps didn't seem to connect with each other at all. All she saw was another chute, a water clock, and at least one full set of lost marbles. However, the end was obvious, for the final step was where a lock would be released to open a large door, sending at the pegasus waves upon waves of—

“Bunnies,” Rainbow Dash whispered to herself, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the pin containing hundreds of rabbits. “Why did it have to be bunnies.”

“Because, Fräulein Dash, bunnies make just about everything more exciting with you. Until we see again, which will be never, farewell!” With a final wave, Stinkenden turned the corner, and after flipping the switch to start the series of traps, escaped through the passage. However, his two minions walked through the doorway—just past Luna's line of sight—and stood on the other side to make sure that Rainbow Dash did not attempt to escape.

Of course, as soon as the leader left, escape is what Rainbow attempted to do. For her part, she tried everything that Luna herself could think of, and even a few things that the princess hadn't imagined to be possible. She tried slipping out of the ropes, biting the ropes, using her hooves to cut the rope, as well as using the corners of the stone slab to slowly slice through the bindings. Rainbow even attempted to untie the knot with her tail—a feat that failed just as spectacularly as one might expect.

Looking at the water-clock—the only definite way to judge how much time the mare had left—Rainbow saw that her time was quickly beginning to run out. Of course, because she realized this, she began to lose her cool, which meant that her carefully calculated movements quickly became panicked struggles. Obviously Luna had never been one, but she had heard countless times that the worst nightmare for any escape artist was panic, for once a pony begins to panic, any hope of getting out is lost. A few seconds later, and Rainbow took another look at the water-clock—it read sixty seconds.

Sighing to herself, Rainbow stopped struggling, and closed her eyes. “Well... it was a good run, I guess...”

Suddenly, there was a pair of yells from the doorway, followed by the sounds of crashing and cracking. Both Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna looked up towards the doorway, attempting to see the cause of the chaos. Of course, because of the bend in the passageway, it was impossible to tell. However, out of the corner of her eyes, Luna could see that the captive pegasus was still sweating in stress—the mare obviously unsure of the allegiance of the unknown force. The crashing and banging continued for another second or two, until it suddenly stopped.

A second later, a single dented helmet rolled inside of the room—the metal headpiece slowly bouncing down the steps—until it hit the side of the stone slab.

Rainbow and Luna both looked at the helmet for a few seconds, neither entirely sure how to react to what had just happened. It was at least ten seconds before either of them were able to pull their eyes away from the ruined protective garment, and together, they looked to the doorway. Slowly, the shadowy form of what looked like a pony began to appear—their mane wild from the chaos he or she had just wrought upon those two minions. If it wasn't for the fact that Luna couldn't be hurt, she would've backed away in fright.

Finally, with a final few steps, the pony showed herself to them.

Wait a second, is that not the pony from Nightmare Night? The one named—

“Fluttershy! My trusted assistant!” Rainbow Dash beamed as her voice showed every single ounce of excitement that swelled within her. “You came back for me!”

“Oh, of course I came back,” the victorious pegasus said as she quickly trotted her way to her companion. “You didn't think I would abandon you, did you?”

“Well, when you said, 'I hate you. I'm leaving and never coming back,' after I treated you so harshly yesterday, I got a little worried. Sorry about that by the way.” Rainbow Dash smiled wider as she looked into her friend's eyes. “Now quickly, help me out of these binds before the bunnies get out.”

Promptly saluting, Fluttershy yelled, “On it!” Quickly, the yellow mare worked her teeth over the ropes as she bit into the thick twine. It didn't take long for her to break through the ropes, and after shrugging off the bindings, Rainbow Dash was free.

“Alright!” Rainbow yelled as she rolled herself over onto her belly. With a quick hop, she got herself back onto her hooves and jumped off of the uncomfortable stone bed and onto the ground below, albeit with a little help from her friend via an outstretched forehoof. “Now, let's get out of here before—”

It was that moment that there was a terribly loud clicking of a large lock unlatching. All three ponies in the room quickly turned their gaze towards the large door blocking the impending onslaught of bunnies—said floodgate slowly opening due to the force of the thousands of rabbits behind it.

“Oh... oh my...”

They are dead.

“Run!”

Deciding to take that little bit of advice, the two pegasi began running up the steps, and through the passage that Fluttershy had come from just a minute before. Luna herself decided that joining the duo was the probably the most prudent of ideas, and after quickly turning tail, she sped alongside the pair, determined to keep up with the galloping ponies. It was slow going at first, for the pegasi pair had to effectively climb a set of stairs to get to the ground level from the stone slab, but once there, their speed easily doubled as they made their way through the doorway.

Of course, it was then that the bunnies finally broke loose, and the flood of furry creatures began to make their way towards the ponies.

The three took a quick left turn, and Luna finally saw the rest of the chamber. It was all one single hallway, the lone passage extending a hundred meters before the bright light of the outside world blocked her vision. Several pits and the rubble of crumbling walls were scattered along the passage—obstacles that would force her two corporeal companions to slow down to cross. Long constricting vines hanging from above blocked any hope of the two merely darting across the expanse with their wings, making traversing the area that much more of a challenge.

“Come on, Fluttershy! Let's go!” Rainbow yelled as she began galloping along the hallway. Soon after, her yellow-coated companion came back to her senses, and with a determined face, began running behind her green-vested friend. Luna was somewhat surprised that Rainbow decided to take the front, especially considering that Fluttershy had to have just come along this path moments before, but... well... this was Rainbow's dream, so why argue?

A heavy crash sounded from behind them. Looking behind her, Luna noticed that the horde of bunnies had coalesced into a ball of fluff ten meters high—the massive living bunny boulder just starting to barrel its way onward to crush the two ponies ahead. It was then that Luna saw that the two previously unconscious soldiers from before beginning to stir. Each opened their eyes as they looked around at their surroundings. Of course, the first important thing that either of them saw was the bunny boulder rolling towards them.

They didn't even get to scream before they were crushed under the boulder's weight, and absorbed into the mass.

Fluttershy must have seen the results, for she said with a frantic voice, “Rainbow Dash! We have to hurry!”

Using her wings and tail to balance herself as she moved along a narrow beam, Rainbow ran as fast as she could away from the bunnies. With a quick front-flip, she jumped over a speeding crossbow bolt that was launched at her, planted her hooves back onto the rickety wooden beam, and continued to speed through the darkened tunnel. “I know! I'm running as fast as I can! I just don't understand how Stinkenden got out of here so quickly!”

Luna watched from above as Fluttershy followed every single one of Rainbow's steps—the mare making absolutely sure to dodge each of the traps that were sprung against her. “Maybe... maybe there was a secret passage or something!”

“But that doesn't explain how I got in here! I don't remember any of this!”

Her pink-maned friend never answered, for the the wooden beam that they were just galloping on a few seconds ago was now crashing into the abyss below from the weight of the living boulder. Realizing how close the bunnies really were, the two silenced their conversation, and focused all of their attention forward once more, the two doing their best to shut out the world around them.

Princess Luna sped onward to get ahead of the two mares in a desperate attempt to judge just how far they had to go before reaching their salvation. It wasn't much farther than two or three dozen meters now, though with the way the boulder of bunnies behind them accelerated, it may as well have been an entire nation to run across. The fluffy and cuddly ball of death behind the two mares was gaining on them, and with the rabbits intent on turning the pegasi into flat carrot sticks, they got ever so closer.

At the last possible second, Rainbow and Fluttershy tore through the doorway, and dove into the thick underbrush of the jungle to the left. The bunnies broke through the front of the building—now easily identifiable as some kind of ancient temple—and having already built up way too much speed to stop and turn towards the mares, the living boulder sped along a slightly cleared trail in front of the door. The bunnies quickly gained speed as they rolled down the incline, and after a slight turn to the left, disappeared into the darkness of the jungle.

Quickly, Rainbow brought herself to her hooves, and after helping Fluttershy to her own hooves, quickly took a second to dust off her explorer's shirt. “That was too close.”

Trembling slightly to herself, Fluttershy nodded. “I love cute bunnies, but that wasn't cute at all.”

“You can say that again.” Checking to make sure that her pith helmet was still firmly on her head—thankfully, it was—she began to look in every direction. “So where do you think the griffons went, Fluttershy?”

By now, the frightened mare had regained some of her composure, and after looking around for a few seconds, pointed towards a slightly brighter section of the jungle. “When I was coming here, I saw a runway over in that direction.”

A what?

“That's it!” Rainbow lowered the front of her helmet in determination. “The griffons must be trying to use it to fly out of here. We have to stop that aircraft before it takes off!”

They are griffons. They do not require an aircraft to fly.

Fluttershy shook her head. “If they get in that aircraft and get away, then that would spell doom for the seaponies.”

Seriously, they have wings. All they have to do is flap them and they fly away. It is that easy.

Rainbow nodded. “Then let's go, before they get away.”

THEY HAVE WINGS, THEY DO NOT oh forget it.

Together, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy began to trot out of the thick undergrowth of the jungle—Luna quickly deciding to follow from a few meters above. Normally, flying this high above the two pegasi in such a thick canopy would've been impossible. However, due to the incorporeal nature of her body, she was easily able to move around and through the various branches and vines without a single hint of resistance.

Huh... I do not feel any nausea like I did in the other dreams. Guess I am getting used to moving in dreams...

Luna saw that Rainbow and Fluttershy were talking to each other—most likely about the current predicament involving Stinkenden. From this high up however, it was impossible for the alicorn to understand what they were saying. That was fine, for Luna could use a little bit of peace and quiet after that bout of action with the bunny boulder. Of course, she was only able to enjoy a few minutes of silence before the trio of ponies got through the thick jungle, but once they did, they were greeted by a very interesting scene.

Before Luna's eyes, there was a massive clearing in the otherwise thick jungle all around her. The area in front of her was covered in a huge number of extremely flat and smooth concrete slabs, creating what looked like the footprint of a city—just without any buildings or other city-like objects. Almost a kilometer away, a massive metal object shaped somewhat like a bird sat upon the concrete park. It was hard to see from this far away, but Luna could tell that there were several figures entering the side of the curious machine.

Griffon shaped figures.

“Come on, Fluttershy! They're already at the plane! We gotta move!” Rainbow Dash yelled and she began galloping across the the concrete, the harsh sounds of her hard hooves sending loud clopping sounds in all directions.

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness...” Fluttershy repeated as she began running after her friend, quickly catching up and moving alongside the pegasus.

As for Luna herself, she just began floating alongside the two—the princess intent on watching every second of action.

The trio only made it about halfway to the metal bird thing before they were apparently spotted—loud yelling coming from the flying device signaling the discovery. However, the metal bird was slow to start up, giving the two mares a fair amount of time to intercept. Slowly, the machine got louder and louder—a sure sign that the machine was powering up whatever propulsion devices that it used—and after a full minute, it began to slowly inch forward. The device slowly began to turn to Luna's right, aligning to the long length of the long concrete park. After it finally finished its turn, it paused for a moment, before the noise increased ten-fold, and it lurched forward.

Fast.

By this point, Rainbow and Fluttershy had almost made it to the metal bird—the two mares huffing and puffing in exhaustion. Very slowly now, the two ponies approached the side of the machine that was only a scant few meters away. Their tails whipping violently behind them, they lowered their heads a little bit more in an attempt to get every single drop of speed out of their tired legs. A few more centimeters, and...

“Rraaaahh!” Rainbow yelled as she leaped forward. Extending her forehooves in front of her, she barely was able to grip onto the side of the machine's closed doorway. With the strength of a dozen ponies, the prismatic-maned mare punched a hoof into the window, shattering the glass. Somehow not cutting herself, she moved her forehooves inside of the small gap she had created, and began to pry the door open.

Despite all of the forces working against her—from the whipping wind pressing the door closed to her already exhausted muscles losing strength by the second—she was slowly able to open the passageway in front of her. Finally, with a final burst of strength, the pony ripped the door open, sending the top of the hatch swinging to the ground—thousands of white-hot sparks spewing off of the metal as it dragged against the solid surface. Barely dodging the falling door, she jumped inside the metal bird.

Taking only a second to help her companion into the machine—Luna taking the second to join the two inside as well—Rainbow turned towards the front of the craft, and was greeted with the menacing glares of three gray vested griffons.

The griffon in front was Stinkenden.

Stinkenden took a step forward, and pointed with a sharp talon. “You have made a terrible mistake, Fräulein Dash, for this time, you w—”

THWACK!!

With tremendous force, the griffon flew backwards—taking out the griffon behind him in the process—and landed in a heap halfway to the front of the machine.

Impressive.

Rainbow Dash was rubbing her right forehoof against her chest as she smiled. “Yeah yeah, and I thought you said we were on a first name basis, Stinkenden Gänsegeier Kot.” Looking at the one standing griffon left, she smiled. “Now are you going to try and fight me too, or are you going to be the smart one?”

Not even bothering to pause and think about what might happen to him, the remaining griffon charged at the pony.

To that, Rainbow lowered her stance, and smiled. “Wrong choice.”

The griffon charged forward to tackle the cocky pony, letting out a roar as he did so. As soon as he got close, the mare quickly hopped high into the air, and using her foe's head as a support, flipped herself over his head, and landed on the opposite side of him. The griffon, confused for a moment, looked around in hopes of finding out where the mare went.

CRACK!!

That answer was quickly given to him via a hard kick to his back left ankle. Dropping slightly on that side, he quickly turned back around, and threw a punch at the mare. She blocked with her foreleg, and after throwing her own punch—which he blocked as well—the two began to brawl. A few punches and kicks later, and the griffon pulled the mare close to him by her mane.

POW!!

She stumbled back from the powerful headbutt—Luna could tell that the mare was slightly dizzy after that hit—and attempted to refocus her vision enough to continue to fight. She wasn't fast enough though, for the griffon was quick to take a step forward, and throw an elbow at her.

WHACK!!

The griffon stumbled forwards unexpectedly—the feathered creature receiving a heavy hit against the back of his head, denting his helmet. Before he could turn around, Luna saw Fluttershy jump onto his back, and after ripping the helmet off of the griffon's head, began ramming the metal piece into his skull again and again. Although that first hit she did was amazingly powerful considering she dented a metal helmet with just her hooves, the next hits were somewhat more normal impacts, though just as effective.

Rainbow was just about to join in on the fight when she apparently heard something behind her. Turning her body around, she turned around just in time see a mass of black and white in front of her.

BIFF!!

Taking solid a right hook to the jaw, she stumbled backwards two steps. Before she was able to recover, the pony was grabbed by the throat by Stinkenden's talons. Laughing maniacally, the griffon hoisted the struggling mare high into the air, so that none of her hooves were touching the ground.

As Rainbow Dash attempted to grab onto the talons that were choking her, the griffon leader grinned. “Fräulein Dash, I have suffered through your pathetic attempts to stop me for far too long. First, it was the cheese debacle. Then, you destroy my subsurface watercraft! Then, you ruin my attempts to steal the moon from the Lunar Princess.”

Steal the moon? I would like to see that freak try.

“Now, Rainbow,” he whispered into her ear as he pulled her closer to his face, “I will end your persistent, yet futile, attempts to stop me from—”

BAM!!

Rainbow kicked out with her rear hooves as hard as she could, catching the off guard griffon in his unprotected stomach. While he was still staggered, she whirled herself around, coiled back her legs, and with a strong buck, sent the monster flying through the doorway in the front of the hallway, and into the far wall. As soon as Stinkenden smashed into the front of the machine, there was a sudden lurch, nearly sending Rainbow to the ground.

Her eyes now wide with fear, Rainbow rushed to the front room. “No no no no!”

Luna followed her, and as soon as Rainbow got to the front room, she pulled the unconscious griffon off of the far wall—the “wall” now recognizable to Luna as a control console. Taking a seat, the mare attempted to grab onto what looked like a partially destroyed stick coming out of the ground, and pull it towards her. Her efforts were foiled by two things. The first was that—as Luna had just observed—the stick piece was partially destroyed, making moving it in any direction impossible. The second was that... well... she had hooves, making gripping and pulling anything highly unlikely.

Fluttershy quickly joined them the now very crowded room, and after looking over the situation, looked Rainbow in the eyes. “Are you alright, Rainbow?”

A few seconds of struggling later, and Rainbow Dash let out a yell—releasing the stick as she did so. Sighing to herself, the defeated pegasus looked out the front window, and saw that the jungle below was quickly starting to fill their vision of the world. “Well, Fluttershy, I think this is it.”

Fluttershy looked out the window for a second, before she sat down, and blinked. “Umm... Rainbow, I—”

“Fluttershy,” the cyan pegasus interrupted, though she kept her eyes on the jungle ahead, “I'm sorry that haven't been treating you well the past few months. It was mean, cruel even, and there is no excuse. I do... I do have a reason though.”

The quiet mare shook her head. “That's nice, Rainbow Dash, but—“

“All that time, it was because I was hiding something from you—hiding MYSELF from you—for you see, and now that we're going to... well... die, I have something I have to confess.”

Die? This is surely the least intelligent pony I have ever seen.

Fluttershy tried to say something once more. “That's alright, but really, we—”

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash turned around, took Fluttershy's forehooves into her own, and with tear filled eyes, confessed, “Fluttershy, I just wanted you to know, before the end, that I love you with all my heart.”

Despite the impending crash of the metal bird causing everything in the control room to roll around, Luna swore that the room became instantly still. With how motionless both mares became, the alicorn was sure that if even a pin were to drop—while it might not be heard—it would easily be seen by everypony in the room. The only noticeable things that did change in the room this entire time was the outside scene, the flowing tears of the distraught Rainbow Dash, and the incredibly heavy blush that formed on Fluttershy's face.

After another few seconds, Rainbow spoke again—her voice cracking slightly as she whispered. “Do you... do you have anything to say to me? Anything?”

Fluttershy nodded—her face showing the bright red blush even through the yellow facial hair—and with mouse's voice, whispered, “We have wings... remember? We can just fly out of the plane...”

Rainbow's tears stopped flowing. “What?”

Finally, somepony with a brain.

“Our wings.” Fluttershy tried to speak up, but her voice was still a whisper. However, she still had the enough presence of mind to open her wings halfway. “The hatch is still open. We can just jump out of the plane and fly away.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “Oh... right... our wings.”

To that statement, the still fire-red Fluttershy slowly nodded. There was another few seconds of awkward silence between the two pegasi, before the air machine shifted down violently. Broken out of her daze, the timid pony said, “Do you... you know... wanna leave now?”

“Uhh... sure...”

With that, the two jumped up, and quickly made their way to the back of the machine. Finally making it to the door, Fluttershy didn't bother to look back before she jumped out of the metal contraption—the mare making sure to keep her wings folded close to her body to prevent any dislocated wing joints. Rainbow stood at the precipice, and after waiting five seconds to make sure that her friend was sufficiently clear, she jumped herself. Only an instant later, Luna floated out of the aircraft.

At first, she was completely alone in her little bit of open sky. It was was an interesting feeling at first—being in another's dream entirely on her own. However, the whole point of being in a dream was to be with the dreamer, so with that, she began looking for the pair. Of course, finding two specks in the sky was moderately difficult to say the least.

Thankfully, Luna was able to pick out the bright pink mane of Fluttershy against the green of the wild jungle below. That situation dealt with, she quickly teleported down to where the slow flying mare was, so that she was just above her. The timid pony was slowly gliding with a small smile on her face as she fell to earth. It didn't take long for the mare to be joined by her green-shirted companion, and together, the two flew down to one of the taller trees, and sat themselves on one of the larger branches.

As soon as she joined the two on the branch, Rainbow looked in the direction of where the machine had been heading. A few moments passed before the loud and terrible sounds of both the jungle and machine breaking and tearing apart entered all of their ears. The pegasus, however, didn't even budge. “Guess that's the end of Stinkenden Gänsegeier Kot, and his 'No-Sea' party.”

Fluttershy nodded, awkwardly rubbing her forelegs together. “Terrible that it had to end like this, though I guess they deserved it.”

“Yeah... I guess... kinda...” Rainbow trailed off, her voice dropping to a whisper as she looked off into the distance. For a time after that, the pair just sat there, with only a rubbing of forelegs or a deep sigh to break the monotony of looking at nothing. Minutes of silence passed, the two unable to snap themselves out of the awkward reverie.

If they didn't do something fast, Luna was going to see once and for all if it was possible to influence the dream by shooting every spell she knew at the two.

Thankfully, it was then that Rainbow slowly turned towards Fluttershy. “Hey... umm... Fluttershy...”

The timid pegasus looked back—the mare already sporting a slight blush. “Y... yes, Rainbow?”

“About what I said when we were in the plane... I didn't mean... I mean... what I mean is that I... uhh... I think that...” she eventually trailed off, the chromatic-maned mare completely red-faced herself now.

Fluttershy, while still flush with color, quickly donned a determined look. Standing up, she took the three steps towards her companion, and with a slight lean forward, kissed Rainbow on the lips for just a second.

Leaning back, the now twice-as-red Fluttershy whispered, “I love you too.”

With that, the two looked into each other's eyes, not entirely sure of what to say. Fluttershy now wore a smile on her face, as well as a shade of red that not even the brightest flower could match. Rainbow, on the other hoof, was completely slack-jawed at what had just happened. Slowly, she brought a hoof to her lips—as if she wasn't entirely sure that they were still there—and touched them. She pulled her hoof away, and just looked at her hoof.

She looked up, and the two mares locked eyes.

Quickly and forcefully, the two lunged at each other, and began kissing as heavily and passionately as possible. Unfortunately—at least for Luna—passionately also meant messily, for the quick kisses quickly degraded into a sloppy make-out session. It was shortly after that that Rainbow leaned back, and let her mare fall on top of her. With their bodies pressing together passionately, they—

I believe I am finished here.

Luna quickly pulled herself out of the dream, and found herself once again standing over the form of Rainbow Dash, the mare now slowly rolling around giggling in her bed. The book Rainbow was once reading had long since fallen to the ground as she rolled from side-to-side—the tome face down on the clouds below. Giggling to herself slightly louder, the pegasus was making quiet “smacking” sounds with her mouth as she opened and closed it repeatedly as the dream slightly translated into the real world.

Not wanting to intrude on such an... intimate moment, Luna turned around, and began to make her way to an open window. With a giggle, she whispered, “That mare is crazy about that pony, isn't she?”

She never got an answer to her rhetorical question, for as soon as she asked it, she propped her forelegs up on the windowsill. With a slight hop, she jumped out of the room, opened her wings, and made her way across the night sky.

Chapter 5: Faceoff

Princess Luna hastened her flight onward, for she was a mare on a mission.

Her mission: to observe dreams.

Just three hours ago, she would never have imagined that she would be doing something as crazy as what she was doing tonight. Just three hours ago, she was up to her ears in boredom as she sat in the throne room residing over the Lunar Court. Just three hours ago, the most entertainment she was able to get out of her night was simply toying with her captain, Vigilant Watch, and even then she was only able to go so far with the stallion before he stopped playing along. After that source was exhausted, there wasn't much to do beyond counting the bricks in the walls.

No, she would not go back to that. She was going to experience more “fun” instead.

She tilted the leading edges of her wings, and began her steep dive into Ponyville far below. The rows of houses, once simple shapes in the distance, grew larger as she quickly fell from the sky. Faster and faster she dove, until she was nearly forced to shut her eyes from the pain that the biting wind brought upon them. Then—as she had already done once tonight—she quickly pulled up, and began to trade her accumulated speed for altitude. However, instead of letting herself climb all the way back up into the sky, she beat her wings as strongly as possible to reverse her motion, becoming motionless in the sky above the village center.

It was honestly a simple maneuver to pull off—even inexperienced pegasi could do it effectively—but it was one that was always a thrill to perform.

While the center of Ponyville appeared to be mostly shops and stalls, the area that she was currently hovering over was mostly residential. Every single house appeared the same here—two stories, about six windows on each wall, a chimney, front door, and a short picket fence. Even the small flower pots that hung just outside of many of the windows were the same on every house. This made things a little bit curious—if not slightly awkward—for while there were three houses in front of her, Luna had no way to actually decide on a house other than through randomly picking.

After thinking about it for a few seconds, Luna shrugged. “I guess, as my guards put it, 'right is right'.”

With that, she dove from her aerial vantage, and with two flaps of her wings, began to make her way to the one guaranteed opening in the house on the right. It was a simple process for her to transform herself into her misty form—especially since she had performed the spell five times already tonight—and dive into the open passage of the chimney.

Luna wouldn't lie—she pictured herself wearing a red suit for at least a second.

Finally exiting the chimney, Luna remained a mist as she continued hunting down the ponies that lived in the house. Obviously, this was not the room that they would be sleeping in—the couch, chairs, and coffee table sure enough clues of that—and so she began to fly around the house in her quest. A kitchen. A dining room. A foyer. The alicorn passed by all of these, until she finally found a staircase leading up to the second floor. Zipping up the stairs, she darted to the first room to her left, and found what she had been looking for.

It was a simple bedroom, with all the furniture and amenities that one would expect out of a typical master bedroom. Luna personally thought that the yellow walls clashed terribly with the red curtains, but she supposed that there were worse options for the ponies to pick. Over to the right, a large loveseat was situated next to a window, giving more than enough space for a loving couple to snuggle up with each other and bask in the radiant sun. To the left, a doorway led to a bathroom—most likely filled with all of the toiletries that the residents would need.

And in front of Luna, two mares—one a seafoam green unicorn, and one a yellow earth pony—lay on the bed in blissful slumber.

It was a cute thing really, for the two mares were facing each other, and while their bodies were well away from each other, their forelegs were lightly touching. Their manes were messily sprawled out on the pillows, leaving Luna to believe that the two really did not worry about what they looked like around each other in their shared home. Simple blue sheets covered up most of their bodies, but she could just imagine their tails intertwined as their minds carried the lovebirds into blissful dreamland.

Princess Luna reformed back into her natural form, and with a small smile, sighed. “Ah, true love. Such a beautiful thing.”

As much fun as she imagined staring at the two for the next hour would be, the thought of watching two lovers sleep with each other was not what Luna would consider a reasonable pastime. Sure, she was trespassing, but she had no intention to become a creepy voyeur tonight. Instead, she was more interested with peering into somepony's dream, which was not considered voyeurism in the slightest.

That settled, the question was which mind to peer into. Sure, Luna could look into both of their dreams, but there was only so much time that she felt comfortable staying in the room before the likelihood of being caught outweighed the fun—the incident with the red stallion three dreams ago coming to mind. She had picked an earth pony already, so maybe she should pick the unicorn. On the other hoof, the earth pony that she picked was a stallion, so maybe an earth pony mare would be different. Did it really matter?

Eventually, Luna settled with going with her guards' infallible 'right is right' method once more.

That led the mare to look at the blissfully sleeping unicorn, the small mare lightly smiling in her sleep. With careful steps, Princess Luna brought herself to the side of the bed, right above the sleeping unicorn. For the fifth time that night, she brought the modified Memory Extractor spell to the forefront of her mind—her horn lighting up in response to her will. Slowly, Luna bent down, and with the lightest of touches, tapped her horn against the mare's forehead.

“This is horrible!”

All around Luna, the screams of panicking ponies filled the air of the village. Obviously, since she had just arrived, she had absolutely no clue what was going on, but from the state of Ponyville, it must have been something very grave. Buildings everywhere were in partial states of ruin, rubble from said buildings were clogging up the streets, and it appeared that every single cart and carriage in Equestria had been brought into the streets, and pushed onto their sides. That wasn't even mentioning that there were injured ponies everywhere as they tried to escape from some mysterious entity.

In the thick of it all, Luna was able to catch a glimpse of the dreamer galloping along the road below. As swiftly as she could, the alicorn moved herself directly above the unicorn. From here, she could tell that the dreamer—while obviously running in a desperate attempt to avoid the carnage of the destroyed town around her—had the most determined face she had laid eyes on since she faced off against the equally determined Twilight Sparkle so long ago. Whatever the dreamer was doing was a mystery, but it was apparently something of grave importance.

Suddenly, the house just in front of the pair collapsed, sending an entire building's worth of rubble into the street. Hooves skidding along the cobblestone road, the dreamer slowed herself down, but instead of stopping, took a left turn through an alley. Thankfully for the mare, this small alley appeared clear of all rubble, except for the normal trash that a village would accumulate. Faster she ran, until the constant taps of hooves on stone sounded more similar to a drum roll than a pony running down a back alley road.

Luna followed as the dreamer took a right, and after another alley—this one thankfully free of debris as well—made her way back to a main road. Instantly, the dreamer ran towards one of the buildings along the road, and with a flash of magic, burst through the door and into the residence. Surprisingly enough, it was quite quiet inside, though Luna could still hear muffled screams and yells for help through the walls of the building.

Disregarding the strange muffling effect, she continued to follow as the dreamer—now muttering something under her breath—ran through various rooms, until she came to a small sitting room filled with bookshelves and chairs. The dreamer quickly darted to one of the shelves, and with scrunched brows, began to search the various books for... something. Luna had absolutely no clue what the unicorn was looking for, but it must have been very important for her to have braved the chaos outside for.

Maybe it is some kind of spellbook to destroy whatever is causing this destruction. Or maybe it is a survival guide on how to survive a natural disaster. Or maybe—

“Ah ha!” the dreamer shouted as she apparently found the tome she was looking for. With a flash of yellow light, she used her magic to pull a book off from one of the top shelves. As quickly as she could, she pulled the book towards her, and set it on the ground. Luna got a little bit closer, so that she could see what in Tartarus' name this book was.

An... An Equine's Guide to Bipedal Mammals?

Before Luna could question it further, the dreamer lit her magic again, and with a quick flash, the ridiculously named book popped open. The insides of the book now fully visible, the alicorn was surprised to see that this was not an actual book, but some kind of covert storage device, for right where the middle of the pages should've been, there was a bright red button instead. Without a second thought, the dreamer slammed her hoof against the button, and looked back up.

A sudden grinding sound pierced the soundless room, forcing Luna to instinctively try and cover her ears—an obviously fruitless endeavor. For a full ten seconds, the grinding sound of metal upon metal shook the room, until the alicorn was sure that her ears would be bleeding if they had physical form. Finally, and thankfully, the harsh sound ended, and after a few seconds, Luna looked back at what had happened.

In front of her, the bookcase had slid back on a hinge, revealing a dark stone passageway that led down a series of stairs. Any further than that, Luna wasn't sure, for even her light-sensitive eyes weren't enough to pierce that kind of darkness. Apparently the dreamer didn't care about the darkness, for with a quick light spell, the unicorn began to run down the stairs in front of them. As swiftly and closely as she could, Luna followed the dreamer as the passage went impossibly far into the ground. All the while, the only light that could be seen was the light yellow glow of the mare's horn.

Just as Luna had begun to suspect they would never reach the end of the staircase, the passage leveled off and opened up to a truly massive cavern. The dimly lit space itself was colossal in size, dwarfing all but the largest of pony-made buildings. Even her throne room back in Canterlot wasn't as large as this. The drips and trickles of surface water fell from the various stalactites above her, making the eerily quiet space echo with the recognizable sound. Of course, that wasn't the most notable feature of the place.

What was truly amazing was the massive amount of technology that was hidden away inside the cave. A massive glass screen to her right filled the entire wall, with buttons at just the perfect height for the dreamer to do... well... something. Luna really didn't have any idea what the device was, but it still looked impressive. Just past that, a series of glass tubes were lined up against the wall, leading in all directions out and through the walls of the cave. Luna suspected that these were used to travel quickly to various places, though she had absolutely no idea where they would take the dreamer, as well as why she would use these instead of a simple teleport spell. Past these things, there were various other things that were still just as wondrous. A table filled with many tools and devices—many dangerous in the right hooves. Just beyond that, a larger glass cylinder sat.

Inside, a blue jumpsuit hung.

The dreamer galloped over to the suit, and with the press of a button, the transparent material protecting the outfit lifted out of the way. With a flash of magic, the unicorn pulled the jumpsuit off of the rack, and began to don the outfit. With another burst of light, the dreamer reached out with her magic to grasp a belt from the table just behind her, and strapped it around her midsection. It was an interesting outfit to say the least, especially since it actually covered her hind legs, flank, and tail completely, but once it was completely on, it looked strangely... fitting.

However, if the way she seemed to be searching for something was any indication, the dreamer's outfit wasn't quite complete. “Mask. Mask. Where's my mask!?”

“LYRA HEARTSTRINGS!!”

Ah, so that is what the mare's name is—Lyra.

Quickly whirling around, Lyra saw the form of a yellow earth pony wearing saddlebags. Even in the scant amount of light in the cavern, Luna could easily tell that the pony was the other pony in the bed outside of the dream. Another thing that Luna could tell was that this earth pony was not happy in the slightest. Scratch that, she looked absolutely pissed about something.

From the way Lyra's face contorted, she was a little scared because of this.

“Bon Bon!” Lyra shouted as she took a few steps forward, but stopped well before she was reach of her companion. Shifting slightly in her blue jumpsuit, she tried to give off the most genuine smile possible—it failed. “What a surprise to see you down here! I... uhh... I expected you to be upstairs hiding or something.”

Ah, so her companion's name is Bon Bon. Curious name.

“I WAS upstairs,” Bon Bon said as she took a few threatening steps forward, “but then I was surprised to see you running into the house with that face that I hate so much.”

Lyra blinked. “'That face'? What face?”

“That 'I’m going to save the world' face that you used to get just before you would put on that ridiculous costume and throw yourself at danger!”

“I told you before, it's not a costume. It's a uniform,” Lyra said as she looked down at her clothes.

“For all I care, it could be a filly's Nightmare Night outfit!” Bon Bon's voice grew louder with each exchange. This time though, she took a few steps forward—the mare's steps heavy and forceful. “You told me, neigh, you SWORE to me that you retired!”

“I know I did!” Lyra—now with a fire in her eyes as well—took a few forceful steps of her own forward. “I know I promised that I was done with all of this, but the city needs me!”

“But what about me!?” Bon Bon yelled. The mare stomped her hoof against the rocky ground as hard as she could, then louder than before, she yelled, “I need you!”

Suddenly, a light sparkle reflected off of the mare's cheek, and everything became clear to Luna. The apparent anger. The insults thrown at Lyra's uniform. The protective nature that Bon Bon was displaying. Even the way that the mare stomped her hooves—once seemingly an insignificant sign of anger—now became pieces in the grand puzzle that was the mare's heart and soul.

She wasn't angry. She was terrified.

Thankfully, Lyra had apparently picked up on it as well, for the unicorn instantly ran to her partner, and with a driving force, passionately embraced her. Instantly Bon Bon returned the embrace, and together, the two mares fell to a sitting position. Despite all the signs otherwise, there were no tears. Instead, the two just sat there, sharing the warmth and love that they had for each other—both most likely dreading the moment that they would be forced to release the embrace.

Sadly, that moment came to pass, and with grim resolve showing on both of their faces, the two parted. A few seconds passed as the two mares looked at each other, communicating on a level that Luna would never be able to understand. Never breaking her gaze with her love, Lyra's horn ignited with a bright glow, bringing over some kind of mechanical device. The device looked like some kind of weird gray box thing with a button encased in a glass shield to prevent an accidental push.

“When I am done today, press this button. When you do, the entire cave will enter lockdown, sealing itself off from the outside world, and then open a floodgate to Saddle Lake to flood this place forever. That way, nopony—not even myself—will be able to get in here ever again.”

Bon Bon didn't take the device. Instead, she just looked at Lyra with the most curious face. Confusion? Interest? A slight bit of despair? Luna couldn't tell either which way. It apparently didn't matter to Lyra either, for the unicorn used her magic to put the device into one of the mare's saddlebags.

A few seconds passed before the earth pony finally snapped out of her daze. A small smile now formed on the mare's face, she reached her mouth into the other saddlebag, and after a few seconds of searching, finally pulled out what looked like a bright yellow helmet with a black facemask. Slowly, Bon Bon took the half cloth half metal headpiece with her forehooves, and after a little bit of fumbling, was able to get it comfortably onto the unicorn. The earth pony pulled the mask down, until only the mare's lips and chin were exposed. Even the unicorn's horn was covered by a thin black veil.

Suddenly, Bon Bon leaned forward, and with closed eyes, pressed her lips against Lyra's. At first, Lyra's eyes were wide in shock at what her partner had just done, but after only a second or two, the unicorn closed her eyes, and leaned into the kiss. Together, for what felt like a full minute, the two stayed in their embrace.

As for Luna, she averted her gaze—something like this was a little too intimate for the alicorn to feel comfortable watching.

Finally, the soft voice of Bon Bon brought Luna's attention back to the pair. “Go get 'em, Tiger.”

Princess Luna once more watching the pair, she observed as Lyra nodded—her mask already pulled all the way down by Bon Bon's loving hooves—and with a quick turn, the unicorn galloped towards the many tubes along the wall behind her. Realizing that her “ride” was about to leave her, Luna flew over to the tubes as well, and after Lyra got into one, she joined the unicorn in the glass container. Checking over her suit one last time, the unicorn took one last look at the mare outside the tube before the glass lowered, secured itself, and with a powerful burst of air, sent the pair upward.

Luna had no idea how this was happening, but apparently the same forces that were pushing Lyra through the tube were pushing her through it as well. The blast of air forcing the two through twists and turns, their bodies speeding far along the line, until Luna was sure that they must have been beyond the borders of Equestria itself. The intensity of the shifting motions was bringing back that body-wide nauseous feeling that Luna had felt so intensely three dreams ago.

Without warning, the pair were violently flung from the exit of the tube, the force literally throwing the pair into the air. With the light of the sun burning spots into Luna's eyes, she gently stopped herself from falling, and merely began floating in the air above the empty alleyway below. Lyra on the other hoof was launched high into the air, did a backflip, then landed back onto the ground. Without skipping a beat, she dashed off into the streets of Ponyville.

Taking an extra second to get over the terrifying ordeal, Luna quickly began flying after Lyra. Finding herself in a street, she saw that the unicorn was running through the debris-filled road. She looked upon Lyra, and was surprised by the agility that the unicorn possessed, for several times the mare found herself in front of a roadblock of carriages, and each time she got past each with a few quick flips and jumps. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that it was obviously not the case, Luna would've assumed that the dreamer was actually a pegasus in disguise.

Suddenly, there was a yell from Luna's left. “Look! Over there!”

A yell to her right. “Is that who I think it is!”

“Yes! It's our heroine!”

With a final flip, the masked mare landed on her hooves—a jet black cape billowing in the wind—and looked up in front of her. Luna herself was absolutely stunned at what she saw in front of her. A loud and massive metal machine that was shaped like a large carriage sat before her. Six large wheels made it obvious that the entire device was mobile, the number of wheels suggesting that the machine's weight was as high as it appeared. Atop the device, ten small cannons—none larger than double Luna's hoof in width—were affixed, all pointing towards the front of the vehicle. With the way that the metal plates were attached to the side of the machine by dozens upon dozens of rivets haphazardly attaching the sheets of metal, it appeared that this thing was created by somewhat amateurish hooves.

Atop the entire machine, seated behind the cannons, sat a single earth pony stallion. Strangely enough, while he was wearing a small black mask over his eyes, that was literally the only thing keeping his identity secret. His mane was completely unconcealed, leaving the straw colored hair to blow in the soft wind of the village. His coat was exposed, leaving the light gray hairs to narrow down the options on who this actually was to a very scant few ponies. Of course, even more strange was where exactly the stallion was sitting.

Is... is he sitting in a massive jar of... of... jelly?

The stallion looked closely at the mare in front of him, and with a slight smile, turned off his machine. Leaning forward slightly, he rested his weight on top of his forelegs on the lip of the jar, and smiled. “Well, well, well. And here I heard that you had retired.”

Lyra pointed her hoof at the stallion. “And I heard you were stupid! I guess only one of us is correct, Jar-Jammer!”

A light chuckle emanated from deep within Jar-Jammer's throat. After a few seconds, he said, “Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure to rectify that today, Handymare!”

Without any additional warning, Jar-Jammer turned his machine back on, and with the press of a button, one of the cannons launched a projectile towards Handymare—the object arcing through the air. Without a second's hesitation, the masked unicorn ignited her horn, and after a brief delay, a pair of sparkling yellow hands appeared around the projectile. These hands began slowing down the bullet, until Luna was able to see what it actually was.

A jar of jelly? I am honestly not surprised.

Without any visible effort on Lyra's part, she willed the magical hands to twist, and after only a slight shift of the unicorn's head, the lid popped off. Luna was surprised that when this happened, the jar simply disappeared into thin air with no force explaining how or why this happened.

Jar-Jammer didn't seem to be phased by this at all. “Ah, so I see you still have your hand powers honed to a point.”

Handymare brushed a little bit of dust off of her shoulder. “Either that, or you just stink.”

“Brash and cocky as usual!” the villain shouted as he pressed a series of buttons. “It's time that I stopped toying with you. Feel the wrath of my powerful Jar Javelin!”

What is with this stallion and alliterations?

As soon as the stallion pressed the final button, all the cannons atop the vehicle came to life. Instead of focusing all of their sights on Handymare, the weapons spread out their targets in an attempt to make stopping them all as difficult as possible. A loud and maniacal laugh pierced through the otherwise quiet street, and with a heavy hoof, Jar-Jammer slammed his forehoof against the console in front of him, activating all of the cannons.

All ten of the cannons began to fire in various directions as the machine unleashed its power against all of the nearby bystanders. Soon, there were at least fifty jars in the air that quickly began to fall towards the ground, each containing enough gelatinous power to leave a dozen ponies sticky for at least a month. Heaven forbid if more than one were to hit a pony—the mare or stallion would be forced to shave his or her entire coat off!

Throwing herself into action, Handymare's horn lit up with power, and she began to summon legions of hands to unscrew the horrific jars. As quickly as she could, the masked mare began the terrifyingly treacherous ordeal of attempting to open every single jar of jelly in the air. For Luna, it was a sight to see—the bright yellow glow of over a hundred hands darting around in the air as they went about their business. More and more jars were unscrewed, yet more and more were fired out of iron cannons atop the machine.

The entire time, Jar-Jammer laughed.

It suddenly became clear that, with her present strategy, Handymare would not be able to unscrew every single jar in time. She must have realized this as well, for she intensified her magic further, and even more hands were summoned. These were not meant for unscrewing. Instead, these hands had only one task—to cradle the jars in an attempt to slow their fall. For her part, Handymare appeared to be succeeding in her objective, for the jars were now being opened at a reasonable pace, and were no longer threatening to slam into the ground.

However, it was painfully obvious that the mare couldn't take this sort of onslaught forever. While she was keeping up with the hundreds upon hundreds of jars, the rate that her magic was pouring out of her horn was astronomical, and there was absolutely no way that any unicorn—not even the most gifted—could hold out for much longer. Excess magical energy spilled out of the mare's horn as it discharged, a common symptom of overusing magic. Luna had observed this scene enough times to realize that unless something changed, and soon, Handymare was finished.

And then, just like that, the jars stopped. Whether it was because Jar-Jammer gave up or because he had run out of ammunition was uncertain, but what was certain was that Handymare had won this round of the fight. A few more twists later, and she released her spells—the mare barely able to stay on her hooves after exerting so much of her energy.

As Handymare heavily panted, Jar-Jammer flipped open a protective casing, showing a massive red button. “I didn't want to do this!” he yelled as he lifted his sticky forehoof into the air. “However, you've forced my hoof!”

With that, he slammed his hoof onto the button.

As soon as he pressed the button, the machine began to transform. Large struts appeared from the sides of the vehicle, planted themselves into the ground, and gave the machine that much more support and stability. The ten cannons on the top of the machine folded up onto themselves, then retracted into the body of the machine. There was a deep rumbling in the ground as several metal plates began to pull themselves out of the top of the machine, and began to assemble themselves together into a much larger device. Luna couldn't tell what it was at first, but after a few seconds of the sheets of metal attaching themselves to each other, it quickly became clear what had just been built.

A jar cannon the size of a house.

“Now, Handymare,” Jar-Jammer shouted as an insanely large jar was loaded into the barrel, “it is time for you to become sticky!”

It was then that the weapon fired, sending the massive jar sailing through the air. Handymare—after muttering a quick prayer to both of the princesses—spread her stance slightly, and once again lit up her horn. In front of the jar, two of the largest hands that have ever existed in all of history appeared, and braced themselves to take on the massive projectile. A second later, and the jar slammed into the hands, sending both the magical appendages and Handymare skidding back from recoil. Once the jar was stabilized, the two sparkling hands wrapped themselves around the jar, and with the power of several dragons, twisted.

However, something was wrong. Instead of opening like all the others, the lid didn't budge. Handymare threw more power into her hand spell, but the lid continued to remain shut.

A yell pierced through the air. “Oh my Celestia! The lid! It's cross-threaded!”

“What!?”

“We're doomed! Doomed!”

All the ponies that had previously been watching passively once again began to run in every direction, in a useless attempt to escape from the sticky fate that would soon befall them all. Handymare never gave up though, and with a loud grunt, poured as much of her magic into the pair of hands as she could. If she was exerting a lot of energy before, the masked mare was taxed to the absolute limit now. More and more power was channeled through the mare's horn, and as the massive jar of jelly fell to earth, all looked hopeless.

Without warning, there was a sudden pop, and the threads aligned themselves properly. Just as the jar was about to hit the ground, Handymare twisted her head slightly, and opened the massive container—the projectile winking out of existence shortly afterward.

Across from the heroine, a flabbergasted Jar-Jammer blinked slowly. “But... but... that's impossible! There's no way you could've opened that jar!”

“Would you just... just...” Handymare closed her eyes for a second as she got her balance back. “...would you just put a lid on it already?”

As if that was their cue to come out, several guardponies came out of the various alleys and debris all around the battlefield. Quickly, the twenty or so guards ran up to the machine, and with justice in their eyes, made their way to Jar-Jammer. At first, the stallion attempted to get away, but once he realized that he was completely surrounded and didn't have any more jars to throw—not to mention that he was stuck in a jar himself—he resigned himself to his fate. Cuffs slapped onto the stallions sticky forehooves, and one of the guards swiped away the mask covering the villain's face.

There was a gasp from the crowd, before one of the bystanders yelled, “It's Hugh Jelly!”

Sighing to herself, Handymare whispered, “I don't know how, but I always knew it was him...”

She tried to take a step, but the amount of energy she had just poured into her spells was too much, so with wobbly hooves, she fell to the ground. Groaning to herself, Handymare attempted to roll herself onto her hooves, but was met with failure. Softly and helplessly, the unicorn chuckled to herself as she closed her eyes, yet remained silent otherwise. Almost a full minute passed with the mare on the ground, yet for whatever reason, none of the ponies around came over to help.

It was then that one pony—a yellow earth pony to be exact—pushed her way through the crowd, and skidded to a stop alongside the spent unicorn. Luna made sure that she floated close so that she could hear Bon Bon's whispers. “Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings. Are you alright?”

Coughing lightly, Lyra turned slightly, so that she was looking right into Bon Bon's eyes. “Bon Bon? What are you doing here?”

A smile making its way upon her face, Bon Bon began to nudge her snout against Lyra's back. “Apparently getting you back up onto your hooves.”

Groaning slightly, Lyra once again made an effort to get herself back onto her hooves. However, this time—her partner helping her the entire time—Lyra was able to roll herself over and get her hooves underneath her body. Slowly, the unicorn lifted her body off of the ground, and with a slight wobble, she stood back up on her four hooves. Granted Bon Bon instantly took to her side—Lyra welcoming the warm body to lean on—but the unicorn was standing.

It was only then that Luna realized that the crowd around them was screaming and hollering in excitement and joy over Handymare's victory. Lyra must have noticed this as well, for as soon as she was situated properly against the earth pony to her right, she raised her foreleg into the air, and waved.

“So,” Lyra said as she continued to acknowledge the crowd. “Are you going to press the button?”

For a few seconds, Bon Bon was silent. Eventually though, the mare replied as a wide smile formed on her face. “Maybe... or maybe you need a partner help you. A sidekick if you will. I think the name Phalange Filly sounds pretty catchy. Don't you think?”

Lyra didn't say anything in response. Instead, she merely leaned over, and kissed the mare on the cheek.

Luna removed her horn from Lyra's head, and with a smile, gazed at the mare. Since the alicorn had entered the mare's dream, one of the two ponies had snuggled up closer to the other, and with a giant smile, they had unconsciously embraced. It was the most heartwarming thing to see the two ponies so much in love, that even their unconscious minds couldn't stand being apart.

Looking down slightly, Luna saw that at some point while Luna was in the dream, the sheets had been bucked off of the two, leaving them bundled up at the hoof of the bed. While before the dream experience, Luna could only imagine what the pair looked like below the sheets, now she could see that indeed the very tips of their tails were intertwined with each other. Smiling wider now, she lit her horn, and with a light bit of magic, took the sheets in her grasp and pulled them back over the pair.

Silently, as to make sure that neither mare was rudely awoken by her intrusion, Luna shifted back into her mist-form, and made her way out of the room. It only took a few seconds for the mare to make her way back down the stairs, into the living room, up the chimney, and back out into the crisp air of the night.

Chapter 6: Plunder

Drifting along in her mist-form, Luna carefully shifted back into an alicorn while in midair. As soon as she did so, she extended her wings, and even though her weight instantly pulled at the muscles, she was able to catch herself with the feathered appendages with little difficulty. Forced to glide for the first few seconds to stabilize herself, she eventually flapped her wings with more and more energy before zooming off into the night sky. However, unlike the last few times she flew through the air, instead of lazily gliding over the quaint settlement below, she now had the urge to do something... more.

And more is what she did. With several strong strokes of her wings, she began to do a multitude of simple tricks in the sky—everything from flips to spins. Luna gleefully shifted her wings, and after banking to the right, entered a loose corkscrew as she slowly descended from the sky. Each of her tricks was simple—even the most amateur of pegasi could pull off these simple feats—but it was still enough to send the sheltered princess into muted giggling fits.

Eventually though, she leveled her flight off, and allowed herself to think about not just the last dream, but all of the dreams she had visited so far. Even though she had observed much in many of the dreams, the most notable aspect of most of them was the love that was shared between the dreamer and another. Love that flowed through not just their conscious lives, but also their dreams.

What Lyra had for Bon Bon was easily the closest one could get to “true love,” and the unicorn even showed it in her dreams. Lyra was sweet and loving to her mate, and even though they weren't overtly showing of it constantly, they had an understanding that transcended simple words. Rainbow Dash, while still a romantic love, showed it in a much different way. Instead of the constant love and admiration that Lyra showed, Rainbow's crush was much more intense, but came in short bursts of passion. As for Scootaloo, what that filly showed was a deep seated feeling of platonic love for Rainbow Dash—even if they didn't appear to be siblings. While it was so very different to the previous two—thankfully not including the romantic aspect—it was just as strong. Big Mac showed this as well, even if Luna wasn't able to see it in action for more than a few brief seconds.

Zecora... well... that dream was too weird to really quantify or catalog in any way.

Yet, what was the real difference between them? Yes, Luna could tell what each was, what their characteristics were, and how each was treated in each case. However, there was a vast difference between being able to say how it felt, and knowing how it felt. She had never experienced the love that Lyra or Rainbow Dash had felt for the respective recipients of their affection, and she doubted she would ever feel that way for anypony ever now. What Scootaloo showed towards Rainbow however, she could and should have been feeling every night of her life with Celestia. Sadly, here they were, a thousand and two winters after she had been banished to the cold solitude of the moon, and not once had Celestia ever displayed regret for her actions.

Like countless times before, she tried to shake off the budding anger, but whether because she was too late to try and stifle it or because it had built up too much pressure within her over time, she couldn't stop it from forcing her into a blind fury. How dare Celestia punish her so terribly. Sure, she did terrible, monstrous things, but a thousand years of lonely solitude with nothing but her thoughts to count away the days!? Not even Discord, the most powerful and vile being to ever threaten all of Equestria, was subjected to such a punishment. Sure, he was trapped in stone for longer than she the moon, but he was in stasis the entire time, and so was never actually aware of time passing. She had been forced to wait each and every second as if she was living on the earth, every moment chipping away at her sanity.

So many things Luna had lost in those thousand years. Her hopes. Her dreams. Her self respect. Every single shred of dignity that she had was forever ripped away from her by her older sister. Then, to top it off, the high and mighty Princess Celestia, Goddess of the Eternal Sun and immortal monarch of the great nation of Equestria, threw Luna under the rug by way of the Lunar Court after her return to the world. If it wasn't for the fact that she had checked for herself a few times, Luna would've suspected that her sister was watching every night for the first excuse to throw her back to the moon. How would Celestia feel if she was thrown into the sun for a thousand years, and forced to live with mind shattering loneliness as Luna ruled over all of Equestria on her own as—

She shook her head as she quickly realized the path her mind was going down. Closing her eyes, she remained lost in her thoughts. Even in the worst of times, she knew that she would never go down the path of trying to usurp her sister. Not again. Never again. Further, there was no way she would ever do something as terrible as banish her sister to the sun for a millennium. No. Even if her sister went rampant like she did, there were so many better options—so many better choices—than to do that. Even if Celestia had chosen the worst one imaginable for her, she was so much better than that. This was the path she had chosen to walk, and she would prove to everypony that she was the better of the two in any way possible. Reopening her eyes, she knew that this path, while not desirable in the slightest, was hers, and she would press onward with all of her spirit.

Of course, right now, that path was taking her into the side of a building—the alicorn rapidly falling from the sky due to not paying attention.

Eyes now wide in shock, Luna quickly did her best to veer away from the imposing brick wall. Unfortunately, at her current speed, she wasn't able to turn fast enough to evade the building and avoid the collision. This was even after she attempted to brake as hard as she could to stop her flight. However, she was able to redirect herself towards a small open window in front of her. Quickly lighting her horn, Luna cast the first spell that came to mind.

Shifting into a mist, she burst through the conveniently placed window, and with all the force of a stiff breeze, blew into the room and ricocheted harmlessly against the back wall.

In an instant, she shifted back into her normal form, and quickly found herself shakily gasping for breath as a few pieces of paper flew through the air. For a second there, the threat of a quick and painful ending to her night of fun seemed all but certain, and all because she couldn't stifle her negative feelings towards her sister for just a few minutes. Sure, due to her near immortality, there was no chance of her dying from the impact. Of course, near immortality didn't mean invincible.

A soft sigh from across the darkened room stopped her breathing. As slowly as she possibly could, she shifted her head towards where the noise emanated from. The room was dark, but not dark enough for Luna to not be able to see who—or what—had made that noise. Her eyes now fully raised from the ground, she looked into the small bed that was placed against the corner of the room, and at the pony that lay within it.

As soon as her eyes fell on the pony, her face lit up. Taking a hushed step forward, she whispered, “It's the pirate colt that said I was his favorite...”

Indeed, the spotted colt lay in the bed as he slept, allowing his dreams to take his mind on the most amazing of adventures. Slowly, Luna continued to close the distance between herself and the small child on the bed in front of her. Even on the hard wooden floor, she was surprised by how quietly she was able to cross the small room. Finally, she got to the colt's bedside, and with a sigh of her own, she watched the child sleep.

Softly, the spotted colt muttered to himself in his sleep. “I want... more speed...”

“More speed?” Luna whispered to herself with a smile. “Just what do you mean by that, my young subject?”

Slowly, Luna dipped her head down, ignited her magic, and touched the colt's forehead with the tip of her horn.

He shoved a stallion, and with a surprising amount of force behind his voice, the small colt yelled, “I want more speed! Give me more speed!”

Regaining his balance, the stallion saluted. “Aye aye, Captain!” Quickly, the stallion galloped his way to the wheel, and shouted into a small speaker, “Captain says he wants more speed!”

As she floated in the air, Luna was finally able to get her bearings, and took a second to inspect her surroundings. With a gasp, she realized that her surroundings were rather... unique when compared to the other places the dreams had taken her—including Zecora's cage stage thing. The first notable thing was that she appeared to be on some kind of airship, with the massive rigid structure above her keeping the entire ship aloft being the first clue on that front. Everything she looked at, from the deck of the carriage to the actual rigid structure itself, was made of a somewhat coppery-colored metal. All around, dozens of stallions and mares were running around, making sure that the airship was kept in tip-top shape.

As for how far up they were flying, Luna wasn't sure, for the cloud cover below was much too thick to see through.

A loud explosion drew her attention to the right, and into the sky. Luna gasped at the scene before her. At least twenty of those metal bird devices from Rainbow Dash's dream—granted these seemed smaller and much more nimble—were turning and spinning in some kind of areal dance just off the starboard side of the airship. Every few seconds, one of the machines would light up in the front, and send curiously bright lights at the space in front of it. Usually when this happened, the lights would barely miss another machine in front of the first. However, every so often, the stream of bright lights would impact the machine in front, light it in an explosive fire, causing it to fall from the sky.

Beyond the bow of the ship, another airship was flying far off in the distance. For now, it still appeared smaller than a single bit would look on her hoof, but that was slowly changing. The airship that Luna was on was apparently much faster than the one in front, leading her to believe that this chase would end in only a few minutes.

Suddenly, there was a lurching forward of the airship under her as it gained even more speed. As this happened, Luna saw the dreamer smile to himself as he watched the progress of everything around him. He was curiously garbed in blue shirt with a white collar and white cuffs. Just below where the shirt cut off around his barrel, a green belt wrapped around him. Finally, a red bandana was tied around his head, and a small black eye patch was over his right eye with a skull emblazoned on it.

Strange. That is not a pony skull. Looks more... ape-like. What animal is it from?

Her question remaining unanswered, the small colt grinned wider. “Yes... yes...”

Just then, a mare ran up the stairs to the poop deck, and galloped her way to the dreamer. Stopping in front of him, she said, “Captain Pipsqueak, it'll be thirty seconds until puncturing cannons are within range!”

“No,” Pipsqueak instantly said. Turning his head towards the mare, he continued, “I want that ship intact.”

The first mate scrunched her brows slightly together in confusion. “But Captain, if we don't engage now, they'll be within range to use their own cannons against us.”

Pipsqueak stood himself up, and began to make his way towards the front of the poop deck. As soon as he was at the railing, he stood himself up on his hind legs using the railing as support, and pointed forward and up. “Gain altitude, and get above them. Use the blind spot above their rigid structure to hide from the incoming fire. Only drop down on them when we are right on top of them.”

The mare saluted to Captain Pipsqueak. “Aye aye, Captain!”

Immediately, the first mate began to bark orders to the crew around her. As soon as they realized what to do, the various stallions and mares began to work on ropes and chains to redirect the trajectory of the ship. A few seconds passed before the airship began to slowly ascend higher and higher into the sky. Their speed cut slightly, the ship continued to climb, until with another barking of orders from the first mate, the crew once again began to furiously work the mechanisms that made the ship tick. More quickly than before, the bow began to lower itself back towards the horizon once again—the leading airship now a fair distance below them.

Despite the serious nature of the dream, Luna couldn't help but to chuckle lightly to herself. The scene before her was just that ridiculous. The small colt—apparently named Pipsqueak—who was no more than six winters old, was giving orders to the crew of what looked like a fairly advanced flying machine. Not only that, but if Luna's instincts were to be believed, then about half of those other, smaller flying machines off to the right were also under his command.

It was pretty interesting, but still slightly ridiculous.

As if they responded to her thoughts, a small group of those flying machines broke away from the main fight, and began to make an approach on the airship that she was hovering over. Many more followed these in an apparent attempt to intercept them and protect the airship. However, their efforts were for naught, for three were able to get within range, and fire their bright light weapons.

Luna was rudely informed that these “light weapons” were not lights at all, but instead a stream of hundreds upon thousands of bullets. She was informed by way of these bullets impacting all along the deck and side of the airship. Hundreds of holes appeared in the hull of the ship as the crew did their best to dodge the hellfire. Many were successful in this endeavor, while two or three weren't so lucky.

Suddenly, an explosion from somewhere on the ship rocked through the superstructure, sending many—including Captain Pipsqueak—stumbling to the deck. As the crew got back on their hooves, the three flying machines flew across the stern of the ship, and off to the right with the friendly flying machines closely following. The enemy machines didn't last much longer after their attack, for shortly afterward, they were picked off by the friendly machines. The enemy now nothing but a trio of fireballs falling to earth, the friendly machines rejoined the dogfight off in the distance.

Below Luna, Pipsqueak finally got to his hooves, and with anger in his voice, yelled, “Damage report!”

There was a slight amount of chaos on the deck as dozens of crewponies returned to their posts, and made sure that their speed and altitude were in check. A few ponies moved to positions left empty by the fallen, while others made sure to check on the damage left by the strafing run. All things considered, the airship was surprisingly easy to operate with minimal hooves. However, while impressive, that really wasn't important right now.

What was important was the stallion that was quickly making his way up the stairs to the top of the poop deck. He quickly made his way to Pipsqueak. “Captain Pipsqueak. We have severe damage to port propeller three!”

The small colt took a few steps forward, putting the stallion behind him as he did so. “Then get some ponies out there and fix it!”

“I already had some pegasi take a look, Captain,” the engineer said, “but they tell me that while they were able to prevent further damage, there's nothing that they can do about propeller until we set set 'er down. However, even with losing the propeller, I think I can get our other engines working faster, so our overall speed will only be reduced by ten percent.”

While Luna was off to the side of the small captain, she was still able to see a smile grow across Pipsqueak's face. Softly, he muttered to himself, “Ten percent still leaves enough to catch you, you foolish filly.”

The engineer stallion's report delivered, he quickly made his way off of the deck, and back below into the bowels of the ship itself. Off the bow of the airship, the ship that they were chasing was now much closer than it was before. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that they were above the other airship, Luna would've guessed that they would've rammed at any moment. However, given their higher altitude, within a few more minutes they were situated directly above the enemy airship's rigid structure.

Pipsqueak yelled, to the pony at the helm, “Drop down next to them! Now!”

Just as he finished saying that, the helmsman spun the wheel quickly to the right and pulled on a lever. The airship quickly lurched down and to the right, hastily moving into position beside the other airship. From this close, Luna could see every little detail of the airship off of their port—the metal sheets making the rigid structure, the cannons pointing in her direction, even the crew of the ship.

The royal guard crew.

Royal guard? If we are fighting royal guard, that means we are—

“All batteries!” Pipsqueak yelled as he jumped onto the side railing of his airship, standing on only his rear hooves. Drawing his sword, he yelled through clenched teeth, “Fire!!”

Right then, all Tartarus broke loose. On Pipsqueak's side, several cannons unleashed a furious barrage against the airship next to them, almost all of them impacting the side. In addition to these cannons, several multi-barreled smaller “cannons” began to fire onto the deck of the opposing airship with a truly terrifying rate of fire. The royal guards on the other airship quickly organized themselves, and upon reaching their weaponry, began to unleash a furious blaze of fire just as intense in return. Whatever peace and tranquility that the world immediately surrounding her had was quickly extinguished by a hail of bullets barely missing her form.

The entire time, Pipsqueak stood on his hind legs on the side railing closest to the airship. With bullets spraying everywhere around him and shards of metal and wood splintering on the deck behind him, he laughed maniacally.

He didn't stay there for long, the colt eventually hopping off of the railing, and galloping his way towards the forecastle of the ship. Luna—having no idea what the heck he was planning on doing—quickly darted her way through the storm of bullets, and followed the spotted child. Once again, Luna was thankful that she could not be harmed inside a dreamer's dream, for while she was sure that she was not hit by any of the bullets, she would rather not take any chances.

Upon her reaching the forecastle, Luna quickly saw two dozen mares and stallions, including Pipsqueak, grabbing onto a knotted rope with the crook of their elbows. The other end of the rope rose high into the sky, eventually tied off at the very bottom of the rigid structure above.

Without warning, Pipsqueak yelled, “Attack!”

The rest of the ponies that were with him yelled in battle-crazed fury, and with a running leap, the large group jumped off off the side of the railing, and swung their way towards the opposing ship. Luna followed these boarders as they approached the airship next to them. A few were cut down by small hoof-cannons—the hit ponies letting go of the rope and falling between the airships. However, even with the feeble attempt to stop the boarding, almost every single attacker made it to the enemy ship, and once they had their hooves on the deck, they drew swords, and charged.

Several of the royal guards drew swords of their own, and quickly charged on the boarding party. Another second, and the two sides began to engage each other in deadly swordplay. Initially, both sides showed equal skill at arms—both Pipsqueak's ponies and Royal ponies going down in somewhat equal members—but the equal nature of the fight quickly turned. Royal ponies began to go down in greater numbers, were being pushed off of their forecastle, and onto the deck itself. Further, more of Pipsqueak's crew were swinging themselves onto the enemy deck, swelling his crew's numbers even more.

As for Pipsqueak himself, he was fighting like a mad pony as he tangled with three royal guards at once. Even if it was just a dream, his skill with a blade was incredibly impressive. Instead of attempting to block any of the blows that were thrown against him, he would dodge and parry every attack. The colt hopped from the stairs to the railing, then on top of one of the royal guard's head, then back to the stairs again. Every time, he would get a small cut in one of the guards, making their swings that much more chaotic and wild. Furious at him, one of the royal guards swung his sword as hard as he could.

Pipsqueak parried, spun away, then stabbed him. Quickly after that, Pipsqueak used his momentum to spin again, striking both of the other royal guards.

All three hit the deck at the same time.

The crew made short work of the remaining guards shortly after that, for a few minutes later, the enemy crew had been cut down to the last pony. Jubilant cheers rang out all across the two airships as Pipsqueak's crew celebrated their victory. In the middle of these cheers, gangplanks—equipped with railings and everything—were extended across the side of Pipsqueak's ship, connecting the two ships with each other. Those bridges secured, more of the colt's crew came aboard, and the entire crew began the process of grabbing anything worth more than a few bits, and carrying it off to their own ship.

Pipsqueak on the other hoof, was slowly making his way to the captain's cabin of the airship they had just boarded. Sheathing his weapon, he quickly made sure that his mane and tail were situated, his coat was free of any debris, and his shirt was presentable enough. Finally, he pulled a hat seemingly out of nowhere, and placed the three pointed headpiece upon his head. Satisfied with the way he looked, he took a deep breath, opened the cabin door, and made his way inside.

The room itself was fairly extravagantly decorated, especially for a ship—airship or not. The walls were a much more welcoming oak wood, as opposed to the copper-colored metal that the rest of the ship was covered in. Light was brought in by eight windows—two on each of the left and right walls, as well as four on the rear wall—as well as by way of several wall sconces that held candles. The floor was mostly covered by a large rug, depicting some sort of event in Equestrian history, though Luna wasn't sure what event it was. That was probably because she barely took notice of any of these details after the first second.

The pony sitting at the desk in the room was much more interesting.

Princess Luna.

This is... weird...

Captain Pipsqueak walked halfway to the desk Other Luna was sitting at, and after taking his hat off of his head, he gave a deep bow. “It is an honor to be in your presence, your Highness.”

Other Luna, a frown on her face, quickly rose to her hooves, moved around the desk, and heavily walked to where Pipsqueak was bowing. As soon as she got to where he was standing, he rose, and presented a genuinely pleasant smile to her. Scowling in anger, Other Luna rose a forehoof, and slapped the colt.

As he stumbled back slightly from the hit—his hat flying out of his hoof—Other Luna scowled further. “You attack my ship, kill my guards, take all of my jewels, and then you have the nerve to greet me like that? You disgust me.”

Wiping his mouth for a second, Captain Pipsqueak turned back toward Other Luna, and smiled. “Please, my most favorite Princess, don't tell me that you weren't even the least bit flattered that I searched for months just to find you.”

Other Luna, while still maintaining a scowl, showed a slight bit of surprise at this. “For... for me?”

Oh please... please no...

Pipsqueak stepped closer. “All for you, your Highness.”

Other Luna let her scowl drop completely, allowing a touched smile to finally show on her face in earnest. She took a few steps forward herself as she said, “Would some flowers have been too difficult?”

No... no...

Pipsqueak kept walking. “I like to think that this is slightly more memorable of an... experience than simple flowers.”

Other Luna continued to walk as well. “If you are going for that, then let us make it even more memorable.”

No no no no no no no no no no no no!!

Captain Pipsqueak stopped walking—the small young colt mere centimeters away from the much larger alicorn now. “Oh, and how would you suggest we do that, my favorite Princess?”

Other Luna bent down, and with her muzzle just a hair-width distance away from Pipsqueak's, she whispered, “Simple. By giving the victorious captain his booty.”

Those words finished, the two locked lips. Passion flowed through each of them as the fire within each was fueled. More and more force was put into the kiss as each sought to—

Princess Luna yanked her head away from Pipsqueak's head, and with a horrified look on her face, stared at the small colt under the sheets. Just... how... why... what had just happened? The pirate stuff was interesting sure—exciting even—but then the end. The end. Oh sweet moon and stars the end! Other Luna—a several thousand year old alicorn—kissing Pipsqueak—a child no more than five winters old. It made Luna... it made Luna...

Luna put a hoof to her muzzle. “I think I am going to vomit.”

Running towards the window, she quickly jumped out, spread her wings, and flew into the sky in nauseated sickness.

Author's Note

I regret nothing.

Chapter 7: Expedition

When Luna first jumped off of the Eventide Balcony several hours before, she didn't know where the hay she was going that evening, let alone what she was going to do. She had pictured herself taking off and doing a few tricks in the sky to relieve a good chunk of the stress that she had been accumulating over the last few months. Maybe she would just lay on a cloud for a few hours, and let the unique fluffiness of the surface cushion her as she relaxed the night away. Another thing that she thought she might have done was simply run away for a few days, and visit some of the cities and nations of the world.

She did not think that she would spend part of the night with her entire face submerged in a river, desperately attempting to get the horrible taste of bile out of her mouth.

Leaning her head back, she gargled a large mouthful of water in the back of her throat as she did her best to purge the taste. After a few seconds she bent back down, and spat out the contaminated water. Smacking her lips lightly, she still tasted the remnants of the... chunky aftereffects of viewing Pipsqueak's dream. Even now, what must have been fifteen minutes after she bolted out of the colt's window, she still shuddered at the memory.

Luna forced herself to take a few deep breaths to try and suppress the nauseous feeling before it had a chance to return. Slowly, she began to climb the shallow embankment out of the stream. The ground itself was surprisingly slick, so much so that she was actually forced to flap her wings a little bit to lift herself up and out. Upon her hooves touching down onto the ground, she finally got a good look at the area that she had skipped over on her way here.

In her haste to find somewhere to take care of her... situation, she had apparently flown right up to a small house. At first glance, Luna thought the house was built into a tree—the leaf-like roof was the major indicator of this—but that wasn't the case at all. Instead, the home appeared to be a normally built residence, while the “leafy roof” was actually carefully maintained mosses that gave it a natural green color.

However, the most notable feature of the house was the absurd number of animal homes in literally every nook and cranny that one could be fit into. Every few meters on the ground, a small burrow for some creature had been dug. Looking up, almost every single branch that was strong enough had a birdhouse hooked onto its branches. That wasn't even including the few nests that were placed in the trees, as well as whatever fish that might have been living in the creek below.

Luna cringed at the thought of the evils she had brought onto those fish just moments ago.

Vowing to send those fish a gift basket or something, Princess Luna thought about going back to Canterlot. She had gotten her fair share of dreams for tonight, and she felt she had seen enough, especially in that last dream. Indeed, there would be more boring nights without any representatives to meet with, so there would be more than enough time for her to go find other ponies with dreams. It wouldn't be like she was losing dreams to look into. In fact, since she knew where they all lived now, she could even go back and look into the dreams of the ponies that she had already looked into tonight. She would definitely check up on Scootaloo in the future to see if she was alright.

On the other hoof, why the hay would she want to go back to Canterlot, especially considering there was a new dreamer just a few meters from her right now?

Therefore, instead of taking to the skies and making her way back toward Canterlot Castle, she transformed into a mist, and darted to the second story windows to try and find a way in. Such a search was fairly short, for the very first window she went up to was open to the night breeze. In fact, as she looked around, Luna realized that every single window in the entire house appeared to be wide open.

Not wanting to waste any more time, Luna zipped into the room. For once, her luck won out, for she now found herself right inside of the resident's bedroom. The inside of the room was... curiously decorated. Sure, it had the standard things that most bedrooms tended to have—four walls, a wooden floor, a stone fireplace, a small throw rug, and a few pictures on the walls—but there were also the most curious additions that caused Luna to gape in wonder.

Shifting back to her alicorn body, she stared at the room around her. Above her, instead of the typical ceiling that was flat and hid the support beams, the ceiling was removed, allowing full visibility of the roof above. The rafters themselves were covered in vines that ran along each beam, giving the house a very “living” vibe. Of course, that was not the most interesting part. That was reserved for the two dozen or more nests and birdhouses that populated the support beams. In fact, more than one nest was directly above the bed that the mare was sleeping on.

Luna silently wondered how many times the pony woke up covered in... well... never mind.

Now looking down on the very clean mare, Luna realized that she was another of the Elements of Harmony—the pegasus named Fluttershy to be exact. Once again, the actual Element that she represented eluded her. However, the one memory that she did distinctly have of the yellow pegasus was during Nightmare Night, when she was supposed to learn how to be less frightening from the kind and gentle mare. Instead, Fluttershy had been far too terrified to do anything except go comatose in fear.

Just like all the others had.

Luna looked away as she shook off the negative feeling, and rubbed the... dust out of her eyes. Getting the offending particles out, she sighed to herself once, and after she regained her composure, looked back at the sleeping mare. Fluttershy was almost completely silent in her slumber, with only the small rise and fall of her chest to signal to Luna that she was even alive at all.

She readied her spell, and as Princess Luna bent down, she muttered to herself, “Alright, let us see what you have going on in there...”

The first thing that Luna noticed upon synchronizing with Fluttershy's dream was that she was in a darkened forest. There weren't any notable landmarks or features, so it was nearly impossible to discern where exactly in Equestria this was—assuming it was an actual location, and not just a random place that the pegasus had made up in her mind. If there was something that Luna could say was notable, it was that the flora that she was able to see seemed to be temperate in nature, so it could possibly have been near Ponyville or Canterlot.

The second thing that Luna noticed was the mare in front of her vision. Fluttershy was wearing the most curious outfit that she had ever seen a pony wear—even more so than Rainbow had in her dream. She was wearing a khaki vest over her chest, but was also wearing very short shorts of the same color over her hips. Fluttershy was looking out over the forest on the opposite side of where Luna was situated, though what the mare was looking for was completely unknown.

Finally, the last thing of note that Luna realized was that she couldn't move. No, it was worse than that. Not only could she not move, but she couldn't even turn her eyes in any direction other than right in front of her. Suspecting it was something that went wrong with the spell, Luna tried to realign the frequency, but her efforts were unsuccessful. Desperate, she tried to teleport a short distance away to see if she could—as some of her guards put it—cheat the system, but once again, she was met with failure. Her only other option would be to leave the dream and then reenter, but that was time that she did not want to waste. Therefore, she decided to just stay like this, and see where it took her.

Suddenly, a voice from behind Luna spoke up. “Alright... I think I have this sucker all set up... just let me... done!”

Fluttershy turned around to face the voice, and with a smile on her face, she said, “Are you sure it's ready? I mean, there's no rush, I just want to make sure—”

“Yeah yeah, it's ready.”

That voice sounds familiar... too familiar.

Apparently ready for whatever she was supposed to do, Fluttershy began to speak straight at Luna. “Hello everypony, and welcome to Fluttershy's Fauna! My name is Fluttershy, and this is my best friend, Rainbow Dash.”

Luna's vision clumsily turned around, and she had to stifle a yelp when she was just centimeters from the pegasus' face. “Hey!”

Quickly shifted back around, her vision once again faced Fluttershy. “Today, I’m going to show you all the wonderful and amazing creatures of the woods we are in, so without further delay, let's go!” With that, Fluttershy began to trot off. Rainbow began to move after her as well, apparently pulling Luna with her.

This is weird. How are they able to move my vision, let alone my body?

“Ooh! Look!” Fluttershy suddenly squealed in excitement. The excited mare slowly flew over to the left, just out of Luna's vision. Luna's vision jerking over to the side, her eyes fell onto a small group of deer that were loitering inside a small clearing. The majority of the animals were small fawns—easily recognizable by both the white spots all along their sides and their smaller size—but there were also a few mature females in the herd. Finally, there was only a single male in the herd, who was most likely the alpha of the group.

Fluttershy flew a little bit closer, so that she was just a few scant meters away from the herd. “Look at these wonderful animals! These are the famous white tail deer! Very common 'round these parts. In fact, it is the large concentrations of these deer that give the woods their name!”

Ah, so Whitetail Woods. I knew this place felt familiar.

“Now, please watch out.” Fluttershy continued as she whispered, “White tail deer are very skittish. You have to stay quiet if you don't want them to run away.”

Rainbow Dash's voice cut off the whispered monologue. “'Shy.”

Apparently not hearing her friend call out for her, Fluttershy continued in her hushed voice. “It's normal for there to be a single male, or buck, to lead a herd of several females, or does. It is also normal for there to be many fawns in the same herd as the does take care of them.”

Again, Rainbow called out to her. “'Shy.”

“Now, I know that you've seen many deer at my house before, but those are slightly different than these. While these deer might tolerate a pony like me coming close to them, I’m pretty sure that they wouldn't come out and willingly seek out a pony. Further, I highly doubt that they would help me set the table or fold my towels, unlike the other kind deer that live near—”

Finally having enough, Rainbow Dash shouted, “Fluttershy!”

Fluttershy quickly spun her head around when she heard Rainbow's voice. Blinking for a few seconds, she trotted over a few steps before saying, “Yes, Rainbow Dash?”

“Fluttershy, I love you more than anything, but they're just boring deer.”

To that, Fluttershy's ears slightly flattened against her head. “Oh... okay...” the pegasus slowly said as she trailed off.

As the deer had been spooked by Rainbow's too loud of a voice, Fluttershy began to look around for something else to show off. Something much more interesting than—as Rainbow put it—“boring deer”. After a few seconds, Fluttershy turned back around, and with a wave of a forehoof, she beckoned Rainbow onward. With a small sigh from Rainbow, Luna found her vision turned downward until her eyes saw nothing but grass, and then felt the mare begin to move.

Together, the pair trekked further into the woods. While the two seemed happy to be in their present situation, Luna herself was slowly becoming more and more agitated. Every minute or so, she would try to turn her head around to take a look at the landscape around her, but there was nothing that she could do that would change how she was looking at the ground. Not only that, but Rainbow Dash appeared to have complete control over which direction Luna was looking, as though the pegasus was holding some sort of crystal ball. The worst part by far was that Rainbow didn't seem to care about the quality of Luna's vision right now, for all she was able to see was the ground bobbing up and down in a sporadic and jerky way.

If I cannot get this thing fixed soon, I might turn somepony into jerky...

“Ooh!” Fluttershy shouted, breaking the shackled alicorn out of her thoughts. “Look over there! Oh this is so wonderful!”

Rainbow quickly steadied Luna's vision, and with excitement in her voice, shouted. “What's there? What? A lion?

“Don't be silly!” Fluttershy cheerfully said as she trotted closer to her target. “Lions can't be found in trees.”

Again, Rainbow's excited voice entered Luna's ears. “Is it an orangutan then? I hear those things are awesome!”

“Sorry Rainbow, but they don't live in the Whitetail Woods. I'll give you a hint. It's a bird!”

“Ooh! I got it! Is it an eagle!? Or a falcon!?”

“No, even better!” Fluttershy continued to shout as she flew up into the sky a little bit. Hovering next to a branch in one of the trees, she approached what looked like a bundle of sticks. “Look closely, for in this very nest, we have three wonderful examples of the beautiful cardinal!”

“A... a what?”

“A cardinal, Rainbow Dash.” Smiling in glee, Fluttershy did a quick twirl in the sky as she hovered. “Oh, how I love cardinals! They are one of many songbirds that live in temperate regions. They have very robust beaks that allow them to eat many kinds of seeds. In my opinion, I feel these beautiful red birds are one of, if not the most awesome of birds out there!”

Obviously, this mare has never seen a cassowary before. Sure, they are dangerous, but definitely awesome.

“It's just... just... cardinals?” Rainbow said with a slight bit of annoyance. After a few seconds to allow the information to process in her mind, Luna heard a heavy sigh. “Really? Just a bunch of songbirds?

Fluttershy's wings lost some of the life in them, for the mare slowly lost a tiny bit of altitude. “Oh... oh dear. Is there something wrong with songbirds?”

Rainbow must have relaxed her hold on the crystal ball thing that she was holding, for Luna's vision suddenly rotated onto its side. “I don't know. They're just... well... kinda lame.”

Luna cringed at the hurt face that was now painted on Fluttershy. “Kinda... kinda lame?”

Sighing slightly, Rainbow slowly said, “Yeah... just... a few small birds aren't really exciting to most ponies.”

“Oh... I... umm...” Fluttershy looked around the area around the two for a few seconds before her face lit up slightly. Darting down from her position near the nest, she quickly made her way towards the ground, and right up next to an adorable squirrel. “Oh look! It's a gray squirrel! It... umm... they are very exciting, but... uhh... you should be careful! Yes, be very careful, because if you move too quickly towards it, it might attack!” she finished with an extremely wide smile.

…

Fluttershy smiled wider. “Seriously, too close, and it'll try to jump you.”

…

“Like a monster—a ferocious, awesome, exciting monster.”

…

“...Rawr?”

If the desperate mare was looking for anything else, she was going to be disappointed. Unfortunately, all there was to greet the mare after that... questionable statement, was complete and utter silence. If Luna had a face to stare with, she would be slightly slack jawed at the absurd assertion that a simple gray squirrel was going to somehow jump up, and attack.

Now, bunnies might be a different story. Apparently in large groups, they can combine into boulders.

Slowly, as if making absolutely sure that she wasn't going insane, Rainbow spoke. “You're telling me, that the squirrel, right there, is going to attack me.”

Fluttershy thought to herself for a second, before nodding with a overly guilty smile.

“How could it even... I mean...” Rainbow trailed off, and Luna heard the mare sighing to herself again. Taking a few extra moments to gather her thoughts, Rainbow continued. “Fluttershy, I’m sorry, but this is boring.”

Fluttershy's smile never faltered. “It's... it's boring?”

“Like, really, really boring. Look, I’m sure ponies that are really into animals like you will like this, but normal ponies at home are going to look at this and not see anything interesting.”

The timid mare's smile finally broke, and with a frown now on her face, she looked down, and began lightly scratching the ground with a forehoof. Her voice now a whisper, she softly said, “Do... do you... find it boring?”

Luna heard Rainbow Dash sigh, and felt the hesitant pause of silence. If Luna was able to be seen and heard right now, she would rush up to Fluttershy, and let her know that no matter what, one's special talent was special, and always exciting in it's own ways. She would let Fluttershy know that there were wonderful and amazing animals out there, and that the mare had an amazing gift. Of course, Luna was not able to be seen or heard, so it was up to Rainbow to say these things.

Granted if Fluttershy could see Luna, she would probably pass out again, so it was probably for the best that she couldn't.

Finally, Rainbow spoke. “It's... a little boring right now.” Fluttershy wilted at the statement, so Rainbow was quick to try to clarify. “I mean, I’m alright, and I love hanging out with you today, but all of this camera equipment is really, really heavy, to the point that I can't really move my wings well.”

“Oh... I... I see...”

“Fluttershy... I don't mean to make you sad, I’m just trying to think of the ponies at home that will be watching all of th—”

“RAWR!!!!”

Quickly, Rainbow turned around—her sideways tilted vision going along with her as she did so—and Luna found out quite quickly where the roar came from. In front of the two of them, was a gray squirrel the size of a grizzly bear.

There were three things that Luna initially noticed about the squirrel monstrosity. The first was that while it was not the absolute largest squirrel Luna had ever seen—that one time in the jungle took the cake—it was definitely one of the larger squirrels that Luna had laid eyes on. To put it in perspective, the squirrel's front paws were easily the size of the average pony's head. The second thing that Luna noticed was that the squirrel appeared to have not eaten in quite a while, with clearly visible ribs being the first and best sign of this. Luna knew from experience that the hungrier a wild animal got, the more desperate the animal became, and the more likely it would attack a pony like Rainbow Dash.

The third thing Luna noticed was that the foaming creature was now charging towards Rainbow Dash.

In a desperate attempt to escape, Luna heard Rainbow try to flap her wings and take to the sky. However, instead of taking off with a blast of energy, they only got a few inches off of the ground before Luna's vision was smashed by a wing, sending them back to the ground. Again, Rainbow attempted to take off, but whatever device that was housing the alicorn's vision was preventing the pegasus' wings from properly flapping.

The sounds of heavy and panicked gasps now entered Luna's ears as Rainbow tried to find a way out of the monster's path. With the squirrel getting closer now, there seemed to be nothing that Rainbow could do to even attempt outrunning the squirrel now. For all intents and purposes, the pegasus was a dead mare walking.

With just twenty meters left separating Rainbow from certain doom, Fluttershy flew as hard as she could at the squirrel, smashing herself into the massive creature. Somehow, the small mare actually began to not only fight the creature, but put the predator into a powerful bear hug. The squirrel—obviously confused about the ridiculous position he let himself get himself into—was quickly pulled off of the ground by Fluttershy, flipped over the mare's head, then slammed headfirst into the ground.

A loud crack resounded through the forest.

For almost a full minute, there was silence. Fluttershy had placed herself on top of her fallen foe, her wings still flared in determination as she stared down at it. The squirrel was barely moving as he lay on his belly, his four legs splayed out in all directions. Rainbow, on the other hoof, had stopped breathing after observing the violent display. Luna wished she was able to see the mare's face for herself, because she was almost certain that Rainbow's heart had stopped as well. Though Luna had to admit herself, she was dumbstruck at what she had just seen as well. Finally, Rainbow found her voice.

It was a loud shout. “Sweet mother of Celestia!”

Forget mom! What was that!?

As Fluttershy moved her hooves over the squirrel's back to maintain her balance, she looked up at Rainbow. For a second, her hardened glare drilled into the shocked pegasus' eyes. Instantly though, she dropped her glare, and her face softened back into a small smile. “Yes, Rainbow Dash?”

“You... you... you just suplexed a squirrel!” Rainbow stuttered.

And you performed this “suplex” quite admirably, if I may add.

Her small smile transforming into a confused frown, Fluttershy cocked her head slightly to the right—her balance apparently very precarious on top of the squirrel, as she kept adjusting her stance. “What's a suplex?”

“What's a—” Rainbow stammered as she tried to make heads and tails over the situation. “What's a suplex!? A suplex is exactly what you just did there!”

“That's a suplex?” Fluttershy asked as she retained her confused face. “I guess I was never told what that chiropractic maneuver was called.”

“Chi... chiropractic!?”

“Oh yes!” Fluttershy nodded as she answered. It was only then that Luna realized that Fluttershy was not adjusting her stance to keep her balance at all. Instead, the normally flighty and timid pegasus was massaging the squirrel's shoulders. Indeed, the squirrel seemed to be reacting quite favorably to the kneading—the previously ferocious squirrel now acting like nothing more than a cute and cuddly kit.

As for Rainbow Dash, it was the situation with the normal sized squirrel all over again, for she was just standing there speechless at what was revealed to her. Luna could almost feel the way the pony uselessly worked her jaw—the necessary words never forming in her throat. When noises came from her mouth, they were little more than short and high pitched squeaks. There was a slight bit of jostling in Luna's still frustratingly sideways vision, signaling to her that Rainbow was trying to move or do something, yet was constantly failing to do so.

Luna just wanted to be able to see and move properly.

It was Fluttershy who broke the silence with a beckoning hoof and a smile. “Come up here. I'll show you how to do it correctly.”

Princess Luna could feel Rainbow take a small step back. “Are... are you serious?”

The once faltering mare now had the most angelic smile imaginable. “Of course I am, Rainbow. Trust me, it's perfectly safe, and pretty fun and relaxing at the same time.”

After a few moments of what must have been careful consideration, Luna felt her vision begin to shift and move all around in every direction. In doing this, she nearly cheered that her view was at least oriented properly instead of sideways. However, Rainbow was not done with whatever she was doing, for the crystal ball was still shaking with motion as the pegasus continued to fiddle with it. It was a few more moments before Luna finally became still—a sure sign that whatever Rainbow was doing was finally complete.

That task was apparently to put the crystal ball on some sort of stand, for Rainbow Dash appeared out of the left side of Luna's vision. Slowly, the pegasus approached the squirrel and her friend—obvious trepidation in her steps. The entire time that Rainbow walked, a smiling Fluttershy beckoned the mare on with a forehoof, patiently waiting for her friend to cross the distance. It was a short walk, but with how slow the normally speedy pegasus was going, it may as well have been miles.

However, after an age and a day, Rainbow finally made it to to the oversized squirrel. Looking up, Rainbow's eyes fell on a yellow outstretched forehoof belonging to her friend. With one last breath or three to work up the courage, Luna saw the mare take her friend's hoof with her own, and allowed her friend to pull her onto the squirrel.

For a second, Rainbow had no idea what to do. However, almost immediately, Fluttershy began to massage the squirrel slightly slower, and said, “Here, like this.”

Rainbow watched Fluttershy's expert hooves work the squirrel's back for a little while, carefully studying the way that the yellow appendages worked the strong muscles of the animal's back. Several minutes of careful studying passed before the pegasus began to work her hooves along the squirrel's shoulders and back as well—the mare doing her very best to mimic her friend's motions. As the seconds ticked by, she slowly began to become more and more confident with her relaxing kneads, and began to go a little harder in her strokes and a little faster in her motions.

Fluttershy's ecstatic voice cheered, “Rainbow Dash, you're doing amazingly!”

Luna saw the mare smile at that. After a moment, Rainbow turned towards her friend, and smiled back. “You know what, I take it back.”

For what must have been the hundredth time that dream, Fluttershy's face was filled with confusion. “Umm... take what back?”

“Everything I said about this not being exciting,” Rainbow said back. Looking back down at her hooves, she continued to massage the squirrel below her. “This is totally awesome.”

Luna watched as Fluttershy stopped her motions for a second—the smile overtaking the mare's face growing wider than the alicorn thought was physically possible—before she continued to rub the squirrel's back. “I'm... I’m glad that you feel that some things I do are awesome.”

There was a moment of pause, where neither pony said anything. For Fluttershy, it was a silence of her relishing the wonderful feeling that her friend's words gave her. For Rainbow, it was a silence of her trying to think of the right words to say to her most wonderful of friends. Neither knew who should be the one to break it, and neither knew how it should be broken either.

For Luna, she just wanted to get this situation going.

Suddenly, Rainbow leaned closer to Fluttershy, and with quickest and most timid of motions, turned her head and kissed her friend on the cheek. Nonchalantly as she could, the pegasus spoke through the intense blush now on her face. “Everything about you is awesome.”

Stunned slightly, Fluttershy's face shifted to an intense red as she looked at her friend. Quickly, she returned the kiss, and said, “And everything about you is amazing.”

Oh dear, this pegasus feels the same way? I think I have seen enough of this.

As Luna finally began to de-power her spell, she was left with the lingering smiles of the two mares before her. Both of them were massaging the massive squirrel, both of them had furiously red faces, and both of them had their wings splayed wide in excitement. She wasn't sure for certain, but as the smoky interference finally began to fill her vision, Princess Luna swore she saw the two once again lean towards each other.

She pulled herself back up, and looked at the small mare below her. Fluttershy was still peacefully laying on the bed, a content smile on her face. Every so often, a quiet murmur would escape the mare's mouth, but it was always too soft for Luna to hear. It didn't really matter though, for she was fairly certain what she was saying—the words most likely dealing with a certain rainbow-maned pegasus.

Even if she was trying to stay stealthy, she couldn't help but to giggle. “You two need to just get together already.”

Thinking to herself for a little bit, Luna tried to think of any way she could help along the potential romance before her. Her thoughts wandered to the various things that she remembered that ponies did for each other when they liked each other. She was sure that ponies kissed each other, but she had no idea how she would pull off that one. Gifts were nice as well, but what did they like? Fluttershy loved animals, so maybe a pet would be nice. However, the mare seemed to have every single pet already, except...

Luna shook the terrible idea out of her head. “No. While a cassowary would be, as they say, 'awesome', I do not desire to see either of them dead.”

However, there was another idea that popped into her head. It seemed like a strange ritual, but she was sure she heard some of her guards talk about giving and receiving flowers before, so why not try it? Willing the magic within her to come forth, she lit her horn brightly, and with a small flash of magical energy, she willed a dozen white roses into existence. Setting them onto the bedside table, and with another spell, willed a piece of paper into existence.

Focusing her magic, Luna dictated as she wrote, “To my lush efflorescence. From, Rainbow Dash.”

Placing the note next to the flowers, she smugly smiled at the job well done. The flowers were placed in just the right way, the message was written with perfect accuracy, and she had even remembered to write Rainbow's name on it. However, even with all of it together, something felt... missing.

“Ah ha!” Luna whispered to herself. Igniting her horn, she threw a small spell on the flowers. The plants quickly lit in a navy blue aura, and began to change. Where once there were white pedals, the colors were now transformed into a stunning and unique rainbow pattern. Not quite satisfied, she again ignited her horn, and placed one final spell on the roses.

“There, now they will last for twenty moons.”

Luna could barely contain her excited glee as she quietly and giddily hopped over to the open window, and with a new spring in her step, she leaped out of the window, and soared through the night sky.

Author's Note

Alright, enough of this shipping garbage. From now on, no shipping at all.

Chapter 8: Agent

As Luna flew through the night sky, her ethereal mane rippled behind her as the crisp air washed over her. While most of the air was parted by the alicorn's wings, small tendrils of wind blew between her large feathers. As a result, they brushed up against each other unpleasantly, and sent slight tickling sensations throughout her entire body. This feeling was a source of great annoyance to many pegasi, and would normally force them to land and start preening to fix the minute imperfections in their wings. However, Luna had too much on her mind to even notice the feeling of misaligned feathers.

Instead, her thoughts were occupied by the love that both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash felt for each other. While Luna should have been happy that she had helped to get them together, she wasn't. Not entirely at least, for instead she simply felt curiosity mixed with confusion. It was silly how both appeared to harbor romantic feelings for the other, yet neither was willing to admit them. They were probably going through a great deal of pain staying apart, and would feel much better if they got together, so why not simply confess? Was it really so hard to tell somepony that you loved them?

Luna frowned slightly. “Yes, Celestia. Is it that hard?”

Almost immediately after she said the words, Luna found herself shaking her head. Not because she was trying to get the thoughts out of her mind, but because of just how unfair they actually were to her sister. While Celestia could be a lot of things—cold, fake, calculating, ignorant, and arrogant to name a few—she was not silent about her love for both her subjects and for Luna. Every time the pair were on the Eventide Balcony, her sister made sure to say “I love you,” at least once.

Although whether Princess Celestia was being truthful or not was a completely different matter. Of all the ponies that Luna had ever encountered, it was her own sister that she could never read—at least when she put that thrice dammed mask of hers on. Celestia could be lying to her every night when she expressed her love, and Luna would never know. She might not love her and was merely waiting for Luna to slip up again. Then, as soon as Luna failed, it would be back to the moon for her, leaving Celestia to having the castle to herself once again.

Luna didn't get angry at the thoughts this time. Instead, she softly muttered, “Though... she does say it all the time. Maybe... maybe she isn't lying, and she does care for me...”

It was a scary thought, because if that was was the case, then it threw Luna's entire image of her sister on its head. If Celestia truly did love her—as a sister, of course—then all her fears of betrayal were completely unfounded. If there was love, then her sister would never try to get rid of her. Further, if there was love, then her sister didn't want to shut Luna away from the world. Mistakenly believing that the Lunar Court and everything Luna was currently responsible for was enough for her became just that—just a mistake. Not hate. Not scorn. Not shame.

Just a simple, yet terrible misunderstanding.

Again, Luna shook her head. This time though, it was to get the thoughts out of her mind. She didn't want to think about things as deep as relationship changing mindsets right now. The time for those sorts of complex thoughts was tomorrow night or something. Tonight, she only cared about looking into the dreams of ponies. So with that, she ignored any thoughts of the royal world, and dove into Ponyville once more.

Almost immediately, her eyes fell upon the most curiously shaped building that she had ever seen. The entire building was shaped like one of the gingerbread houses that fillies and colts would make with their parents during the Hearth's Warming Holidays, except on a life-sized scale. Indeed, the roof was as brown as a gingerbread cracker, the trim of the house had what looked like white piped icing all over it, and the very peak of the building was topped with a massive cupcake-looking thing. That wasn't even talking about the image of the pony on the roof holding a candy cane.

Luna squinted her eyes. “Are... are those wax candles at the top?”

Before she could dwell on the logistics of trying to replace the candles whenever they burned out, Luna angled flight so she was heading towards the building. Deciding that this place was just as good as any other, she slowed her flight, and slightly dipped the leading edges of her wings so that she fell from the sky. As she fell, she spotted a window near the top of the structure that was slightly open. By now, the maneuver to shift into a mist and slip into the small crack in the window was almost second nature, and so with a simple flash of magic, she shifted, and allowed her momentum to carry her into the room.

After making sure that she had enough space to reform, she shifted back into her pony body, and began to look around. Considering how sickly sweet the outside of the building looked, the room she was now in actually seemed fairly normal. The walls were painted a dull yellow hue, which still didn't really go well with the red wooden ceiling—at least according to Luna. Of course, while Luna did feel that the room was normal, the strange outlines of what looked like dozens of bears were on the ceiling trim. Around her, the standard amenities ranging from a small couch to a bedside table were around her, filling the space in the circular room.

A loud snore brought to Luna's attention that there was a sleeping pony in the room. However, a sleepy murmuring confused her, and brought the alicorn's eyes over to the bed against the left wall. Sleeping peacefully—if a bit loudly—under the covers was a pink pony familiar to Luna in more ways than one.

“Pinkie Pie, one of the Elements of Harmony,” Luna murmured to herself as she looked on. A hardened scowl formed on the mare's face as she continued. “As well as the pony that almost single hoofedly ruined Nightmare Night forever for everypony.”

Luna's eyes flashed red with anger over the mare's antics that night, but the anger faded just as quickly. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she slowly began to make her way over to the bed. The entire time Luna crossed the distance, Pinkie continued to make the strange snoring noises. With every intake of air, the mare would let out a loud noise from the back of her throat, and with every exhalation, she would slightly murmur random sounds to herself.

She had to admit, even if this pony was evil, she was a little bit adorable.

Just as Luna got to the side of Pinkie's bed, the mare coherently murmured, “You are lying... you filth...”

“Lying? Filth?” Luna asked she cocked her head to the right slightly. “Just what in Equestria are you thinking, my little subject?” Lighting her horn, Luna bent down to touch the very tip of the glowing appendage to Pinkie's forehead.

Just as Luna was about to make her connection, Pinkie shifted her body slightly, and revealed that there was a bright green creature hanging onto her mane with its mouth. However, it was too late for Luna to pull her head back in time, so instead of making a connection with Pinkie Pie, she tapped the forehead of whatever creature was hanging onto the mare, and was instead sucked into its dream.

In every dream before this one, when Luna first entered, she almost had to force her way in. This was always the case when she first entered each with her modified Memory Extractor spell, for each time, all she saw and heard was static. Caused by the vastly different patterns of their thoughts, Luna would have to shift her own thought's frequency to match up with the subject's. The closer she got, the clearer the picture—the farther, the worse. Finally, if she lined up the frequencies of her thoughts just right, she would have a picture more crystal clear than the physical world itself.

It was a simple concept that shared a lot of similarities with the actual Memory Extractor spell. When she used to use that one, the subject's mind was constantly changing frequencies. It was seen—at least in unicorn circles—as a sort of “mental defense” that the caster had to be constantly merged with the entire time—a moving target if you will. However, apparently when they were asleep, the subject's frequency remained the same through the entire spell, making the entire ordeal that much easier to deal with. That wasn't saying that it was really easy, for even after an entire night's so far of practice, she still had to spend a good amount of time forcing her way though the “mental defenses” that were present in each and every mind tonight.

This dream was different, for there weren't any mental defenses at all. Instead, Luna was instantly “in tune” with the subject's mind, and had a clear picture of what was going on inside the dream. In fact, instead of pushing her way in as normal, she was sucked into the dream like she would be a tornado.

Which was probably why her vision was spinning rapidly as she fell to earth.

As best as Luna could, she tried to counter her death-spin by twisting herself in the opposite direction. Further, she attempted to pull herself out of her fall by simply floating her amorphous body straight up. Both were moderately successful, for while her descent began to slow and the world became a little less of a blur, it was not nearly enough to stop herself in time. Still spinning and falling from the sky, she slammed into the grassy ground far below. Sure it was painless, but still very unpleasant to experience.

Her vision in a slight daze from the tumbling fall, she attempted to get herself back onto her hooves. Of course, it was only after trying and failing half a dozen times that she finally remembered that she didn't have hooves, and was still only a shapeless blob. Sighing to herself over her lapse of intelligence, she lifted higher into the sky, so that she could properly see the scene around her.

The immediate area around her was fairly mundane, though the further she got from herself, the more detailed things were. Unlike many of the other dreams, identifying where she was was not an issue, for it was easy to tell that she was in a grassy field just outside of the building that her real-world body was in. On either side of to what must have been the back door—considering the main road was nowhere to be seen—there were two small gardens filled with flowers of various colors and shapes. Behind her, several buildings were standing on all sides, though none were nearly as notable as the gingerbread-shaped building in front of her.

In fact, the house itself appeared to be an exact replica of the real-world one. The walls were exactly where they needed to be. The piping was a white and fluffy as it needed to be. Even the wax candles on the roof were the perfect height. In other dreams, the fine details sometimes blurred together, or were entirely absent. This dream, on the other hoof, had absolutely no detail spared.

All things considered, Luna was impressed.

In the grassy field in front of her, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were playing catch with a red, white, and green striped inflatable ball. Instead of the exciting and intense game of catch that Luna would expect from the pair—especially considering how athletic and excitable the two were—it was a simple game of each bumping the ball with their noses, bouncing it up into the air, only to have it bounced back by the other. It was simple, it was relaxed, and it must have been boring.

The entire time, a green hued alligator the size of a cat stood in the garden, bumping his nose against a tulip.

So that is the vile thing that I was forced inside of...

The sound of Rainbow Dash's voice broke Luna out of her scowl. “Pinkie, I’m bored. Let's do something.”

Allowing the ball to finally fall to the grass, Pinkie sat herself down, and brought a forehoof to her chin. “Hmm... we could play Ponyhunt!”

“Nah. That's only fun with a big group of ponies.”

“Umm... we could go pranking again!”

“I'm still on probation for kidnapping Mayor Mare last week.”

“Oh right, and any more points against you and you lose your flying license.”

“Pretty much.”

“Hmm... well... I guess we could make a giant laser to carve our names in the moon.”

Carve your names in my what?

To that, Rainbow paused for a second. However, after that very short second, her voice returned with a little bit of hesitation. “Is... is that even possible?”

Pinkie hopped up to her pegasus friend, and after slinging a foreleg around Rainbow's neck, excitedly said, “No idea, but that's the fun part!”

Rainbow smiled back. “Let's do this!”

“Yes!” Pinkie turned towards the green alligator that was still bumping the flower in front of him. “Now Gummy, you be a good alligator and stay in the garden while Rainbow and I play mad scientist!”

Together, the two ran into the building next to them. With a quick gust of wind, the door slammed shut, blocking Luna's vision of the... curious pair that had just galloped away. Luna scowled again at the two, for the thought of ponies—even if they were the legendary Elements of Harmony—marring her moon was something that she would never stand for. In fact, if this wasn't a dream, she would've stormed into that building, found the two, and taught them a few things about what should and should not have lasers shot at them.

Besides, the sun was a much more suitable target.

It was only then that Luna remembered that neither of the two ponies that ran off were the creator of the dream. Looking back towards the flower garden, she intended to see just how long an alligator bopping his head against a flower could entertain her. Probably longer than counting bricks during Lunar Court could at least, but probably by just a few minutes. Turning around towards the flower garden, she gasped.

He was gone.

Frantic at losing the dreamer, she quickly scoured the area for any sign of the reptile. He was not in either of the gardens. He wasn't in the grassy field. She was certain that he didn't follow the two ponies as they galloped inside to build their evil laser. The only other possibility was that he had turned the corner around the house.

Darting around said corner, she was relieved to find out that her prediction was correct, for she could now see Gummy hastily making a beeline towards a trash can near the wall. Luna followed as close as she could, making sure that she would not lose him again. While in a normal dream if she lost the dreamer she was pretty sure that she could just leave the dream as normal, she wasn't entirely sure what would happen if she lost the dreamer now, especially considering it was an animal. Of course, if she was smart, she would leave right now, but the amazing detail the otherwise simple creature was providing to the dream was curious enough to warrant further investigating.

All of a sudden, Gummy jumped up onto his rear legs, and now stood as a bipedal creature. His front feet now looked more like hands than feet, and his toes suddenly looked much more like fingers than claws as well. Gummy took a few looks in every direction before both of his hands reached behind his back, and out of seemingly nowhere, pulled out two items. The first was a large remote with a single red button on it. The second was a Fedora, which he placed on his head.

What in the name of... what?

Gummy pressed the button, opening a doorway leading to a small closet-like room no larger than the alligator himself. Gummy quickly stepped inside of the room, and with another press of the button, the door quickly began to seal him inside.

Oh shoot!

As fast as she could, Luna darted to get inside of the doorway. Time seemed to slow as she moved as fast as she could in her mist form, yet the door in front of her still moved faster than her. Less than a meter away, she forced out just a little more speed, and barely slid in between the the wooden walls of the door and the frame. However, she didn't quite make it through the door, the trailing end of her incorporeal self getting slammed slightly in the door. Thankfully, while such a sudden slam would've been painful in the real world, she was perfectly fine here in the dream.

She didn't have any time to ponder over what might have happened in the real world if part of her mist was torn from her, for the floor of the small room she was in began to fall. All around Luna, she saw nothing but the gray steel plating of what must have been some kind of underground bunker. However, in a way similar to Lyra's dream, the tube they were in was made of glass, separating the walls from their bodies.

When the steel walls finally gave way to a large room, Luna gasped.

Similar to Lyra's dream, the tube opened up to a massive complex with an incredible amount of technologically amazing devices inside. The gray steel walls around the tube spread out to become the ceiling, which then curved down to seamlessly become the walls of the chamber. To Luna's right, there were a series of costumes, though none of them appeared to even come close to fitting Gummy in any way. Also to her right was a lounging chair that had some sort of scanning device on top of it, most likely to probe one's brain or something.

For a second, Luna considered using it on herself.

To Luna's left, she was able to see several vats filled with what looked like various sea creatures, though she had no idea what any of them were. If she had to guess, it would be exotic animals from far off lands that she somehow didn't know about. Either that, or the animals inside were not actually animals of any natural sort, and were instead mutated monsters that were created in a lab that were destined to destroy everything that the entire world held dear. Hopefully, it was the former.

Finally, in front of Luna, there appeared to be a massive glass-screened device that again was much like the one from Lyra's dream. In fact, there were very few differences between the two devices. They both had the massive glass window-thing, they both had a lot of buttons to do a lot of somethings, and both had a chair that was obviously meant to sit in. However, the one major difference was that while the screen from before was black with darkness, this one was lit up by a yellow glow, with bright red text on the screen.

It was this device that Gummy ran towards, and with a quick hop, he jumped into the bright orange chair. As Luna left the tube and began to approach him, he swiftly pulled a small lever and pressed a single button on the console. The glass screen flashed to a different picture—this one with a white envelope next to a dull yellow arrow. Princess Luna watched as the arrow on the glass pressed against the envelope, and with a high pitched squeal, the image of what must have been a high ranking royal guard—considering the absurd number of medals adorning his armor—appeared on the screen.

Luna was startled when the stallion's voice sounded through somewhere near the glass of the device. “Morning, Agent G. It appears that recently, nearly every single mirror in all of Equestria has been stolen. We suspect that Doctor Hufenschmertz is behind it. However, as of now, we have no idea why.”

Perhaps he needs to apply makeup?

“I want you to find Hufenschmertz, find out why he is stealing the mirrors, and put a stop to whatever nefarious plans he has.”

With a crisp salute, Gummy jumped out of the chair, and with the glass window still showing the image of the royal guard, the alligator ran over to the rear of his command center. Luna followed Gummy as he quickly made his way to the wall, and after pressing a series of buttons, another closet-like room appeared. Making sure to quickly get into the tube this time, Luna waited for Gummy to jump inside the tube himself, and sealed the two inside. A few more presses of a few more buttons later, and together the two zipped up and off.

It was only a few seconds before the two appeared inside a bathroom somewhere—most likely in the gingerbread building considering they only went straight up. It was a fairly standard bathroom—the walls were blue, the tile flooring was blue, with the only the countertops and the grout being anything but blue. Other than that, the room was fairly mundane, with a toilet, a tub, and the various other amenities that a bathroom should have.

Though the open air ceiling leading to a massive mechanical claw seemed to be a recent addition.

Through said newly made skylight, the claw reached down from a large hovering machine and with a powerful yank, pulled the bathroom's mirror off of the wall. Gummy instantly sprang into action, and with a leap, he jumped onto the metal claw, and rode the thing as it retracted back into the hovering machine. Taking this as her cue to follow, Luna began to fly up towards the ship as fast as she could. However, just as Luna was getting close, Gummy and the mirror were both pulled into an open hatch on the bottom of the ship, and only a second later, the bay doors closed, and the machine began to rocket off into the distance.

With no other choice in the matter, Luna readied a teleportation spell, and after a quick prayer to herself, winked out of existence, reappearing inside of the machine.

Success!

Not able to take too long to celebrate her minor victory, Luna looked around the room that she had teleported herself into. It was incredibly similar thematically to Gummy's secret lair, for there were a lot of technological devices coated in a light blue color. Near the rear of the machine, a large hole was in the floor, with the arm of the metal claw extending to the ceiling—the hole most likely where Gummy would appear from. To Luna's left, there were more of the glass-window devices that appeared to be popular with secret lairs in dreams. To her right, she saw various drawings of some sort of device, but not even the alicorn could make heads or tails of what they were supposed to depict.

In front of Luna, there was a stallion standing at the controls to the machine—dozens of levers and pull cords sure signs of that. The earth pony was curiously unique in his complexion, for while the vast majority of his coat was white, his chest and rear legs were jet black in color. Meanwhile, his mane and tail were a darker shade of orange, to the point that the hair was nearly brown. Add in a cutie mark depicting what looked like an erlenmeyer flask with an evil frowny face on it, and it was something that... well... was definitely unique.

There was a loud bang from behind the two—back towards where the open floor was. Luna turned around, and looked just in time to see Gummy jumping out of the hole and landing on the blue-steeled tile floor—his Fedora still firmly on his head. Realizing that things were about to get interesting, Luna pulled back towards the left side so that she could see what both parties were doing at the same time.

Just as she was getting into position, Doctor Hufenschmertz looked right into Gummy's eyes. “Ah, Gummy the Gator. What a surprise to see you... and by surprise, I mean not surprising at all!”

With a pull of a lever, a massive ball of pink goo fell on top of Gummy, trapping him in its confines. At first, he tried to get his way out by struggling in any way possible, but all of his efforts seemed to be for naught. After only a little bit, he finally gave up on trying to escape the sticky trap, and instead looked at Hufenschmertz with narrowed eyes.

Smug over his apparent quick and easy victory, Hufenschmertz let out a maniacal laugh. “Ha! I got you now in my Gummy Gum! Get it? I caught Gummy in Gummy Gum? Guess you can't get out of such a terribly sticky situation! Now, I’m sure you are wondering what I am doing with every single mirror in Equestria, aren't you?”

Yes. Please enlighten us. I am certain it is a wondrous tale.

“I, Doctor Heineken Hufenschmerz, have stolen every single mirror in Equestria, and put them together in a spherical shape to create a giant ball of reflective surfaces. Soon, I will launch the ball into the sky, which will catch the sun's rays, and reflect them off of the surfaces, and back down to the planet, creating a second sun! Then, after I create half of the sunlight that is being used on the planet, I will force all of the creatures to pay my 'sunlight fee'!”

Mumbling to himself for a second, he continued with a much lower voice. “Now, I’m not entirely certain how I will issue the fee, or how to deal with the many different amounts of currencies, but I’m sure that will come to me when it needs to.”

That sounds like the dumbest plan since... actually... no... that is the dumbest plan I have ever heard.

As Gummy continued to look on with an angry glare, Doctor Hufenschmerz pulled a lever, opening the window in front of them. Luna gasped at what she saw, for outside of the machine in what must have been near the Ghastly Gorge, a truly colossal shining sphere sat inside of a massive hole beside the natural wonder. If Luna had to guess how large the thing was, she would guess that the thing was at least a few kilometers in diameter—not even close to the size of either the sun or the moon, but still massive in scale. Considering how hard it was to look at in the shade inside the underground hole, Luna could only imagine how bright it would be once it got into the bright light of the clear blue sky.

Letting out another evil laugh, Hufenschmerz put a hoof on one final lever—this one bigger and more flamboyantly colored than any of the other levers near him. His laughter subsiding a little bit, he yelled, “Now, feast your eyes on the power of my Disco-Ball 5000!!”

Distructo what?

Hufenschmerz pulled the lever.

Instantly, Luna could hear a loud rumbling coming from the hole near the Ghastly Gorge. While she couldn't feel it—considering that she was not only in a machine that was flying, but she was floating inside the machine itself—she could see the effects that it was having on the landscape below. Massive chunks of the canyon walls broke off and fell to the bottom. Trees that lined the ground on either side of the canyon swayed under the strain of the artificial earthquake. Finally, just as Luna was sure that the trees would begin to shatter under the force of the shaking earth, the massive mirrored ball shot into the air.

Rocketing into the sky by some mysterious means—there weren't any visible propellers or magical spells activating to keep it aloft—the massive ball of mirrors instantly lit up as bright as the sun itself. The device flew even higher into the sky, until it was the exact same size as the celestial orb. In fact, if Luna didn't watch the thing fly into the sky itself, she would have a hard time guessing which one of the two was the real sun and which was fake—the artificial sun mirroring the real one entirely.

Heh... the mirror sun mirrored the... oh forget it.

Almost instantly, the air inside of the ship began to steadily heat up in response to the extra sunlight that the artificial sun was now putting out. All the while, Doctor Hufenschmertz continued to laugh, though a sheen of sweat was beginning to make itself known on the stallion's coat. Luna herself was also beginning to feel the effects of the heat too, and if it wasn't for the fact that she didn't have any sweat glands right now, she was sure that she would've been sweating as well.

The entire time this was happening, Gummy focused on the chewing gum that he was stuck in. Slowly, the pink gum heated up, and with time, became much more akin to a liquid than a solid. Noticing this, he once again began to struggle against the powerful bindings that held him in place. At first, his struggles appeared to be useless against the stickiness of the gum, but as the substance heated up more and more, Gummy's motions became wider and wider. Suddenly, with an audible “snap,” Gummy broke out of the trap, and with a flip through the air, he landed on the metal floor between the trap and Hufenschmertz.

Hufenschmertz turned, and after seeing Gummy had escaped, stammered, “But... but how!?” Looking back at his trap, he noticed that the gum was becoming even more like a liquid, to the point that it was now flowing slightly, creating the beginnings of a puddle. Stunned at the way his trap failed, Hufenschmertz merely said, “Huh, so apparently making two suns makes it twice as hot, which melts gum. You think I would've thought of that.”

Not taking any more time to listen to the stallion's idiocy, Gummy ran forward, and before Doctor Hufenschmertz could react, he punched the stallion in the face, knocking him to the floor. After that, Gummy ran up and took control of the ship. The air inside heating up now to the point of it barely becoming tolerable, he quickly scanned the area outside the ship for anything that he could use to either disable or destroy the second sun in the sky.

Suddenly, a thin red beam shot out from the ground far off in the direction of Canterlot Mountain. Luna followed the red laser into the sky, all the way until she noticed that it was shooting—

My moon! They are shooting my moon! They are so dead.

However, while Luna's fury mounted over the vandalism of her most prized possession, Gummy apparently had other ideas. Flipping and pulling a few levers, he quickly veered the machine up and away from the laser, so that while they were flying slightly away from it, they were also flying almost straight up at the same time. While Luna was still floating calmly in the middle of it all, he was barely hanging onto a pair of levers so that he could stay at the helm.

Hufenschmertz was too busy screaming and tumbling to hang onto anything.

After a full minute of gaining altitude, Gummy lifted himself up, and pulled another lever. Their flight quickly leveled off, and with a series of pulls, twists, and pushes, he reoriented the ship to the right, so that it was now hovering far above the ground below. In front of them, the second sun nearly blinded Luna, though she was thankfully able to see through the terrifying glare.

Behind the artificial sun—the laser.

Before Luna could even attempt to question what was going through the alligator's animalistic mind, Gummy pressed a red button, and the ship lurched forward violently. Accelerating at a dangerously fast speed, the ship quickly closed the distance to the artificial sun in front of them, to the point that it filled the entire view outside of the ship's front window. As this happened, Gummy quickly jumped away, grabbed a backpack off of the shelves to his right, and after he grabbed Hufenschmertz, he opened a hatch to the outside.

Hufenschmertz looked outside as Gummy held onto him. “I don't suppose that I can get one of those for myself, hmm?”

Gummy's answer was apparently no, for he threw the scientist out of the hatch, and watched the earth pony flail around helplessly as he fell to earth. Not wasting any time himself, Gummy took a few steps back, and with a running jump, leaped out of the ship, and began to fall to earth. As for Luna, she blinked for a few seconds, as she found herself alone in the animal's dream. This pause only lasted for a second, for she quickly decided that staying in the ship that was heading straight for a mirror-coated, kilometer wide, artificial sun was not an ideal way to spend a dream. Therefore, she made her way to the hatch, and threw herself out.

Instantly, she tilted her flight down, and sped after the two tiny specks falling from the sky. Her flight must have been faster, for both objects were getting larger and larger with each second that she fell. Even from here, she could see that Gummy was quickly making his way towards Hufenschmertz's panicking self.

As this happened, Luna looked back at the artificial sun above. The ship that they were once in was now nothing but a speeding blur in the sky with huge flames coming out of the back of it as it sped towards its target. With a loud “bang”, the ship slammed into the sun with such force, that both objects began to move towards where the laser was firing at her moon. In fact, just a few more seconds, and the artificial sun hit the red beam.

Several things happened at this point. First, the artificial sun began to glow red from the superheated beam that it was forced into. The laser forced it's way inside the reflective shell, triggering a series of explosions from within the mass of glass, although the overall structure remained intact.

Second, as these explosions rocked the artificial sun, it flew into a spiraling climb out of the atmosphere, and far into space—the still burning jets from the ship helping to accomplish this event. Even after it disappeared from sight, Luna continued to look into both the sky and her moon, until after a minute, Luna saw a large crater form inside the partially carved out letters in her once pristine moon. Thankfully, the debris from the crash apparently spread out along the carved grooves, effectively erasing them from sight.

Finally, when the laser initially hit the mirrored sun, the mirrors had reflected some small part of the laser that was fired. Of this reflected amount, the vast majority was redirected right back to the source, and almost at the same moment that the mirrored sun impacted her moon, a loud explosion rocked the area that was most likely within Ponyville.

All in all, it was a fairly pleasant ending.

Turning back towards the ground, she saw that she was now up alongside both Gummy and Hufenschmertz—the former having caught up with the latter, and grabbing hold of him. As the trio approached the ground, Gummy quickly pulled a cord that was dangling from his backpack. The backpack suddenly opened up, and showed that instead of a typical backpack, a massive cloth sheet-thing had appeared, and was slowing their fall.

In fact, the arch-shaped sheet not only slowed the pair's fall, but also allowed the two to gain some fairly quick forward momentum. Very soon, the two—with Luna following alongside—were heading back towards where the laser had come from, which was now clearly visible as the village of Ponyville. The trip back didn't take nearly as long as Luna had initially expected it to, and only a minute later, the village formerly beyond the horizon was now right in their sights.

As they flew, Luna noticed that they were flying over some kind of swamp or bog. Apparently Gummy realized this too, as he looked down at the stallion he was holding onto. With a pleading look on Hufenschmertz's face—a look that Gummy happily ignored—Gummy dropped him. Luna watched as the pony flailed his hooves all around him, and with a loud splash, fell into one of the larger and deeper mud-holes—a fact that Luna couldn't help but to chuckle a little bit at.

A minute later, now in the center of the village, Gummy pulled a second string on his backpack. The pull released the pack from his back, and the alligator fell from the sky. A few flips later, and he skidded on top of a building, stopping just before he fell off the edge of the roof. Flipping himself over the edge, he used a rain gutter to slide himself down the wall of the building—tossing his Fedora into one of the second story windows as he did so—and landed on all fours in a garden of flowers.

Before Luna could question any of this, the back door of the gingerbread shaped building opened up, with a black plume of smoke spilling out in the process. A few coughs from the inhabitants later, and two very black ponies walked out of the building, the pegasus still coughing from the terrible smoke spilling out of the building.

The pegasus—apparently Rainbow Dash—was able to stifle her coughs for long enough to weakly say, “I just don't know what went wrong!”

The other pony—obviously Pinkie Pie—shrugged. “Oh well! It was fun anyway!” Looking towards the garden to her right, the mare smiling her pearly white teeth at the alligator that was standing there dumbly. “Hey Gumster! You still having fun with the flowers?”

Slowly, he bumped his head against a tulip.

Yanking herself out of the dream, Luna couldn't help but to look at the pair in the bed below her. While Pinkie was an interesting pony in herself, the alligator named Gummy was drawing much more of Luna's attention right now. Who knew that such a simple creature could have not only such vivid dreams, but have them in such detail that they were more complex than a few that she had seen so far tonight.

It was something that Luna could only shrug her shoulders at. “Weird.”

Author's Note

Gummy is best pony.

Chapter 9: Delinquency

Princess Luna couldn't help but to murmur to herself as she sat in the corner of the yellow room, wondering aloud about what had just happened. The murmurs didn't form any coherent words, but instead were mostly just the sounds and grunts that she made as she wondered audibly. If a psychiatrist would try to explain it, the stallion or mare might say that it was the sound of pure confusion that was not limited by actual language. Instead of forcefully jumbling the thoughts around and jamming them into a language structure that was both rigid and stale, the sounds that she made were the pure music of her mental organ as it played its wondrous tune.

Because of this type of analysis, Luna hated psychiatrists.

When she first left the dream, she had been thrilled and excited about the first venture into an animal's mind. In fact, if her memory served her correctly, she was many leagues more excited by this dream than any of the others that she had been into—including Zecora's. She couldn't explain it really. Maybe it was because Luna had discovered that other animals—while not sentient—were capable of complex and vivid dreams. Maybe it was because there was a thrill to the danger that the dream presented, and that because she was always in constant action, she got an extra dose of wonderful adrenaline. Maybe it was because she was much closer to the savagery of an alligator than the more refined nature of ponies.

It was that last thought that had put her into this state.

For her entire existence she had thought of herself as a refined, dignified, and regal mare. Sure, she liked to let her mane down at times, and sure, when it came to these three traits, her older sister definitely took the cake, but Luna tried her best to present herself with a certain degree of decorum. She realized that she was far more rambunctious than her sister, but she never thought that it was a bad thing. Indeed, she thought that this brought out a much more creative side of her, and was the major reason why spending every sunset creating her masterpiece of a sky was so thrilling.

However, what if she was wrong? What if there was nothing regal about her? What if the Luna that she was now was just a fraud—a phony—and she was actually something much more barbaric? What if the monster from a thousand years ago was her true self, and she was now only denying what she really was? What if the Elements of Harmony didn't purge the curse of Nightmare Moon from her, but had actually forced their will upon her mind, leaving nothing but an easily managed princess behind? What if... what if she was a mistake?

Such thoughts tended to put ponies in corners, and also tended to make them think.

It also made Luna vow to herself. Softly, she whispered, “Never again am I going into an animal's dream. Too much thinking afterward.”

Finally, after contemplating her existence for much longer than she had ever wanted to—she wasn't entirely fond of philosophers either—Luna brought herself to her hooves, and began to make her way back towards the small crack in the window that she had used to enter. Readying her spell, she prepared to turn herself back into a mist, and fly off into the sky. Luna ignited her horn, and—

A soft mutter broke Luna's concentration. “I must find the... answer...”

Looking back towards the bed, Luna saw that Pinkie Pie was still half snoring, half murmuring to herself. While now there was a little bit of green to break the otherwise uniform color, the pink pony neatly blended in with the pink and magenta floral covers. So much so, that it was nearly painful to the eyes to look directly at the massive concentration of pink.

As Luna approached the bed, she let a small smile form on her face. “Why the heck not? I was planning on viewing your dreams earlier. Might as well get what I came for.”

Finally at the side of Pinkie's bed, Luna lit her horn, bent down, and—making sure to avoid the alligator-shaped obstacle—touched Pinkie's forehead.

In the various dreams up to this point, Luna's consciousness had been taken to many wondrous places filled with some of the most exotic of locations. From pirate airship battles to rap battles, every dream fit the pony—or in Gummy's case, alligator's—outlook on life. Fluttershy was a much more timid pony, and so her location was much calm and relaxing, while Rainbow Dash was much more athletic and excitable—her various locations and activities showing that aspect very well. There were some exceptions to these rules, but they were mostly minor, and even with them, Luna was always fascinated with where the mind could take her.

Apparently, Pinkie's mind decided to take her to a dimly lit room, with nothing but a table, two chairs, and a single lamp in it.

It was strange in every single way imaginable to her, for everything she knew about Pinkie Pie and the way that the pony tended to be extremely excitable all went against what Luna was looking at now. She expected to see the pony prancing through a land filled with candy and race cars. She expected to see the pony in a winter wonderland throwing snowballs at the fabled yeti. She expected a tale where she and another pony were connected at the waist, making both ends the top half of two different ponies. Luna expected something grand and amazing.

Luna did not expect to enter the dream to see Pinkie Pie sitting at one of the chairs, looking over several folders worth of papers. Yes, Gummy was with Pinkie, but he was also very subdued. The two were sitting there looking over these papers—the mare with a hoof to her chin while the alligator just stood there blinking—as if their entire lives depended on it. Considering that neither seemed to be under any pressure, Luna doubted this dream consisted of the apocalypse.

Pinkie's voice broke Luna out of her thoughts. “I don't know, Gumster. Could be any one of them...”

Gummy slowly blinked.

As if she knew exactly what he just blink-said, Pinkie looked back down at the papers on the desk, and murmured, “No... I can't discount her, even considering her background. She has a motive as well.”

Motive? Motive for what?

Pinkie took another few seconds to look at the files in front of her, as if one of them would suddenly jump out and reveal some hidden truth. Alas, files do not jump, and so she was stuck at where she was in her question. Luna wished she knew what Pinkie was trying to figure out, but the mare wasn't giving any sort of indication as to what she was thinking. Believing that the files would give some information, Luna approached the desk, and looked over the mare's shoulder.

Sadly, it was then that Pinkie swiped up the stacks of paper, and closed the file. Looking back to the only door into the room, Pinkie sternly said, “Bring in the first suspect.”

Instantly, the door opened, and the most peculiar creature that she had ever seen in... well... alright, the living apples probably were the strangest things, but this was a close second. The creature was a biped—that much was certain, but there were so many things that were just off with it. While the creature had two legs, it didn't seem to have any sort of feet—the legs ending in two stubby curves. While the creature had two arms, it didn't seem to have any hands or fingers—both arms ending in simple curves as well. Finally, while the creature had a head, it didn't seem to have any sort of visible neck—and that wasn't even mentioning the fact that its head was as tall as the rest of her body.

If Luna had to take a guess, she would assume that the creature was a female, for the blue dress that the creature wore reminded Luna of the various outfits that mares wore every so often. In fact, blue seemed to be a theme with this girl, for not only was her dress blue, but her eyes were two of the bluest she had ever seen. Add in the very blonde mane, the white stockings, and the black buckle shoes that went over her... stubs, and it made for an interesting picture.

Oh, and she appeared to be able to fly without any wings.

Slowly, as if she had said a bad word in front of a teacher, the girl floated towards the side of the desk opposite to Pinkie. A frown on her face, the girl's massive blue eyes were downcast onto the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the entire room. Finally, when she got to the chair, she lowered herself down, and sat at the desk—her eyes still looking down.

Pinkie was the one to finally break the ice. “It's good to finally meet you, Miss...”

“Utonium,” the girl barely whispered. “My name is Bubbles Utonium. Umm... you can call me Bubbles though...”

“I see, trying to get friendly with the detective here,” Pinkie said as she leaned her head forward onto her forehooves. “Very suspicious.”

Any further words that the girl was going to say were forever lost to the fear that welled up inside of her just then. Eyes wide open, Bubbles looked up at Pinkie, the mare currently smiling with a knowing grin. The two only kept their eyes locked for a second or two, before Bubbles quickly looked back down at her lap. In fact, if Luna wasn't mistaken, she could've sworn that she saw the girl lower herself a little bit in her chair in a subconscious attempt to escape.

Pinkie either didn't seem to mind, or didn't care, for she continued to probe the girl for information. “So, Bubbles, where were you last Tuesday, around... say... 5pm?”

Bubbles—while she still attempted to hide herself with the edge of the table—thought back to the time. Instead of a quick response, the girl took quite a while to bring the information to the forefront of her mind. Suddenly, Luna saw the moment that Bubbles remembered the memory—the girl's huge eyes lighting up slightly in remembrance.

However, instead of telling Pinkie what she remembered, she softly said, “Umm... I... uhh... I don't remember.”

Pinkie had apparently seen the the flash of insight too, for she planted her forehooves onto the table, and leaned even further forward. “Are you sure you don't remember, or do you just not want to tell me? Hmm?”

If possible, Bubbles hid further in her chair from Pinkie. “Umm... I...”

“You better think very carefully about what you say next, young lady. Keep in mind that libel is a very serious crime here, especially when it comes to fanfiction.”

Fanfiction? What is that?

Bubble's eyes flew open at those sentences. Sitting up a little bit in her chair, she said in the loudest voice she had made yet, “Please! I promise I didn't do anything! I have an alibi! It's just... umm...”

“Umm?” Pinkie mocked her.

“Umm... it's just...” Bubbles slumped back into her chair again, “...embarrassing.”

Pinkie slammed her hoof into the table once more, and with a righteous fury in her voice, she shouted louder than ever before. “I don't care if you were playing dress up with Buttercup, you better spill it, or I’m calling the officers in here now, and throwing you in the slammer for the night! Capisce!?”

The entire time Pinkie yelled, Bubbles shifted herself in her chair, but otherwise was expressionless. That was until Pinkie's final expression, to which she closed her eyes, and yelled. “Mojo Jojo and I were playing Monkey Madhouse!”

Pinkie blinked. “...What?”

Who?

“Monkey Madhouse is a really fun board game, but none of my sisters like the charades involved in it. Also... umm... Mojo Jojo is lonely a lot of the time in his observatory, so every other Tuesday, I go there, and play with him.” Bubbles smiled a little bit finally. “We especially like the charades that involve us flinging—”

“I don't need to know!” Pinkie interrupted as she closed her eyes. Taking a second to gather her thoughts, the mare leaned back into her chair, and sighed. “I don't suppose you have any sort of proof. Hmm?”

“Well, I think Mojo Jojo has cameras set up all over his observatory. I could ask him if it's alright if I can—”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Pinkie once against interrupted Bubbles. Slowly, she took a deep breath, held it, then released it in a string of words. “I'm looking forward to seeing those tapes. Until then, you may go.”

Nodding in reply, Bubbles stood up from the chair, and once again floating in the air, made her way towards the door. The girl didn't even take a single look back before the door before her opened without warning—some force on the other side somehow knowing exactly when to open it—allowing her to float through and into the darkness of the room beyond. It was only another second longer before Luna saw the door slam shut, leaving Pinkie Pie and Gummy alone to reflect on the conversation that Pinkie had just had with the frightened girl.

As soon as the door closed, Pinkie sat back in her chair, and sighed heavily. “I don't even need to see the video to know that that girl is innocent.” Looking towards Gummy, Pinkie sighed once again. “Oh Gummy, what am I supposed to do now? Bringing in this suspect didn't yield any useful results at all! In fact, if anything, I’m even more confused than I was before. I mean, Bubbles and Mojo Jojo? Crazy! Anyway, what should I do, Gummy?”

Gummy blinked slowly—his two eyes out of sync.

Pinkie nodded. “That's true, but I don't think our department has the budget to acquire enough antimatter to fuel such a device. Besides, even if I could calibrate the dials like you suggest, I think we might form a crater the size of the Everfree Forest in the process. Definitely a no go. Sorry Gummy.”

Gummy blinked again.

Pinkie leaned in her chair slightly. “So, what do you think we should do, Luna?”

Personally, I believe the most prudent action would be to call in the next suspect.

Leaning back forward in her chair, the mare finally allowed a smile to form on her face. “That's the best idea there is! Thanks!”

No probl... wait what!?

Not bothering to reply, Pinkie yelled out. “Bring in suspect number two!”

The door opened once again, allowing the next suspect to enter the room. While Bubbles timidly floated into the room when she came entered, this next suspect literally was hopping around as she came inside. It was the same species as Bubbles, but that was where the similarities ended, and all of the massive differences began.

For starters, while Bubbles was wearing a cute little blue dress, this one was wearing a violet jumpsuit with a hood and mask—somewhat similar to how Lyra had been dressed. The only exceptions to the violet motif being her boots, belt, gloves, the inside of her billowing cape, and the bat-like symbol on her chest. Those were a much more yellow hue, allowing them to stand out in stark contrast to the rest of her outfit. A fiery red mane stuck out from beneath the pointy-eared mask, accented heavily by the otherwise muted colors of her outfit. Finally, the last point of major interest was her eyes. Those massive eyes—though not as disproportionally large as Bubbles'—were a bright green hue, and were curiously devoid of any pupils.

It weirded Luna out a little.

Still hopping around the desk, the girl began to excitedly talk at a mile a minute. “Why was I called into an interrogation room? I mean, I know I fight crime and everything, but I usually just catch the bad guys, not do weird interview things to help with the trials or anything.”

Pinkie followed the girl with her eyes. “Batgirl...”

Batgirl ignored her. “Unless I’m here because I’m in trouble, and I’m the one that is supposed to be thrown in jail. But that doesn't make any sense! I’m not a bad guy. I’m a good guy! I know I am! I asked Supergirl and Wondergirl this morning and everything!”

“Batgirl...”

“I mean, I look cool and everything! Cool looking people can't be bad guys! Well... alright, so Mr. Freeze looks pretty cool, and he's not really a nice guy, but that's the one exception! See? I’m cool! I have a cape! Whoosh! Cape!”

“Batgirl!!”

Startled by the sudden scream, Batgirl tripped over her own two feet, flipped through the air, and fell flat on her flank. Looking over her shoulder, she still retained her bright smile. “Yes, Pinkie?”

With a hardened glare at the superhero, Pinkie used her rear hooves to push the chair across from her out from the table. “Sit.”

“Oh... fine,” Batgirl pouted. Slowly, she got herself back onto her feet, and after brushing a little bit of dust off of her flank, she sulked around the table. Finally at her chair, she heavily fell into it—the sound of a loud thud sounding off as a result. She sighed, and after she looked away from Pinkie, she crossed her arms across her chest, and continued to pout.

It didn't appear to slow Pinkie's interrogation down at all. Instead, it only seemed to give the mare newfound suspicions. “Do you know why you're here?”

Batgirl looked back around at Pinkie, but continued to keep her arms crossed. “No, I don't! I mean, like I said, all I do is fight crime, look cool, or do both at once! I’m a good guy. Good guys don't do bad things!”

Pinkie leaned forward, and rested herself on her elbows. “Even the mightiest of heroes can fall.”

“Not me though!” Batgirl exclaimed, leaning back as she did so. Unfolding her arms, she pointed her right thumb at herself. “I can't fall, because I’m, like, super buoyant and stuff! When you're as happy and buoyant as me, you can't fall!”

For her part, Pinkie never moved. “I’m sure that's what Harvey Dent felt as well, before he turned into Two Face.”

That line must have struck close to home in some way, for all of the peppy gibber jabber that Batgirl was spouting constantly suddenly dried up. For a second, her face was that of complete blindsided shock. However, once that second passed, that face shifted from shock, to a solemn acceptance—most likely of the situation she was currently in. Still, even with the apparent acceptance, Batgirl still had all of the body language of a biped in defiance—crossed arms, crossed legs, and her body was leaned back.

Finally, Batgirl spoke with a voice that was more normal than she had used since she first entered the room. “Shoot.”

Now with her prey cornered, Pinkie happily took her time to ask her first question. Scooting her chair forward, she took a few seconds to make sure that Gummy was happy where he was on the table. Pinkie apparently got her answer with a blink of his eyes, for as soon as he did this, she turned back toward Batgirl, and asked, “So, Batgirl, you're a powerful force for good. Correct?”

Batgirl continued to recline in her chair. “One of the most powerful.”

“But not the most powerful. Superman, Son Goku, Doctor Strange, and so many more are more powerful than you. In fact, I would suspect that even a certain Twilight Sparkle is more powerful than—”

“Hey!” Batgirl leaned forward suddenly, once again slamming her hands on the table in front of her. With a face much more angry than a second before, she pointed forcefully at Pinkie. “Don't put those heroes, or me for that matter, in the same sentence with that horse! She's no better than some street magician that does card tricks.”

Pinkie leaned forward as well. “So is that it? Couldn't handle playing second fiddle to a cute little pony? Stress got to you, so you decided to destroy her reputation with a graphic clopfic? Hmm?”

Batgirl didn't back down. “Never!”

Slamming a hoof hard on the table, Pinkie shouted, “Then prove it!”

“When it was submitted online, I was grounded, and had my computer taken away.”

All of the force that Pinkie was throwing at Batgirl was blunted right there. “...What?”

Really?

“Yup. Grounded. I didn't have access to the internet at all.”

Pinkie blinked for a few seconds, before slowly saying, “Really? A badass like you... was grounded...”

“Hey!” Batgirl leaned back, and once again crossed her arms. “Remember, there's a teenage girl behind this mask.”

“...Get out.”

With those two words, Batgirl's mood instantly shifted. She once again became her bubbly and friendly self. With happiness spilling out with every single word, she reached forward with her hand, and forcefully shook Pinkie's hoof. “Aw, don't be all mad! You did a really really good job! You even had me convinced for a second that I did it! I’m sure you'll find out who wrote the nasty icky fanfic. Until then, make sure to keep your chin up, and if you find out that he is still on the loose, give me a call, and the Super Best Friends Forever will come and help you out! Until then!”

In an instant, Batgirl zipped herself out of the room—the door closing behind her. Immediately after, Pinkie began to grumble to herself about the case she was tasked with. Slowly, she reached for a drawer in the desk in front of her, and with a forceful pull, opened it. Pinkie reached in, and after sifting through several things, pulled out an unlabeled bottle of clear liquid. Sifting through the drawer some more, Pinkie eventually pulled out a small shot glass.

Pinkie carefully used her teeth to uncork the bottle, and with a heavy sigh, used her hooves to carefully pour a generous amount of the fluid into the small glass. Filling the shot glass to the brim—a tiny bit of the drink spilling slightly onto the table underneath. Pinkie quickly righted the bottle, and after she corked it, took the glass in her hooves. With another sigh, she lifted the glass, and downed the entire thing in a single gulp.

Pinkie let the liquid stay in her mouth for only an instant before swallowing the contents in their entirety. Obviously feeling a burning sensation, Pinkie closed her eyes in pain, breathing in a large amount of air from her nose. She held the breath for a second, before she slowly released it from her mouth in an attempt to alleviate the painful sensation.

She finally opened her eyes, and after slamming the shot glass onto the table, said, “I picked the wrong week to stop drinking water...”

Pinkie kept her position for a little bit longer, allowing the feeling of the... water... to flow through her. Eventually though, she put the bottle and glass away, turned towards Gummy, and with a frown on her face, said, “I might as well bring out suspect number three, huh?”

Gummy snapped at a fly flying across his face.

“That's true, and I agree. Considering his profile, I also think it'd be a good idea to pull a Rarity on this one. Might persuade him to give up more information.” Pinkie looked towards the door, and yelled, “Bring in the third suspect!”

Just as the door opened, Pinkie whispered to Gummy, “Just please don't think badly of me, Gumster.”

For the first time today, the creature that walked through the door did it in a somewhat normal way—granted his steps were heavy with anger. He was wearing blue pants that were way too big for him and a black shirt that was perfectly sized for him. Over his shirt, he was wearing a plaid jacket that he decided to leave unbuttoned. Further, he had rolled up the sleeves of the jacket up to his elbows, so that his forearms were left bare. Add in white shoes, and his outfit, while still strange by pony standards, was much more normal and average looking than the Batgirl's.

His face was... interesting. His head was very angular to say the least—the sides of his head went straight down, with his chin forming with perfect angles made from the sides of his face. Strangely, his hairless skin on his face was covered with bumpy imperfections, though Luna had no idea what might have been causing this. His mane was a jet black color, and while it was cut much shorter than Batgirl's and Bubbles', it still came down to just above his shoulders.

As soon as she saw the boy walk in, Pinkie waved a forelegs across the table to gesture for him to sit down. “Terrence, my sweet, lovely man, how are you today?”

Not responding to the first part of the sentence, Terrence sat down on the chair, and crossed his arms. “Whatever.”

With a gentle smile on her face, Pinkie got up from her chair, and began to slowly walk around the table. “Come now, don't treat a lady like that. All I asked is how you were doing. Is that too much to ask?”

The entire time, Terrence looked away from Pinkie. After a second, he shrugged, and mumbled, “I'm doing alright.”

“There, was that that hard to say?” Pinkie giggled as she asked. Passing behind Terrence's chair, she casually brushed her tail against his back as she walked. “So I hear you don't like fictional characters... do you?”

Terrence looked down at Pinkie. “Imaginary creatures.”

Pinkie seemed to at least partially ignore the response, for as she sat herself down on the floor next to him—a pleading look in her eyes—she looked up and asked, “Why is that?”

He shrugged. “Just do. Probably started because my annoying little brother has the worst one out there, but they're all bad. Hate them all really.”

“Oh dear...” Pinkie trailed off as she thought to herself. Slowly, she lifted a forehoof to his leg, and with gentle strokes, began running the pink appendage up and down his leg softly. “Is that why you'd be so mean to Twi-Twi?”

Terrence looked down at his leg—more at the hoof running along it than anything else—before he looked up at Pinkie's eyes. “What?”

“Twilight Sparkle. You wrote a really mean clopfiction of her and Princess Celestia, didn't you?”

That caused the boy's eyes to open wide in shock. “What!? No! I didn't!”

Suddenly, Pinkie jumped up, and with a very unmanly squeak from Terrence, landed on his lap. He was too shocked at the recent turn of events to react as Pinkie slowly got herself comfortable on his lap—her legs straddling his midsection now. Slowly after she got herself situated, she slowly began to run a forehoof teasingly along his shirt-clad chest.

With the voice of the most powerful seductress, Pinkie whispered, “Come on... you can tell me. It'll be our little secret.”

It was then that Terrence had finally had enough. Forcefully, he shoved Pinkie off of his lap—the action eliciting a startled squeak from her. The shove sent the touchy-feely mare tumbling to the floor and onto her back with a thunk. Looking up with wide eyes, Pinkie looked on as Terrence glared at her with fury in his eyes. Luna was not exactly proficient with romance and seduction, but even she could guess that Pinkie's attempts were not entirely successful.

Terrence stood up on the opposite side of the chair he was previously sitting in, and with a hardened glare, pointed at Pinkie. “A few things. First, you are a horse. Ew. Second, Twilight, as girly as unicorns are, is not an imaginary creature. Just fictional. I don't have anything against fictional creatures. Third, if I wanted to get rid of her, I would be direct and maybe hit her with a stick or something. Fourth, I don't write anything. Ever. Writing is lame.

“Now if I have proven my point enough, can I go now?” he asked with crossed arms.

Shakily, Pinkie stood back up onto her hooves—a look of both scorn and slight disappointment in her eyes. She didn't respond to his question immediately. Instead, she looked at herself, and carefully brushed off any dust or dirt that might have gotten onto her bright pink coat. Satisfied that she was clean enough, she looked up, and with her own glare, said, “Yes... yes you may.”

Terrence turned around, and made his way towards the door on the wall behind him. Upon reaching it, he gave a few hard knocks, the door opening once again by a mysterious force on the other side. Without even looking back, he stepped through into the darkness, and slammed the door shut behind him. The slam caused the now lonely mare to finch from the sound, though otherwise she remained completely stoic.

Before she could do anything though, the door opened back up again, with Terrence's head popping through. “Hey, Pinkie Pie.”

Her ears perking up, she turned around, and looked into his eyes. “Yes... Terrence?”

Terrence pointed at Pinkie one more time. “Gross.” Pinkie didn't even bother to react this time as he slammed the door closed. However, she did sigh depressingly as she trudged back towards the long abandoned chair that Gummy was standing next to.

“I don't get it,” she mumbled to herself as she hopped onto her chair. Circling a little bit to find the most comfortable spot, she sat herself down on the hard wood. “I just don't get it. None of them did it. Bubbles didn't do it, because she was with Mojo Jojo. Batgirl didn't do it because she was grounded. Terrence couldn't have done it because... well... I don't think he is capable of romantically writing himself out of a paper bag. If they didn't do it... then who...”

With that, Pinkie brought a forehoof to her chin, and thought long and hard about the case before her. Luna had to admit, if Batgirl's and Bubbles' alibis held true, then they definitely couldn't have... well... uploaded anything to this inner net rope thing. Terrence, as Pinkie rightfully put it, didn't have any sort of intellect or the romantic feelings to pull off such a thing. In fact, if these were the only three suspects in the case, then it appeared that this graphic sexual story came from nowhere.

Pinkie picked her head up from her hoof. “Unless...”

Unless?

Pinkie quickly pulled out a piece of paper and a quill, and with a flurry of head motions, began to write out some sort of message. Despite her best attempts, Luna wasn't able to read whatever the mare was writing, for her large poofy mane was in the way. It didn't take long for Pinkie to finish the note, and after it was done, she folded it once in half, and handed it to Gummy. Somehow knowing exactly what to do, Gummy quickly snapped the note into his toothless maw, and scampered along the floor towards the door. As he approached, the door suddenly opened a small bit—just large enough for him to fit through. After he ran through the gap, the door closed once more, leaving Luna and Pinkie alone in the room.

Being alone with the pony that apparently could either see, hear, or guess what Luna was saying was a little unnerving. Thankfully, that didn't last very long, for as soon as the door closed did it open again. Gummy was once again running along the floor on his way back to Pinkie, but he had also apparently brought a friend.

Pinkie smiled. “Twi-Twi. Good to see you!”

“And good to see you too!” Twilight smiled back as she used her magic to levitate the note Pinkie had just written into the room. “I got the note that you gave to Gummy. Apparently you wanted to see me? You find out who did it?”

Pinkie kicked the chair across the table from her. “I believe I did.”

“Good, and thank you!” Twilight beamed as she trotted over to the chair that was offered to her. Carefully, she hopped up on the hard wooden seat, and after circling around like Pinkie did before, she sat herself down. “So... who did it?”

Pinkie leaned forward. “You.”

“Me?”

Her?

Pinkie leaned down for a second to pick up Gummy, and place him on the table next to her. “Yes, you. You wrote the clopfiction.”

As if she was thrown into an oven, Twilight instantly began to sweat. “Wh... what? That's... that's silly! I wouldn't—”

“Not only did you write it,” Pinkie continued, “but you were the one that submitted it online, but when you realized how bad it would probably look to both you and your 'precious mentor', you couldn't handle the consequences, so you blamed it on someone else. The only question I have... is why did you write it at all?”

If Twilight was sweating before, her pores were now like tiny little fire hoses. Her eyes now nothing but pinpricks, she quickly looked around the room for any way she could get out other than the door to her right. However, there was no way in or out other than the single door, and that was controlled by a mystical force that seemed to let whatever Pinkie wanted in and out of that room.

Twilight finally broke.

With flailing forelegs in the air, Twilight cried, “I wrote it because I love her!”

“What?”

What?

While Luna and Pinkie were stunned beyond words, Gummy was not nearly as stunned, for he quickly leaped for Twilight. With quick movements, pulled out two sets of hoofchains, and quickly shackled the mare's forelegs together with one side of each. Twilight at first was surprised, but she had apparently resigned herself to her fate, for she didn't attempt to resist at all as Gummy shackled her rear hooves to her forelegs—preventing any attempts the mare might have at running away. Finally, Gummy flipped himself onto Twilight's head and put a small inhibitor ring around her horn.

That all done, Gummy attached a leash to Twilight's neck, and with a small yank, began to pull the mare away. She never resisted, and with her head down in absolute shame, she walked out of the room. As always, the mystical force opened the one doorway out of the room. Twilight stopped for a second, and with one last look back—her eyes showing nothing but despair—she turned back around, and walked out of the room.

All Pinkie could do was shake her head and pull out the bottle of water in the drawer. Not even bothering to use the glass this time, she lifted the bottle to her lips. Just before she began to drink she murmured, “That mare is messed up...”

Luna lifted her head away from Pinkie's, and with the most confused of faces, looked at the pink pony below her. She was no long murmuring to herself, but was instead now drooling fairly heavily out of the sides of her mouth. It was all Luna could do to turn away, and begin to make her way towards the window behind her. However, even so, she couldn't help but to shake her head in a mixture of both disgust, shock, and shame.

“Surprisingly,” Luna said as she magicked open the window she came from fully, “that isn't even the strangest dream so far. Not by a long shot.”

Author's Note

No Tara Strongs were harmed in the making of this chapter.

Chapter 10: Drifting

All night, Luna had been having fun flying through the skies above Ponyville and the surrounding areas. The wind buffeting against her face and the chill of the night air sending mild shivers through her body, she laughed and smiled throughout the entire flight. Sure, there were times that this gleeful flight took a turn for the worse—the time she had spent in a blind fury coming to mind—but for the most part, the gentle flapping of her wings calmed her mind and body. In fact, if there was anything that she was certain of, it was that if she ever needed to put a smile on her face, a jump into the sky would fix that quickly.

Of course, that made the fact that she was currently walking along the cobblestone road in the center of town that much more interesting.

When Luna had first jumped out of the window just a few minutes ago, she hadn't realized how much going into both Pinkie's and Gummy's dreams had taken out of her. She found out quickly enough as she failed to gain any altitude, and instead of displaying the power that her wings contained within them, she fell much more like a stone falling to earth. Upon standing on her hooves she realized not only how tired she was, but how dizzy the twin ordeals had made her—the mare barely able to stand on her hooves as she stumbled along. Hoping it was only a temporary thing, she had even tried to take off a few minutes later, only to fail once again.

It was okay though, for while she enjoyed flying far more than walking around, especially when it came to longer distances, she felt alright regardless. It was nice to give her wings a rest after all she had put them through that night, as well as stretch her legs. The refreshing feel of her slipper-adorned hooves against the hard cobblestones relaxed her muscles, and almost lulled Luna into a walking sleep. Of course, relaxing her body only invited Luna's mind to wander back to the dream she had just left.

Talking to herself, Luna whispered, “Just what were those things that Pinkie was talking to? They weren't monkeys, that's for sure. Maybe some sort of alien creature that she imagined? Though they did speak Equestrian fairly well, and appeared to have way too may similarities to creatures on this planet to be extraterrestrial. Maybe they were like domestic apes, not unlike a cow or pig? Does... does that even make sense? Does any of this really matter?”

Luna sighed. “No... no it doesn't.”

However, what did matter—at least to Luna—was the last little tidbit of detail that was in Pinkie Pie's dream concerning a certain student of her sister. Before Luna was banished to the moon, Celestia and she had had many servants and students in various ranges of intimacy looking up to them. Further, every few years, there was some servant or guard that was found to have romantic thoughts towards one of the two immortal sisters. Sure, Luna was no loon, and realized that almost every single one of her guards and servants had imagined her in... lustful ways at some point, but these were not the ones she was thinking about. No, it was the ones that actually thought they had a chance to be in a close, romantic relationship with them.

Every time, Luna had done her best to let these sorry souls down gently, with some needing a much harsher drop than others. For all she knew, Celestia had done the same. The reason wasn't really because of anything noble like their longevity or any sort of insane selective nature, but merely because they wanted “the right pony.” Sadly, Luna never found this pony—she was too busy trying not to lose her mind on the moon.

Luna couldn't help but to wonder, if Twilight had come around in that time, if Celestia would've taken the mare up on the offer. Of course, this was even assuming that Pinkie's dream had any merit to it, but assuming it did, it was a very awkward situation that her sister was in. Like before, this wasn't because of their immortality, but simply because... well... alicorns lose anything resembling a libido after they hit the half millennium mark.

She couldn't help but to chuckle. “Though, the look on my dear sister's face at such an admission would make it worth it.” Just after she said this though, her look darkened to that of a near scowl. “Even if she is undeserving of all of the love.”

Luna stopped and shook her head. “No, that is not true. Not true at all. Even I can see that she loves nearly everypony that she interacts with, including myself.” She sighed, and lowered her head almost all the way to the ground. “Besides, it is not like I even try anymore...”

Sighing once more, Luna quickly looked to her left, and noticed that there was a single doorway to a residence waiting for her. It was a simple house—just slightly smaller than Lyra's and Bon Bon's residence—and while there were various signs that it was beginning to show its age, it seemed well kept enough. Looking to all sides of her, it appeared that the neighborhood that she had wandered into was nothing but a large series of three different cookie-cutter models of houses. What set this one out above all the others? Nothing really—just dumb luck that she ended up here.

Looking at the house in front of her, she couldn't help but to shrug as she began to walk up to the front door. “Eh, might as well fix my mood.”

With that she ignited her horn, and shifted into the very familiar mist that she had grown accustom to. Not bothering to try and find any open windows, Luna just whisked herself forward, and under the door in front of her. She easily seeped through the crack under the front door, and after making sure that she had enough space, reformed her body. Checking herself to make sure that she wasn't going to knock anything off of any shelves, she turned to her right, and began to look for the resident.

Such a search was a short one, for immediately, Luna found her target. Further, not only did she find her target, but she also nearly woke her up with the snorting laugh she let out accidentally. On the couch in the main living room, the mare was sleeping with her face buried in a cushion, forelegs sprawled out on either side, flank up in the air, and a set of letter-carrying saddlebags strapped to her barrel. From the sounds that were coming from the mare, it sounded like the gray pegasus was snoring in her sleep, though it was mostly muffled by the seat cushion her face was smashed into.

Luna could barely hold back her laughter as she whispered to herself. “I heard of overworked, but this is something else.”

After a few more seconds to get the silent laughter out of her system, Luna was left with a soft smile on her face. Suddenly, an idea sprung to her mind, and with a smile on her face, she softly lit her horn with her magic. She wrapped the blonde-maned mare in her magical grasp, and with a slight movement of her head, she lifted the mare up and off of the couch. She did this painfully slowly, to the point that she was sure that it would take all night to perform the task that she had set herself. Yet, considering the risk of waking the pegasus if she tried to move faster, it was time she was willing to spend.

Luna turned her head to the side, and with gentle steps the entire time, she carefully began to go up the steps to the second floor. All the while, she levitated the pegasus behind her in the air carefully so that she didn't bump her precious cargo into the ceiling. Several times, Luna could've sworn that she was going to accidentally wake up the pegasus by the way the mare would suddenly snort and wiggle around, but every single time would go back to hanging limply in the air.

Finally, after several minutes of painfully slow walking, Luna finally opened the door to the bedroom, and made her way inside. Once both were inside the door, the princess brought the pegasus in front of her, and after using a little bit more of her magic, began to unbuckle the straps to the saddlebags. That task carried out, she carefully took the saddlebags, and draped them over the armchair that was off in the corner of the room. Untucking the sheets, Luna was finally able to place the mare into the bed—using a final wisp of magic to cover her with the sheets.

Allowing the sleepy pegasus to get comfortable, Luna waited as she rolled around in the bed a little. The entire time she watched, Luna kept the small smile on her face. Finally, the mare got herself comfortable, and after she settled down for what seemed like the last time, Luna bent down, and touched her horn to the mare's forehead.

Luna's dream-form began to appear over the ground in what looked like a jungle of some kind, though it was hard to say considering the static that was still in her eyes. Shifting the frequency more, details of the flora began to emerge. For the most part, Luna was unable to identify the trees and other low lying plants under her—she wasn't very familiar with jungle environments. Still, there were a few things that she could identify, like the palm trees to her left and right, as well as various species of palmetto bushes forming a tangled mass of plants.

By the time Luna had formed, the scent of a salty ocean filled her being. The tropical environment and the salty breeze made her believe that she was floating near the coast of a tropical rainforest—most likely a tropical island if the obvious was to be anticipated. However, the fact that Luna had no idea where the dreamer was was a new one. Sure, in the dream Zecora produced, she was unsure where the dreamer was, but that was only because the zebra was behind a curtain. Now? The pegasus had nowhere to hide.

Turning around to further search the ground, Luna gasped as she saw a small spear speeding right toward her. Before she had time to even blink in response, the deadly weapon passed right through her center—harmlessly as if she wasn't even there—and zipped onward to its target.

A hard sound entered Luna's ears coming from behind her, but that didn't matter to her right now. Right now, all that mattered was how fast and heavy her breathing was, as well as her currently nonexistant heart that was probably hammering against her chest. Only once before had Luna experienced a situation so close to death. Granted that even if the spear had pierced right through her chest, she would've only suffered a moderately painful wound, but it still would've been unpleasant.

Slowly, Luna began to calm down, and she began to become much more aware of her surroundings. Following the path behind her where the spear had gone, she eventually spotted that it had hit a tree behind her. However, she realized that while every other tree in the jungle appeared to be fairly homogenous with the others, this one was unique. However, as much as she wracked her mind and no matter how familiar the fruit that it appeared to be bearing looked, she couldn't identify the tree.

An excited voice from behind her breaking her out of her daze, Luna listened as it cheered, “Good job, Derpy! You got the mango monster!”

Derpy? Strange name for a pony.

The potentially insultingly named pony flew up towards the tree—her eyes not quite lining up properly—and inspected her work. Indeed, the spear hit the tree in the center of the trunk. Derpy pumped a forehoof once more in the air, then grabbed onto the spear with her mouth. With a mighty pull, she yanked the weapon out of the tree. Satisfied with the condition it was still in, she swiftly put it in one of the two long satchels that she was carrying on her side. It was haphazardly staying into the bag yes, but it was staying in nonetheless.

Wait, how did she throw the spear?

Her question remaining unanswered until the end of time, Luna watched as Derpy went around and plucked the mangoes out of the tree. Each one she picked she put into one of the two bags that were hanging off of her shoulders. Dozens of fruit were picked from it, until after just a minute, the entire tree was bare except for the very undeveloped green fruit. Now with two full bags full of fruit, Derpy turned away, and flew back in the opposite direction as the tree itself.

Not willing to lose the dreamer this early into their shared adventure, Luna followed the mare for her entire flight. Not even a minute passed before Luna found herself approaching a bright and sandy beach. It was curious on how much the terrain had changed since she was next to the mango tree. If she had to guess, she would suspect that it was the dream distorting distances or something. She wasn't sure, but she was sure that right now, that wasn't important.

What was important was the object that Derpy had flown herself to. Sitting on the sand, just above the high tide mark, was a fairly large wooden and twine raft. About four meters long and three meters wide, Luna suspected that it must have taken a while to build. That wasn't even including the fact that in the center of it, a four meter tall mast was placed, with a flag at the top and a straw colored sail rolled up tightly against it. The raft was filled with a wide range of assorted fruits, vegetables, and dozens upon dozens of coconuts that appeared to have been filled with fresh water.

Wait... is that sail made out of... hair?

Once again ignoring the question, Derpy scratched her straw colored mane as she continued to load up the several sacks of fruit that she had just picked. Once that was done, she pulled herself back, and smiled at her job well done.

“There! That should last me until I make it home!” she said as she looked up at the mast itself. “Don't you agree, Muffin?”

Confused, Luna looked up at the raft that Derpy had apparently almost finished with, and spied the most curious speaking companion. Unsure how she missed it the first time, Luna saw that tacked halfway up the mast itself, was a plastic bag that she had mistaken for a flag the first time. She rose herself up to the top of the mast to get a better look of what was printed on it. Despite everything inside her that tried to resist, as soon as she saw what was printed on the plastic bag, she groaned to herself.

Muffin Mania Bakery? Really?

“And... done!” Derpy yelled to Muffin again. With a beaming smile on her face, Derpy took the rope that she had been working with after getting the food situated, and tied it off onto one of the raft's logs. Derpy did a quick once over of the entire raft to make sure that everything was ready for her to send it into the ocean. The inspection didn't last that long—probably because she was able to look at two parts of the raft at once—and before Luna knew it, Derpy was picking up the raft.

Instead of following Luna's expectations of dragging the raft to the ocean, Derpy lifted the entire raft up onto her forehoofs. Balancing the thing over her head, she flew high into the sky, and began to fly both herself and the raft over the torrential surf that would've surely been an issue with trying to get off the island. Instead of stopping at where the waves were just started to crest—the line where the raft would no longer have the most trouble—Derpy continued on with her cargo, and flew on and on.

However, the pegasus' strength had to give out at some point. That point was right around the time that the island behind the two disappeared over the horizon. With nothing but water on all sides of them, Derpy began her slow descent down with her raft still hoisted above her head. How the mare's forelegs didn't give out was a mystery to Luna, but she wasn't even going to bother to try and question it. The descent was a long one, but eventually, the raft crashed into the waves in front of it, and began to drift along.

Wings exhausted, Derpy finally glided over to the raft, and fell onto the raft. Chest heaving to get precious air to her lungs, she collapsed onto her little bit of sanctuary. “Whew... that... that was hard!”

Even if you could just rest on clouds.

Regardless, Derpy was content with resting on her tiny island in the middle of the massive ocean. That was all that happened for the next several minutes. Sure, every so often the mare would take a drink from one of her coconuts or eat part of a fruit, but that was about it. Lazily drifting along, the mare was content to just relax, letting a hoof soak in the water, and humming to herself mindlessly. For Derpy, it must have been relaxing. Luna just wished that something would finally happen.

As if the world itself heard her thoughts, the moment that the thought crossed her mind, the world around her dimmed. Just moments before, the sky was spotted with a cloud or two here and there. Now though, sky was blackened with monstrous storm clouds that wanted nothing else but to swallow up the tiny raft below. In response to the brewing storm, the sea began to churn up, newly formed massive waves cresting on every side of her.

Derpy, now freaking out for a truly legitimate reason, cried out, “Oh no... oh no... even I know what's going wrong!”

Suddenly, the waves—once randomly churning around in all directions with no rhyme or reason—began to move in a much more organized fashion. In fact, they were all heading to Luna's right, bringing the raft along for the ride. Faster and faster the waves moved, until they were pushing the raft at a fairly swift pace now. Luna took a look around to try and figure out what was going on, and she quickly got her answer right in front of her.

Derpy screamed. “Whirlpool!!”

As if the whirlpool wasn't enough to warrant panic, many dark shapes began to form around the raft itself. While many looked the same, there were four different kinds—all impossible to make out to Luna. However, as each crested, Derpy was able to identify each, and scream out each.

“Evil Whales!!”

“Bwahahaha!”

“Temperamental Sharks!!”

“Keep it down! I tire of your yelling already!”

“Rude British Turtles!”

“Cease this tomfoolery immediately or so help me I'll come up there and stop it myself!”

“Foul Tasting Jellyfish!”

“...”

After a few seconds of not getting a response, Derpy—whose wings were whipping violently in the wind as she gripped the mast—looked up at the bag above her. With the wind almost drowning her out entirely, she yelled, “Muffin! What are we going to do!?”

I personally suspect you shall perish.

Obviously, the bag never replied, but Derpy was acting like she was listening for a long while. Silently—with the exception of the violent winds, thrashing ocean, and yelling animals all around her—Derpy sat there as she stared at the flapping plastic bag. It was almost a full two or three minutes of time that the pegasus sat there. In fact, it was long enough for Luna to think that she had died or something.

Suddenly, Derpy recoiled back in fright, and yelled, “What!? No! You can't! I... I won't let you!”

“...”

“I don't care what happens! You're my best friend! I need you! I... I love you!”

Ew.

“...”

“No! Please Muffin. No!”

With that, the plastic bag ripped itself off of the top of the mast. With the wind ripping around them all, the bag soared across the sky, and made its way far off into the distance. Curiously enough though, just as soon as it was almost out of sight, it appeared to make a u-turn, and flew its way back to the raft. Closer it got, until it was just about to fly over the raft itself. However, instead of flying onto the raft, it turned right, and landed in the water next to a school of jellyfish.

Apparently, the sudden arrival of the new “jellyfish” of their group not only took the school by surprise, but it also enraptured the creatures. Apparently now treating Muffin as their new leader, headmaster, principal, or whatever else such a thing would be called, they followed its every drifting move. Those movements took the bag and school closer to the sea turtles, who were still milling around the raft itself.

Seeing their natural prey pass right in front of their noses, the strange talking turtles wasted no time in inspecting the curious creatures. Even if they were apparently on the same side, the sea turtles' instincts began to kick in, and with murderous intent, they began to speed towards the creatures. Seven turtles came in from all directions, and with a bite from each, attacked the jellyfish.

Instantly, they all spat out the jellyfish, and with a wail, complained. “I say! This tastes absolutely rotten! Why, I haven't had jellyfish so offensive since that disaster of a luncheon in Prance! The jellyfish—and everything else there—was positively criminal! I have eaten many a revolting dish in my time—I even enjoy sea squirts of all things—and I can say, without fear of hyperbole or deceit, that this jellyfish is among the worst of foods I have ever had the displeasure of consuming! I mean, how difficult is it to be a fair tasting—”

“Oh would you shut up already!” one of the sharks yelled out. “You're giving me a freakin' headache!”

“My word!” a turtle said as he swam up to the carnivorous beast. “ Why, I have never been so insulted in all my life you... you prat!”

“Prat!? What does that even mean!? That doesn't make any sense!”

“Ah, but it would make perfect sense, my dear fool. That is of course, if you had a brain.”

“Would you just shut up!”

"Oh, go boil your head!"

“Why you little—”

“Oh would you all shut the hell up!” the whales finally yelled in response. Quickly, they moved from their position of orbiting the raft to surrounding all of the other creatures. “Seriously, you fools are going to ruin our diabolical plans!”

“What? Bloody wanker, I'll rough you up!”

“Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up!”

“...”

All at once, the four species of animals began to attack one another in a furious frenzy. The whales used their massive girth to smack around the other animals, while they used their mouths when they could to deliver the finishing blows. The sharks—while lacking the size of the whales—had a jaw that was especially deadly, and were able to take down the whales and turtles with only a few bites. The turtles, while lacking any suitable strong offense, had the most amazing defense there was, and their shells might have well have been invincible. Even the jellyfish—so woefully weak compared to anything else around them—were fighting with their tentacles.

While Luna suspected that the whales would win this one by a tsunami, it appeared that the rest of the animals had suspected this as well, and had unofficially joined forces to take down the greatest enemy. It was an interesting spectacle to watch to say the least, for if the ocean was turbulent before, the tumbling, rolling, and jumping of animals made it that much worse. Even though none of the animals—with the exception of a few jellyfish—appeared to have fallen in the four way battle, it was furious nonetheless.

However, what none of them realized was that as they were fighting, they were slowly drifting towards the center of the whirlpool. It wasn't until one of the sharks screamed at being sucked into the vortex that any of them knew what was going on. As soon as they did, every single creature did its best to get out. Alas, it was too late, and with a wail from them all, the whirlpool swallowed every single one of them up.

Stinkenden would be proud.

However, instead of completely swallowing them all up, the massive cluster of creatures clogged the “drain” of the whirlpool. Because of this, the whirlpool collapsed onto itself, sending a massive wave careening towards the center of it all. With a thunderous crash, the waves smashed into each other, and sent a truly massive amount of water flying into the air. The massive geyser was enough to blast salty water into the clouds above. The clouds—suddenly finding a massive amount of water attacking them—either exploded from the force, or were shot away from above.

Slowly the last remnants of the maelstrom of disasters began to fade, and the sun began to shine through. The rain continued to fall onto the mare standing on the raft, yet it was no longer the blistering cold rain from the storm, but the salty seawater that had been shot in the air just a moment ago. As this happened, the crashing waves from before calmed so much so, that while the ocean never really became the glassy consistency that lakes sometimes became, it was very calm compared to normal.

Off into the distance, Luna spotted what was obviously a large boat, and it appeared to be heading straight towards her. Derpy saw it too, but she did not attempt to wave it down. Instead, she looked onto where the whirlpool used to be, and after sitting down, brought a foreleg up in salute.

Calmly, the cross-eyed mare whispered, “Muffin... you were the greatest hero that Equestria has ever known...”

With a near violent yank, Luna pulled herself out of the dream. More than a little bit confused at what she saw, she looked down at the gray mare below her as the mare slept peacefully. Derpy smiled slightly, and with a small shifting of her body, she once again brought her flank up in the air, as well as her face into the pillow below.

With a sigh, Luna shook her head. “Alright, that was the strangest dream I have seen so far.”

Unable to figure out what else she could say, think, or even do, Princess Luna simply turned, and made her way out of the bedroom door. Not pausing for anything, she quickly made her way down the series of wooden steps. Finally, with a small glow of her horn, she shifted herself back into a mist, and zipped her way under the door, and out of the house for good.

Author's Note

Many thanks to SciGuy for helping me with the British "translations". That fool is crazy.

Chapter 11: Story with a Twist

Just like before, Luna was walking along the cobblestone road. While the last time she had been walking it was because she was tired from all the flying—as well as the disorientating feeling from the two previous dreams—this time was different. She did not feel the need to rest her wings like she did before, and her senses were back to being as sharp as always. In fact, there really wasn't any real reason for her to walk along the road like she was. Regardless though, she allowed her wings another long bout of rest, and with lazy steps, she made her way through the streets of Ponyville.

However, if there was one thing especially unusual right now about her wings, it was that she couldn't get them to stop constantly twitching. Twice now, she had stopped to do a quick preening to make sure that her feathers weren't the cause of the ticklish feeling, but it was too no avail. So for now, she just tried to push the feeling to the back of her mind, and ignore it, despite the fact that twitching wings were one of the most annoying things that a winged creature could experience.

Luna suspected that the true reason behind her anxiousness was due to her thoughts wandering to the dream from before. In almost every single dream so far tonight—no matter how strange and crazy they were—she came out of each with a new insight on how Equestria and its ponies worked. With Lyra, she learned of the incredible love that a couple could and should have with each other. With Scootaloo, she learned of how true sisters should treat one another, and the bond that they could share. With Gummy, she learned to never delve into the dreams of animals ever again. Simple.

However, Derpy was different. No matter how much she tried to think about it, there wasn't a hard lesson to be learned from the dream. At first, she had suspected that the island could represent how the world tried to cage one's imagination and creativity, and that Derpy escaping the island represented her thinking “outside the box,” and trying new things. However, that sounded less like a moral and more like Luna attempting to sound like one of those blasted psychiatrists. A second hypothesis that she thought of immediately after the first was that if ponies are industrious, they can surpass any limits that the natural world could set on them. Sure, it was a lesson, but it once again seemed a little too abstract for what the dream was doing.

Racking her mind further, she tried to come up with more ideas of lessons that she could possibly apply to the dream. The idea that you should be careful in times of crisis came to her mind. It was true, and it wasn't one of those crazy abstract thoughts that she had been thinking about previously, but it wasn't really a major lesson to learn. Instead, it felt like more of a survival technique than anything else. Maybe... maybe that the world is filled with things that are trying to gobble you up, and you have to push onward to get through? No, that's even worse, for even Luna had no idea what that meant. Finally, she came up with one last lesson: muffin carrying containers are excellent travel companions on the high seas.

Luna shrugged. “Sure, let us go with that.”

With that settled, Luna took the entire subject, and tossed it to the back of her mind—never to be thought of again. Instead, she looked around at the surrounding area around her. The road that she was traveling on had suddenly ended, shifting from a regular cobblestone into a large grassy plaza. Flowering bushes lined many of the edges of the plaza, allowing all of the houses bordering it a slight amount of privacy. While Luna suspected that that the grass in the plaza would be beaten down by constant hoof traffic, this was surprisingly not the case. Instead, the grass was a fairly uniform—albeit short—field of green.

In the center of all of this, a massive tree stood above everything else. To the average pony, this “building” would have been one of the strangest sights that one had seen in quite a time. Instead of a building built around the tree or one placed within its branches, Luna saw that the domicile was carved into the tree itself. Very skilled craftsponyship and various enchantments must have been in place to have had that much of the tree's heartwood removed without having the sapwood decay. If the ponies that made the tree weren't careful when they built it, they would've killed it.

However, Luna was not surprised by any of this, for she was already familiar with Celestia's student's current residence.

Luna couldn't help but to smile at her luck in arriving at the current home of Twilight Sparkle. If there was one pony that Luna wanted to look into the dream of more than anypony else so far tonight, it was her. That wasn't to say that Luna didn't enjoy any of the other dreams however, but while Twilight's friends provided some of the most entertaining of dreams, she could only imagine what Celestia's “number one student” would come up with.

Not even bothering to shift into a mist, Luna spread her large wings, and took off into the cool air. It was short flight—no more than five or six beats of her wings—before she touched down on one of the many balconies overlooking the plaza around the residence. Fortune was with her yet again, for not only was she now standing right outside of what looked like the master bedroom, but the doors were left open to allow a cool breeze. The small smile from before still on her face, she entered the bedroom as quietly as possible.

Unlike the bedroom of Pinkie Pie, Twilight's bedroom had a much more natural coloration to it. There was not a corner to be found in the room, with all the walls curving with the shape of the tree itself. Complementing this, the wooden floor was carved straight from the tree as well, giving the floor a very unique ring texture. While there were various pieces of furniture, one of the more interesting was the large bookshelf lining the right way, for it was specially built to snug up against the curved wall. Add in a few of the decorations, and—

Squinting her eyes, Luna whispered, “Did... did she put oversized shoes on the wall?”

Ignoring that strange sight, Luna took another look around the room. To her left, she saw Twilight's pet dragon sleeping in his basket. She had to admit, having a dragon as a pet was one of the most fantastic of things that Luna had ever seen out of everypony—especially considering a dragon's typical hostility towards being owned. Thankfully, at least for Twilight, small wyrmlings like this one were mostly docile at this age anyway, so it was somewhat unlikely the mare had much to fear from it.

In front of Luna, the guest of honor slumbered in her bed. As the mare slept in her sun and moon covers—the various levels of irony not lost on Luna—she was as quiet as a mouse. Unlike Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, Twilight's dreams did not appear to transfer to the real world in any way. Further, her breaths were as quiet as could be, leaving only heavier sighs to break the calm of the night. It was tranquil, it was relaxing, and it was the way Luna wished all of her subjects would sleep.

To Luna's right, her eyes focused on what must have been another one of Twilight's pets—an owl. However, unlike the other two inhabitants of the room, the owl was wide awake, and tracked Luna's every movement with its eyes. Luna shifted her head to the left, and it would follow. Luna shifted her head to the right, and it followed yet again. Luna shifted back to her center, and it returned to its original position. While they made the strange motions, it did not make a single sound, leaving her to believe that this creature was not supposed to be a guardowl of some kind.

Luna pointed a hoof at the owl. “Stay. No dream delving for you.”

The owl just blinked in response.

Satisfied that she had intimidated the owl into a terrified submission, Luna began to walk up to where Twilight was sleeping. Thankfully, while the owl still tracked her, it did not make any moves from its perch. Instead, the only warning that Twilight could possibly have to her approach were the muffled steps of her crystal slippers tapping against the wooden floor—not nearly enough to awaken all but the lightest of sleepers. True to her suspicions, by the time that Luna was right up against Twilight's bed, the mare had not moved in the slightest.

Lighting her horn, Luna whispered, “Let us finally see what Celestia's prized student is dreaming of this night...”

All Luna saw was white.

She didn't immediately know the cause, but she had a few guesses already. The first was that the dream she was looking into was taking place in a very bright area, such as the middle of the sun or something. That hypothesis was quickly discounted when she realized that there was no viable light source anywhere that she could see—as well as that she didn't have to squint to look around.

Luna's next guess was that the spell had once again fired off incorrectly like in Fluttershy's dream, and that this was all caused by a mishap of the magical energies required to view the dream. Just like before, she tried to realign said frequencies to make sure that the dream wasn't being cut off that way, but everything appeared to be in order. Fearing the worst, Luna moved to the right, and found that she was still able to move and look around. However, while that was a very fortunate find, it still didn't answer the question of what was wrong with the spell.

That answer came as soon as Luna noticed a little bit of purple out of the corner of her eye. Shifting her vision to the right, she observed the very normal looking figure of Twilight Sparkle laying on her belly—whether or not she could call the area below the mare the ground was questionable. From here, it was impossible to make out what the mare was doing exactly, but whatever it was, it was the focus of the mare's entire attention. Keen to find out what this wonderful activity was, Luna swooped down, and investigated.

Getting closer, she was a little bit confused at what she saw. Twilight was indeed laying on this weird dream's version of the ground, but around the mare were the last few objects that Luna suspected she would have. Instead of something fantastical, she simply had an open book in front of her—the mare completely engrossed in the text within. Further, off to Twilight's right, two more books sat next to her, begging to be read. What the subjects of the books were was lost on Luna, but that wasn't really important. What was important was that this was the most boring dream yet. Certain that something was going to happen in a few seconds, Luna was content to to float around, and wait for the mare's imagination to finally take off.

Sadly, those few seconds turned into minutes, and quickly began to feel like hours as she drifted along in the featureless white void. Every so often, a quick movement would pique Luna's interest and cause her to right herself from her constant flips and spins, only for her to be let down by the realization that the motion was only the mare turning a page from the book she was reading or scratching her cheek. It was an aggravating ordeal, and it reminded Luna much of the time she spent at the Lunar Court. With that thought, it didn't take long for Luna to scowl at Twilight.

This is it? This is all that that the great student of Princess Celestia could dream up? No epic tales of arcane geniuses battling each other by throwing planets at one another? No adventures with silly analogies of the “pen being mightier than the sword” becoming much more literal by way of pen weapons? Not even silly fortresses made of books?

As if in response, Twilight scratched her neck with a hind leg.

Screw this. I am finished here.

Pulling her head out of the dream, Luna couldn't help but to continue to scowl at the mare below her. Twilight still was quietly dreaming her boring dream, almost mocking Luna with her gentle smile. Here, Luna had gone through all the trouble to get into her room, for what? The worst dream of the night?

Luna shook her head. “For a mare so brilliant, your imagination is lacking.”

A/N: That's it! Hope you all enjoyed the short chapter! Now, to make sure that everyone thinks that this chapter is a decent length, here's a lot of information about gray squirrels!

Eastern gray squirrel

The eastern gray squirrel or grey squirrel (depending on region) (Sciurus carolinensis) is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus native to the eastern and midwestern United States, and to the southerly portions of the eastern provinces of Canada. The native range of the eastern gray squirrel overlaps with that of the fox squirrel (Sciurus niger), with which it is sometimes confused, although the core of the fox squirrel's range is slightly more to the west.

A prolific and adaptable species, the eastern gray squirrel has been introduced to, and thrives in, several regions of the western United States. It has also been introduced to Britain, where it has spread across the country and has largely displaced the native red squirrel, Sciurus vulgaris. In Ireland, the red squirrel has been displaced in several eastern counties, though it still remains common in the south and west of the country. There are concerns that such displacement might happen in Italy and that gray squirrels might spread from Italy to other parts of mainland Europe.

Etymology

The genus, Sciurus, is derived from two Greek words, skia, meaning shadow, and oura, meaning tail. This name alludes to the squirrel sitting in the shadow of its tail. The specific epithet, carolinensis, refers to the Carolinas, where the species was first recorded and where the animal is still extremely common. In the United Kingdom and Canada, it is simply referred to as the "grey squirrel".

Description

As the name suggests, the eastern gray squirrel has predominantly gray fur, but it can have a brownish color. It has a white underside and a large bushy tail. Particularly in urban situations where the risk of predation is reduced, both white- and black-colored individuals are quite often found. The melanistic form, which is almost entirely black, is predominant in certain populations and in certain geographic areas, such as in large parts of southeastern Canada. Genetic variations within these include individuals with black tails and black-colored squirrels with white tails.

The head and body length is from 23 to 30 cm (9.1 to 12 in), the tail from 19 to 25 cm (7.5 to 9.8 in) and the adult weight varies between 400 and 600 g (14 and 21 oz).

The tracks of an eastern gray squirrel are difficult to distinguish from the related fox squirrel and Abert's squirrel, though the latter's range is almost entirely different from the gray's. Like all squirrels, the eastern gray shows four fingers on the front feet and five on the hind feet. The hind foot-pad is often not visible in the track. When bounding or moving at speed, the front foot tracks will be behind the hind foot tracks. The bounding stride can be two to three feet long.

Behavior

Like many members of the family Sciuridae, the eastern gray squirrel is a scatter-hoarder; it hoards food in numerous small caches for later recovery. Some caches are quite temporary, especially those made near the site of a sudden abundance of food which can be retrieved within hours or days for reburial in a more secure site. Others are more permanent and are not retrieved until months later. Each squirrel is estimated to make several thousand caches each season. The squirrels have very accurate spatial memory for the locations of these caches, and use distant and nearby landmarks to retrieve them. Smell is used once the squirrel is within a few centimeters of the cache.

Squirrels have been known to pretend to bury the object if they feel that they are being watched. They do this by preparing the spot as usual, for instance digging a hole or widening a crack, miming the placement of the food, while actually concealing it in their mouths, and then covering up the "cache" as if they had deposited the object.

The eastern gray squirrel is one of very few mammalian species that can descend a tree head-first. It does this by turning its feet so the claws of its hind paws are backward pointing and can grip the tree bark.

Eastern gray squirrels build a type of nest, known as a "drey", in the forks of trees, consisting mainly of dry leaves and twigs. Males and females may share the same nest for short times during the breeding season and during cold winter spells squirrels may share a drey to stay warm. They may also nest in the attic or exterior walls of a house, where they may be regarded as pests, and as fire hazards due to their habit of gnawing on electrical cables (see Tree squirrel for more on interactions with humans). In addition, squirrels may inhabit a permanent tree den hollowed out in the trunk or a large branch of a tree.

Eastern gray squirrels are crepuscular, or more active during the early and late hours of the day, and tend to avoid the heat in the middle of a summer day. They do not hibernate.

Predators include humans, hawks, weasels, raccoons, domestic and feral cats, snakes, owls, and dogs.

Reproduction

Eastern gray squirrels breed twice a year, December to February and May to June, though this is slightly delayed in more northern latitudes. The first litter is born in February to March, the second in June to July. Normally, two to six young are born in each litter, but this number can be as high as eight. The gestation period is about 44 days. The young are weaned at seven weeks and leave the nest after 10 weeks.

Eastern gray squirrels can start breeding as early as five and a half months old, but usually breed for the first time at the age of one. These squirrels can live to be 20 years old in captivity, but in the wild usually only live up to 12.5 years.

Communication

As in most other mammals, communication among eastern gray squirrel individuals involves both vocalizations and posturing. The species has a quite varied repertoire of vocalizations, including a squeak similar to that of a mouse, a low-pitched noise, a chatter, and a raspy "mehr mehr mehr". Other methods of communication include tail-flicking. Communications are mainly used in mating season and to ward off predators.

The use of vocal and visual communication has been shown to vary by location, based on elements such as noise pollution and the amount of open space. For instance, populations living in large cities generally rely more on the visual signals, due to the generally louder environment with more areas without much visual restriction. However, in heavily wooded areas, vocal signals are used more often due to the presence of less noise and a dense canopy restricting visual range.

Diet

Eastern gray squirrels eat a range of foods, such as tree bark, berries, many types of seeds and acorns, walnuts, and other nuts, and some types of fungi found in the forests, including fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita muscaria). They can cause damage by tearing the tree bark and eating the soft cambial tissue underneath: sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) L. and beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) suffer the greatest damage.

Eastern gray squirrels have a high enough tolerance for humans to inhabit residential neighborhoods and will raid bird feeders for millet, corn, and sunflower seeds. On very rare occasions, when their usual food sources are scarce, eastern gray squirrels will also prey upon insects, frogs, small rodents including other squirrels, and small birds, their eggs and young. They will also gnaw on bones, antlers, and turtle shells – likely as a source of minerals sparse in their normal diet.

Habitat

In the wild, eastern gray squirrels can be found inhabiting large areas of mature, dense woodland ecosystems, generally covering 40 hectares of land. These forests usually contain large amounts of dense understory vegetation that provides them sufficient amount of food sources and favorable shelters. Oak-hickory hardwood forests are preferred over coniferous forests.

Eastern gray squirrels generally prefer constructing their dens upon large tree branches and within the hollow trunks of trees. They also have been known to take shelter within abandoned bird nests. The dens are usually lined with moss plants, thistledown, dried grass, and feathers. These perhaps provide and assist in the insulation of the den, used to reduce heat loss. A cover to the den is usually built afterwards.

Close to human settlements, eastern gray squirrels are found in parks and back yards of houses within urban environments and in the farmlands of rural environments.

Distribution

The eastern gray squirrel is found in the eastern United States and adjacent southern Canada; New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to East Texas and Florida. It has also been introduced into Ireland, Britain, Italy, South Africa, and Australia (where it was extirpated by 1973).

Introductions

The eastern gray squirrel has been introduced to a variety of locations in western North America: in Canada, to the southwest corner of British Columbia and to the city of Calgary, Alberta; in the United States, to the states of Washington and Oregon and, in California, to the city of San Francisco and the peninsula area of San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, south of the city. It has become the most common squirrel in many urban and suburban habitats in western North America, from north of central California to southwest British Columbia. At the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries, the eastern gray squirrel was introduced into South Africa, Ireland and England.

In South Africa, though exotic, it is not usually considered an invasive species owing to its small range (only found in the extreme southwestern part of the Western Cape, going north as far as the small farming town of Franschhoek), as well because it inhabits urban areas and places greatly affected by humans, such as agricultural areas and exotic pine plantations. Here, it mostly eats acorns and pine seeds, although it will take indigenous and commercial fruit, as well. Even so, it is unable to use the natural vegetation (fynbos) found in the area, a factor which has helped to limit its spread. It does not come into contact with native squirrels due to geographic isolation (a native tree squirrel, Paraxerus cepapi, is found only in the savanna regions in the northeast of the country) and different habitats.

It spread rapidly across England and then became established in both Wales and parts of southern Scotland. On mainland Britain, it has almost entirely displaced the populations of native red squirrels. On the island of Ireland, this displacement has not been as rapid because there was only a single introduction, in County Longford. Schemes have been introduced to control the population in Ireland to encourage the native red squirrels. Eastern gray squirrels have also been introduced to Italy, and the European Union has expressed concern it will similarly displace the red squirrel from parts of the European continent.

Displacement of red squirrels

In the United Kingdom and in Ireland, the eastern gray squirrel has few natural predators. This has aided its rapid population growth and has led to the species being classed as a pest. Measures are being devised to reduce its numbers, including one plan for celebrity television chefs to promote the idea of eating the squirrels. In areas where relict populations of red squirrel survive, such as the islands of Anglesey and Brownsea, programs seeking to eradicate pest squirrels are in progress in an effort to allow red squirrel populations to recover.

Although complex and controversial, the main factor in the eastern gray squirrel's displacement of the red squirrel is thought to be its greater fitness and, hence, a competitive advantage over the red squirrel on all measures. The eastern gray squirrel tends to be larger and stronger than the red squirrel and has been shown to have a greater ability to store fat for winter. The squirrel can therefore compete more effectively for a larger share of the available food, resulting in relatively lower survival and breeding rates among the red squirrel. Parapoxvirus may also be a strongly contributing factor; red squirrels are fatally affected by the disease, while the eastern gray squirrels are unaffected but thought to be carriers. The red squirrel is also less tolerant of habitat destruction and fragmentation which has led to its population decline, while the more adaptable eastern gray squirrel has taken advantage and expanded.

Similar factors appear to have been at play in the Pacific region of North America, where the native American red squirrel has been largely displaced by the eastern gray squirrel in parks and forests throughout much of the region.

Ironically, "fears" for the future of the eastern gray squirrel arose in 2008, as the melanistic form (black) began to spread through the southern British population. In the UK, if a "grey squirrel" (eastern gray squirrel) is trapped, under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, it is illegal to release it or to allow it to escape into the wild; instead, it should be humanely destroyed.

As food

Gray squirrels were eaten in earlier times by native Americans. Today, it is still available for human consumption and is occasionally sold in the United Kingdom.

Hmm... still fairly short on length. Let's see if there' anything about flying squirrels that needs learning...

Flying squirrel

Flying squirrels, scientifically known as Pteromyini or Petauristini, are a tribe of 44 species of squirrels (family Sciuridae).

Description

Flying squirrels are not capable of powered flight like birds or bats; instead, they glide between trees. They are capable of obtaining lift within the course of these flights, with flights recorded to 90 meters (295ft). The direction and speed of the animal in midair is varied by changing the positions of its two arms and legs, largely controlled by small cartilaginous wrist bones. This changes the tautness of the patagium, a furry parachute-like membrane that stretches from wrist to ankle. It has a fluffy tail that stabilizes in flight. The tail acts as an adjunct airfoil, working as an air brake before landing on a tree trunk.

The colugos, Petauridae, and Anomaluridae are gliding mammals, which are similar to flying squirrels, because of convergent evolution. A few mammals can glide through the trees, but they do not actually fly (like birds and bats). They have a membrane of skin on either side of their body.

The Siberian flying squirrel ranges from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.

Prior to the 21st century, the evolutionary history of the flying squirrel was frequently debated. This debate was clarified greatly as a result of two recent molecular studies. These studies found support that flying squirrels originated 18–20 million years ago, are monophyletic, and have a sister relationship with tree squirrels. There are four hypotheses as to why gliding has evolved in mammals: economical locomotion, foraging optimization, evasion of predators, and control of landing forces.

Life cycles

The life expectancy of flying squirrels in the wild is about six years, but flying squirrels can live up to fifteen years in zoos. In the wild, flying squirrels are commonly eaten by predators, but in zoos, they are not subject to predation. The mortality rate in young flying squirrels is high because of predators and diseases. Predators of flying squirrels include tree snakes, raccoons, owls, martens, fishers, coyotes, bobcats, and feral cats. In the Pacific Northwest of North America, the Northern Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) is a common predator of flying squirrels.

Flying squirrels are usually nocturnal, since they are not adept at escaping birds of prey that hunt during the daytime. Flying squirrels eat according to what kind of an environment they are in. They are omnivorous, and will eat whatever kinds of food they can find. The North American southern flying squirrel eats seeds, insects, gastropods (slugs and snails), spiders, shrubs, flowers, fungi, and tree sap.

Reproduction

The mating season for flying squirrels is during February and March. When the infant squirrels are born, the female squirrels live with them in maternal nest sites. The mothers nurture and protect them until they leave the nest. The males do not participate in nurturing their offspring.

At birth, flying squirrels are mostly hairless, apart from their whiskers, and most of their senses are not present. Their internal organs are visible through the skin, and their sex can be signified. By week five of their lives, they are almost fully developed. At that point, they can respond to their environment and start to develop a mind of their own. Through the upcoming weeks of their lives, they practice leaping and gliding. After two and a half months, their gliding skills are perfected, they are ready to leave their nest and are capable of independent survival.

Diet

Flying squirrels can easily forage for food in the night, given their highly developed sense of smell, where they harvest fruits, nuts, fungi, and bird eggs. Gliding conserves energy. Many gliders have specialized diets and there is evidence to believe that gliders may be able to take advantage of scattered protein deficient food. Additionally, gliding is a fast form of locomotion and by reducing travel time between patches, can increase the amount of foraging time.

Yeah... that'll be enough words to trick ya'll. Hugs and kisses. Oh, and I totally made a D&D character that was a squirrel. Kickass, huh?

Author's Note

Don't freak out everyone and complain about the "fake" chapter this week! I'll post a "real" chapter on Sunday.

Chapter 12: Champion

In the late hour of the cool fall night, ponies everywhere slept in unconscious bliss. Almost every single pony gleefully slumbered with a smile on their face as they let the world of dreams overtake their minds. These ponies dreamed of fantastic things, from Rainbow's dream of an adventurous journey into jungles far off, to Pinkie Pie's dream of deducing the nature of crime in general. In each, while the dreams did not necessarily define the pones that created them, they did take Luna to the most fantastic places one could imagine.

It was for this reason why Luna was currently pacing on the balcony outside, fuming about the previous dream.

Instead of the wondrous adventures that Luna had been preparing herself for, Twilight's dreams were the closest to nothing that one could get without actually dreaming of nothing. Sure, there was nothing wrong with books—Luna herself loved to sit down with a nice almanac every so often—but there was a difference between reading during one's wakeful hours, and actually dreaming of reading. Even Luna knew that the point of reading books was either to learn more about a subject or to escape the real world in a wondrous and adventurous tale. Even then, the point of dreaming of reading didn't make any sense at all when one considers that there couldn't be anything in those books that the dreamer didn't already encounter.

Luna continued to grumble to herself as she paced across the balcony. “Twilight Sparkle, student of Celestia, Element of Magic, and savior of Equestria thrice over... dreams of only reading books?”

Annoyed at the immense waste of time this detour was, Luna continued to fume to herself. Alas, there was no good reason to stay here on this balcony, and while the alicorn did desire to make Twilight pay for the waste of time that the mare had caused her via a prank or thirty, such an action would only further waste whatever precious time that remained in the night. Instead, she took one last deep breath, released it, then began to make her way to the railing to continue on to her next destination. As to where her next destination would be, she wasn't sure. However, what she was certain of was that staying here was not of any use to her.

Just as she was going to take off, she heard a shuffling of a body in a bed behind her. Normally, she would’ve just flown off as she had done all night, and not have bothered herself with trying to figure out who caused the noise. However, as if some kind of outside force pulled her mind to the room behind her, Luna turned her head around, and looked back at Twilight. Surprisingly enough, Twilight had not moved in the slightest—her body still flat on its back as she quietly snoozed. This fact surprised Luna, and with her curiosity peaking, she turned around, and made her way back inside of the room.

Back inside, Luna scanned the bedroom once more to see if she could find out what caused the shuffling noise. Already determining that Twilight wasn’t the one that caused the noise, Luna looked around to find any other possible sources. The owl to her right was possible, but considering the fact that owls were a quiet sort, she suspected that it was not the case. Those two not being the cause, there was only one other that could possibly cause the noise.

The pet dragon to Luna's left.

Indeed, as soon as she thought that to herself, the wyrmling shifted a little bit more as he rolled over to his other side. In fact, not only did he roll over, but he curled up into a ball and began to snuggle up with his blanket. It was cute, it was adorable, and it was a complete insult to his draconic heritage. In fact, if any fully grown dragon were to see the young one snuggling with his blankie, they would probably do their best to convince Luna that said wyrmling was nothing but a simple wyvern.

“So what makes you tick, young one?” Luna asked the sleeping dragon as she approached him. “I might as well find out while I am here. I am certain that it will be... educational.”

With that, Luna lit her horn, bent her head down, and touched the bright tip to his head.

The first thing that Luna noticed was the acrid smell of smoke in the air. This did not come as a complete surprise though, for all around Luna, billowing towers of smog from blazing infernos rose into the ash-filled sky. Buildings all around were destroyed, with only the scant one or two in her vision being spared from the carnage around her. In fact, the only thing of any significance that appeared to be mostly intact were the roads, though those were almost completely clogged by the debris of the ruined buildings. All in all, the entire scene was something that Luna had not seen since the war against her sister, with the only exception being the distinct lack of bodies on the ground. Instead, there was just the rubble of a ruined village littering the streets.

Upon a quick inspection, Luna determined that this village wasn't Ponyville—or at least if it was, it was not laid out in the way that it was in the real world. Instead, this village was much more sprawled out, each building being its own entity with a yard and fence to boot. Running through the spread out village, a massive road ran through the center of the settlement. All along the side streets to either side, debris clogged up the cobblestone path, making the main road the only viable path through the town.

It was then that Luna finally caught a glimpse of somepony, even if the approaching figure wasn't a pony at all. Instead, the silhouette running into the village was that of a massive bipedal creature, with extremely long legs, a broad chest, and arms that looked as wide as trees. It was difficult to tell exactly what it was wearing from this distance, except for a cape that whipped behind it as it ran into the village. The final thing of note were the two weapons that were crossed across its back—both spear-like, but impossible to properly identify at this distance.

Could this possibly be the dreamer? It does not appear anything like him though.

However, that question was quickly answered as he got closer, and the light from the fires in front of him illuminated his face. The first tell-tale sign that he was the wyrmling were the unique purple scales that covered the vast majority of his body, The only places that these scales did not shine a bright lavender were on his massive green-scaled chest, the black pants he wore, the red boots he wore over his feet, and the silver metal plates that were strategically strapped onto various parts of his arms and shoulders. Indeed for what it looked like, it appeared that the metal plates did not provide the majority of his defense, and he instead relied on his dragon scales to deflect any blows.

He has a impressive chin structure as well, if I may add.

Not pausing for a second to even inspect the area around him, the not-wyrmling charged into the village silently. Making his way quickly to the center of some of the most terrible of the destruction, he turned a corner, and began to make his way over the rubble. As Luna saw this, she quickly gave chase, and tailed the dragon in front of her.

As soon as she turned the corner, her eyes fell onto the dragon, who was currently kneeling next to a wounded pony. Supporting the stallion's head, he spoke with a surprisingly soft voice. “Easy my good stallion. Take it easy. You're safe now.”

Slowly, the stallion lifted his eyes up, until they fell across the face of the dragon above him. “Thank... thank the goddesses you're here... Sir Spike.”

Sir? Even gave himself a title.

Sir Spike allowed the smallest of smiles to grow on his face before he calmly spoke once more. “Who did this, my friend? Was it diamond dogs? Giants? The legendary Tarrasque?”

“No, no, and no; it was... it was none of those. It was... it was the evil Overlord that invaded recently.” Slowly, the stallion pointed in a direction—obviously north—and whispered, “He and his minions swept down from his fortress to the north, stole everything of any value in their path, and destroyed anything else. Fortunately, I do not believe anyone died because of their rampage.”

Spike nodded. “This is good. So everypony is alright?”

The stallion lowered his eyes. “Neigh. They... they ponynapped somepony. They... they ponynapped Lady Rarity.”

With that statement, Sir Spike's face transformed from its small grin into a hardened glare—his face showing a far off look of determination. “Then by my honor, I—Sir Spike of Draconia, master of ten thousand weapons, liberator of the pixie tribes, slayer of the evil frost wyrm Sífrerinn, and overall pretty cool guy—will go out to save her.”

...Eh, I have heard more impressive titles boasted.

With his statement made, Spike lowered the stallion back to the ground. Still wearing his face of determination, he picked himself back to his feet, and ran back towards the main road that ran through the village. His leaps over the rubble were just as effortless as Lyra's were a few dreams back, as well as just as nimble and dexterous. Another flip later, and he planted his feet onto the cobblestone road, and sprinted away into the distance.

His destination—the castle to the north.

However, if he expected that the task would be an easy one, he was sorely mistaken, for up ahead Luna noticed the sight of several bipedal creatures blocking the road. It was hard to make out what they were from this distance, but she could easily tell that there were five in total. Each bore a spear-like weapon of some kind, and appeared to be at least somewhat trained in their use. They quickly made their ill intent with such weapons known as they noticed Spike, lowered their spears, and began to hoot and holler.

Instead of the familiar diamond dogs or the like that Luna expected, the creatures looked reptilian. However, they were nowhere close to as fantastically colored as Spike was—nor as armored—and instead were colored in mostly green and brown earthy hues. Each was entirely nude, save for a few simple belts they used to carry a few provisions and weapons on. Even after racking her mind for anything that would look like these creatures, Luna was drawing a blank on what they could be.

Spike—as if he knew exactly what she was thinking—drew the lance affixed to his back. “Troglodytes.”

Without a single bit of hesitation, he pointed his deadly weapon towards the group. With a predatory yell cascading out of his throat, he charged the group of troglodytes lance-first. The troglodytes charged as well, intent on stabbing him with their weapons instead of the other way around. It was only a few short seconds until they met in the middle.

Suddenly out of literally nowhere, there was a loud yell. “Seventeen!”

What was that?

With a mighty blow, Spike blasted away the lead troglodyte, sending the poor reptilian creature flying off to parts unknown. However, in response to having their compatriot utterly defeated by Spike's attack, the other three surrounded him, and began to attack with their spears in earnest. Fortunately for the dragon, every single attack failed to make an accurate enough hit against him to get through his near flawless scales, as if he was encased completely by the strongest of armor. Unfortunately for him, no matter how much he tried to twist and turn around, he could not get his lance to bear on another troglodyte.

Luna heard Spike murmur to himself. “Hmm... should've known using a lance while not on the back of a mount was a bad idea...”

With that, Spike dropped the lance to his feet, and quickly pulled out the second weapon that was on his back—a halberd. As he did this, he spun his body around, and did a spinning kick against the nearest troglodyte. His foot connected squarely against the lizardman's chest, and sent him into the ground in a crumpled mass. The rest of the troglodytes appeared not to care about their fallen comrade, for instead of attempting to treat his wounds or maybe at least get him out of harms way, they merely continued to attack their foe.

Now with his halberd in his claws, Spike mercilessly fought back against his assailants. Facing the next troglodyte on his list of destruction, he took a few steps closer to his third foe of the day. Even though it fought back, Spike was surprisingly nimble as he bobbed and weaved his body away from every single attack. Finally closing the distance enough to attack now, Spike brought the blade of the halberd down onto the top of his foe's head. The troglodyte dodged though, and allowed the blade to strike the paved road with a loud clink. Spike did not allow this miss to slow him down though, for he quickly brought the weapon back up, and struck the troglodyte in the chin with the back end of his blade, sending the troglodyte sprawling onto the ground.

Spinning himself around, Spike caused his cape to slap against the next troglodyte, blinding it temporally. Unfortunately for said troglodyte, by the time that it regained his vision, it got a face full of fist courtesy of Sir Spike. This sent him to the dirt, causing him to slam his head against the hard ground, knocking him out cold. However Spike did not bother to check to see for himself, for he was too busy parrying a blow from the final lizard. Said lizard thrusted with its spear, only to have it deflected to Spike's right. Recovering, it again thrusted its weapon against Spike. This time, Sir Spike used his left shoulder's armor to deflect the blow, and with a mighty swing—

“Sixteen!”

—smashed the back end of his halberd into the side of the troglodyte's head. Instantly, the creature flew right, and fell to the ground with nary a sound escaping from his throat—the creature quite unconscious. As for Spike, he quickly put his halberd back onto his back, and with a large grin on his face, turned towards the castle once more, and ran.

It was a very short run, for only a minute or two after he began, he was almost at the castle main entrance. The only thing separating Spike and the doorway from each other was the fifteen meter wide moat that encircled the entire fortress. On the near side, a pair of troglodytes stood with their spears at the ready as they awaited their imminent defeat. On the far side, four troglodytes stood just in case Spike somehow made it to the other side of the moat.

“Eighteen!”

With a roar, Spike spun around, pulled out his halberd, and smashed it into the heads of both troglodytes in a single swing. Both blacked out the moment they were hit by the halberd, and were already dreaming of lambs playing in fields of green by the time they hit the ground. Spike wasn't done though, for immediately after, he lifted his halberd over his head, and with a mighty throw—

“Sixteen!”

—threw the polarm into the face of the troglodyte on the far right. Before the other three could react, Spike lifted one of the fallen troglodytes over his head, and with a grunt of strength—

“Eighteen!”

—threw it into the face of the troglodyte on the far left. Once again, the foe was down for the count well before his body hit the ground. This left the two sole remaining foes on the other side, with each slightly fidgeting with anxiety as they realized the implications of how much trouble they were in.

After thinking for just a second, Spike ran a few steps back. Then without any additional warning, he charged at the moat, and attempted to jump over the wide expanse. His body soared through the air—cape billowing behind him in majestic glory—before the eyes of the two shock faced enemies. Then, before either could react—

“Nineteen!”

—he slammed his palms into both of their faces, and smashed their heads into the hard cobblestone road below. So hard was his hit, that the stone underneath cracked slightly from the dual impacts.

Slowly, he lifted himself back up to his feet, and as he brushed his claws on his pants, he muttered, “Too easy.”

I must admit, he is nearly as skilled as Captain Vigilant Watch

Spike hustled over to the spot that his halberd was sticking out of, and after yanking it out of the troglodyte's face, began to make his way into the castle itself. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be a front door at all—or if there was, it was wide open—for he merely ran through the open doorway, and into the front hall. However, while there were plenty of very valuable items to note in this room, Spike did not stop to collect any of the loot. Instead, he ran through the fancily decorated hall, and upon reaching the opposite wall, he kicked open a locked door, and proceeded to make his way up the stairs. This series of events continued for the next few minutes as Spike worked his way higher into the castle complex.

As Luna followed Spike, she noticed there were three things that every single room had in common. The first was that each large room appeared to be connected to a single stairwell that went straight up a single floor—a logistical nightmare for a normal building. The second detail was that no matter how many rooms Spike ran through, there wasn't a single defender to try and stop Spike. It was as if the ten troglodytes outside the castle were the only guards in the Overlord's entire military. The the final thing Luna realized was that with every single doorway he passed through, Spike found himself closer to the top-most room in the tallest keep. Indeed, if Luna's hunch was correct, there was something there that was most likely guarded.

One more stairwell later, and Sir Spike burst through the final door, and found himself inside the uppermost room. Looking around, his eyes quickly fell upon a snow-white unicorn standing on the opposite side of the room—her hoof shackled to the wall by a large chain. With frantic eyes, he yelled, “Lady Rarity!”

She returned his frantic eyes with a panicked cry. “Sir Spike! Look out for—”

Her warning came too late, for it was right then that Spike's entire body became encased in a light blue glow of magic. Suddenly, his body was levitated off of the ground, and as he was forced to drop his halberd, Spike's eyes widened five times their previous size in shock as all of his limbs refused to cooperate with his will. A few seconds later, his body rocketed back and slammed into the stone wall behind him. All the while, a maniacal laughter filled the chamber. Spike struggled against his bonds for a few seconds, before he finally gave up and lowered his eyes to the perpetrator of the deed.

A snarl forming on his face, Spike yelled at the top of his lungs. “Who are you!? Why are you doing this!? Show yourself!”

Slowly, a shadowy figure began to form to the left of Rarity. The pony was large enough to be unmistakable for a stallion, and from the blue glow of magic, he was obviously a unicorn. Slowly, the still laughing Overlord stepped out from the shadows, and into the center of the room. As soon as his features appeared, Spike snarled even more, and Luna couldn't help but to roll her eyes.

“Prince Blueblood! I should've known!”

Why am I not surprised in the slightest?

Prince Blueblood slowly stopped laughing, until he was finally able to speak. “Yes, it is I, Prince Blueblood, though I think the title Overlord fits quite better now. As for why, I have two very good and simple reasons, my annoying lizard-friend. The first is that I wanted to finally see the great Sir Spike, in the scales!”

“Well here I am,” Spike growled. “Want to get a closer and more physical look?”

“In due time my good peasant, in due time.” Overlord Blueblood began to walk over to the trembling form of Rarity. Despite her efforts to get away, there was only so far she could move before the chain she was attached to pulled taut, and stopped her escape. Blueblood grew closer, and just as he was about to be nose to nose with the mare, turned around, and faced Spike once more. “As for why I am doing this, it is because I wish to have you witness the wedding of myself and my bride, Rarity!”

“What!?” was all that Rarity could manage to yell.

Spike, on the other hoof, had more control over his speech. “You'll never get away with this, Blueblood!”

“Ah, but you see, dear Spike...” Blueblood trailed off as he waved a hoof to his right. Coming out of the darkness, an older unicorn stallion dressed in religious robes came out of the shadows. His walk was slow, but he still made good enough time getting to his proper position on top of the dais. Lighting his horn, he brought a book in front of him—readying himself for the ceremony that would soon commence.

It was then that Blueblood finally finished his sentence. “...I have already won.”

With that, Blueblood turned around, and the priest began the wedding ceremony. The entire time that the vile words echoed through the chamber, Spike struggled against the persistant levitation. More and more he tried to break out of his restraints, until the burning in his arms overtook his entire body. At first, his resistance seemed all for naught, for his body did not budge in the slightest. However, as he worked at the magic, he started to gain more and more mobility in his arms. Muscles flexing in his arms and chest, he fought the magic, until—

“Seventeen!”

—the magic spell finally gave way, and Sir Spike broke out of the aura. Falling to the ground, Spike quickly picked up the halberd that he had dropped to the ground, and readied it against the evil Overlord Blueblood.

Blueblood instantly realized that Spike had broken out, for right right as Spike planted his feet on the floor, Blueblood slowly began to turn around to face the dragon behind him. However, when Luna caught sight of his face, it was not one of fear, anger, or malice, but one of the utmost confidence. “So, Sir Spike, you really wish to challenge me?”

Spike grinned. “If you think that you can even call this a challenge.”

Blueblood grinned as well. “Then let us begin!”

Spike won the initiative, and so pounced at Blueblood in an attempt to end the fight before it even started. However, Blueblood was prepared for such a brash action, and before Spike could make it any further than half of the distance, the dragon was blown back by a blast of arcane force. Even with the slight stumble on his part, Spike recovered, and faced Blueblood yet again. Staring down the monster of a unicorn, he readied his halberd, and prepared to attack again.

However, it was Blueblood's turn to act this time, and after a quick spell, four ring shaped saws appeared from the shadows on the edges of the room. Blueblood smiled slightly, before the four saw-like blades began spinning, and were sent speeding towards Spike's position. Further, he used his magic to summon a gripless straight blade, and with a flick of his head, brought it before him. With that, he decided that there was enough animated weaponry to give him the edge in the battle, and so he charged at the dragon.

Spike didn't waste any time in reacting to the situation at hoof. He stared at the saws, waiting for the perfect moment to dodge out of the way—the light from the candles all around gleaming off of the deadly tools of death. Just as the weapons were just out of his arm's reach, he quickly faked left, then rolled to the right. The sudden shifts were successful in tricking the saws' tracking spell, and as such, they went too far the wrong way to turn back towards him in time. As such, they passed by him by just a few centimeters off distance, and continued towards the far wall. Just as both Spike and Luna thought that the saws were gone, they quickly veered up, and started to fly towards the ceiling.

Spike didn't have a chance to plan out another strategy on how to dodge the saws later, for it was at that moment that Blueblood closed the distance between the two parties, and began to engage Spike in mortal combat. Blueblood's first strike was less of an actual trained attack, and more of a wild swing meant to have as much power behind it as ponily possible. Such an attack was foolhardy, for Spike rolled once again, narrowly getting out of the way of the deadly weapon. Of course, that wasn't to say that the strike wasn't close, for the sword slightly nicked the edge of Spike's cape.

Rolling back onto his feet, Spike swung his halberd in a horizontal arc at knee level as he attempted to surprise Blueblood with his attack. The Overlord had apparently anticipated this, for with a tiny hop, he jumped over the weapon—dodging it completely. Spike spun with his weapon, and attempted to do a spinning kick to follow up with the first attack, but that effort was for naught, as he was forced to evade the spinning saw-blades once more. While successful in this endeavor, one of the saws slightly cut him on his right leg, giving the dragon a slight wound.

Taking advantage of the present situation, Overlord Blueblood took a few steps forward to once again close the distance, and swung his own weapon at Spike in a vertical swipe. Spike was just fast enough to lift his halberd in time, and blocked the incoming attack with the wooden pole. Blueblood was not done though, for as Spike held his weapon in place, the unicorn used his advantage of not physically holding the end of the weapon to spin the back end around the pole of the halberd, and cut into Spike's chest with a deep slice. Finally, as if that wasn't enough, Blueblood got right up next to Spike, and delivered a mighty kick against Spike's now deeply cut chest.

Stumbling back slightly, Spike held his left claw against the flowing wound. Growling, he quickly lifted his halberd, and jutted the back end of the pole into Blueblood's chest—surprising the unicorn—and likely leaving a nice sized bruise at the very least. In any case, it caused the unicorn to stumble back, and allowed the dragon to get back on his feet, and after readying himself once more for combat, charged.

If he was hoping to catch Blueblood off balance, he was to be disappointed. Quick to act, the unicorn ducked under Spike's attack. Further, Blueblood shoved his body into the dragon's knees, and sent Spike flipping through the air. Standing back up, Blueblood took his weapon into his magic once more, and prepared himself to charge at the dragon once more. Sadly for him—and fortunately for Spike—the dragon corrected his flip, and with an acrobatic roll, stood back up on his feet, and pointed the axe of his halberd at the unicorn.

That combat readiness only lasted for a second, for Spike was forced to duck under a pair of saws that came straight for his neck. Just a moment later, Spike dove forward as he dodged the other two that were attempting to come at his knees. Tucking his head down, he did a quick somersault on the ground, and stood back up, lifted his weapon, and prepared to take Blueblood down.

It would've been easier if he wasn't right next to his opponent while he was off balance.

Before Spike could react further, Blueblood once again caught Spike in his magic, picked him up off of the ground, and slammed him into the stone wall. Halberd clattering to the ground, Spike tried his very best to break free from the spell for a second time, but it was to no avail. For all intents and purposes, he was helpless.

Behind Blueblood, Luna could see the saws turning back towards Sir Spike once more.

“I must say,” Blueblood said in between a few tired gasps for air, “you were a much tougher opponent than I expected, especially for an unrefined brute like yourself.”

Spike grunted as he tried to break free. “And you... are the... ugliest thing I've ever fought... and I'm counting... Glob the Ugly Giant.”

Blueblood smirked. “Maybe, but I seriously doubt that any of your petty opinions matter now.”

Both of them—as well as Luna above—trained their eyes up and back, and saw that the saws were making a beeline towards Spike. Unlike all the other times, the dragon had no way to dodge the saws, and could only rely on his dragon scales and few pieces of armor to deflect the weapons. Of course, considering that Blueblood's sword appeared to easily pierce Spike's scales... Luna wasn't holding high hopes for how well they would block these saws.

Turning back towards his opponent, Blueblood now yelled. “This is it, Sir Spike of Draconia! You lose!”

Spike narrowed his eyes. “Not quite.”

With a mighty intake of air, Spike let out a massive breath of scorching green fire. The flame quickly spread in front of Spike, until it enveloped Blueblood's entire body. The unicorn tried to do his best to avoid most of the damage, but there was no way he could dodge all of the fire—such a feat was impossible without the most roguish of training.

As the fire cleared, it became apparent that while Blueblood was mostly alright, his mane was indeed quite on fire. As the green flame shifted red, he looked up and shouted, “My mane! My glorious, luxurious mane!”

While he was distracted, the magic around Blueblood's horn flickered slightly—a sure sign that his attention was not on his spells. Taking this momentary chance, Spike once again fought against the magical binds that held him. All the while, the four saws quickly sped towards the dragon, with only a few seconds separating him with certain death. Spike saw this too, and with his eyes never leaving the weapons, he worked his muscles with all his might.

“Sixteen!”

There was a sudden pop as the spell's bonds failed against the dragon's strength, and with a quick tuck and roll, he dodged out of the way of his impending doom. Every single one of the saws impacted the wall immediately afterward—each powerfully sawing their way into the wall. The hewn stone was unyielding, and while the saws did cut into the wall a few centimeters, the walls were not breached. This left the weapons thoroughly stuck in the stone, and completely useless for whatever action was left in the battle.

Spike got to his feet at about the same time that Blueblood extinguished the fire in his mane. Locking eyes—a look of fury in each—the two simultaneously let out a roar, and charged one another in a final bid for victory. While Blueblood's saws were out of commission, he still held his powerful sword in his magic. Compound that with the fact that Spike himself was completely unarmed—albeit he had his powerful claws—and Blueblood still held the edge. Closer the two parties got, until they were finally within striking distance. Both combatants threw their attacks at the other, and—

“Dangit!”

Dangit?

Just as the two were about to impact one another, the entire scene before Luna froze. The two combatants, Lady Rarity on the dais, and even the flickering flames of the candles all around Luna stood still. In fact, it looked as if this was one of those displays that they sometimes had in museums with the fake animals from ancient times. Of course, while Luna was able to tell what she was seeing, the real question was what in the name of Equestria was going on!?

Suddenly, a series of mysterious loud noises of something scraping against a wooden floor filled Luna’s ears. Such a situation was impossible, for not only was the floor of the room they were all in covered in an area rug, but the floor underneath said rug was made of stone. Further, there were no obvious pieces of furniture that she could see that could be scraped across the floor. This was obviously ignoring the fact that the entire scene before her was frozen, so there was no way that anything could shift around in the slightest.

The disembodied voice from before once again appeared. “Hang on... almost got it...”

Almost got what?

A second of silence passed, until the voice yelled out excitedly, “Natural twenty!”

Suddenly, the dream's time began again. As Blueblood's weapon came down, Spike shifted his body, and allowed the weapon to glance off of his right metal paldron. Continuing with the motion, he reached out with his right fist, and slammed the unicorn in the face with a mighty punch. The sounds of a snout breaking resonated through the room, which was quickly followed by Blueblood flying across the room, slamming into the far wall, and slumping onto the ground below.

Slowly, Spike stood back up, and with his fists on his hips and his cape flowing in the still air, he stood proudly in front of Rarity. The priest from earlier was long gone—most likely having run away during the previous battle—so only Rarity was on the dais. The white mare was positively beaming with delight at the sight of her victorious savior. So much so, that if she wasn't chained to the wall, Luna was certain that she would've run right over to Spike, and showed him exactly how much she appreciated being saved from the evil Overlord Blueblood's clutches.

After a few more seconds of standing proudly in his spot in the room, Spike walked over to where Rarity was chained up. With nary an effort on his part, he stomped on the chain with his foot—utterly obliterating the poor, defenseless links. Ever so slowly, Sir Spike got down on a knee, so that he was level with the mare's sparkling eyes.

In a confident whisper, Spike spoke. “Are you alright, milady?”

A blush on her face, Rarity turned away, and giggled. “I am quite alright, Sir Spike. Is there anything I can do to repay your wonderful and glorious deed?”

Sir Spike took Rarity's soft cheek in his claws, and gently moved her head so that she was once again facing him. The two gazed into their eyes—green orbs meeting blue—until with a smile Spike whispered—

Once more, Luna heard the bodiless voice. However, this time, it was much more subdued. “Umm... natural one...”

“—I would like nothing more than to lick the inside of your nostrils.”

“WHAT!?”

WHAT!?

“Like my tongue is your tissue,” Spike finished as he licked his lips with his forked tongue.

For at least five seconds, Rarity sat wide-eyed as she looked at Spike in bewilderment. Eventually though, she finally blinked, and with a strained and forced giggle, said, “Well, as... appetizing as that sounds, I just realized that I was ponynapped in the middle of doing some very... umm... important things! Yes! Important things with important ponies! So... umm... with that... I'll be going now!” With that, Rarity ran away from the dragon with all the speed that her little legs could muster.

Slowly Spike got back to his feet, and with a smile on his face, watched as the terrified mare ran away from him. As if he had dust on his claws, he slowly patted them together, and whispered, “She digs me. I can just feel it.”

Luna leaned her head back up, and with a humored, yet embarrassed smile, looked down at the wyrmling in the basket. Spike was still softly snoozing in the basket, though his blanket had somehow found its way onto the floor next to him. Just like a few houses ago, Luna took the blanket in her magic, and in a gentle movement, put the blanket back over him—tucking it into the sides of the basket shortly after.

Picking her head back up, Luna softly whispered, “Silly dragon. Of all the times I have heard that line used, I have only seen it work twice.”

With that, Luna turned around, and made her way to the open doorway to the library balcony. Upon reaching the platform, Luna extended her mighty wings, and with a powerful flap, took off into the sky.

Author's Note

If you've followed me for three minutes, you'd know that I am way too into D&D for my own good.

Chapter 13: Throw Down

Once again, Luna found herself flying through the darkened skies over Ponyville. The morning would be arriving in just a couple of hours to spoil her fun, but for now her moon was the celestial object that cast light upon the land below. The clouds from several hours ago had finally cleared up, allowing the infinite stars above to twinkle to the one-pony crowd below. Such a masterpiece was something that should be shown off to everypony in the entire realm. Sadly ponies all over still slept though it, but Luna had resigned herself to this fact by this point.

Luna quickly turned her eyes west and over the trees of the receding Everfree Forest, and saw her gibbous moon just barely unobscured by the treetops. In fact, if Luna's mental clock was anything to go by, she would assume that there was just over an hour and a half left until she had to meet with Celestia on the Eventide Balcony to lower her moon. Sure, she wasn't in nearly the foul mood that she had been when she started the night, but it was still an occasion that she was not looking forward to. She much would rather continue to enter into ponies' dreams, and see just what adventures they were going through.

However, as a princess, she had “important duties” to attend to, and so with reluctant strokes of her wings, she banked east, and began to make her way back to the castle off in the distance.

Such a lazy turn translated into a lazy flight across the expanse between the two settlements. Instead of taking the straight shot to Canterlot like any normal pegasus would try to do, she allowed herself to drift left and right, and inspected every bit of land in between Ponyville and the castle. While she saw the occasional house here and there—most of the time accompanied by a field or two of crops—there weren't any actual towns on the winding road to Canterlot. In fact, with the exception of these small farms, the land between the Ponyville and Canterlot was surprisingly uninhabited.

It was right when she made this realization that she noticed a small cluster of covered wagons off in the distance. The details of the four or five wagons were hard to perceive due to the dim light and far distance, but what she could tell was that they were parked right alongside a five-way intersection of roads, with each leading off into another part of Equestria. It was a surprising place for a gypsy caravan to stop for the night, for the potential noisy hoof-traffic alone would put such real estate low on the list of desired campsites. It was definitely something that Luna had never seen before, and so was reason enough for her to turn her nose towards the wagons, and dive down to them.

While just moments before, Luna was lazily drifting along in solemn resolution of her impending “imprisonment,” Luna now found herself speeding as fast as she safely could towards the group of wagons. So fast she flew, that by the time she found herself above the wagons, she was forced to overshoot them, and circle back around so that she may safely land. It was a foolish slip-up, but one she really didn't care about right now—her mind was much more occupied on who would choose this lifestyle, and why.

A soon as her hooves touched down near the wagons, she began to scour the area for any details that would be important. Almost every single one of the wagons was the same as the others. Each had four wheels to move on. Each was covered by a tan canvas to shield the ponies inside from the natural elements. Finally, each was completely bland in their decorations—the owners apparently going for the full utilitarian look. The only thing missing from the wagons were the ponies themselves, though Luna assumed that they were all currently inside sleeping.

However, there was one wagon that stood out against all of these. This wagon was much larger than the others, and while the others had a canvas cover that was somewhat arch shaped, this one had a covering that was much more akin to a tent of some kind. A double hitch in the front showed in full display that this wagon required far more horsepower to be pulled across the roads. Add in the extra axle, the folding wings on either side of the wagon, and the large and featureless banner that was hoisted high into the air, and Luna could see that whoever was in this wagon was somepony of note indeed.

Or at least somepony who thought he or she was somepony of note.

Again, Luna's curiosity got the better of her, and with muffled steps on the cool grass below, she quickly found herself approaching this tent. Only a few seconds passed until she got to get to the flaps of the doorway, but as soon as she got there, she couldn't help but to stop at the precipice. Strangely enough, while Luna had found herself in all sorts of bedrooms that night, this single doorway was the one door that was the hardest to pass. Whether it was because it would most likely be the final one of the night, this one might house a pony of great status, or maybe even merely that this one was outdoors, she couldn't be sure. However, after just a few more seconds—and a few breaths to ready herself—she poked her head through the door, and peeked inside.

She nearly blew her chance right there and then, for it took a hoof to her mouth to stifle the near scream that she let out. Laying in a very overburdened bed in front of her was truly a monster to behold. She had not seen a creature like this since before her banishment, but if her time during the war was experience enough, then she knew what horrors this monster could inflict on a creature. The horned creature's blue fur couldn't hide the bulging muscles that were certain signs of his ability to rip a pony in two, sending fear through her body. This fear bubbled up and through Luna, despite the ridiculously short tie that he wore around his neck.

Yet, for whatever reason, Luna did not leave the tent. Instead, her eyes were completely focused on that tie, and that tie alone. Whatever was up with that tie gave Luna the confidence to stay in the room, and watch as the minotaur peacefully slept the night away. Ever so slowly, she removed her hoof from her mouth, and allowed her eyes to peel away from the neckpiece, and look at the minotaur as a whole as he dreamed whatever dreams he had.

“Whatever dreams he has...” Luna trailed off as she whispered her thoughts back to herself. A second later, she took a few steps forward, and smiled. “I am already here. Why waste this golden opportunity?”

By the end of her sentence, her horn was already alight with arcane energy. Just like so many times before this night, she bent her head down, touched the tip of her horn to the minotaur's head, and entered his dreams.

As Luna's brain frequencies began to align with the minotaur's, the scene around her became much more apparent. She was floating above what looked like an open air stadium for some sort of event. While normally, it would possibly be partially unclear what the event would be, the “stage” that the event was to take place in—a square platform with three ropes going all around to form a border—made it quite clear that it was some sort of fighting arena. The dreamer had not arrived yet, and while she was fairly certain of what role the minotaur would be taking, she couldn't say for certain.

All around her, thousands of ponies sat around in anticipation of the grand event that would surely unfold before their eyes very soon. Their loud chants for action were difficult to make out, but the call for violence was obvious. Every so often, Luna could make out a word or two—usually along the lines of “fight”—with the viscous movements of the crowd all around attracting Luna's eyes. Looking closely, Luna saw that there really weren't any actual individual pony figures, but only a sea of shapes and colors to fill their role. Regardless, they chanted all the same. This went on for several minutes—long enough for Luna to begin wondering when the dream would finally start.

As soon as she thought those thoughts to herself, a onyx-hued stallion began to make his way onstage. For such a rambunctious looking place, he was actually very professionally dressed. Upon his barrel, he had a black collared shirt covered by a black suit jacket—both of which looked like they were pressed just before he came onstage. However, one thing that was especially notable was the tie that he wore—a snow-white bow tie that stood out in stark contrast to the rest of the stallion's repertoire. Add in a microphone attached to his ear, and the pegasus looked like the definition of class.

Starting with a low growl, he slowly began—the crowd dying down slightly as he spoke. “Mares, and Gentlecolts, tonight I give you the best two of their trade!”

Ah. It appears I have finally come full circle.

With a dramatic wave of a foreleg, he said into his mike, “In this corner, coming in at an overpowering three hundred twenty kilos, I give you the monster of a beast... Iron Will!”

As soon as he made the announcement, a hatch opened from the floor of the ring, and allowed the massive body of the minotaur to rise up out of the ground. All around them, the screams and hollers of stallions asking for blood and mares asking for him to kiss their foals filled the air. Reacting to the cheering crowd, Iron Will grasped his two hands together above his head, and shook them in recognition of their praise. When his little elevator of sorts finally situated itself so that it was level with the stage floor, he took a few bows, and made his way to his corner of the ring.

All the while, his little black tie was tied around his neck.

The announcer waited another few moments for the crowd to die down, before he began anew. “And in this corner, coming in at... wait... is that right?”

Suddenly, the announcer brought a forehoof to the ear that his earpiece was in, and appeared to be listening to something that was being told to him via the tiny microphone inside. As he murmured and nodded to whoever was on the other side, the crowd around them all grew more and more restless with every second. With the restlessness came louder clamoring—except it was now complaints instead of praise—until it was nearly unbearable to hear.

Thankfully for Luna, she was close enough to be able to hear the murmurs of the announcer as he spoke into the microphone. “Two? Tag-team? Uh huh... you sure? Double pay? Alright!”

Finally—with the forehoof he had up to his ear—the announcer waved to the other side of the ring. With a booming voice, he spoke over the crowd's protests. “Coming in at one hundred twenty-three and one hundred twenty-two kilos respectively, we have the infamous Flim Flam brothers!”

Suddenly, there was a bang, and a cloud of smoke appeared in the opposite corner of the ring that Iron Will was standing on. There was a surprised gasp in the crowd, and as Iron Will and the announcer covered their eyes slightly from the smoke, the cloud quickly began to dissipate. As it cleared, it became apparent that there were two figures that had appeared inside the smoke. Both figures were very slim stallions, but other than that—and the fact that both were unicorns—it was impossible to discern anything more descriptive of them.

Just as the smoke began to clear a little bit more, the clean shaven stallion began to speak. “I do say, Flam, you weigh a full kilo more than me? I see you've been packing on the pies lately!”
see

Turning towards his other, Flam quickly retorted, “Neigh brother. Merely proof that my marvelous mustache is most magnificent!”

While the two stallions began to quip between one another, the announcer trotted over to where Iron will was standing. With a slightly concerned voice—most likely merely for theatrics—he said, “Iron Will, do you have a worthy comrade to call on to fight with you?”

To that query, Iron will thought to himself for a few seconds. During those seconds, the entire stadium grew quiet with anticipation over who he would choose to fight with him. Luna could think of several ponies that would be perfect for the job—Vigilant Watch, Shining Armor, any of the Wonderbolts, or even she or her sister would be perfect candidates.

However, as time went on without decision, it became less clear on if he even had anypony to call on—let alone somepony that was worthy to fight in such an arena. Granted this confused Luna to no end, for he technically could call on anypony, but it was his dream to mess up as he wanted to. The crowd must have started to think the same thing, for hushed murmurs began to spread through the stadium in unease.

“Let me make sure I have the facts correct.” Iron Will pointed at the two unicorn brothers he was to fight soon. “This is a tag-team, and only one combatant on each side may fight at once. Right?”

The announcer nodded. “That is correct.”

A smile grew on Iron Will's face, and with a quick motion, Iron Will turned his pointing arm into a mighty flex to show off his bicep. “Then Iron Will will fight them alone!”

The crowd erupted in cheers at his declaration. However, as the announcer took a few steps back, he spoke again. “Are you sure, Iron Will?”

Another flurry of motions, and the minotaur now had his hands next to his waist as he flexed his pecs. “Of course! I do not require assistance to fight those two los—UFF!”

Iron Will was caught off guard by a blast of green magical energy smashing into his unguarded face by way of Flam's horn. Stumbling back from the attack, Iron Will brought his hands to cover his face, only to receive a second shot of magic—this one to his stomach. This second blast didn't appear to knock him off balance as much as the first, for the minotaur was able to stabilize himself on his hooves before the third shot got to him. As the third blast of energy flew through the air, Iron Will bent his knees in anticipation—a mischievous gleam in his eye. Just as the blast from Flam was going to hit Iron Will, he jumped forward and up into the air, sailing over the blast with relative ease.

Iron Will hit the ground with a roll, and quickly got back to his hooves in anticipation for the next flurry of attacks that Flam would throw in his direction. Indeed, the smirking unicorn once again charged his horn with arcane might, and after pointing the appendage at the minotaur, blasted the magic in Iron Will's direction. Iron Will was quickly able to shift to the left and dodge the vast majority of the blast, with only the very tips of the hairs on his right shoulder being singed by the magical punch.

Shifting his weight further left, Iron Will spun around, faced towards Flam, and stared down the unicorn that stood thirty hooves away from him. With an primal snort of fury, he quickly lowered his horns in aggression, and charged at the nearly defenseless unicorn. However, while the sheer brutality of the aggressive action was terrifying, a charge from that distance was easy to avoid, and so with a quick step to the right, Flam dodged the deadly points of Iron Will's horns. Meanwhile, Iron will slammed into the ropes of the ring's border, and using the ropes to stop his charge, bounced back into fighting position. From there, he looked at Flam, and charged once again.

His charge was stopped by the sudden impact of a magical force against his unguarded back—a magical force that did not come from Flam. Instead, Flim had stepped into the ring, and with a green glow on his horn, fired off more bolts of energy against Iron Will. The minotaur took the first few hits of these fairly poorly, but once he recovered, he was quickly able to turn around, lift his arms, and shield himself well enough. Displaying the true power of a minotaur to the deafeningly cheering ponies all around, he waded through the magical onslaught being thrown at him—taking every single shot in stride. In fact, because Flim was already standing in the corner of the ring, there was no escape for the unicorn. There was only the massive minotaur that was in front of him, which at close range, could only result in—

That was when Iron Will took a blast of magic to the back of his knees.

Taking the opportunity that the cheating Flam had given him, Flim quickly ran towards the now kneeling minotaur, and with a hard buck, kicked the massive creature in the face. The impact drew a loud gasp of shock from the crowd as Iron Will flew backwards. Instead of falling to the ground, Flam instead grabbed the minotaur in his magic, and with a leap into the air, brought all four of his hooves onto the soft belly of the floating and defenseless creature.

“Sweet Mother of Celestia!” the announcer exclaimed in shock. “These Flim and Flam brothers have no shame! They're cheating! They're breaking the rules of tag-team, along with Iron Will's back!”

Why is everypony obsessed with mom?

From that moment on, the fight quickly degraded from its former fight status into a simple game of “beat up the minotaur.” After jumping off of Iron Will's stomach, Flam used his magic to bend the creature's limbs and joints—effectively folding him up into a more manageable object. From there, Flam did a few more bends and pushes, forcing the minotaur to basically turn into a small ball.

With a devilish smile, Flam looked over to his counterpart. “I do say, brother, would you like to play a game of catch?”

“Why brother! I never thought you'd ask!”

With a smirk on his face and a flick of his head, Flam took the minotaur that was in his control, and tossed him over towards Flim. From there, Flim caught Iron Will in his magic, and swung him around his head with a gleeful swing. With a quick flick of his head, Iron Will orbited the unicorn’s body, and then launched him back towards his brother—Flam promptly catching the flying creature. This process repeated itself several times, until the crowd was both booing and laughing at the scene before them.

Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the entire stadium, sending gasps of shock and fear through the crowd. The explosion forced the Flim and Flam brothers to break their concentration, and as Iron Will fell to the mat below, they looked around to try and find where the source of the sound came from. Luna herself noticed that it appeared to have come from one of the entry tunnels to her right, though the flames and smoke from the explosion prevented her from making out much of anything. Slowly though, the smoke began to clear, and every single pony in the entire area watched from the edges of their seats as the form of the perpetrator appeared.

As the one in charge of the interruption appeared, it was the announcer that first regained control of his voice. “By Celestia's beard, is that who I think it is!?”

Heh... Celestia with a beard...

Before the smoke could fully clear, the perpetrator ran out from the smoke, and sped towards the ring—becoming a blur as he did so. He wasted no time as he quickly jumped his way into the ring—easily sliding under the lowest rope as he did so—and stood next to the crumpled Iron Will. From there, he gave the two unicorns that were standing before him the nastiest glare that Luna had ever seen out of anypony.

However, the announcer was completely unaffected. “It's Angel Bunny! Angel Bunny has arrived to help Iron Will!”

Angel? I believe with an entrance like that, “Angel” is not quite befitting of this... thing.

Completely against his name, Angel Bunny gave the two unicorns a final glare, before he turned around, and looked at the mess of a minotaur. For as strong and fearsome as the creature was, there was only so much that he could take on his own, and it looked like that he might have reached his limit. That wasn't to say that Angel was going to give up on him, for with the sternest of faces, he reached out with a paw, and waited for Iron Will to get up. Slowly, Iron will looked over at Angel, then at the paw, then back at Angel.

With a grin on his face, he grasped the paw, and pulled himself up. “Are you ready to bring the smack-down on these clowns?”

Angel let a smile grow across his face, and nodded.

Both now standing, they turned towards the two unicorns across the ring from them, and watched as the two took one or two steps back in nervous anticipation of what was surely to come. Together, the two monsters of destruction quickly began to run towards Flim and Flam—the two completely different sized creatures matched for speed.

Flim blinked once or twice, before he spoke. “I do say brother, I do believe that we are very much—”

That was all he was able to say before a blue colored fist smashed his nose.

As Flim rocketed back into the ropes behind him, Flam also had his face smashed in by way of a small white paw of the Angel Bunny of Death. Angel wasted no time getting vengeance against Flam's cruel cheating, and with a flurry of fluffy blows, proceeded to pummel the unicorn's face. After the first few punches, Flam was finally able to get his forehooves up to defend his face, but this only served to leave his underbelly unprotected, which Angel took quick advantage of as he used his powerful hind legs to kick again and again. Finally, Flam lowered his forelegs to try and defend his belly, to which Angel reacted by attacking his face—starting the cycle anew.

Meanwhile, Iron Will was taking Flim's entire body, and showing the unicorn what pain truly meant. He was doing this via grabbing the legs on the unicorn’s right side, and using Flim's body as a jackhammer against the ground itself. Sure, Iron Will wasn't making much progress digging any holes, but he was making a lot of progress when it came to turning Flim into pulp. Again and again he slammed the unicorn into the ground, until Luna was sure that if this was not a dream, the unicorn would have long since passed on to the next world. Instead though, this was a dream, and as thus, she could still hear the panicked screams.

Suddenly, Angel took Flam, and with a powerful throw, tossed the poor stallion towards Iron Will. Without missing a beat, the minotaur grabbed Flam by the head with a single hand—a small grin forming on his face as he did so. With his other hand, he grabbed onto the face of the other stallion, and with a mighty throw, launched both unicorns into the air. The entire crowd erupted with excited cheers as the two stallions flew through the air, with only the sounds of the two screaming brothers attempting to drown out the noise.

From there, Iron Will bent his powerful legs, and with a strained grunt, jumped high into the air—effectively chasing after the two living projectiles he threw just seconds before. Soon after, Angel Bunny used the ropes around the ring to jump up as well, and proceeded to chase after his partner. It took a few seconds, but after Angel caught up to Iron Will, he grabbed onto the minotaur's arms, and using whatever forward momentum he had left, threw Iron Will up into the sky—effectively giving Iron Will a speed boost. It was through this speed boost alone that Iron Will was finally able to catch up with the two unicorns.

At a height of ten kilometers in the air.

Iron Will wasted no time in violently regaining his hold on the two unicorns that were still too stunned to react in any way. With a quick swing of his body, he took both under arms so that they were facing in the opposite direction as he was. Satisfied with the way the two very unfortunate souls were positioned, he tightened his grip on them, and let them three of them begin to fall to earth.

“Sweet Luna dancing in a tutu!” the announcer screamed into his microphone. “It's the Double Dragon Destructo Driver Deluxe!”

What?

Luna didn't get a chance to ponder the potential look of a ballerina outfit on her, for almost as soon as the announcer finished saying his lines, Iron Will slammed into the ground with the most tremendous explosion Luna had seen since her return. Instantly, a shock-wave began to reverberate from the epicenter of the impact site, sending every single pony that was in the crowd to their flanks, as well as sending the announcer flying into the seating area itself. Angel Bunny was unaccounted for since he threw Iron Will higher into the air, but Luna suspected that his fate was no better than the announcers. As for Luna, she was too incorporeal to really feel much of anything.

Even as the shock-wave blew past the crowd of ponies and off into the distance, the dust from the impact blocked any and all vision around the alicorn. Indeed, anything past Luna's nose was completely impossible to make out—the loud coughing and clamoring of the crowd around her sending signals to her that this was the case for everypony else as well. Luna supposed that she could have just flown closer to try and figure out what was going on, but the suspense was much too enticing to ruin with something as lame as that. Slowly though, the dust began to clear, and as it did, Luna began to take in the scene before her.

What was once a magnificent fighting ring was now nothing more than a wide crater—the rest of the ring completely obliterated from the near-orbital impact. Two meters down, the proud figure of Iron Will stood tall with his fists on his hips in triumph. Very soon afterward, the white form of Angel Bunny, hopped onto his shoulder, and began to stand in the exact same stance as Iron Will was. Below them, the only things that could be seen of the two opponents anymore were the slightly twitching hind legs of the once dominating Flim and Flam.

Iron Will's tie was still neatly tied around his neck, as if nothing ever happened.

“Ha! Haha!” the announcer laughed a little bit as he shakily scrambled down the crater. As fast as he could, he slid down the crater wall, and ran up to the pair of triumphant combatants. “I believe we have clear winners here! Iron Will, are you and Angel Bunny going to team up for the longer term, and try and become the best tag-team there has ever been?”

Iron Will and Angel Bunny looked at each other, and instantly, the smiles they bore dropped into a much more serious look. Where once they were celebrating their victory, they were now scanning each other in an attempt to figure out if the other was worthy of their fighting prowess. However, it only lasted a moment, before Iron Will brought his right hand up, and put his fist next to Angel, and waited. Angel Bunny looked at the fist for a second, before smiling, and punching it with his own paw.

Iron Will turned back towards the announcer. “If ponies are going to cheat, we'll turn them into meat!”

Luna pulled her head back up from the minotaur's forehead just in time for him to snort a little bit in his sleep, and roll over. Silently studying the creature before her, she couldn't resist letting a smile grow across her face as she watched both his light breathing, as well as the small black tie that was tied around his neck. However, she knew that staying any longer tempted fate, thus she quickly backpedaled her way out of the tent that she had entered just a few minutes ago.

Stepping out into the night sky, she turned around, and with a smile across her face, she spread her large wings wide. “I have to admit, it was a satisfactory end to the night.”

With that, she flapped her wings a few times, and with the wind from her wings causing the structures around her to shake slightly, she gained altitude, turned toward Canterlot, and headed home.

Chapter 14: Party Pooper

Flying in the early pre-dawn morning, the wind against Luna's wings sent tickling sensations though her entire body. This was a sure sign that a few of her feathers were out of place, and were in desperate need of a preening. Normally, she would've landed for a moment, and fixed the rogue feathers that were causing herself so much issue. However, she couldn't stop. Not now at least. She had to get back to Canterlot before she was supposed to lower her moon—the idea of her sister finding out about what she did tonight as opposed to sitting at the Lunar Court not very high on her list of desires.

Thankfully, that was quite unlikely to pass, for before Luna's eyes, the great city of Canterlot stood tall against the mountainside. Indeed, the ancient city had been built on the side of Mount Celestia, which to Luna sounded like a logistical nightmare. Sure, in today's day and age there were many ways for the ponies of Canterlot to skip the constant switchbacks that went up the mountain. However, back before the advent of magical elevators, it must have been nearly impossible for ponies to deal with. Add in the fact that the nearest farmland was a the base of the mountain—a trip of at least sixty miles—and Luna wondered about what insane pony had decided to pick this as the spot of the capital city.

Of course, considering the name of the mountain it was on, she assumed it was her sister.

Up ahead, Luna spied the distinctive landmark of Canterlot Castle—its pearly white marble walls unmistakable for anything else. Beating her wings harder now, she fought for altitude as she rose higher and higher into the sky. She began to take on a spiraling flight path to make sure she wouldn't slam into the walls of the castle. It was a simple process really, though it was a somewhat lengthy one considering the amount of altitude required. Two or three minutes of climbing into the sky later, and she finally found her target—the Eventide Balcony.

Breaking out of her spiraling motions, she carefully began to make her way to the landing. While the platform itself wasn't all that small, the cross-breeze that cut against Luna was making the landing that much more frustrating than it should have been. However, it wasn't anything that she couldn't handle, and a moment later, she found her hooves touching down lightly against the marble floor in a near-perfect landing. As soon as she landed, Luna's eyes fell onto the the sun emblazoned curtains that covered the doorway in front of her—the breeze catching them in a way so that they covered both the door and the moon covered curtains ever so slightly.

Luna sighed heavily as she began to make her way inside. “Welcome home.”

As soon as her body moved through the doorway, the muffled taps of her slipper-adorned hooves transitioned into echoing clops against the marble floor of the castle hallway. While she wanted nothing more than to try and keep her return a secret for now, there really wasn't much she could do—other than something crazy like trying to fly through the halls. Resigning to herself that if anypony was within earshot they would know she was there, she began to make her way back to the throne room.

However, as she walked, it became quite apparent that it was still much too early in the morning to have any of the usual servants wandering the halls. That wasn't even mentioning the guests that would normally be roaming the more public areas of the castle during the day. In fact, not only did she not see either of the two parties, but she couldn't hear any other hooves in the hallway other than her own.

Luna furrowed her brow. “I must inform my guard to patrol the halls more diligently, or else I—”

She stopped talking mid-sentence, and slowly shifted her eyes so that she was looking to her left now, and at the sun adorned door that was next to her. Slowly, she closed her mouth, and allowed the many possibilities flow through her mind like water. At the same time, while she thought of such things, she thought of the many consequences of the particular action.

On one hoof, the possible consequences of doing what she was thinking of doing were so numerous, she wasn't sure she could even think of them all. For starters, she was breaking her own sister's privacy in her own room. Luna knew that if Celestia started to snoop around in her room, she would have the mare's head. That wasn't even mentioning how much looking into Celestia's dream would be breaking her privacy. Sure, Luna had invaded other ponies' dreams a lot tonight, but those were kinda different, at least in the sense that while the others were merely her subjects, this was the goddess of the sun!

Then there was the issue on if Luna was caught. Granted Luna was caught near the beginning with the red stallion several hours back, but these two situations were as different as... well... night and day. Would Celestia understand that Luna was merely doing these sort of things out of jest, and was not acting with malicious intent? Even if so, would she care? Would Celestia try to throw her back into the moon with all the fury and anger that would be deserving of such a situation? Luna couldn't help but to shiver at that last prospect.

Finally, what would happen when she did enter Celestia's head? Would it work the same way that every other subject that she had entered would, or would something terrible happen? Sure, there was evidence that the first was the case, especially since every pony race, zebras, minotaurs, dragons, and even alligators were suitable subjects to the modified spell. However, alicorns were on a completely different level to all the other races. Also, their minds are so different, that it might cause some kind of feedback overload that would leave both of them vegetables for the rest of their lives.

However, on the other hoof, she would be able to see into Celestia's dream.

“I am certain that Princess Cadence would be more than capable of leading Equestria in our stead if something horrific happens,” Luna muttered to herself as she summoned her magic into her horn.

With only the slightest bit of effort, Luna shifted herself into a mist, and gently worked her way to the crack under the door. There was a slight amount of hesitation in her movements as she approached the door as she inspected the door and floor around the gap. It only took a few seconds to do her inspection, and when she was done, Luna continued through the passage, and entered the dimmed room on the other side. Quickly, she reformed herself back into her natural body, and took a few steps forward.

A smile on her face, Luna continued walking. “Not a single defensive arcane rune? Sister, you are too trusting.”

Luna had only been in Celestia's room a few times, but every single time she was too busy conversing with the sun alicorn to really get a good look of the area. Surprisingly enough, every one of the walls was colored a dark shade of violet—nearly the same color as her own coat. Further, designs of a cloudy sky adored every single every single inch of her sister's wall space. To Luna's right, there was a currently lit fireplace that nearly filled half of the wall, allowing a soft warmth to fill the otherwise chilled room. To the left of the fireplace, the strangest looking tapestry hung against the wall. It was easy to tell what it was—a shooting star against the night sky—but what it was supposed to represent was more of a mystery. Was it just a nice little design to liven up the space, or was it maybe supposed to represent Luna's banishment to the moon?

Whether for malicious or benign reasons, that second idea caused a shiver to travel along Luna's spine.

In the center of all of this, lay the target of her soon-to-be-cast spell. Celestia lay next to the fireplace, her bed less of an actual bed and more of an oversized cushion carefully placed on the floor. The cushion—while blatantly showing its worth via its gold embroidered lace and extravagant purple viciña fabric—was not anything that Luna had not seen before. Instead, it was the way Celestia was so peacefully sleeping on the cushion, with the slow rise and fall of her chest signaling that the dream she inhabited was a calm one, or at least not entirely unpleasant.

Speechlessly, Luna approached the sleeping princess before her. Without a single other thought, the night princess lit up her horn, and with a stony face, bent down, and touched the tip of her horn to Celestia's forehead.

When Luna first entered the dream, she made several discoveries all at once. The first—and most obvious of these—was that Cadence would not need to take over as the ruler of Equestria, for it was quite apparent that neither she nor Celestia perished in a spectacularly explosive way, or any way at all. Luna couldn't help but to feel a slight tinge of disappointment at that fact, for she always wanted to see how Cadence would do when placed in a seat of power. Sure, Luna was satisfied that she didn't turn into some sort of comatose vegetable, but there really was no way she'd ever be able to see Princess Cadence ever be ruler of any kingdom or empire. It wasn't like they just appeared out of nowhere.

The second thing that Luna realized was that she was able to modulate to the correct frequency quite easily compared to any of the others tonight. As for the reason why this was the case, she had no idea. Maybe it was because this was the first specimen that was the same species as herself, so it gave her a natural affinity towards the endeavor. A second hypothesis that she came up with was she was possibly much more experienced now, and so was surprising even herself with her ability now. This was unlikely, for while she had gotten better throughout the night, she had never surprised herself really with her capabilities yet. The final possibility, and the one that Luna hoped the most for, was that she was just that much better than her sister.

Regardless of any of these, the final thing Luna realized was that that she was currently floating above a massive party, with what looked like upwards of two or three hundred ponies in attendance. The room itself was unmistakeably the main ballroom in Canterlot Castle, but there were a few blatant differences between this room, and the one in the real world. Most of these came from the fact that the entire décor of the room was so vastly different from what it was normally. Instead of the familiar checkerboard tile, statues of famous ponies, and the dark violet walls, the place was much livelier and colorful. The walls were a much brighter white with a gold trim, the statues were almost nonexistent, and floors were a dark brown and gold carpeting. However, many of the windows still bore the familiar scenes in stained glass, but many more showed scenes that Luna instantly tore her eyes from.

She couldn't help it really—she had no desire to watch her own downfall painted in glass.

Regaining her composure, Luna looked back at the party before her, and quickly realized that this party below was completely different from anything she had seen take place in here before. While the parties Luna had seen occur in this room were normally boring affairs—one of many reasons she never tried to go to them—but this one was completely different. Instead of a party like the last gala, this one was much more similar to some kind of circus carnival. All around, various pieces of evidence of this fact stood before her—a long table filled with half eaten pies, several dart games, and even two jumping castles.

In the center of it all, the regal Princess Celestia stood in the center of a large group of ponies—her face completely covered in blueberry pie filling.

Luna began to make her way closer to where her dear sister was standing, but even from here, could make out what Celestia was saying. “—and then we told the old diamond dog ambassador, 'If thou would want ponies to take thee more seriously, then please refrain from sniffing our ponies' hindquarters!'”

Jubilant laughter pierced through any and all other noise in the room as the many ponies around Celestia reveled in delight. Chuckling herself, Celestia continued. “Of course, he wanted to retort about how untrue that stigma was, but the fact that one of his guards was sniffing the waiter's flank made things a little troublesome for him!”

Again, the crowd went up in laughter. While this went on, Celestia took the moment of distraction to bring a napkin to her face, and wipe off the ridiculous amount of pie filling she still wore on her face from whatever activities she had been partaking in before. However, as soon as she took the napkin away, there were still a decent amount of purple stains on her facial hairs. Sure, it looked ridiculous, but considering that none of the ponies around even tried to say anything about it, Luna suspected that there wasn't anything terribly unusual about the situation.

Suddenly, on one edge of the crowd, there was some sort of commotion. Luna got closer, and she began to be able to make out the sounds of a mare quietly whispering “excuse me” repeatedly entered Luna's ears—the mare the most likely cause. Her sister didn't appear to notice what was going on at all, though at the rate that the mare was coming towards her, she would quickly realize what was going on.

A moment, later, and the mare finally broke through the innermost wall of the crowd, and with a heaving chest, shouted, “Principem Celestia, Solis Dea!”

Turning her head, Celestia looked down at the mare before her. “Please, Praeses Caritativa, calling us merely Celestia would be sufficient for tonight.”

Nodding, Praeses took a few seconds to catch her breath. The mare was very curiously dressed, and considering her name—as well as the name she called Celestia—this event must have taken place long ago in the past. Adorning the buttery yellow mare was a bright robe that wrapped around her chest and midsection several times. However, the robe did not come entirely down to cover her flank. Instead, it appeared to purposefully leave the area that her olive branch cutie mark was placed exposed. Other than that, the brown maned unicorn appeared to be somewhat averagely built for all intents and purposes.

Finally catching her breath, Praeses smiled. “Of course, Celestia. By the way, congratulations on two hundred years of peace for the Equestrian Monarchy!”

Celebrating my banishment with this amount of gluttony? I am not surprised.

Celestia closed her eyes, and nodded. “We thank thee, but please. We cannot take all of the credit. Thou hath done so much to make this feat possible.”

Praeses turned around, and with a wag of her head, motioned back towards where she came. “Yes yes, but now we have something important to take care of! I need to show you something. Something important!”

With another light giggle, the alicorn began to follow. “Well then, by all means, lead on!”

As Luna continued to scowl to herself, Celestia followed Praeses onward to whatever the mare wanted to show Celestia. While Praeses had a problem getting to Celestia in the first place, getting away from where Celestia was appeared to not have been a single issue in the slightest. Further, Celestia herself didn't seem to have much of an issue getting through the crowd, though it more appeared that the crowd itself appeared to follow her rather than actually part in any way. Therefore, it didn’t take much time for the two ponies to get to the opposite side of the room.

As to where Celestia was now, she was currently standing in front of... well... Luna wasn't sure what she was standing in front of. It was a large glass-encased box-like... box, that was filled with water to about the three-quarter point. To the right, there was a big target that appeared to be attached to the box itself—with a large yellow tarp set up just behind the target in case of stray shots. Finally, inside of the box itself, there was a diving board-like device that a particularly well dressed and very dry red stallion was sitting on.

Celestia cocked her head in confusion. “Legatus Impetuosa? What art thou doing in there?”

Legatus waved. “Why, waiting of course!”

“Waiting?” Celestia cocked her head further. “Waiting for what?”

As soon as the question escaped the princess' mouth, a bright green ball floated over in front of Celestia's face via a deep blue magical aura. Looking behind her, the sun princess noticed that Praeses was standing there with a smile on her face, and her horn ignited.

“Come on!” the mare shouted as she nearly hopped in place. “We've been waiting for you to have the first shot!”

Even though Celestia took the ball in her magical grasp, her eyes still bore a questioning look. “Us?”

“Yes!”

“But... we shan't!”

A overly boisterous laughter emanated from inside the dunk tank, and Legatus had to hold onto the board he was sitting on to not fall over. “Come now, Principem Celestia, Solis Dea. Don't you dare try and tell me that through every single one of our thousands of arguments we have had—why, at least a hundred this year alone—that you haven't wanted to get me back in any way? Hmm? Come oooon! This is your chance!”

Celestia shook her head, and took a step back from the tank. “We apologize, but it would not be right for us to partake in this.”

Oh sister. Always taking the elevated road I see.

There was a soft groan from the crowd as Celestia tried to pass the ball back to Praeses. However, before the unicorn mare could take the ball back, Legatus shouted once again. “Oh come on Celestia! Oh! I know a way to get you to try it! Ahem...”

A nasty scowl formed across Legatus' face as his voice shifted to a much deeper and darker timbre. “Principem Celestia, it is we! The evil Somnum Exterreri Solebat Luna! We want eternal darkness over the land and to rule over Equestria with an iron hoof! Woe is the day that we take over the world, for we will gobble up every single filly and colt that we can find to fuel our dark powers! Not only that, but we hate our sister so much, we would—”

The ball slammed into the target so hard, it tore the paint off.

Instantly after the ball nearly destroyed the target, Legatus was sent tumbling into the drink—a startled gurgling noise heard from the depths of the water. It took a few seconds for the stallion to regain his senses, but after a small amount of time, he quickly reoriented himself, and pulled himself back to the surface. It was obvious that he had swallowed an unhealthy amount of water in his tumble, for as he broke the surface, hacking coughs escaped his lungs as he gasped for air.

All the while, Celestia stood there with her legs planted firmly on the ground, wings spread wide instinctively, and haggard gasps escaping her lips as she fought for air.

It was then that everyone in the entire room began cheering. Indeed, the noise in the previously mild ballroom turning into something akin to one of those laser bars that Luna did her best to shun. Not only cheers were heard, but claps, stomps, and hoots of exuberance echoed through the marble adorned chamber. Even if it appeared that Celestia didn't notice any of this, the rest of the ponies didn’t appear to notice her anger-filled body—trembling with the amount of stress that her tense muscles were putting on her body.

Suddenly, Praeses pranced over to where Celestia was planted, and slung her foreleg around Celestia's withers haphazardly. The touch initially caused Celestia to flinch from the contact, but it also caused her to snap out of the reverie that she was previously in. Blinking a few times, Celestia slowly let a nervous smile spread across her face, and let her wings slowly retract back to her sides. The two mares began to talk to one another about something, but the words were lost in the conundrum of exuberant hysteria. However, from the way their facial features, Praeses was very excited about the current situation, and Celestia either was excited, or hiding behind that thrice-accursed mask of hers very well again.

It was about a minute or two before the clamoring of the various ponies began to settle down, and Luna was able to make out what some of the ponies were saying. The moment that she could, she listened intently on what Celestia was saying. “We thank everypony for all the enjoyment tonight. Sadly, we art feeling especially tired tonight. We believe we shall retire early for the evening.”

There was a general groan that went out through the crowd of ponies, but that was quickly silenced by a way of Celestia's hoof. “Now now, we need my beauty sleep to make sure Legatus doth not trot all over us tomorrow during the proceedings. Until then, goodnight, our little ponies.”

A few hushed giggles of humor went through the crowd as they began to say goodbye to the sun goddess. In fact, each pony—including the soaking wet Legatus—took their time in saying their individual goodbyes to the regal mare. With each taking at least ten to fifteen seconds to say goodbye, it must have lasted nearly an hour before Celestia finally said goodnight to the last pony. Making sure that she did not fall into the trap of getting stuck saying goodbye once again, Celestia slipped out from the center of the room, and made her way through the various back halls of the castle.

All the while, Luna followed, and scowled.

It wasn't long until Celestia was in front of the door to her room—the doorway emblazoned with the sun like it was in the normal world. With a gleeful smile, she opened the door in front of her, and stepped inside of the room—a fire casting a warm glow over the mare. Quickly, she closed the door behind her, and cast some sort of spell on the precipice that she had just passed. Immediately, the dull thump of the music in the ballroom silenced itself, revealing the spell to be the same one that Luna cast earlier this very evening onto Scootaloo's room.

“Oh Legatus, you always were one for theatrics. 'I want eternal darkness!'” Celestia said as she did her best to imitate the stallion's voice. All the while, she allowed her hushed giggles to transform into boisterous laughter.

How... how dare... how dare she mock us in this way! We were trapped, abandoned for a millennium! There is nothing amusing about such a travesty! We were never even allowed to have a final word to explain ourselves! There is nothing, nothing that is amusing about what we were put though for those centuries!

Celestia obviously could not hear Luna's protests, and so instead of ceasing the her laughter, it only increased in volume—the princess' wings flaring wide as her flight muscles tightened. Continuing to mock Legatus' voice, she boasted, “'I'm going to rule over all of Equestria!'”

Everything that happened was because of thee, and thee alone! Yes, we were the one that pulled the trigger, but thou art the one that loaded the crossbow! All the atrocities we performed were done because of a hundred slights thee did against us! We only fought thee because we had no other choice. Everypony despised us, and we only wanted to be loved!

So hard she was laughing now, that Celestia had to stop walking, or risk losing her balance. Tears streaming down her eyes now, she was only able to get her composure together enough to babble, “'I am gong to take over the entire world!'”

And when we came to thee, what did thee do? Nothing! No, worse, thou did worse than nothing. Thou simply told us that we were imagining everything, and that we should stop being so sensitive. Sensitive! Doth thou hath any idea what it feels like to have nopony to talk to!? Huh? How about... thee...

Luna stopped talking to herself, because though the sounds of the uncontrollable laughter, there were bouts of... sobbing? Still, Celestia continued to speak in the mock tones that she had been talking in the entire time. “'I'm going to gobble up all the little colts and fillies!'”

As soon as those words spilled out of her mouth, the edges of her smile turned downward into the deepest frown physically possible. The laughter still remained, but now it was interrupted with more and more sobs as Celestia cried. It was the strangest sight that Luna had ever seen, and was even more confusing because of the reason.

What... what is going on... why are you...

With tears and snot running down Celestia's face—her forehooves completely ineffectual against the flowing liquids—she struggled to speak. However, as she spoke, her mocking tone of voice was completely gone. “I... I hate... I hate my sis... sis...”

She never finished the sentence, for it was right at that moment that a long series of haggard sobs escaped Celestia's being. For as regal as the formerly perfect mare typically was, the sight of her now—shattered emotionally—was something that Luna could never imagine. What Celestia was doing was beyond crying. Instead, she was a complete mess as she released all of the tension out of her body in the most unpleasant way possible. Tears ran down her eyes. Snot poured out of her nose. Her eyes slowly began to grow red and puffy. Even those perfectly white wings of hers were spread wide—twitching violently which each heave of her chest.

But... but... you...

“Oh dearest sister,” Celestia started as she looked up, and looked through one of the many windows in her room. This one in particular was perfectly situated so that she could gaze out and to the moon—the tell-tale shape of an alicorn's head curving along its right side. “We're celebrating the wonderful achievement of two hundred years of peace in Equestria. Praeses is right: it is thanks to me that we've had those years of peace. Indeed, for if it wasn't for me, we'd be celebrating our seven hundredth soon.”

Celestia took a second to sniff violently a few times, before she continued. “Luna, I regret never realizing the pain and turmoil that you were going through, and only stopping to notice until it was oh so too late.

“After I did notice, I regret...” the regal mare attempted to wipe her face, but was only moderately successful, “...regret sitting idly by as you—alone and in the dark—fell.

“And when... when you did fall, I regret taking up the Elements, doing such a... a... criminal act against you, and never stopping to see if there was another way.”

Celestia closed her eyes, and shouted with every ounce of her being, “I regret everything!”

The sudden explosion of sound sent a shock wave through the room, and just a moment later, impacted the walls around her. Every single window in the room—from the stain glass artwork to the smallest mirrors—shattered as the sound blew the fragile objects away, and scattered the tiny remains all over. The fire that had been previously lit in the fireplace spectacularly blew out, leaving the room shrouded in darkness. So powerful the shock wave was in fact, that several pieces of furniture, from dressers to racks for Celestia's regalia, shattered under the force, turning the once priceless works of craftponyship into nothing more than kindling.

Her entire being spent from the destructive yell, Celestia simply collapsed under her own weight, and with both of her wings splayed out on either side of her, cried even harder. Seconds turned into minutes, and for just the briefest of moments, Luna realized that her sister's sound-negating spell was probably the only thing that kept the entire party in the ballroom from bursting into the room from the commotion. However, Luna almost wished that somepony had heard, for she wasn't sure she wanted to be the only witness to this anymore.

But... this is not how you are supposed to be. You are supposed to be—

“Oh Luna, my precious Luna,” Celestia interrupted as she lifted her head up, and looked to the now completely unobstructed view of the moon. “If I could, I would take back the awful decision I made. If I could, I'd... I'd trade places with you in a heartbeat, and willingly finish the unforgivable punishment I threw onto you. If I could, I'd trade away any and all power over my beloved sun to bring you back...

“Because... because...” Celestia trailed off as she lowered her head and closed her eyes, “I just want my beloved sister back...”

Wordlessly, the regal mare lay on the ground surrounded by all of the destruction in the room, and with a heaving chest, continued to cry.

Luna yanked her horn out from touching Celestia's forehead so hard, that she was sent stumbling backwards. Barely not smashing into the dresser behind her, Luna planted her hooves into the floor, and continued to watch her sister sleep. She watched as her sister's eyes were now pouring with tears—the mare's chest rising and falling in much more sporadic ways. She watched as her sister's wings splayed out limply against the floor, and twitched every second or two.

Wordlessly, Luna slowly turned around, and with the slowest of steps, began to make her towards the door she came from a few minutes prior. As she got near, she lit up her horn, and with a small flash of magic, shifted into a mist, and quickly moved to the ground. Seeping through the cracks of the door, it took almost no time at all, and after only a second or two, she was reformed on the other side of the doorway, with no evidence of her previous escapades within her sister's room. Still, she was left frozen, unable to come up with a suitable reaction to anything that she just did or saw.

Luna blinked, and then her eyes misted over slightly.

With that, the Lunar Princess turned to her left, and began to run through the halls of the castle—destination unknown, yet irrelevant. As she ran, if one were to look every so carefully, one could see a trail of sparkling lights falling from her eyes.

Author's Note

Only the epilogue to go!

Epilogue

A soft rapping was heard against Luna's bedroom door.

The noise pierced through the echoing sobs that racked Luna's entire being, perking up the alicorn's ears. Even though she couldn't see anything at all—she had made sure to leave the room shrouded in complete darkness—her head slightly lifted up in response to the noise, and turned toward the door. There was no way to tell who was at the door by any mundane means, and she definitely didn't want to try and use any spells to divine the culprit, for then she'd have to light up her horn, and her room in turn. That was the absolute last thing she wanted—the thought of looking into a mirror and seeing her own face left a disgusting taste in her mouth.

Therefore, with an angry yell, Luna screamed, “Go away!”

Her decree delivered, she curled her head back up against her belly, and continued to sob. She was thankful that she had decided to yell so loud, for the scream drowned out any choking sobs that she might have let escaped her throat otherwise. Right now, one of the last things that she wanted was to see or talk to anypony, especially in the state that she was in right now. All she desired was to wallow in her pool of tears, lower the moon from inside her room, and cry herself to sleep.

However, that wish would not be granted, for just a few moments later, the door to her room opened—bathing the room in the soft glow of the hallway lights.

Instantly, Luna stifled her sobs. The fact that whatever pony that came through the door was able to do so even though it was locked—let alone without setting off the hundred or so arcane runes she had placed on it—led her to believe that it was one of her loyal guards—one of the loyal, but stupid ones most likely, considering that they blatantly disobeyed a direct order. It couldn't have been anypony else, for nopony else was allowed through that door in any other situation... not even her own poor sister.

She could feel the guard step into the room, and as quietly as possible, close the door. Yet, even with the door closed, the room still glowed dimly from the light of a single candle. Those steps returned with all of their unwanted vengeance as they grew closer. She closed her eyes tighter as she attempted to just will the guard to leave her once more, yet it was foolish to think that just willing something to happen would change anything. Therefore, just a few seconds later, the guard came to her side, and just stood there.

Luna sniffed a few times, before speaking again—never raising her head from its protective position. “You do recall what the punishment for disobeying a princess' order is, correct?”

“Expulsion from the Canterlot Royal Guard, as well as dishonorable discharge from the Equestrian Army, though there are situations where a more severe punishment is warranted,” a familiar voice said in the most monotonous tone. “However, a princess' order may be refused if such an order is made under an unsound mind. If I may be so bold, I feel that this might be one of those cases.”

Sniffing once more, Luna lifted her head up from its curled up position, and gazed into the eyes of Vigilant Watch. It was hard to make him out, for the single candle in the room was left on a dresser by the door, but it was obvious enough who the stallion standing next to her was. If the stallion before her had been any other guard, she would've gone through with the expulsion, discharge, and possible banishment of him to a celestial object of his choice in a blink of an eye, but he was the exception. He was the only exception.

This was why she quickly leaned forward, and with a powerful grip, pulled the stallion into a deep hug, and cried.

The instant that she pulled him close, she felt every single muscle in his body tense up tighter than a pony facing down a hydra. It didn't matter to Luna though, for just the warmth of any pony that cared for her was enough, and allowed her tears to flow that much more freely. With every tear that fell, the muscles in Vigilant's body loosened just a little bit, until it was almost if he melted into her hug. It took some time, but finally, after what felt like half an era, he finally returned the embrace with all the vigor and enthusiasm that she needed and wanted. And there they stayed for the longest time, the two ponies—so vastly different in every way possible—allowing both to let down their shields, and actually act like... well... like normal ponies for once.

However, such an embrace could only last for so long, and with reluctance in both of their part, Luna pulled away from the hug—her hooves remaining around his shoulders—and once again looked into those cyan eyes of his. With a smile growing on her face, she softly whispered, “You are a stubborn old fool, my Captain.”

Vigilant's face never shifted emotions as he whispered back, “And you are an eccentric, sixteen hundred year old child, yet here we both are.”

To that, Luna froze. She let the words that he just spoke flow through her ears, enter her mind, and rebound again and again against her skull. Like a machine unable to start working, her mind just couldn't comprehend what he had just said, and the implications of it. It wasn't for the fact that he said she was sixteen hundred winters old, for that was fairly accurate. It wasn't because he said she was eccentric, for even she had to admit that she had been acting quite fickle with certain things recently. It was that he called her a child. No, she wasn't offended—far from it. Instead she was... confused. Yet, he spoke those words, and finally—after what must have been fifteen seconds—she realized what he had just done.

“You... you...” Luna stuttered. Finally, her lips turned upwards, and she giggled lightly. “Did you... did you just make a joke? That... that is the first joke that I have ever heard you make. Ever.”

Yet, even with the statement, his face remained as neutral as ever. “I apologize, my princess. I will not allow it to happen again.”

With that statement, Luna burst out laughing. It started as a normal laugh would, but it quickly transformed into the hardest and deepest laugh that she had had in the longest of times. The laugh quickly moved from the back of her throat to the bottom of her belly as she began to heave for breath. Her wings, which until now had been resting limply against her sides, were slightly splayed out on either side of herself, until the overworked flight muscles in her back began to ache with the strain. A throbbing pain went through her sides, until she was nearly forced to hold the sides of her stomach with her hooves to try and elevate the pain. Tears once again flowed from her yes, yet these were not from pain or sadness like before, but were now from absolute joy.

The entire time, Captain Vigilant Watch somehow kept his composure.

Slowly but surely, she began to regain her own composure, and with her hooves still on the stallion's shoulders, whispered, “I shall remember this moment—the moment I finally found out that you were a real pony—as one of the happiest and biggest surprises I have ever experienced in my entire life.”

Vigilant paused for a second, before replying. “And I shall remember it for other reasons entirely. That said, I have something to show you, my princess.”

With a smile on her face, Luna picked herself up, and with a small hop, jumped onto the floor next to her captain. “Very well, Captain Vigilant Watch. Lead on!”

Nodding, the stallion turned, and together the two made their way out of the room. Taking a quick right, they began to make their way down the hall to whatever destination that Vigilant Watch wanted to take them. The possibilities of what he wanted to show her began to flow through Luna’s brain at first, but after a few seconds, she decided that trying to speculate would only make the wait worse, so decided to just “go with the flow”, and let him lead the way.

Suddenly, the comparatively small stallion spoke. “So how was your evening, Princess Luna?”

After only a second of pause, Luna turned towards the pegasus, and smiled even wider. “Everything I could've possibly dreamed of.”

Luna pulled her head back from looking around corner of the doorway. She turned towards Vigilant Watch, and with a hushed voice, whispered, “What is this?”

For his part, Vigilant Watch didn't bat an eye. “What do you think this is, my princess?”

“Is... is this a joke?” Luna hissed back towards the captain.

“I do not joke.”

“You did a few minutes ago.”

Pausing for just a moment, Vigilant thought to himself as he considered her words. “...No, this is not a joke.”

“But... but... how? Why?”

“I do not know either, but does it matter?”

“Yes! I mean... well... uhh... how long has... well... you know.”

“Has he been waiting? I would estimate since about an hour after you left. As for whether he urinated on the tapestries, I am glad to say he did not.”

Luna peeked around the corner once more, and observed the tan stallion inside the throne room as she stood atop the red carpet that lined the main aisle. At first, he saddlebag ladened pegasus looked almost as still as a statue, yet the longer Luna looked, the more she realized how far off such an assumption was. Sure, there were the standard slight movements that anypony would have—the slow heaving of the stallion's chest while breathing, the slight twitch of an ear, or even a flick of the tail—but there were other things that sent various clues of how tired he must have been. His eyes were half lidded as he slightly swayed from left to right, with his eyes closing every so often in exhaustion. Yet every single time, he would quickly open them, and continued to look at whatever point in space that he was transfixed by.

Pulling back behind the doorway, she looked at her captain. “That long? Are you serious?”

Captain Watch narrowed his eyes slightly. “Have I ever not been serious about something?”

“I know I know, but why did you not... you know...” Luna's voice trailed off as she fought for words. However, she eventually let her forelegs do the talking, and with wide eyes, she waved her forehooves in a flicking motion.

For a second, Vigilant furrowed his brows, until he realized what she was trying to get at. Taking a deep breath, he finally responded. “Suggest he come back another time?”

“Yes!” Luna hissed again.

“I suggested such at the top of every hour. He refused every time.”

Luna looked peeked once more, and after a few seconds, let out a sigh. “I see...”

For a few moments, Luna debated what she should do. On one hoof, she was so incredibly tardy, that the thought of showing up now and facing the guaranteed embarrassment of the situation was not something she wanted to deal with. She herself knew that if somepony were to stand her up for thirty minutes—let alone eleven hours—she have would been pissed to no end. Therefore, she was certain that the stallion, while he would never actually yell or fuss at her in any way, would be annoyed to no end. All things considered, she had no desire to end her wonderful night by talking to a pony that was pissed to no end with her.

On the other hoof, he had been waiting there for the longest time. Even if he was mad to no end, he deserved something in return for his patience. It was her job after all to be ready for guests during Luna Court, and while she had been heavily neglecting that exact duty tonight, she should still carry out her duties towards him. Besides, if it was the fear of having the stallion mad at her that was preventing her from acting, completely standing him up would only serve to make his anger worse. Plus, he could resign himself to visiting her sister in the morning, ruining her only chance to have a worthwhile visitor in the longest time—and she had no plans to use her captain to beat him up either.

So with that, she stepped out from behind the doorway, and proceeded to walk into the room. While he was most likely taken by surprise at first, Captain Watch quickly filed in behind her, and followed her into the room. With as much grace and poise as she could muster, she made her way into the room. However, the stallion didn't really seem to react in any way to her. Instead he appeared to be off in his own little world as he stared into the point in space in front of him.

“My apol—” Luna stopped, a little bit of a frog in her throat. However, the noise did serve to alert the stallion to her presence, and he quickly turned towards her. Once again, she started. “My apologies, my dear stallion, on my incredible tardiness tonight.”

If the stallion was mad at her, he was good at hiding it. Very good. So very good, that he was almost bouncing up and down in excited glee. Still, he didn't forget to bow deeply at her presence. “Oh not at all, Princess Luna! It is an incredible honor to finally meet you!”

“The feeling is mutual, mister...”

“Searchlight!” the stallion shouted as he rose back up to his hooves, and shot his beaming smile at her.

“Searchlight.” Luna finally allowed a much smaller smile to fall upon her face. With a few more steps, she finally brought herself to the throne at the top of the dais, and with a quick padding of the cushion on the top of it, she sat herself down. As Vigilant Watch took his place at her right, she cleared her throat, and continued. “So, Mister Searchlight, what do you request of me?”

Stopping his constant hopping—though he let the smile on his face somehow grow even wider—the pegasus stallion took a step forward. “I just need you to approve of a building permit for me.”

Despite her best attempts, Luna felt her head cock ever so slightly to the left. “A... a building permit?”

His eyes closed in glee, Searchlight nodded. “Indeed!”

“I see. Do you have a copy of the blueprint with you?”

“I do!” he announced with a slight skip. Quickly, he turned his head around, and with a quick search inside the saddlebags resting on his back, pulled out a rather large scroll.

Luna summoned her magic, and with a quick tug, pulled the roll of paper over to her, and in front of her face. Quickly manipulating the paper with her magic, she pulled it open, and began to look at the various intricate drawings on it. While she was able to make out a few drawings, there was no pegasus' eye view of the structure. Instead, there was only the various floors drawn out in an “top-down” sort of view. While very detailed in nature, Luna had no clue what the structure was supposed to be. All she saw was that it was massively tall octagon building.

Reminding herself that she would have to familiarize herself with everything about architecture and engineering very quickly, she put the plans to her side, and stowed them away as neatly as possible. Looking back up, she smiled again. “I shall need to look over them during my sister's day. How about we schedule for you to come back tomorrow evening. Does midnight sound sufficient?”

Somehow beaming even wider, Searchlight nodded. “Oh, that would be wonderful! Thank you so much. I'll see you then!” With that, he turned around, and began to skip his way out of the room.

However, Luna couldn't just let it stand like that, so as soon as he got close to the doorway, Luna lifted a hoof. “Wait!”

The call entering his ears, he turned back around, and cocked his head. “Yes, Princess Luna?”

She shifted her weight slightly, before finally saying, “Why... why me?

His smile faltered slightly, but he still kept his chipper tone. “Why you? What do you mean?”

“I mean... why me? Why would you stay up so late and wait so long just to speak to me, and not talk to my sister instead?”

“Well.” Searchlight paused for a moment as he owned his mouth wide, and yawned. A few seconds later, the yawn passed, and he continued. “I mean, It's a lighthouse, and I really don't see it being used as much during the day. It... it seemed to make sense to ask you, since you are in charge of the night.”

Luna was silent for a little bit longer, before she nodded. “Very... astute of you. That will be all.”

Searchlight took a deep bow. “Yes, of course, Princess.” With that, he turned around once again, and made his way though the doorway, and out of the throne room.

Now with only her guards to keep her company, Luna began to think about everything that was just presented to her. The entire conversation played back in her head as she recalled every single detail. He was right about the lighthouse making much more sense for her to deal with than Celestia, and he was right in coming to her. Further, if she hadn't had been holding her Lunar Court—granted she wasn't there until the very end of it—he would've had to deal with the day princess for the night project. It didn't make sense.

However, on the flip side, the truth of the fact was that the Lunar Court still didn't make a lick of sense. Not only was it a waste of her own time, but it was a complete waste of resources for the castle. Even if she were to have her visitors triple starting tonight, she would still be left with only one visitor a month. That was not a fair prospect in the slightest—it wasn't fair for her, but it was most certainly not fair to her loyal guard. There had to be another way to do this. Maybe... maybe...

Her ponders were interrupted by her captain's voice. “So that was curious.”

Luna shook her head to clear out the thoughts—at least for now. “Yes... yes indeed it was.”

The tone of her voice must have betrayed her thoughts, for Captain Watch turned to face her with a furrowed brow. He studied her for a few moments, before slowly querying, “Is everything alright, Princess Luna? Are you feeling ill?”

Luna paused for another two seconds before shaking her head once more. Looking at an even more confused Vigilant Watch, she put on a reassuring smile. “Yes, I am completely alright. I was just... thinking.”

If anything, it only served to pique his interest even more. “And may I ask what you were thinking, Princess?”

Her smile still on her face, Luna stood herself back up, and stretched her legs and wings. “You most certainly may, though whether I will give you an answer is another matter entirely.”

“...I see.”

“Now if you will excuse me,” Luna stated as she began to make her way back to the hallway from wince she came just a few minutes before, “I have a moon to lower, a sister to visit, and an idea to pitch.”

If there was one thing that Luna could count on, it was the wonder of her glorious night. It was her talent. Her love. Her passion. She had a greater connection to her sky than any artist could ever have to their paint, brush, or canvas. In a way, it was almost an extension of herself, with the night sky completing her in ways that would be impossible to describe to anypony—her sister being the only possible exception. If she could, she would find a way to have the beauty of her night spill over to the day, so that every single pony could enjoy it the way that she did.

However, she had tried that idea once. It didn't end well.

So instead, Luna was content with sitting on the balcony, and enjoying the last vestiges of the night sky as Celestia's sun got itself ready for its impending rise. All signs were pointing to the fact that her night would soon end. Her moon, once vibrant and radiant in the lofty sky, was now barely visible over the horizon so far away. Above, the once blackened sky was a much more blue color now—not quite the sky blue of the day, but definitely not the black of her night sky. All around her, the once infinite stars that she had ignited hours before were beginning to run out of the magical fuel that powered their fires, with each slowly extinguishing in turn. In fact, with it being the time it was, there was only a few hooffuls of stubborn stars left grasping for whatever energy they could before they would be exhausted of their power, and wink out of existence.

In a way, watching her night fade into daylight was a depressing moment for Luna to witness every morning. The best analogy that she could think of was a feeling that an artist would have to watching their entire life's work burn away in a blazing inferno. All the work and power that she had put into the masterpiece was slowly fading away before her very eyes, and there was nothing that she could do to stop it—at least nothing sane that she could do. Sure, her masterpiece was not going away in as much of an exciting spectacle as her hypothetical artist friend's did, but it hurt just the same.

However, for just the same reasons, it gave her so many reasons to be happy. Sure, her night was being wiped clean of any trace, forcing her to make it anew tomorrow evening, but that was just it. In just twelve hours or so, she would be able to once again make her wonderful night. It would be even better than the last, and she would put a few more stars up there just for kicks. In fact, she was sure that there was a blank spot with no stars that she had overlooked while making it last night. She would not make that same mistake for a second time. Practice makes perfect after all.

“My my! Once again I find myself second to arrive! I appear to be losing my punctual touch!”

As those words filled the Night Alicorn's ears, the soft and familiar taps of crystal slippers on marble filled her ears. Slowly, the steps grew closer to the slightly more petite mare, until the two were side by side with each other. As regally as typical for her, Celestia carefully sat herself down on Luna's right, so that the two princesses were now sitting next to each other. It was just like this morning, except she no longer felt a sense of anger at the mare next to her. Instead, Luna now felt something much much worse brewing inside of her being.

Shame.

Regardless, Luna continued to look forward, and with a convincing enough tone, replied. “How was your sleep, sister? Did you... dream well?”

If Celestia was attempting to hide how the statement would get her to react, it didn't work. Instead of the calm and relaxed demeanor that her sister would normally have to any question, this one did have a reaction. Celestia's left eye tweaked ever so slightly, followed by her eyes quickly glancing to Luna, but then quickly looking back forward. The flight muscles along Celestia's back flexed ever so slightly, allowing the mare's wings to move about an inch for just a second before they returned to their resting position. The muscles along the regal alicorn's neck tensed a tiny bit, allowing the hair along her slender and lovely neck to bristle ever so slightly. Finally, there was about a quarter of a second too long of a pause in her reply. For any other pony, such a reaction would be how one would react to a fly buzzing along the edge of their nose.

For her sister and her terrible mask of hers, it might as well have been a fireworks display.

However, despite all of this, Celestia kept her voice completely level as she spoke. “I cannot say too much about it. Nothing out of the ordinary, at least.”

Luna did not have the mask that Celestia always wore, but she felt that she did quite a decent job at suppressing the cringe that that statement brought to her. Thankfully, Celestia did not appear to notice out of the corner of her eye, allowing Luna to act like nothing had happened with little trouble. But still, the implication of what was just said struck hard enough to crack stone. The idea that her sister dreamed about such an event on a consistent basis was terrifying, and especially didn't help to quell any sense of shame that the Night Princess was feeling.

Thankfully, the task at hoof distracted her from feeling such horrid emotions for the time being, for it was time for the two of them to bring forth the new dawn. Together, the two alicorn sisters tapped into the vast arcane might within their souls in preparation of the coming task. Lowering the moon was simple, and summoning the magic within her, Luna found the connection she instinctively held with her moon, grasping it in her will. For all the power she had brought forth, it only took a simple nudge to finally force the gibbous moon below the horizon, and out of sight.

Just as she was releasing the hold on her moon to the west, her sister began to take hold of her sun to the east. Out of the corner of her eye, Luna watched as Celestia brought her magic to the forefront of her being, and began to radiate with power. A dim yellow aura began to glow around the solar alicorn, building in luminosity with each passing moment. Just as the glow reached its peak, Celestia began to rise off of the ground. As the glow around her began to focus onto her horn, she floated a meter off of the ground. Finally, with a final burst of light, the aura was extinguished, and was replaced with the soft glow of the morning light cast on the white mare's face. Her task finally finished, she was gently lowered back to the ground, and landed back into a sitting position.

Celestia took a second to take in a deep breath of the morning air, before she began to speak. “Every morning, I think I will finally—”

“I love you.”

As soon as the words were spoken, Princess Celestia whipped her head so quickly to the right, that Luna was fairly certain that she might have gotten whiplash from the move. Eyes wide and her voice containing a stutter, Celestia whispered, “W... what?”

Luna couldn't bear it any long, and after trying to suppress the shameful feelings inside of her for the past half an hour, the tears finally came back. As the salty fluid spilled from her eyes, she closed her eyes, and shamefully turned away. “I... I love you so... so much sis... sis...”

Before she could choke out the rest of her sentence, she felt the warm embrace of the alicorn next to her. As soon as she felt the body against her side, she leaned into Celestia, and received the hug for everything it was worth. Softly, with the quietest of whispers, Celestia said, “I love you too... dearest sister.”

With a sniff, Luna choked out, “And I am so... so sorry.”

“Sorry?” Celestia was about to pull away—most likely to look Luna in the eyes. However, she grabbed onto her sister as tight as she could, forcing Celestia to stay in the embrace. Such an act was very much willingly accepted, and Celestia even went as far as to scoot a little closer to Luna, so there was nothing between them. “Whatever for?”

For her part, Luna just sat there, and let her tears fall to the marble floor below. “For how I have been treating you. For how I have been blaming you for every single one of my problems that I have encountered. For blaming you for how every pony has looked onto me. Especially for how I turned into the Nightmare, and ruined—”

“Shh...” Celestia whispered as she began to stroke the top of Luna's head. “Shh... it's okay. I don't blame you... I never blamed you...”

She felt herself quivering under the weight of the emotions, but she continued anyway. “But... but... how could you not?”

With a haggard sigh, Celestia placed her head atop Luna's own. “Because the blame was my own, and mine alone. I am sorry for letting such a thing happen to you, but I am more sorry that I have been too... too terrified to apologize for everything.”

Luna attempted to pull herself away from her sister slightly. However, it was her sister that now held her strongly in the hug. “You... you were scared?”

It was only then that Luna felt the wetness of falling tears strike the top of her head. The damp feeling that had begun so long after the start of the string of confessions quickly accelerated into an apparent torrent—Luna feeling each and every impact of her sister's tears atop her head. Further, her once confident and reassuring older sister was quickly crumbling into a babbling mess of emotions herself—a feeling that Luna knew way too much about the past few minutes.

Yet, through it all, Celestia continued. “How could I not? I mean, I only imprisoned you in the moon for a thousand years! How could you ever forgive me for that? How... how could I forgive myself for that?”

To that horrifying question, Luna didn't immediately have an answer. Until a few hours ago, Luna herself wasn't sure if she had forgiven Celestia for what she had done to her so many centuries ago. Even if Luna did forgive her, what was to say it would really fix anything for their terrible and broken relationship? Sure, it would be a start, but it wouldn't solve everything. There really wasn't anything that they could do to fix this without a long and complicated ordeal.

Unless.

Once again, Luna tried to pull herself away. This time though, Celestia let her out of her grip slightly. Luna looked up at her older sister's tear-streaked face, and did her best to put a smile on her own tear-streaked face. “How about a trade?”

To that, Celestia furrowed her brow. “A... a trade?”

Luna let a smile fall upon her face. “Yes. A trade. I shall forgive you on three conditions!”

“...Okay... what are they?”

Luna kept her smile on her face as she began to list off her reasons. “The first condition is that you forgive me for the terrible atrocity so long ago that I committed against you and all of our ponies.”

Celestia nodded. “I already did that a thousand years ago, but alright, done. The second?”

Luna's smile wavered slightly as she took a deep breath—preparing herself for what she was about to do. Slowly, she lifted her right forehoof up, and with a slow motion, placed it upon Celestia's heart. “You forgive yourself.”

Finally, the frown on Celestia's face cracked, and her older sister finally let a smile—albeit a small one—form on her face. With a single chuckle of relief, Celestia whispered, “I might be able to do that. What is the last one?”

With that, the smile that was once on the Lunar Princess' face grew three sizes larger. “You and I have breakfast together, and finally get to know each other once again.”

Luna watched as her sister began to laugh—a real laugh without hiding behind her mask—at the final request. Pulling out from the hug herself, Celestia slowly began to stand back up onto her hooves, and Luna joined her in kind. “I believe that is an absolutely lovely idea.”

Together, the two alicorns began to make their way inside the castle. To Luna's right, the once oppressive sister of hers now shone in a new light. Instead of being the older sister that showed no remorse for any of her actions, past or present, and only thought of herself, she was now an actual living, breathing mare, that actually had hopes and fears. Behind that mask of hers, there was a mare that cared so much for her sister, and feared more than anything else that Luna would never love her back. It was for these reasons why Luna almost felt bad for what she was about to say.

“Oh, and I am suspending the Lunar Court.”

Luna suddenly found herself as the only mare still walking inside. Stopping in her place, she turned around, and found that Celestia was now giving her the most curious of looks. It was amusing to look at, for the assumptions that she was making were... well... she looked fairly adorable.

Slowly, Celestia replied, “What?”

Luna smiled, and after turning herself completely around, continued. “It is a waste of everypony's time. I sit there with nothing to do, my guards play around to pass the boredom. Instead, I plan on making it by appointment, just in case there are a few ponies out there that desire to speak with me.”

Celestia took a few steps forward, but cocked her head in the process. “Alright... so what are you going to do with the vast amount of free time you will undoubtedly now have?”

To that question, Luna lifted her head as high as she comfortably could in an attempt to look as regal as possible. She was sure that it failed, but it felt good to do anyway. “I am going to be the guardian of all of our ponies' dreams.”

It also sounded much cooler in her head.

However, despite how completely lame the role sounded out loud, Celestia did not comment on it. Instead, she merely cocked her head to the side even more. “Is that... even possible?”

Giggling lightly, Luna walked up to her sister. “Surprisingly, yes! At the moment though, the... method is quite unwieldy, and very much a cumbersome spell. I could use an extra set of hooves to help me figure out a way to make it more efficient. Interested?”

Celestia snapped out of her confused reverie, and after she reoriented her head back to a level state, she let a smile overtake her face once more. “Very much so.”

“I thought you would be,” was Luna's reply as the two of them once again began to make their way into the castle. “Oh, and out of curiosity, does the name 'Scootaloo' ring a bell?”

Both mares passed through the doorway that separated the balcony from the rest of the castle. To the east, the sun was beginning to make its long journey across the heavens in the start of a brand new day. It was still far too young of a day for the light to catch the entire balcony with its rays—the railing blocking a fair amount of it—but it still allowed a sufficient amount of glow to the pristine marble making up the solid floor. A select few of these rays barely made it to the doorway itself, and lit up the separate sun and moon emblazoned curtains on either side. Both curtains blew lightly in the wind that began to pick up, intertwining with each other, complementing each other in perfect harmony.

“And I expect to see the report on how likely it will be for the magical laboratory to be up and running again by the time I wake up. Do you think you can do that, Captain Watch?”

In response, the captain nodded to Luna as she passed though the doorway to her bedroom. “I will make sure it gets done. However, if I may speculate, after the explosion that you and your sister caused, I do not foresee that the laboratory will be in working condition for at least three weeks.”

Luna did her best to stifle a giggle, but for the most part she failed. “Yeah, I think we might have gone a little overboard with our antics there, but oh well. I would like that report anyway.”

Captain Vigilant Watch bowed low to the ground. As he did this, he took a few steps back, so that he was clear of the open doorway. “As you wish, my princess. Have a wonderful sleep, and dream well.” With that, he closed the door, leaving Luna alone in the room with nothing but the soft glow of a single candle to light the room.

For the second time, Luna lightly giggled. “Yes... yes I believe I shall.”

The time that she had spent in the past two hours had been even more amazing than all of the earlier dreams combined. When she and Celestia first started to work on the spell that would allow for Luna to enter dreams at range, it had gone without a hitch. Using all the knowledge that she had gathered throughout the night, the two were able to piece together the positive energies of the original Memory Extractor Spell, while negating whatever negative aspects that existed in it. Quickly, the two were able to come up with a spell that would allow Luna to be able to look into another pony's dream. Sure, Luna would no longer be able to extract information from a pony that was awake, but that was not really necessary—and was a decent tradeoff for the positive trait of not causing ponies to go into a coma.

However, things quickly fell apart when Celestia asked what they should name the spell. Luna suggested they call it the “Lunar Lucidity Spell,” while Celestia had decided that it should be named the “Celestia-Luna Dream Inspector and Analyzer Spell.” While in proper form of today's standard of naming new spells—the names of the creators followed by a quick description—it just sounded so disgustingly bland. However, Celestia had insisted that not only was denying her any credit in bad form, but only the caster of the spell would be lucid for any part of the spell—unless the caster were to interact with the dreamer.

Things quickly got out of hoof when Luna threw the first batch of water at her sister. From then on, a fight rivaling that a thousand winters prior commenced, with weapons and explosions replaced by water and spell components. The fight quickly ended when the two accidentally mixed a few components perfectly to cause a massive explosion, which utterly destroyed everything in the room, along with the room itself.

Quickly thereafter, the two alicorns compromised on a short and simple name—Dreamwalk.

Smiling at the memory, Luna turned around, and began to make her way towards her bed. The thought of the sheets wrapped around her and warming her body was something that she desired more than anything else right now. Indeed, as soon as the thoughts of lying on the mattress and resting her head on a pillow entered her mind, a deep yawn emanated from her throat. She knew that she should have looked more into the concept of lighthouses and architectural engineering, but she had been so busy last night, and she was certain that even if she were to try, she would never be able to focus anyway. Besides, it wasn't like there wasn't any time between sundown and midnight. She was sure she could become an expert in both fields of study in a few hours time at most. So for now, she would sleep.

Placing the candle on her bedside table, she used her magic to remove the regalia adorning her, and placed it in its proper place. Stepping out of her slippers, she used her magic to open a shelf to her left, and pulled out the most filly-like baby blue socks that she could imagine owning. With a gleeful smile on her face, she slipped the socks over her legs, until each one was nice and toasty.

Luna used her magic to pull the sheets out, exposing the place she would be making her cocoon. She climbed up onto the bedding, and began the task of making her her spot was sufficiently comfortable. She circled the center of the bed a few times to make sure that the mattress was properly kneaded to get any bumps out, before she finally flopped herself down. She stretched her wings a few times to make sure that they weren't cramped in any way, before she used her magic to pull the sheets back over her body, and tucked the ends under the mattress.

After making sure that everything was situated, Luna turned to her right, and blew out the candle. With that, she rolled over, and it wasn't long before the wonderful feeling of Luna's dreams began to take over her mind.

Slowly Luna took a few steps forward, carefully inspecting the gazebo before her. Just like before, she was doing her best to figure out how in the name of the moon and stars it had come to exist. Yet, no matter how much she tried to figure out how it was built, there wasn't any reasonable explanation to how it got on this island, or why anypony would put it here. The only pair of explanations that she could imagine existing was that the gazebo was built here because it was the site of some ancient event of historical significance, and it was built to commemorate the event. As for how, she supposed that the logs were pulled by some kind of boat to here just for the occasion. However, both theories were shaky at best, for she had no idea how she wouldn't know about the event.

Regardless, she began to make her way into the lonely gazebo. As her hooves stepped onto the white boards, her hoofsteps went from soft crunches of stepping on grass to the hard taps of crystal on wood. It was a completely different sound, yet it still kept a wonderfully serene feel to the entire scene. It was as if there wasn't another pony for a thousand miles.

However, a soft tap of tiny hooves behind her snapped her out of that assumption. Quickly, Luna turned around to make sure that the newfound intruder was not one that would bring harm upon her. Yet, instead of an unwelcome guest intent on hurting her, she found a pony that she would've never expected—not in a thousand winters.

The small filly apparently didn't notice notice Luna's apprehension, for she beamed with the most gleeful of smile. “Lulu! I can't believe I found you!”

Lulu took a step back, and with a nervous heart, used her baby blue mane to cover her face. “Oh... I am sorry. I hope I did not disappoint you, Celly.”

Hopping over to her little sister, Celly bopped Lulu on the nose. “Don't be a silly filly, silly filly! I'm really really happy to see you!”

Lifting her head up, Lulu bopped Celly's nose with her own hoof. “Well... I am happy to see you too, sister.”

“That's older sister to you, baby sister!”

Lulu growled playfully. “I am not a baby!”

“Oh yeah? Only a baby wouldn't be able to beat her sister in a race!” Celly grinned as she spread her tiny wings wide in anticipation to what was to come.

For her part, Lulu spread her small wings as well, and grinned back. “Just name where.”

Looking around, Celly was doing her best to find a place that the two could race to. Eventually, Celly pointed to an area far off. “First one to the shore over there wins!”

Excited for the coming race, Lulu walked forward, and brought herself in line with her older sister. “Sounds good!”

Celly smiled. “Ready?”

Lulu spread her stance slightly. “Set.”

“Go!”

Together, the two burst off into the distance in the little impromptu race that had just begun. This early on, it was impossible to tell which filly would win, and which would be considered the baby. One thing was certain though. No matter how who won, and who lost, the two sisters would share all of the laughs that they could for as long as they could. That was obvious enough to tell by the way they faded into the distance, their laughter carrying across the glassy water all around.

Author's Note

A few things.

First, I would like to thank Kitsunehero for editing this long-ass SOB. If it wasn't for him, I would've made so many mistakes, you can't even imagine how bad it would look. Seriously, that guy is amazing.

Second, I would like to thank all of you stupid freaks for thinking this was an actual good story, and reading it until the end. If it wasn't for you guys, I probably would've gotten bored of this story months ago, and it would've become a chore, rather than something fun to do.

Finally, in the comments, PLEASE do not just say "congrats" or "good job." or anything about me finishing the story. Write down how you thought it was! What was your favorite moment? Your least favorite? My biggest mistake? What do I need to work on as a writer? I'll appreciate it sooooo much!