"This'll be easy." Bright hopped up on a thick log, his broad tail swaying behind him. "All we have to do is-- Rares?"

Rarity had crept up on him with a smile. In her magic, she wielded a bangle, and she slid it right over Bright's tail to rest there, wedged into firm place. "How's that, dear?"

Bright considered his new accessory. "It's... pretty cool. What inspired it, Rares?"

Rarity fanned at herself. "Inspiration comes where it will, little familiar. I saw that and immediately thought of you. I couldn't not obtain it for you." She ran a hoof over metal and jewels. "The mention of jewelry reminded me I still had to get it on you, dear."

Sweetie swatted Bright's bejeweled tail on the way past. "Is this really the time we should be minding our fashion?" Not that she was wearing much of anything, but that was the pony default.

Rarity hopped up and over the log, grabbing Bright in her magic as she went. "I prefer to get things done fabulously, darling. We can look good and save Equestria at the same time. Really, they're not exclusive."

Bright adjusted his position to properly assume a riding position on Rarity. "Yeah, relax. We got this. So we head to the Castle of the Twin Sisters, find this crystal guy, make sure he's the baddy, and punch him in the face if he is, right? Easy."

Rarity giggled indulgently as she carried Bright through the winding forest paths towards the ancient castle ruins. "I admire your enthusiasm, darling, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, yes?"

She carefully ducked beneath a low-hanging vine, pacing in Sweetie's wake. "If this mysterious hermit proves benign, punching becomes a touch uncouth. And I'd just as soon avoid sullying my hooves unnecessarily!"

Rarity smiled back at the eagerness shining in her familiar's eyes. "Besides, investigation before altercation remains the lady's way, mm? We must gather facts before casting judgment or fists, however satisfying the latter might feel in the moment!"

She winked playfully even as her tone turned serious. "Dear, there are many ponies out there that become a touch... focused, and we don't want to cast too hasty a blame if they're just one of those." Rarity's own non-standard fangs flashed self-consciously under the green gloom. "This crystal conjurer may simply be another square peg, driven to solitude by the same fear that once shadowed my boutique."

Up ahead, crumbling spires poked through the thick canopy. "So come - let us meet this stranger with empathy alongside vigilance." A sly grin teased her elegantly coiffed mane as she added airily, "Plenty of time still to punch later should they prove problematic!"

"That's what I said," sullenly noted Bright. "Still a good pony." He hugged from from above, arms wrapped around her neck as he cuddled Rarity. "Let's go and use our eyes and ears first."

Sweetie sighed at that. "Right. We don't want Luna angry at us again... Now, I hate to ask halfway into the Everfree, but what happened to Luna?"

Rarity turned an ear. "Off to investigate Twilight Sparkle, isn't she?"

Bright shrugged. "She would have let us know if something came up."

Sweetie rolled her eyes. "Like we told her we're in here." A low hiss drove her to stop her advance. Ahead of them was a cockatrice, hissing at them angrily.

The thing lashed its tail, eyes bright red, promising a calcified death.

Rarity's horn glowed as she donned an outrageously overmuch set of sunglasses that obscured her vision quite nicely. She couldn't see the cockatrice. Advancing blindly, she circled around the beast, confident as one could be.

"Rares?" Bright just closed his eyes. "I hope you know what you're doing."

Sweetie brought up a leg, covering her vision with it as she tried to stick to Rarity's back end. "This is... I don't know if this is genius or madness. If I become a statue, I'm falling on you."

Rarity smirked beneath her dazzling shades as she deftly avoided the hissing cockatrice, her keen vampiric senses more than compensating for obscured normal vision. Her ears pricked back towards Sweetie's grumbling.

"Madness and genius skip hoof-in-hoof, darling! But fear not - Auntie Rarity shall see us steered safely clear." She gave her rump an affronted swish. "And kindly watch what you threaten to topple upon in such uncouth eventuality!"

The sunglasses began softly glowing as Rarity traced an illusion spell into their bejeweled frames. "There now...even if our scaly friend glimpses you, all he shall perceive is Rarity swaying by." A sly wink back at Sweetie. "Though do try not to actually touch him dear - even miracles have limits!"

The beguiled cockatrice tilted his crested head in confusion as the three strange creatures seamlessly assumed the handsome vampony's appearance to his eyes. He clacked his beak indignantly but the perceived rival male's elaborate headgear marked territory unambiguously.

With grudging respect for such flashy dominance, the cockatrice merely hissed weakly in annoyance rather than risk direct confrontation. He reluctantly slunk off in search of less contentious creatures to petrify.

Rarity smirked as she dispersed the disguising spell once clear of danger. "There now! On we trot unruffled and on schedule." She scooped up momentarily abandoned Bright in a fond embrace. "Apologies for the abrupt magical makeover darling - but needs must when self-respecting couture fails, mm?"

Bright scrambled back to his appointed spot. "I didn't feel a thing. You cast the spell on the angry chicken. I'm only annoyed you dropped me."

No apologies were coming for that.

Sweetie directed a hoof forward. "We're more than halfway there. If that cockatrice is the worst we face, we're doing good."

Luna gently ran her hoof over Spike's fins. "Has it truly been that bad?"

"Worse." Spike narrowed his eyes at the closed door leading down to Twilight's basement. "She's bottled herself up tight. She never takes time to talk to anypony else, or anydragon, half the time. Can you help? She's gonna hurt herself." He ringed his hands together. "I don't want that..."

"Nor I. Ever has she been a faithful servant of the crown." Luna considered the door. "We just have to think of something to lure her free of her studies... Surely she appreciates them, but to all things... balance, yes? Balance." She nodded to herself, musing the options.

Luna's ethereal mane swirled thoughtfully as she considered avenues to entice the academically enthralled princess into more balanced habits. Twilight's tireless pursuit of knowledge, however admirable, clearly came at the cost of connecting meaningfully with those around her if left unchecked.

"Balance indeed." Luna turned back to anxious Spike with fresh resolve glowing gently in her moonlit gaze. "Wisdom recognizes no truth reached in isolation, divorced from the greater web of life that grants such truths context and consequence."

She smiled softly, an idea kindling. "Go to her, my draconic friend. Tell her an intriguing astronomical anomaly has appeared and eagerly await her collaboration analyzing the phenomenon." Luna tapped her chin slyly. "Then leave the actual diversion to me..."

Spike saluted sharply. "On the case!" As Spike scrambled eagerly downstairs, Luna focused her magic heavensward. A subtle ripple in the starry river; a beguiling bend in familiar constellations. To most eyes only beautiful mystery but for her scientifically-inclined sister's prize pupil? Rapturous enigma begging exploration!

From below she soon heard an intrigued gasp then the urgent clopping of hooves on steps. The door burst open to frame an intently glowing Twilight. "Spike said you observed inexplicable celestial activity?" Her horn flashed. "Show me!"

Luna smiled with hidden knowledge. "Hm? Spike is the one that saw them, up there." Luna pointed towards the roof of the library they were in. "Bring him up there and ask him to point it out."

Spike was just getting there, not as fast as the excited Twilight. It didn't help that Twilight almost tackled him back down the ladder. "Woah! Easy there, Twi."

Twilight grabbed Spike in her magic, plopping him down on her back. "We're wasting time. To the telescope!" She charged off with him in tow, an excited giggle escaping from her with thoughts of new things in the sky. "Which way is it?" she asked, lost to view as she darted out onto the balcony.

Luna nodded to herself, confident Spike and Twilight would have a good time, together. But that whole trip had her no closer to the solution. Twilight was not the dream invader...

So who was? She frowned, stepping out of the library. Her eyes strayed up to the modified stars above and the distant sounds of excited marvel coming from Twilight. At least that had worked well... "Perhaps the others?" But how did she find them? Equestria didn't have easy communication devices. She lifted into the air, looking out over the town.

There were no darting forms of Bright or fashionable sauntering unicorns. That she didn't see Sweetie wasn't a surprise. Blending into the background was her specialty. "Hm..." She had to find them...

Inspiration dawned suddenly as Luna recalled her ethereal enhancement of Sweetie’s stealth suit upon their last adventure! Attuning to the subtle thaumic tracer woven amidst the shimmering garb, Luna felt the lingering magical echo pulling like a glittering guiding star...leading unerringly towards the Everfree Forest.

“Well met, my clever enchantment!” Luna crowed, turning to follow the mystical beacon. “Thy enduring gift grants means to herald companions true when daring duties drive teams asunder!” She smiled softly despite renewed urgency. “Ever may little kindnesses reap unknown rewards...”

The signal strengthened as ancient castle spires crested the horizon, and Luna felt subtle psychic brush of beloved bat wings in shadowed contours nearby - Rarity without doubt!

With fresh relief Luna poured on greater speed, trusting the covert beacons to soon mean reunion with all three wayward agents. And perhaps too the mysterious hermit’s true mischief once joined perspectives revealed whatever occult obstruction lurked amidst the perplexing dreams!

She came in for a landing just ahead of her ancient, abandoned, castle. She beat the three agents, just arriving at that clearing. "There you are. Have you found anything?" Luna advanced on them with a happy smile.

Sweetie recoiled a moment. "What? How..." She looked around. "How did you find us?" She narrowed her eyes. "Being not found is half of my specialty..."

Luna considered speaking the truth, but that would mean Sweetie would divest herself of the suit, likely quickly. "Bright is a unique creature. There is but one of him, so..."

Sweetie sighed. "Figures. You're literally the opposite of a good background agent."

Bright only puffed up. "There's no hiding me! Welcome back, Lulu!" He pointed past her, to the castle. "There's some strange person in there, loves crystals. They might be involved in the whole dream case, or not. We're going to find out."

Rarity lifted a hoof flat with Luna. "And we mean to investigate first, before we leap into action."

"I am gladdened to hear that." Luna swelled a moment with a breath. "You have learned your lesson. Let's keep costs low, and results high." She turned to the castle. "I hope this is it, but if it is not, let's not cause problems."

Rarity smiled proudly as her team fell in behind resolute Luna now increasing their number - and with it their wisdom to avoid previous over-zealous misadventures.

Rarity shook herself from fanciful reveries, focusing instead on the crumbling castle walls now looming ahead past the guardian forest. She rallied her senses, magically probing for auras arcane or ambient energies askew.

Her horn glimmered softly as vampiric perception permeated the gloom-wrapped halls. Scattered spiders spun in creaking rafters, shy field mice nesting undisturbed in shadowed crevices whispered of years uninhabited...

Then past the restless rodents’ tiny territories, the subtle magnetic shimmer of crystal fragments call to kindred earth from fractured shards strewn across an otherwise sparse rear chamber.

Rarity gasped in realization. “I sense it now, the subtle harmonic that resonates within my own changed essence...kindred crystals surround a strange figure just ahead whose properties eerily echo my vampiric signature!”

Bracing for potential unpleasantries, the group cautiously peered inside the dust-cloaked room. There amidst gently glowing gemstone fragments and tattered scrolls slumped a disheveled brown unicorn, mane unkempt and sides heaving with obvious fatigue.

An engraved silver torque marked him once a scholar of significance though those days had clearly faded if the surroundings stood evidence. Despite intruders on the threshold he did not stir, locked deep in fitful slumber where darker things doubtless walked than bats...

Sweetie tensed, readying restraints until Rarity raised a staying hoof. Her expression held profound empathy rather than judgment as her own fangs briefly glinted.

"Here crouches no monster but one of misfortune’s making...” Luna whispered. “Come, sisters - we shall provide this dreamer solace, not chains.”

Bright raised a hand. "Brother here, got your back!"

Author's Note

But who is this stranger in the castle?

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