Chapter Eleven

The Lunar mare had long since discarded her disguise, her hood lowered as she sat back comfortably, enjoying the trip as best she could. The many problems still raced around in her mind, and Luna wondered if she could fix this entire mess without having to confront Chrysalis.

Not that they weren't trying to make friends and put what happened in Canterlot behind them, but she's always had a knack for telling when others are lying to her. Mostly it had to do with learning how to analyze facial movements, little acts, such as scratching one's nose or something along those lines. Of course, she wasn't always correct.

Still, it came in handy. However, the Changeling Queen had mastered how to show none of these signs. It only happened when she wanted it to happen so she could confuse Tia on Luna herself being suddenly very up front and a bit aggressive.

Of course, she was also a very hard nut to crack. Her Sister would never use any sort of spells to attempt to force information from the Queen, but Luna wasn't so sure they could trust what they heard. Sure, Chrysalis had learned from her last encounter that she was definitely not the best out there.

Still, there was a lingering feeling of uneasiness for Luna whenever in her presence. Mostly it was because the Changeling Queen seemed to focus on her more than her Sister. Figures, she simply wishes for us to be thrown into a cocoon as our Sister hast been none too long ago.

Though this thought brought a small smile to her face as she remembered how Tia had taken a cold shower for three hours after being stuffed inside one. It made a small giggle come from her, thinking of how she finally had something to tease her Sister about. At least, something recent.

Of course, the cocoons themselves can serve a darker purpose of something that Luna dubbed conversion, and though Chrysalis hadn't done something like that in a long time, she wasn't afraid for her Sister. For what it was worth, Chrysalis was desperate, but not that desperate. Not to mention the two Royal sisters couldn't be changed in either case. Well, not fully anyways. The worst it would do is turn their fur black, leave them very hungry, plus extremely upset with whomever had the misfortune of being around.

Still, this does't not mean it would not hurt. Commented Luna, to herself of course. She was still about an hour away from Canterlot, and decided to grab some shut eye. It was rare that she got a chance to, so Luna figured she may as well.

She was about to set up a sort of timer with her horn that would connect to her magic, but then realized she didn't have the power, nor time, to do so. Instead, she took a simple route and gently nudged one of the stallions in the booth to her left. He stirred a bit, not asleep but definitely thinking to himself, "Whass'at?"

His accent left a small grimace on her face, but she discarded it and gently asked, "Hello. We were hoping that...you...could wake us once this train reaches Canterlot, we need to take a rest." Her words were a bit forced, attempting to sound more casual and modern instead of something torn out of the medieval ages. Which, in all fairness, she may as well have been.

The stallion, whom had an orange coat and red mane and tail was slumped a bit. He looked up and cracked a wrackish grin, nodding, "Sure thing miss, I wouldn't turn down such a beautiful mare as yourself."

His voice was tinted with, no, dripping, with flirtations. However, it was wasted on Luna, as she knew all to well how ponies did such things. She smiled, nodded, and said politely, "Thank you, sir. We will be certain to return such compliments later, but we are very tired."

Though she may as well have rejected him, Luna decided she would give him the benefit of the doubt, and he smiled brightly, nodding and laying back, going back to his original position. The Princess did the same, except she laid against the window and closed her eyes, intending to sleep her way to Canterlot.

As Luna slipped into her subconscious state, she was immediately aware of her surroundings. Such things happen when you are the Princess of the Night, especially when you can enter and control other ponies's dreams. Looking around the familiar, and almost blank dreamscape, she saw that her form here was her normal, regal appearance. With a flick of her horn, she made it change once more, back to the petite-looking mare with a light blue mane and tail, as well as a lighter shade of coat.

She always loved being in such a state of mind, and, to a point, body, It filled her with a younger vigor she no longer had at her current age. Which she still couldn't keep track of very well, sadly. It was her Sister who kept track of that boring nonsense. Suddenly, an apparition of Celestia appeared in her dream.

Of course it would though, even if she was thinking of it even offhandedly, it still took effect here. With a few swift thoughts and a small wave of her horn, the scene was of the observatory, where she used to spend most of her time. That is, until Tia took a personal student under her wing.

She wasn't resentful of Twilight, as Luna herself wasn't...present when the room was secured. However, in this dream, it was as she left it before she had temporary departed. The draperies were the lavish blue that she always adored, the light blue streaks running along it's embroidered edges.

Luna took them into her hoof, feeling the softness at their touch. It was a pleasant feeling, one of home. Looking out the window, she saw the night. Her night, shining brightly for all the ponies to see. Turning back, she saw the large volumes of books were still stacked high, but not as many. However, many more scrolls of ancient spells and maps adorned her walls.

This little place used to be a sanctuary for the Princess, a place where she could escape the troubles of the day. In fact, she used to lock this door with a binding spell so that only she and her Sister could enter. Looking towards it, the door held no doorknob, which was for a reason. It was only meant to be teleported into, which made Luna a bit upset that Tia had ruined a perfectly good enchantment.

In either case, she turned towards what the purple mare had changed into a living quarters. At least, during her early years. It's changes were drastic, as it was originally Luna's inscribing workshop. Or, for what ponies called it in this day and age, a work room.

Stepping into the seemingly ageless room, she saw that some of the details were missing. Shaking her head, she turned her attention to the table she spent ages at, the other things didn't matter as much, but still. Taking her rightful seat at the desk, she saw her old ink quill, and an empty scroll.

A nostalgic feeling began to come to her. She remembered how long she spent cooped up in here, Tia always baiting her out with the promise of food and other such necessities. Luna wasn't always a very social pony, or princess for that manner. But for what it was worth, her scribing tools and scrolls were what mattered a lot to her. While, yes, she would never forget about her Sister's subjec- Or, rather, her Sister and her subjects.

Shaking her head a bit, she cleared her thoughts of the unpleasantness. She'd rather not deal with any sort of nightmare, they were a pain to subdue. Especially that one. It wasn't even something she had to explain to herself, lest she tease the ideas a bit more. Focusing back on her scroll, she noticed that it was unfinished.

Now this is a nightmare. Princess Luna said to herself, a small grin on her face as she played it off as a joke. She then used her magic to lift the quill. Perhaps she could attempt to do this while she waited? After all, it had been a while since she went into this part of her dreams, which meant this scroll was from some time ago.

Even more safer than the actual observatory in the castle, she had been able to weave her dreams as a sort of safe haven in her mind. She could leave unfinished work, and come back whenever she pleased. The dust on the scroll was her own mind's way of telling her that it'd been a long time, and with a small blow of cool air, she began looking it over.

Strange. Then again, I was always a stickler for transformation and creation magic.

The scroll laid out in front of her was about half way finished, or at least, that's what she could infer from about half of it being taken up. A small candle lit the room, and she began to read it over.

Magical Formulation of Personage

If one was to take thee's spirit, would thy body follow? Surely not. This ideal is preposterous, and hast been proven this far into our research. As far as we can know from what we hath seen, it does't not work in this manner. However, what if one were to take the essence of some such being, and move it out of the body it was currently hosted inside? Perhaps, if our theory is correct, there may be a feasible way for the previous statement to work, but in reverse. Perhaps, if we need'st be so bold, if an entity were taken out, would a body follow? Surely, if not, it would simply slink back into whatever host it had found beforehand, or fade away into the void. While the last option is least favorable, the likelihood of this event taking place would be extremely unlikely. In the event it did, the effects could be catastrophically dangerous to the entity, but maybe not the host them self. In either reasoning, the after shock of what would happen could ruin the plan that we have put so much effort into, and we intend to-

This wasn't good. Something was wrong. The words, especially 'we' and 'our', they seemed...different from the rest. They were almost printed harsher, as if Luna had attempted to put a sort of message into it for whomever would read it. Not to mention that this scroll had stated several things having to do with 'entities', and she was almost sure what, or who, it was talking of.

Still, she attempted to keep her mind off the subject. Thinking of it would only make it worse, so she decided to stop reading the long, drawn out summaries and ideas, only skimming them and looking over the small diagrams.

What she did see was that everything seemed to be so neatly written and made, but it had a sort of sketchy feeling to it. Something in Luna's gut told her that this was a very calamitous thing, not to be trifled with. She stopped reading, setting her quill down. This was not something she wanted to finish.

With a flourish of her horn, she rolled up the magic scroll and set it a ways away, in a small pile she would put the rejected ones, or just plain badly done ones. Or she would have done, if the damned thing would move.

Every time she tried to move it, it simply sat there, the magic dispelling each time she tried to. However, after enveloping it with her magic, she was able to detect an extremely strong enchant on the scroll, which actually stopped her from doing anything but writing on it.

Whatever had put it on the scroll didn't want Luna removing it from her dreamscape, which meant it knew how to weave the dreams as well and force a reality on a situation. This was not something easily done, and the only ponies who even had an idea of this place were her Sister and Starswirl.

Then, she let go of the scroll and stepped back. There was only one other pony.

The sound of hooves clattering downstairs made her turn her attention to it, but then she heard a voice. Her own voice.

It was shaky, unstable, and not anywhere nearly as composed as she liked to be. It was talking out loud, and Luna knew that the voice was reciting what she had seen on the scroll after only a few sentences. The voice continued, gaining a low pitch and eerie feeling, the uneven voice getting high pitched at times, and at others returning to a droll.

What in Equestria is happening here!? Thought Luna. This was one of the few times she didn't have very much control over her dreams, and she was fairly certain why. She just didn't feel like dealing with it at the moment. But no time like the present.

The room behind the doorway was now a hallway to a brown, wooden door. It was beaten and had some chips missing, but that was natural. Especially for where she was going. Moving out of the room, she eagerly left the mad rantings of whatever insanity had claimed her that night.

Stepping into the room, she looked to the right, then to the left. The right hallway was blocked by a wall, and she dared not tread there. Not only would it possibly bring more problems, but she didn't want to deal with that right now. Turning to her left now, she began walking down the brick and limestone hallway with quick steps. She knew what was coming, and mentally prepared herself. As for emotionally, she was always ready.

Her hooves found themselves, as strangely as it was, in a small dungeon cell. Dreams worked strangely, especially the more...diverse side of hers. Inside of it, the lamps on the outside barely lit it, shadows threatening to break out at any moment, held back by a light.

The sound of rustling chains was heard as a figure that Luna knew all too well came out of the blackness, most of herself hidden still, a small smile on her face, "Hello, Luna. Just the Alicorn mare I wished to speak to."

Whilst Luna prepared to sleep and closed her eyes, Twilight and Trixie, or at least Twilight, as she was the only one with her head up, could see Canterlot approaching in the distance. It would only be about twenty minutes or less before they reached the station.

Looking to Trixie, Twilight still sighed, not annoyed or angry, but simply sad. She didn't know what to do. The mare was so upset with, what seemed like everything. It also wasn't like her to not know what to do. Twilight always knew what to do! At least, in most cases. Okay, maybe not most cases, but she already knew that!

Turning to the matter at hand, Twilight decided to attempt to talk to Trixie again. Not many ponies were in the train car with them, only one or two, and they were both asleep. Slowly reaching over, she nudged the light blue Unicorn. The aforementioned Unicorn raised her head, raising an eyebrow at Twilight, who merely looked with a concerned expression, "Trixie, if you need to talk to somepony, I'd be glad to help you, I mean, what are friends fo-"

The mare grumbled and rested her head on her chin, watching Twilight, "Really. Well, Trixie is sorry for sounding unbelieving, but she doubts that you can help her with this problem, Twilight. For very specific reasons."

Quirking an eyebrow, Twilight was now curious. Reasons? What reasons?

Instantly, Twilight felt her 'therapist mode' engage as she leaned forward, almost muzzle to muzzle with Trixie, "I'm your friend, Trixie. At least let me try."

The sincere sounding words that came from Twilight made Trixie's ears flick. She didn't like being rude, well, not entirely. She didn't like being difficult, honestly. But Twilight was the one who made her difficult, so she wasn't simply going to drop everything and pretend as if the day had been completely normal. And yes, Twilight had held her while she cried, in her most vulnerable state. When she lost the mask that she had to use.

Immediately, Twilight saw her eyes beginning to shimmer, wetness growing on them. She quickly shushed Trixie from whatever she was about to say, scooting over and patting the seat next to her, "Come over here, please. I can't stand you being so upset! It's driving me nuts, and I can imagine it's not very nice for you."

Slowly, and somewhat regrettably, Trixie got up and moved around to Twilight's side of the booth, sitting next to the purple mare. Instantly she was taken into a light hug, not as tight and secure as the one in the cave, but a hug none the less.

Twilight simply smiled warmly at her, "Trixie, just because you did something a day ago, a month ago, or even years ago that hurt somepony, it doesn't make you a bad pony."

A sniffle came from the former showmare. Looking to Twilight, she asked, quietly, "Why is this always about what Trixie had done, or failed to do...?"

This broke Twilight's perception of the problem. What was her problem! She had a whole speech prepared about what a bad pony was, and how Trixie wasn't in a number of ways. Quickly, Twilight began analyzing what had happened throughout the day, searching for something that could even mildly upset Trixie. She came up with nothing.

With nothing to show for her quick efforts and slight panic, she sighed and said, "Because it's all I can think of. Because when I think of Trixie, and her problems, it's all that...comes up. I don't...know a lot about you, in all honesty..."

The truth was, Trixie wanted that. It's not that she didn't want friends, or she didn't like Twilight, but maybe it was for the better if she remained in the dark of her problem, and of some of who Trixie was. Not that it was particularly bad, but it wasn't anything Twilight couldn't have already guessed.

With a sigh, Trixie decided to simply lean against her and enjoy Twilight's warm, breathing body. She was thankful for Twilight being honest, and not trying to come up with something silly. It made her glad that Trixie chose her as a friend. The word still resonating within her. Friend. It was a strong word for a pony like Trixie, and it meant a lot more than Twilight might think.

Friend. A pony, something to be held close to you. Something you can trust and depend on to be there, in the warm, sunny days or the cold, stressful, or even cruel ones. Friend, the pony that would tell you everything was alright, even when it wasn't, just to see you smile again. Friend, the word that bound two ponies, griffins, whatever they may be, together in a trusting, unforgettable companionship.

Sure, maybe she didn't know too well what a friend was, she never had one, or at least, not a good one. But as she was held in Twilight's soft embrace, she felt her tears begin to dry. Twilight was her friend, she was all of those things. She had accepted her when Trixie was at her weakest, and was able to stand her when Trixie was at her highest. This pony cared for Trixie, and Twilight cared for her.

In fact, Trixie more than cared for her. The thought made her chest feel bunched up and light, a tint of rose being splayed on her cheeks. It made her trip from her home in Fillydelphia have more meaning and depth than just to get friends. Perhaps Trixie...loved her?

The two Princesses, technically anyways, had been staring each other down for a minute before Luna finally spoke up, "We see that thou wanted to attract us so we could converse. What is it you want? We will not be making another petty deal with the likes of you."

A light laugh came from Nightmare, one would not expect from such a being, but Luna simply watched her sternly as Nightmare addressed her, "Oh, Luna. You know that even if I wanted to, I can't do the same gig twice, as it were. Plus, wasn't it you who wanted to take over Equestria?"

The Princess snorted, rolling her eyes, "Oh yes, also the part where you almost forced us to change into thee and do battle with our very own Sister!"

Nightmare sat back a bit. Not disturbed by Luna's outburst, just sighing as she responded, "Luna, you realize, I had to, per our contract? Not to mention that I'm not actually stuck here, you just like imagining me in bindings in order to feel in control of me."

Scoffing, Luna retorted, albeit a bit angrily, "Yes, yes. But It's how our subconscious works, we cannot change it. In either case, you wanted to discuss something. It must have been somewhat important to open the mental link."

Then, Nightmare looked where Luna had come from, only to stare back to the Princess's expectant eyes, "Well, it must be obvious. I put that scroll there for a reason. Though, not to do anything bad. It was meant to frighten you a bit if anything. Anyways, my point is-"

Gasping, Luna immediately realized and almost screamed in response, "No! We cannot allow thou to get a physical form! Thy powers are extremely dangerous, and we will not have any more destruction on our shoulders!"

Nightmare took a step back. She expected this, honestly, and for what it was worth, she deserved what she got. To a point, she did influence Luna, but...she did regret it. Getting the poor little sister stuck on the moon, alone, wasn't the best thing. Not only that, but she immensely underestimated Celestia's powers.

But again, she would try a calm approach. Sure she wasn't the nicest thing, but she had a plan, "Here, let me put it this way. If I'm out there, I won't be in here. If I'm not in here, I won't be out there and attempting to make deals with others in turn for other things, as I did with you a thousand and some odd years ago."

Luna's compulsion to attack the being before her was growing, but she sighed and sat back, considering her proposition for a little bit as she said, "We will...consider it. We will also speak with our Sister in order to get her opinion on thy proposal. In the time before then, don't try anything, or thy shall destroy any hope of such things."

Her tone was harsh, but not angry. Like she was reprimanding Nightmare for what she did, as if she was a filly who stole something small and unneeded. Luna turned around, taking one last look at Nightmare before walking away. There were a lot of things that the Princess regretted, and this was one of the larger things. The main issue is that sometimes, Nightmare was being serious, and meant to possibly be better. But she couldn't take her word. All she knew was betrayal and pain from the creature, and she simply felt an intense hatred for her.

However, Luna's more forgiving side told her that it really wasn't all Nightmare's fault. Sure, something terrible happened, but Luna made the plan, the contract, and the choice. It was all her fault that Nightmare became such a terrible thing. Of course, it was always dark, but it was never known on such a large scale, until that fateful night.

And with a sigh, the Lunar Princess felt the world begin to degrade. Apparently, she had just made it to Canterlot, as she heard the same stallion from before gently nudging and calling to her, "Time to wake up, I suppose..."

Twilight and Trixie had been waiting patiently behind a comic store in the lower areas of Canterlot, both slightly annoyed with the time Luna was taking. They were both also sitting against a wall, trading little stories between each other, attempting to enjoy their time together as best they could.

And then Luna stepped out into the ally, or at least, the disguised Luna, and she smiled, "We are ready to begin, yes?"

Author's Note

And that's it for Chapter Eleven! I hope you all enjoyed, I stayed up until 5 in the morning writing it, eugh. I need a better sleeping schedule. So yes, Trixie and Nightmare, oh my! Will Trixie's love be returned by Twilight, and will Luna go through with the deal? Also, what will they all do about Chrysalis? Well, eventually you'll find out. I have no idea honestly.
Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed, have a good morning/day/evening/night!

And remember, all comments or ideas are very welcome, especially when it comes to characters or critique!