Luna's full moon shone brilliantly in the crystalline night air, perhaps more so than any other night in history, but only one pony, Twilight Sparkle, was still awake to admire its magnificence. It was well past midnight, and the exhausted magenta mare was leaning on her castle balcony, sighing the night away, instead of sleeping as she would have liked to.
It wasn't easy being a princess.
Twilight never anticipated the obscene amount of work that came with the job. It kept her busy nearly every hour of the day. Equestria is a lively place, full of little conflicts every day, between its own citizens and even neighbouring kingdoms. Last month, Twilight had to travel to the far-off Griffon Kingdom to settle a dispute over the abuse of import and export laws. It was one of the most terrifying experiences of her life! She swears she could hear the Griffon King’s stomach rumble whenever he looked at her.
That little trip certainly didn’t help her sleep. Twilight had been having nightmares for months. At first it was only one or two in a week, but they had very rapidly increased in intensity and frequency, until they were occurring every time she fell asleep, for any amount of time. They were crippling; she could hardly function during the day anymore because of how utterly debilitating her nights were. These nightmares, combined with the stress of her everyday life, were really starting to take their toll on the poor Princess. She couldn't face her vile subconsciousness. Not again. It had become too much, and it felt as though it might overpower her.
Spike grew sick with worry, and offered to fix up some "natural remedies" for Twilight. Zecora, having left to travel the world, willed her hut in the Everfree Forest to him, containing her potions, recipes, and various ingredients. With all of the knowledge, technique, and material passed down to him, he's become nothing short of a expert chemist. For the time, Twilight was simply waiting for him to arrive. She pondered what crazy cure Spike might have concocted.
"Twilight! I've got it!"
Her ears perked up at the sound of her beloved dragon's voice, shouting back with equal vigor.
"Spike! Thank you so much for doing this for me."
Spike flew in from across the sky, circling around the tower a few times before resting on the edge of the balcony. His fairly new wings were immensely useful; he could get to and from Ponyville in a matter of minutes. Much faster than by chariot.
"Aw, no problem." He folded his wings and slung his satchel off of his shoulder. "I couldn't stand seeing you like this, so I pulled something together that I think will help you out." Spike opened his satchel and pulled out a bottle of steaming purple liquid. "It's an herbal tea. My own recipe!"
Twilight was absolutely ecstatic at this bit of information. "You developed your own recipe?! That's fantastic, Spike! I would be honored to be the first to test it. What's in it?"
"Well," Spike put on the brainiest look he could muster, eliciting a hearty giggle from Twilight. "We've got some Lavandula angustifolia, for relaxation, Valeriana officinalis, to calm your mind, and Matricaria chamomilla, to help you sleep!"
"Valeriana officinalis? I've never heard of that before."
"It's not from around here. I heard about it being used to cure 'evil spirits' in Neighpon, so I had it shipped over here for you."
"Hm... All right, I'll take it! Hopefully, it'll get me out of this awful phase." After all, Spike made it himself, and Twilight trusted him completely. Nothing could go wrong, as far as she was concerned.
She brought the bottle of tea closer with her telekinesis, opened it, and poured part of it into one of her ceramic mugs. She took one small sip of the mixture, and a goofy, euphoric grin broke out onto her face almost immediately. "Wow, this stuff is amazing! I'm feeling better already." She took another sip, and let out a small yawn. "Sleepy, too. I should do better tonight, thanks."
"I'll get out of your hair, then." They came together in a warm embrace, basking in each other's tired presence. "Sleep tight, Twilight." Spike threw his satchel back over his shoulder, flared his wings, and dropped from the balcony to take flight. In a matter of seconds, he was nothing more than a green and purple speck on the horizon.
Twilight finished off the rest of the tea in just a few minutes. She retired to her bed when she was finished. The covers and blankets were magicked over her, and soon, the only sound heard was her sleepy breaths, as she drifted into a calm and peaceful slumber.
************************
"Princess?"
"Huh! Whuh?!" Twilight shot up from her bed, eyes straining to open. In her chambers was one of her armored guards, a grey unicorn. He looked fuzzy and messy through Twilight's groggy vision.
"A visitor is here to see you. Applejack, from Ponyville."
"Uhhmm... oh, oh! Yes, Applejack! Please, send her in."
"Right away, Princess." The nameless guard gave a quick salute, then made an about-face and trotted out the door to bring in the visitor.
Twilight rose from her bed, stretching for a moment, before tiredly lumbering over to the window. She peered down past the edge of the balcony, watching the ponies, her busy bees, bumbling around in the courtyard. Celestia's sun shone magnificently in the clear morning sky, perhaps more so than any other day in history, and everypony was frolicking in its golden beams.
"Ahh... what a beautiful morning. Everything is just so..."
"..."
Twilight's eyes widened dramatically with realization. "Morning? It's morning?! Yes!" She stotted all about the room in excitement and relief. "Spike's tea worked! No more nightmares, no more worries!"
"Golly, Twi, what's got you in such a great mood? Happy to see me?"
Twilight turned around immediately to tackle her earth pony friend in a crushing hug.
"Yes, yes, it's so wonderful to see you again, Applejack!"
"Ah! Heh, you too. Uh, could you let me down? I can't breathe too well.
"Oh, yeah, sorry. I've just been having an awful time, lately."
"No kiddin'? What's got ya troubled?"
"I had been having some pretty scary nightmares lately. A lot of them about you, and our other friends. I think they're gone, though! Last night, Spike brought me some fantastic herbal tea, and—"
"Well, it's been a little tough back at the farm..."
Twilight was surprised at this sudden interruption. She blinked silently for a few seconds before responding. "Um... sorry, what?"
Applejack continued. "The trees haven't been growing as strongly as they should be. We're just barely making quota. If this continues, we won't be able to keep the farm open." She kept rubbing one of her forelegs against the other, in a nervous gesture. "Maybe you could... do some magic for us, fix up the fields a bit?"
"Oh," Twilight sighed in relief. "Is that all? I'd be more than glad to—"
Applejack interrupted again. "What? You're 'swamped'? Are you sure?"
Now Twilight was starting to worry. "Wait, no, I said I could help you!"
Applejack turned, and began talking to the empty space to her right. "Oh, sorry Granny, but Twi's a little tied up right now. I'm sure she'll be free later this week."
"Applejack, there's nobody there, why are you—"
"What do you mean, 'out of business'? You can't shut this farm down! This is us! This is our livelihood..." The walls around them were slowly fading, dripping down into the empty blackness upon which they were now standing. Applejack was beginning to deteriorate, appearing to age at least a year with every passing second. Her eyes drooped, skin sagged, and breathing slowed.
"You're scaring me..."
Applejack turned to Twilight one last time, her eye sockets nothing more than a hollowed void, her voice like that of a ghost, wailing mournfully. "It's gone, everything's gone!" Twilight tried as hard as she could to get away, but her hooves were locked securely in place. "Why... why didn't you help us Twilight? You could have saved us... You... some Element of Magic you were..." At last, she fell apart into a small pile of ashes. The three shining scarlet apples that were her Cutie Mark turned rotten, and black like the rest of her, assimilating into obscurity.
"No, no!" Twilight sprinted over to the dark lump, a constant stream of tears trailing behind her. "Applejack, please, come back! I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, I'm sorry! Please... say something..."
It was completely silent in this void, save for the desperate sobbing of Twilight into the mound of ash that was once Applejack.
"Oh, Applejack..."
"..."
"..."
"..in...s..."
".Pri..e.s..T..l..."
"Applejack...?
"... Twilight... wake up!"
"Applejack!"
Twilight threw her head up, beaming, only to see her gray unicorn guard standing by her bedside, with a worried look on his face. Her smile and optimism, instantly gone.
"Princess Twilight, I heard screaming. Are you alright?"
"W-what? I..." Twilight looked around her. She was in her room, everything intact. The walls were back, the empty bottle of tea was still sitting on her nightstand, and the blankets were all kicked off of the bed. "Uh... y-yes. Yes, I'm alright. I just had a bit of a nightmare. Everything's fine now."
The guard's body relaxed a little. "Are you sure? Do you need me to get your something?"
"Some water would be nice."
The guard saluted, turned, and left to comply with the order, shutting the door behind him, and leaving Twilight to herself.
"Okay, okay, calm down. It was just a nightmare, Twilight. Not real. Not real at all. Not..."
Twilight's attention turned to the picture at the middle of her fireplace. It was a picture of Applejack, posing in front of her newly painted barn, some time before... "...Her fields started dying."
For the first time in a long time, Twilight woke up.
She opened her eyes to the reality of her world.
She remembered her dear friend.
And she regretted everything.
It wasn't easy being a princess.