The singular clock in the large bedroom ticked and tocked quietly in the early hours of the morning. Twilight, Celestia, and Spike all sat on Twilight’s large bed, a single candle lit on the nearby table to provide some light for them to see. Celestia had taken it upon herself to pull Twilight close to her. The smaller mare was snuggled up like a stuffed toy against the Princess’s body.
“I remember the first dream. It was the day I spent doing research on travel between realities,” Twilight started softly. “I was back in Ponyville. It was dark and the town was completely empty except for me.” She took a moment to remember that first dream. “I was just so upset that I stormed around the town. I had spent all day reading about how impossible it was for me to be in a different world and now I was lucid dreaming about being back… But I was alone. Or so I thought.
“I started to hear a voice calling my name from the Everfree Forest. Princess Luna’s voice, actually. For some reason I was afraid of seeing her. So I just stayed away and eventually I woke up.” The Countess fell silent as she tried to remember if there was anything else she needed to share about those dreams.
Celestia wrapped her in a hug before she could continue. ‘Twilight, it’s just a dream. She couldn’t hurt you.”
“I know, and I knew that from the start, but I was still afraid of her. Afraid of why she was inside my dream, I guess,” Twilight replied. Her words were mumbled as her face was pressed against Celestia’s warm chest.
Spike chimed in, looking a bit confused. “But that doesn’t sound all that scary. You’ve been tossing and turning like it was something terrible. Especially tonight’s nightmare.”
“Tonight’s was different,” Twilight answered. Celestia released her grasp on Twilight to allow her to explain more. “I wasn’t in Ponyville. I was out near the forest. And Luna was next to me. She spoke to me.”
“About what?” Celestia asked.
The Countess drew a deep, relaxing breath. She took a few seconds to collect herself. “She told me that this place is a dream. That my memories are real. That she was here to wake me up.” Spike and Celestia traded concerned looks. “I don’t believe her,” Twilight said hastily, realizing her previous statements could be misunderstood. “But that’s what she was trying to convince me of.”
Celestia spoke before Spike could comment. “I have many, many years of memories, Twilight. Including many with you before your coma. I do not believe this world to be your dream.”
“I don’t either,” Twilight reiterated. “But when she said that world was real… There was a part of me that got so excited. A part of me that was ready to believe her.”
“So why don’t you?” Spike asked.
It took Twilight a minute to come up with an answer. “She couldn’t prove to me she was real. She only appears when I’m asleep, but if I’m dreaming all this, she should appear to me here as well. And the story she gave me as for why I am having this dream was too similar to reality here.”
“What do you mean by too similar? Did she say you were in a curse-induced coma?” Celestia asked.
Twilight nodded. “Very similar. Apparently I cast an incomplete spell, which I know not to do without proper safety setup in case of an accident. The backlash put me into a coma.”
Celestia hummed softly to herself as she thought of all the types of spells that would have a powerful enough backlash to cause a coma. Usually a spell backlash would cause some minor pain, or temporary magical nasua. “What spell was it?”
“A spell to make me into an alicorn,” Twilight replied softly. Celestia’s eyebrows shot upwards in surprise. Had the situation been different, Twilight might have burst out laughing at the unfamiliar expression on Celestia’s face. “I know, it made me rather suspicious. You tell me about the spell and suddenly Luna tell me that the Celestia from my memories was going to have me become an alicorn. A full Princess, even.”
An awkward silence soon filled the room. Celestia and Spike weren’t sure what to say at this point. They both knew for a fact that their lives weren’t part of a dream. If Twilight had been from another reality, they might have believed that, but they couldn’t accept that their world was just in her dream. It didn’t seem possible.
Celestia cleared her throat. “How did your conversation with Luna end?”
Twilight looked meek and her face flushed red as she got embarrassed. “I might have gotten a little emotional… I told her she wasn’t welcome in my dreams and tried to zap her with a stun spell. I woke up before I could get the shot off, though.”
“Probably not the most diplomatic way, but I suppose it could have been worse,” Celestia commented. “I think that if your nightmares are to stop, you should try to make peace with Luna.”
“Make peace,” Twilight repeated dryly.
Celestia nodded. “If she is a part of your mind, finding a path to peace is probably good for your mental health. If she’s real, and what she is saying is true—”
“I’m staying here,” Twilight interrupted. “I don’t believe she’s real.”
“If she is,” Celestia continued on. “...If she is real, then making peace with her might make her stop giving you these nightmares.” The look on Twilight’s face made it clear she didn’t want to believe Luna was real, but the purple mare nodded once. “I also think that perhaps you should go see a professional.”
“A professional what?” Twilight asked, confused by the sudden change in topic.
Spike chimed in once more. “A shrink!”
“Oh, a psychiatrist. I suppose it would be reckless to assume that having my life so completely turned on its head wouldn’t affect me in any way,” Twilight commented more to herself than to Spike or Celestia. “I agree. Spike, make an appointment for one of my days off next week.”
Spike gave a playful salute. “I’ve got a doctor in mind already!”
Once more Celestia grabbed Twilight in a vice-like hug. “Let’s try to get back to sleep. We do have a day of court to attend tomorrow.” Spike jumped down from the bed and returned to his basket, more than happy to go back to sleep. Twilight relaxed against Celestia. She knew that any sleep she got would be uneasy and still leave her tired in the morning. So she resolved to think about ways of making peace with Luna.
Celestia laid back down into her normal sleeping position, but held Twilight tightly still. It only took a few minutes for the sounds of Spike snoring to put Celestia to sleep. Twilight rather enjoyed the warmth Celestia gave, and found it very relaxing. By the time the sun had come up, Twilight had only gotten a few hours of sleep. But she had a plan for talking things over with Luna the next time she had that dream.
The next two weeks were some of the most interesting days of Twilight’s life. More intense than being Celestia’s personal student and more socially nerve wracking than trying to make friends with the five ponies who you helped save the world with. She took Celestia out on a date a few nights after their first date. The plan was for them to go bowling and then head to the theater for a play. As it turned out, without magic, both Celestia and Twilight were terrible at bowling. The more they laughed at each other the worse they got and by the end of the game neither of them could throw the ball without giggling. They had so much fun they nearly missed the start of the Canterlot Royal Theatre Group’s production of The Merchant of Manehattan.
A few days after that, Celestia took Twilight out flying. Twilight rode on Celestia’s back as they headed up above the clouds. A simple cloudwalking spell allowed them to enjoy a cloud-top picnic and watch the sunset. That evening on the clouds they shared their first kiss, at least to Twilight’s knowledge. Twilight nearly fell off the cloud after their lips parted. Her mind, for the first time in a long time, was completely blank aside from the feeling of Celestia’s lips pressed against hers.
That night was awkward for the both of them. Once more they slept snuggled up together. Celestia gave Twilight a quick goodnight kiss on the lips. A few hours later, Twilight was awoke from some rather explicit dreams involving Celestia. Judging by the flushed and sweaty look on Celestia’s face, she was having similar dreams. Twilight tried to put some space between them, but Celestia’s forelegs wrapped themselves tightly around her and held her still.
In between the sessions of court, on their days off, after dinner, and any moment they found themselves with free time, they would spend the time cuddled together doing one activity or another. Some days Celestia would share with Twilight everything she could remember about Twilight’s life from before the coma. Other days Twilight would read to Celestia out of various scientific and magical texts. A few times they found themselves simply enjoying each other’s company in pure silence before something would pull them away.
Twilight visited the psychologist twice. Both sessions went well in that Twilight found the stallion to be professional and friendly, but he had never encountered a case like Twilight’s. He wasn’t sure if anything could be done about her memories except learning to cope with her sudden life changes. He was happy to hear that Twilight had already come to that conclusion herself. In the end it was decided that once-a-month visits for a year would be plenty, unless she started to show signs of needing help.
At the end of two weeks without nightmares, Twilight once again found herself in a lucid dream. She was standing inside her library bedroom. The wooden walls of the tree no longer felt like home. Without hesitation, she leapt from her balcony and glided to the ground, heading off in the direction of the Everfree Forest. She didn’t hear Luna calling her name, but assumed she would find the Lunar Princess there.
Sure enough she spotted Luna’s dark blue coat and astral mane sitting on a small hill near the forest’s edge. Twilight approached silently and sat down next to the Princess. Luna looked over with a small amount of surprise on her face. “I did not expect you to approach me.”
Twilight didn’t look over at Luna. “I’m sorry for trying to blast you with magic. Even if I don’t believe you’re real, that was still rude of me.”
“It was not the first time I’ve been shot at and it will not be the last. I do not hold it against you,” Luna replied calmly.
They sat next to each other in silence for a few minutes, neither one sure how to start the conversation. Eventually, Twilight decided to break the ice with a question. “I don’t believe you are real. I think that you are a manifestation of the part of me that can’t let go of my memories. So I know your answer will just be what I want to hear, but I still want to ask. How is everypony doing?”
“You mean your friends and family? They are concerned, but have not yet given up hope. I told Celestia of our last conversation and she felt I should try talking to you again before we told anyone else what had happened,” Luna replied, her tone indicating that she disagreed either with Celestia or with Twilight. Most likely both.
Twilight nodded once, that answer making sense. “I see.”
“I must admit, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna started, her tone once more turning neutral. “I am still confused as to what exactly is going on. Why do you not believe I am real? You know of my ability to enter dreams.”
Finally, Twilight made eye contact with Luna. She looked just the same as she did during the few interactions Twilight had had with her before. “My recent trip to the Crystal Empire is the last thing I remember about, well, a dream I was having. My friends and I were supposed to meet with Ms. Harshwhinny in order to help get the Crystal Empire selected as the host of the Equestria Games.”
Luna nodded. “I am aware of your trip.”
“Right. Well after I got back to Ponyville, I woke up here.” She remembered that they were sitting in her dream world right now and quickly amended her previous statement. “I mean, I woke up in Canterlot. A different Canterlot to the one I can remember. Almost everything about my life and the world around me was different. You, Cadence, and all of my friends don’t exist. My brother was killed while serving as a guard. I’m a member of the royal court and work alongside Celestia in ruling Equestria.
“At first, I thought I had been sucked up into an alternate world. Or perhaps some sort of parallel timeline. Maybe a prison of Discord’s creation. But the more I looked into the magic behind them, the more I realized that there wasn’t any way that was possible.”
Luna interrupted her, concern worn easily on her face. “Did you not think you were dreaming?”
Twilight gave a knowing smile. “Of course, briefly. But I would sleep and dream, only to wake up and still be here. As the days passed, I realized that it was just too real to be a dream. I was really there. Celestia told me about a faction of ponies who believed that I was somehow trying to take the throne for myself. One such pony attempted to cast a killing curse on me.”
That shocked Luna. Such spells were highly illegal. “Surely Celestia didn’t let that happen?”
Twilight nodded. “The damage was done. He had thankfully cast the curse improperly. It left me brain dead, in a coma, for nearly a year. The pony was sentenced to death and executed before I woke up. All traces of my memories from before the curse were gone. Instead I remember you, my friends, the Elements of Harmony, and all those crazy nonsensical adventures I went on. The more time passed, the more that seemed to be just a dream I had while I was in the coma.”
Luna looked doubtful. “You can’t tell me you so easily gave up? You just declared your entire life was naught but a dream?”
“No, not so easily. But this world, the world where I’m asleep right now, makes so much sense. It feels so right. Everything just fits nicely into place. And the world you come from, with Discord and Changelings and who knows what else seems so… So… Fantastical!” Twilight gave an exasperated sigh as she forced herself to remain calm. “And the day before you spoke to me, I went out on a date with Celestia. A romantic date. She explained to me that she had harbored feelings for me since before I fell into the coma. She offered to make me immortal so that we could be together without worrying about the day I die. When I fall asleep, you give me nearly an identical story.”
Now it was finally starting to make sense for Luna. “I see,” she replied as her hoof rose up to idly scratch her chin. Twilight’s life had been completely flipped upside down and she had come to terms with it. She might even prefer it. Then Luna tried to give her the same story again, and flip her life back. “But do you not even want to try to return to your old life? If I am part of your mind, then no harm will be done. But if I am real, you can return to your friends.”
Twilight gave it a good ten seconds of thought before shaking her head. “I suppose. But I don’t even know if I want to go back. This life is everything I’ve dreamed about. I’m helping to run Equestria. My vote counts just as much as Celestia’s does, on everything. Even that on its own would be enough, but Celestia loves me as an equal. We’re… Special someponies! I don’t think I could ever leave her now.”
Twilight had found love. There was nothing Luna could think of that would convince her to leave now. The look in Twilight’s eyes told Luna everything she needed to know. The Princess stood up and turned towards the forest. “Then I shall not bother you further. I cannot compete with true love. Perhaps Cadence could have, but not I. Any attempts I make to force you to awake would be dangerous.”
Luna stood and slowly descended the small hill they were sat upon. She paused once she reached the bottom to look back up at Twilight. “Be happy, Twilight Sparkle. Do not come to regret your decision.”
Twilight smiled. “I will. Good bye, Princess Luna.”
“Good bye, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna slowly walked off into the Everfree Forest. Once she was out of sight, the dream world vanished. Twilight awoke with Celestia many hours later, feeling extremely refreshed. Gone was the nervousness about becoming immortal. She felt content in her choice.
“Good morning,” Celestia muttered, drawing Twilight into a tight hug.
For just a moment, Twilight forgot about her conversation with Luna. Her entire world was the warmth from Celestia’s body. When she finally pulled away a large smile was stuck to her face. “Good morning, Celestia.” Luna’s final words to Twilight drifted back through her mind. “I dreamed of Luna last night.”
Celestia woke up a bit more at those words. She had been waiting patiently for Twilight to have the nightmare again. “You did? I didn’t feel you struggle or wake up in the night.”
“It wasn’t a nightmare. I explained everything to her.” Twilight placed a kiss on Celestia’s neck. “She told me to be happy. That’s exactly what I plan to do.”