Luna’s words echoed in Willow’s head every single night. If Despise ever appeared again in Willow’s dreams, Luna would know and she would be forced to inform her sister of the potential threat. That would likely mean Willow having to stay imprisoned in the Greenhouse for a much longer time, perhaps indefinitely.
And even if Luna was not aware if and when Despise re-emerged, Willow would be forced to deal with the spiteful mare’s ghost on her own.
It was unclear which scenario was worse, but it didn’t matter now. Either way, sleeping for Willow was very difficult. There were some nights where the troubled pony couldn’t sleep at all and on the nights when she could her slumber was light and short at best.
The sound of the doors to the Greenhouse opening previously filled Willow with an eagerness to see what visitor would walk through them. In her current state, however, it was just irritating.
Fortunately, the sound she heard immediately after the doors open was far more pleasant. "Um, are you there, Willow?" said the most gentle of voices.
Willow looked like she had been snapped out of a trance. Her mouth was curling upwards as she answered the soft calling, "Right over here, Critter mare!"
Fluttershy turned her head left and right, but couldn't seem to find the pony she was looking for. "Um...over where?"
Now that she was fully alert again, Willow realized that she had been staring blankly at the view outside the Greenhouse's transparent wall. This meant that her back was facing the entrance, a back that was covered in vine-like green hair. Quickly, Willow whipped her head around. "Over here!" she declared.
Fluttershy started a little as a lump of disheveled greenery turned around and looked her right in the eyes, but she quickly shook it off and walked over to her camouflaged companion.
"So, we ready to jam?" asked Willow.
"Yes we are!" said Fluttershy with an usual confidence.
There was a pause as Willow tilted her head to the left and to the right, trying to see around her visitor. Her expression turned curious when she saw that Fluttershy had just brought herself and nothing else.
"Uh... Aren't we gonna need some, ya know, stuff to cut plants with or something to dress up plants, er...?"
Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, that's coming."
And ss soon as her current guest said so, Willow heard a familiar pattern of grunts and groans coming from the hallway. She looked towards the door. There, slowly and awkwardly coming into view was Rainbow Dash, carrying yet another object too heavy for her. At least this time, however, it wasn't another pony. Instead it was a very large but otherwise nondescript wooden crate.
It was clearly taking the same toll on its carrier as a certain pony did, however. Rainbow Dash looked like she may pull a muscle. She was descending rapidly to the ground as she crossed the threshold, eager to the place the box on the ground.
"Halt!" the guard to the left of the door yelled out suddenly. "What do you bring with you? You may not set it down here!" he said insistently.
Rainbow Dash, now hovering mere inches off the ground and still clinging to her cargo, made an attempt to answer the guard. Unfortunately, she was too strained to think or speak and all that came out of her mouth was "hhhnnnnnggggg..."
Fluttershy perked up and turned around. "Oh! It's okay," she said to the guard as she walked over to the barely-hovering box, I have a note from the Princess right he— " She cut her own statement short once she reached the box and didn't see what she was looking for pinned to the side of it that she thought it was on. She then moved to another side of the box. It was bare also. Her eyebrows raised slightly. "Um, Rainbow, is Princess Celestia's letter on top there with you?"
"Hhhhhnnnnggggg....," replied Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy circled around to a third side of the box and once again came up empty. However, on the final side she checked, the one facing the guard, she found what she was after. It was a small piece of parchment with hoofwriting on it so tiny that it was nearly invisible from even a short distance away. What was clearly visible on it, however, was a large hoofprint firmly pressed into the lower-right corner.
Fluttershy unpinned the note from the box and brought it over to the guard. The room was silent as the guard read the note, save of course for the groans of agony coming from Rainbow Dash.
Eventually though, the guard nodded his head, "Well, this is her Majesty's writing and her seal." He looked up at Fluttershy's one-pony delivery team, "You may lower the crate."
Rainbow Dash disobeyed slightly, choosing instead to drop the box like an anvil and collapse on top of it. Her gasping made her sound like she was just rescued from drowning.
The guard handed the Princess's letter of approval back to Fluttershy, who then walked back towards Willow. Willow met her halfway and took the princess's letter from her.
Willow briefly skimmed the document. "Didn't know this was all official n' stuff," she commented.
"Oh, it's not really," said Fluttershy, "I just asked the Princess for permission to make sure it wouldn't be a problem."
Rainbow Dash let out a louder, much longer groan that drew everypony's attention.
"I...I guess it's a good thing I did," said Fluttershy looking at the very winded Pegasus resting on top of the wooden box.
"Why did you have Awesome mare do all the liftin'?" asked Willow.
"Well, um...she volunteered," answered Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash rolled off the box and toppled onto the floor, landing on her back. In between several heavy breaths she managed to raise one hoof into the air, cry "No problem!" and then let her hoof collapse back onto the ground.