After putting the laptop in an easy to find spot in the AV room and plugging it in the couple did a quick check online of what was happening in the world.
It seemed that many pony communities were well underway on their own, most out west. The largest of these was Denver, which many commentators jokingly called Pony Town due to it having the largest pony population in a metropolitan area, and others called it the pony capital of the world. The south was a bit slower in forming up communities though.
Rosetta left a few messages for her family. The task was more difficult than it had previously been as her trusty pencil was nowhere to be found. This left her forced to try to carefully try tapping keys with her wings. She managed to do it, but it took a great deal of time to force the fingers on the ends of her wings to do the unfamiliar task.
With those tasks completed the two left the church and retreated back to the oak's grove. After an hour of sexual horseplay they settled in and went to sleep.
Remedy realized quickly she was in a vivid dream once again as she looked at the start sky all around her and complete lack of ground that somehow didn't leave her plummeting.
"Princess Luna? Are you there?" Remedy called out.
"Yes, Phobia Remedy, I am here. Also, I must say again that I hold no title over the ponies of your world, so there is no need to address me as princess," Luna said as she flew before the much smaller pony.
"I'm sorry, it just feels disrespectful not to. You are like the closest thing to a pony god there is," Remedy said apologetically.
"I would prefer that belief not take root. Part of our problems with Sunset Shimmer was she had for a time a faith in my sister in such a way. The place she had her portal anchored in our world even had a makeshift shrine," Luna said with a difficult to read tone.
"Is your sister Twilight Sparkle?" Remedy asked curiously.
"Oh definitely not, simply a very dear friend and alicorn, though perhaps in a few centuries Twilight may come to feel like an adopted sister, she is still very young compared to my sister and I, though she is talented and wise in her own ways," Luna chuckled.
"The fact you live for centuries kind of reinforces the idea of you being a pony god you know," Remedy said with bemusement.
"In terms of the powers we can safely make use of with only a few exceptions most ponies are capable of equaling us in skill on most tasks. As for what we can't safely do..we won't speak of those things nor choose to do those things. Ponies like Sunset Shimmer and even Twilight's student Starlight Glimmer likely have much more knowledge and capability in areas I have little to no knowledge. I would feel but a foal trying to make sense of some of those things, which is why I am glad Twilight is much more adept at understanding those. It is best not to put alicorns on too high a pedestal. In theory we can do things that are far beyond your comprehension, but in practice we are not nearly as impressive," Luna said with a smile.
"I can only take your word for it," Remedy replied, wondering what kinds of things that Luna could do that she would not talk about or supposedly choose to do.
"And my word is good," Luna said still smiling. "So let us get to the matters at hoof. You still wish me to train you in how to help ponies with their dreams?"
"Yes ma'am," Remedy said eagerly.
"Good, then we begin now. Do you see the many points of light all around us? Those are not stars, even though they may appear so, those are dreams," Luna explained.
Remedy did look around her at all the lights once again. They certainly looked like stars, they all glowed like stars, and there were more than she could ever hope to count. She would have to simply accept that they were dreams, this was a dream itself after all, or something close to it.
"How do I even reach this place on my own?" Remedy asked.
"We will not being going over that until I am satisfied you are well versed in properly caring for others dreams. I would not have you wandering into dreams unsupervised when you are not yet prepared to properly deal with things unattended. You could do more harm than good. Have patience, this will not be something you learn in a single session. It would be negligent of me to not see that you are given full and proper training in this," Luna said in a consoling tone.
"Okay, that makes sense. So you are going to do things, explain to me what you are doing, then after a while start letting me try to do things while supervising me to make sure I don't accidentally break some pony's mind. You'll keep that up till you ate satisfied I know what I am doing then you'll teach me how to get here," Remedy said.
"Very good. I take it training methods are not too dissimilar between our worlds then," Luna said with relief.
"Good training methods anyway. There are still plenty of times a job will just toss you in a position with a brief explanation, and expect you to figure it out. Then they get mad at you for doing something wrong you had no training to explain how to do right," Remedy said with a shrug.
"You sound as if you had experiences of this type," Luna said with a smirk.
"First job was at a fast food restaurant. You would be surprised how many things you can screw up in what you thought would be the simplest job in the world. I have nothing but pity for new employees at Burger King..that's the name of the store," Remedy said, realizing that the princess might have no clue what fast food was if she was from another world.
"Well, those experiences doubtlessly make you more appreciative of receiving proper training. Tonight we will simply enter into a nightmare and observe. This is for you to get the feel for what it is like being in the dreams of another. It can be a terrifying experience to you too, and if you are not used to it you can find yourself at the mercy of the terrors ponies conjure in their minds," Luna explained.
"So how do you know if a dream is a nightmare or not?" Remedy asked as she looked around at all the millions of lights.
"Again, that is a lesson for another time. So please be patient. I have a pony picked out who has been having frequent nightmares as of late, for the whole short time I have known of her actually. The reasons for these nightmares are understandable, but I have not yet decided the best course of action, if any, to take with her. She is not one of my ponies, and I am not sure she would appreciate my efforts. She will serve as a good place for you to learn the feel of a nightmare though," Luna said as she gazed out at the dreams.
"Alright, I'm ready to start whenever you are," Remedy replied.
"Before we begin I must stress that we are only watching. I understand that night ponies on your world have an even greater drive to protect than those on mine do because of Sunset Shimmer's meddling with your instincts. You must keep those instincts under control. I will not allow us to be able to interact or be seen, but I still don't want you trying to interfere with the nightmare. They are in no real mortal danger despite what you may be seeing. It is important that you learn to watch and observe for some time first in all nightmares. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes ma'am," Remedy said with a bow of her head.
"Good, now we begin," Luna said as she gestured wing out towards the lights.
Immediately the entire starscape shifted and it was they the they were rushing by them all without moving. Finally just one came into view and grew and enveloped both Phobia Remedy and Luna.
Remedy had shut her eyes briefly as they had been enveloped by the dream, and she opened her eyes now to behold what looked like a simple living room in an ordinary looking house. In that living room sat a young girl.
"It is early in the nightmare, but this is not the first time this dream has played out tonight for this one," Luna said sadly. "She should likely be waking after this time around though."
A tv emergency broadcast signal started blaring loudly though there didn't seem to be any tv present. The girl took on a panicked expression and started rushing for the basement, then paused as a scream rang out across the house of an even younger child.
"Jenny!" The girl yelled as she turned and raced to another part of the house. The dream shifted and Remedy and Luna shifted with the scene.
They were in a kitchen now and there was a terrified younger child crying and screaming. The sound of the emergency broadcast signal was still blaring loudly, almost drowning out all other sound.
"Laura, I'm scared!" The younger child cried.
"I'm here Jenny, I won't let her hurt you," the girl who was the center of the dream assured the smaller child.
The younger girl suddenly stopped crying and stared creepily at the dreamer.
"You can never stop the Fae Queen," the child said in a monotone.
Suddenly the entire side of the house was ripped away. It was a tornado Remedy realized. Only Luna's restraining wing kept Remedy from trying to leap into action to try to protect these girls.
"Remember, this is just a dream, and we are just watching. This is more horrific than what occurred in real life, a product of fear and anxiety. Just watch," Luna said calmly.
The younger girl screamed as she was ripped away from her sisters arms by the wind and drawn away towards the sun. It was not a normal sun, but a stylized drawing of one in the air, half gold and half red.
"Jenny!" The older girl screamed in anguish.
"The Fae Queen decides everything for us," came the disembodied voice of the younger girl.
Two adults were suddenly standing over the girl. Remedy assumed this was her parents. The woman looked oddly familiar but she couldn't place where she seemed to remember her from.
"Why weren't you more responsible? Why did you let Sunny hurt your sister?" The woman demanded.
"I'm sorry. I tried hard to protect her. How was I supposed to stop Sunny?" The girl cried.
"Be more responsible!" The man yelled at her.
The scene shifted again. They were still in the kitchen but the girl was now a young adult yellow furred pegasus with a very curly orange mane. She was still on the floor crying.
"Why did you do this Sunny? I thought you were my friend," the young mare sobbed.
Suddenly an amber colored unicorn mare with a a two toned mane of red and gold appeared. On her flank was the exact same stylized sun that had appeared in the the sky just moments before.
"I am Sunset Shimmer, everything I do is for a purpose. I needed to use you to get ponies to do what I wanted. You did such a good job, Laura," the unicorn sneered at her.
Remedy's heart about stopped. This was Sunset Shimmer? This was the pony that was responsible for all of ETS? She seemed somehow less imposing and more imposing than expected. This mare seemed to know her personally too. Who was this mare and what connection to Sunset Shimmer did she have?
"I trusted you, was none of it real?" The young mare said as she looked up at unicorn with pleading eyes.
Another version of Sunset Shimmer appeared next to the other, and what ensued seemed like something to be expected out of Golem from Lord of the Rings.
"Of course I cared about you. You made me so proud of you as I saw you take charge and really start to show the world what you could do. I'm your friend," the new version said in a motherly tone.
"Yes, very proud, you turned out just as I wanted," the cruelest version sneered.
"But you did it all on your own," the kinder version said softly.
"With me pushing you into it," the other sneered.
"I just don't know which of you was real," the pegasus blubbered.
Suddenly a great blast of magic blew away both the Sunset Shimmers, making Remedy jump in startlement. The source was a menacing version of Princess Twilight Sparkle that seemed to stand too tall.
"It doesn't matter, she is dead now," Twilight Sparkle said.
"But I never figured it out. I thought I did, but I still feel so confused," the Pegasus continued crying.
Suddenly the dream just vanished and Remedy blinked at the abrupt ending. They now stood in the endless expanse of dreams again.
"She woke up suddenly, which brought an end to the dream," Luna explained as Remedy looked around.
"Who was that? I got the name Laura, but what the hell went on with that pony that she was tied up with Sunset Shimmer?" Remedy asked.
"A pony that is dealing with her own anxieties and working through them. I won't explain her situation as it is not my story to tell, but she is getting better. These nightmares are far less intense than they were before. I think she will eventually stop having them as regularly as she further makes peace with what happened. But anxieties can take a longer time for the subconscious mind to let go of than the conscious one, hence she is still having these dreams," Luna said with a sigh.
"And you have watched this nightmare play out many times already with her?" Remedy asked in disbelief.
"No, this is one is one is the least horrible version of it I have seen, which makes me think she is working through this on her own without need to interfere. The ones from before were much more detailed and more intense," Luna said as she gazed down at Remedy.
"It is going to take me a while to get used to this," Remedy said with a sigh.
"Well, we shall give you the time to learn. This is but your first taste of a nightmare of another," Luna said as she carefully laid a wing over Remedy.
Remedy steeled herself for the next experience Luna had for her, but her mind couldn't help drifting back to wonder who that pegasus was and the actual face of Sunset Shimmer.