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// Bubblegum's Story Time- A Night Mare's Tale 
// Story: What the Future May Hold 
// by DougtheLoremaster 
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The small blue earth pony looked at the night sky reflected in Luna's mane and sighed, sounding rather disappointed. "Not the reaction I was expecting young colt", Luna said, "do you perhaps feel that I, the royal sister of Princess Celestia, am not qualified with my knowledge of the land to tell a tale of days long past?"
"Oh, no-no-no! It isn't th-" He began but immediately faltered upon seeing Luna's very serious face. The princess looked quite fearsome as her body conveyed her annoyance. Her anger was legendary in the annals of Ponyville's history. Would he be sent to Tartarus, would she yell at him? Oh, how he wished he was some other pony at this moment. However, instead of the expected rage, Luna took a slow breath and smiled at the form before her. His mane had gone from a bubbly hairdo to a deflated straight line. his fur was a light blue and on his rump was a scene of confetti exploding for a cutie mark. There can be no mistaking it, she thought, he is definitely her heir. The resemblance to her long lost friend was so uncanny; from mannerisms to appearance.
"what is your name, young one?" She inquired with a smile. "Bubblegum", the tiny earth pony muttered, feeling even tinier in the presence of the majestic mare of the night. Thinking quickly after noticing the somber tone, Luna spoke once more, her tone a jovial one: "Well Mister Bubblegum, tell me, how would you liven up the idea of storytelling?"
The darkness of the dreamscape was immediately lifted and the tone shift was obvious as the little colt started talking, spitballing ideas in rapid succession as his mane once more adopted the bubbly habit; "well it's a dream, right? why not bring the story to life? like there could be a projection screen right here." He said this as he pulled a movie screen out of nowhere to stretch from the sky to the clouds they were standing on and continued, "oh and don't forget cupcakes and punch! Oh and we also should have comfy recliners to watch it!" Luna burst into laughter for the first time in a long time, as every word the young colt spoke seemed to cause the items to materialize. She found herself in a recliner with 3-D glasses on as he finished his thoughts with, "it has to be in 3-D too!" With that, he divebombed into his own easy-chair his own eyes shrouded by the 3-D glasses to prepare for the show.
Luna grinned, unable to stop her own excitement from showing. "Then let us relive the tale of Pinkie's party nature and how her efforts caused a nightmare to smile." Upon proclaiming this, she materialized a bag of popcorn and sat back, letting her memories filter to the screen ahead through her alicorn magic.
The Book of Pinkie Pie - Chapter 623: A Friendship to Transcend Dimensions in 3-D
Produced by the Cutie Mark Chroniclers
The words blazed through the suddenly darkened dreamscape in a fiery 3-D.  Text appeared slowly scrawling upwards that read:
It is a time of great sadness in an alicorn princess's life. Princess Luna stands on the precipice of the abyss. It's the eve of her birth. The astral mare now sits at an empty table eating a meal she herself cooked; in other words, it was quite a normal night. She sighed in sadness. Nightmare Moon has been defeated thanks to the elements of harmony. Still, she feels far from welcome, though the ponies all forgave her for past transgressions. Unbeknownst to her, her melancholy is about to get an abrupt jump start.  
Rustling indicated to her the young colt was getting comfy and she did the same. Popcorn in hoof, and a drink that seemed to appear at her side in a cupholder, Luna and Bubblegum embarked on their epic theatric journey into the history between the once outcast alicorn that was Luna and the energetic, pink, smile machine known as Pinkie Pie.
Meanwhile in Canterlot
Celestia's young charge; Starshine was busy packing a saddlebag. While she packed the supplies on a list in front of her she pondered on what the Princess had said to her: "Starshine, a mere explanation won't suffice, you and I must journey to the place where it all ended for 7 brave mares and one stalwart dragon. Once we have arrived at that location, I promise you, I will explain everything." 
In went, her notepad, inkwell, quill and other things she had decided would be useful. "Are you ready to go, my daughter?" Looking up the young filly's eyes widened. Celestia stood there not in her normal royal ensemble, but rather in battle armor. Her hooves were decorated in iron horseshoes. Around her midriff was a suit of iron chainmail. Atop her crest where normally was, a golden tiara was an iron helm. The suit glittered in a sparkly golden color. Truly it was a sight to behold, though what captured the filly's eye most was the small satchel hanging by Celestia's side, on it was a rather familiar symbol of a falling star.
"M-mom?", Starshine stammered taken aback by this fierce appearance. Celestia lifted her visor and smiled, "I felt it would be best to dress appropriately for our destination, sweetie." Starshine saw what looked like a single tear dripping down her mom's cheek. Why is mom crying, why is she sad? She thought. What could make the most regal of Equestrians, lose her calm demeanor? Surely it can't be that bad?
Her thoughts were interrupted by Celestia calling out, "We must get going Starshine, we have quite a lot of ground to cover." Swinging her saddlebag over her side, Starshine nodded and replied, "ready when you are Mom!" The two then left the castle and began their journey north.