“Princess Luna …?” a voice echoed faintly through the thinning mist of her dawning consciousness.
“She’s coming round!” called another, heralding a flurry of activity.
“We’ve all been very worried …” said a timid voice from close by.
Her eyelids fluttered as they faltered in trying to open her eyes, as if being asked to perform such a demanding task for the first time. Progressively, Luna became aware of a large primrose yellow silhouette in front of her, with other colours coming in to her field of view, principal amongst which was a lilac one.
“Princess! Oh thank goodness you’re safe …” bubbled Twilight, “It’s been days …!”
“Tia?” asked Luna, slowly bringing the familiar ponies into focus.
“We’ve been looking after both of you, darling” came a cultured voice, “We knew you must be succeeding in your task because Princess Celestia’s nightmarish teeth have gone and she’s back to her usual radiant self again.”
Luna smiled. She would recognise Rarity’s beautifully sophisticated tones anywhere.
As she slowly became more aware of her surroundings, she heard her tummy rumble and began to appreciate that she was hungry as well as being emotionally drained.
“Here Princess” she heard Applejack’s voice; the total opposite to Rarity’s, but with a warmth that flowed from every syllable, “Like me to fetch yuh somethin’ to eat?”
“Yes please” she answered groggily as she prepared to rise to her hooves and then thought better of it.
“What happened Princess?” gabbled Twilight excitedly, whilst just managing to stay outside Luna’s personal space, “What happened?”
“None of this has been my Sister’s fault” said Luna calmly, “A parasite had attached itself to her in the dream realm and was manipulating her. It was a challenging task to disentangle the one from the other, but I believe I have been successful.”
"Was that a projection of the Guardian into the dream realm?" asked Twilight.
"No, this was different" replied Luna, "I know of the Guardian and of its power within the Cave of Harmony, but know not of it as an evil entity. True, it has always chosen to favour my Sister over me, but I am aligned with the stars, so there has never been a conflict of interests. Such behaviour is out of character, and I must attribute responsibility for my Sister’s personality transformation to this parasite, which has surely corrupted the Guardian’s power progressively over time. I believe also that it provided the teeth to conduct this horrible work and the eyes through which it could witness, and even enjoy its results.”
“What did this big meany parasitey thing look like?” asked Pinkie.
“It was a morass of grey tentacles that had clearly taken root and become symbiotic with her; a quite horrible sight of which she would have been completely unaware.”
“Ooooh! Sounds yucky!” Pinkie exclaimed, sticking out her tongue like she had just eaten something that disagreed with her.
“So, Princess Celestia would have been aware of the excesses of her behaviour, but been powerless to resist?" asked Twilight cautiously.
“Quite so. I believe the malevolant traits would have built up very slowly over time, as her ethereal body became gradually poisoned. I am sure that once she had realised what was happening she would have tried to fight back, but would have been unable to have any effect as the source of her problems lay beyond her grasp. None of us recognised how much self-control it must have taken my Sister to be so kind during the rigours of her daily life, only ever allowing her evil side to be released once well away from ponies' sight for a short period each week."
The ponies all looked shocked or nodded sympathetically, and it was Fluttershy who spoke for them all when she punctuated the stunned silence; "It must have been awful."
"It seems unlikely to me that this vile creature was the only one of its kind" Luna continued, "So I intend to be alert for others now that I have seen what they can do. As the only pony who can access the dream realm, I will make it my mission to seek out its kin and rid Equestria of their blight forever.”
Twilight turned away to heave a sigh of relief, then froze suddenly.
“If Princess Luna is the only one who can enter the dream realm, then who will check to see if she’s been infected?“ she thought, "And who will cure her if she is?"
Not allowing her muzzle to move, Twilight rolled her eye backward, regarding Luna at the extreme of her peripheral vision.
There was just a flash.
She could have imagined it.
She could have sworn she saw Nightmare Moon's pointed teeth and a wicked flash in Luna’s eye. The similarity! Of course, they were the same as the teeth that the possessed Celestia had used on her in Tartarus only a few short days ago!
She flinched.
Surely she was mistaken; she prayed she was.
She turned slowly to face Luna, trying not to draw attention to herself.
Luna watched Twilight's head turn and smiled, just enough to reveal a glimpse of tooth between her lips …