//------------------------------//
// Unwakened 
// Story: Sanctify 
// by AnnEldest 
//------------------------------//

The next day was dark and gloomy. Rain pounded the windows of Canterlot hospital, and the sky lit up with a flash of lightning. Thunder rumbled seconds afterward, seeming to shake the entire building, and making Princess Luna jump slightly from the sudden noise.
“Somepony could have told me that there was a storm scheduled for today,” she muttered.
“I think this storm came as a surprise to all of us,” said the doctor who was accompanying Princess Luna down the hallway.
It was true. As far as anypony she had made small talk with about the weather knew, the storm was completely unscheduled, and seemed spur of the moment. Whatever the weather pegasus was thinking, or if they were thinking at all, she could never know. Her realm was the night, not the weather. Besides, there were more pressing matters at hoof.
“Tell me, is there anything else that I should know about this patient?” she asked.
“There’s not much else to tell,” the doctor began. “She was found lying on the floor by one of her coworkers when she hadn’t shown up for work for a week. At first, we thought it may have been a stroke, or perhaps a severe reaction to some unknown allergy. But, all tests and diagnoses we’ve performed have come up negative. As far as anypony can tell, she just fell asleep and won’t wake up.”
It was an unusual case for certain. Medicine was not her forte, but Princess Luna knew much about sleep and dreamers. As she was led into the patient’s room, she hoped that she could be of any assistance.
“Right this way,” the doctor said, as he walked into the room.
They both walked in, and the doctor pulled back a curtain to reveal the patient.
There she was. A young, blue mare was lying still in her bed. Princess Luna approached the mare and carefully examined her. The mare was breathing in deeply, slowly and steadily, and exhaling just the same. Exactly the way any sleeper would do. She next placed her hoof on the mare’s neck and felt her pulse. It pulsed once. Seconds later, it pulsed again. The same amount of time later, it pulsed a third time.
So far, everything was fine. The mare’s breath and pulse rate were perfectly normal for an average sleeper. Just to be safe, Princess Luna checked the mare’s heart rate. It synced almost perfectly with the mare’s pulse.
“I don't understand. She seems perfectly healthy,” Princess Luna said.
“That’s how it seems to us all. Clearly, though, there’s something very wrong with her. We’ve tried medical treatments, and even a few magical solutions. But, nothing has worked,” the doctor said.
In spite of her brave face, Princess Luna felt a lump growing in her throat.
“How long has she been this way?” she asked, her voice croaking slightly.
“A week in her apartment, plus the three days here: ten days. It could have been longer,” the doctor said.
“Are there, perhaps, any conditions she may have had before?” Princess Luna asked.
“None that we could find in her medical history. We already tried to determine if she had possibly developed one in the last couple of weeks, but those tests were negative as well,” the doctor answered.
Princess Luna nodded slightly and looked over the mare once more.
“That’s not even the strangest thing about her,” the doctor continued, reclaiming Princess Luna’s attention. “She hasn’t eaten or drank in ten days, but she hasn’t shown any signs of malnourishment or dehydration. We usually put patients who have been in a coma on intravenous systems, but she was completely healthy when we examined her. Her organs haven’t failed or shut down. Her muscles haven’t shown any signs of atrophy. And she isn’t brain dead. She’s just...asleep. Very deeply asleep.”
“Just like the others,” Princess Luna whispered to herself.
She grabbed the mare’s hoof and held it tightly. There was surely somepony out there that was worried about her. Even if it was just her coworker who found her.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” the doctor asked.
“Never. I can only conclude what you have. She’s just in a deep sleep,” Princess Luna agreed.
“Do you perhaps have some idea of what to do?”
“Hopefully, I can figure it out,” Princess Luna said. She shifted uncomfortably by the mare’s side and jumped again when thunder crashed in the distance. When she jumped, she felt as if every one of her innards jumped with her, creating a queasy, dizzying sensation deep within her being. “I’m sorry. I need some air at this moment.”
She hastily left the hospital, not even bothering to talk with the reception clerk who wished her a safe flight home.





The doors to Princess Luna’s balcony burst open, and in trotted the Princess of the Night, soaking wet from the rain. She magically shut the doors behind herself and rushed to her desk. She opened every drawer until she found the stack of notes that she had been compiling over the last few weeks.
She laid out the papers ten at a time, looking over them for pertinent information, but could find nothing that would help her. As the time passed, she groaned loudly, frustrated by her lack of any real progress.
The room lit up with a flash of lightning, and thunder banged loudly overhead.
Princess Luna jumped again, knocking over her papers and sending them all over the floor.
“Oh! For...Celestia’s sake!!!” she growled, unable to think of a different expression.
Once again, Princess Luna jumped. This time, the sound was a knocking on her door.
“Who is it?” she asked, trying not to sound agitated.
“It’s Celestia,” said a familiar voice from behind the door.
“Come in,” Princess Luna said, mildly relieved.
The latch turned, and in walked the elder princess, magically carrying a plate before herself. The moment she walked in, she realized she had stepped on something, and found it to be one of the notes that had fallen.
“Another case was reported, sister?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Yes...And it was the same as the last ones,” her sister sighed. “I’ve promised again and again that I would help those sleepers. But, no matter what I try, I can’t figure out what’s happening. Let alone how it’s happening.” She clenched her teeth and rubbed her hooves to her temples. “I don’t know what to do anymore…”
Princess Celestia saw the way her sister was holding her head and knew at least the answer to that trouble.
"Migraines again?" she asked.
"I feel like they're getting worse..." Princess Luna nodded.
“Well, that’s what the tea and madeleines are for,” Princess Celestia said, holding up the plate she had been carrying.
“Ma--Madeleines?” Princess Luna said, glancing up and seeing the platter for the first time since her sister had entered. Indeed, there was a stack of dozens of madeleines, with a pot of tea and two cups next to it. “Is there perhaps...melted chocolate as well?”
“And marmalade,” her sister said, turning the plate to reveal the dips she had brought for the cakes.
Princess Luna magically fetched a chair for her sister to sit on. Once she was seated, Princess Celestia set down the plate, but barely had time to ask what her sister would like to start with when a half dozen madeleines were enveloped in a blue aura, dunked all at once into the saucer of chocolate, and stuffed into Princess Luna’s open mouth. After chewing thoroughly, she swallowed it all in one gulp.
“Thank you, sister,” she said.
“Think nothing of it.”
Princess Celestia looked at the saucer, which was already half-emptied of its chocolate. She opted to take a few madeleines for herself and pulled the saucer of chocolate closer to herself.
Once her share of the snacks was ensured, she used her magic to pour tea for her sister.
Princess Luna quickly downed her cup and offered it for more.
“Decaffeinated?” she asked.
“Certainly. I need to sleep tonight, you know,” Princess Celestia said, pouring a cup for herself first, then one for her sister. “Now, I can’t help but feel that something is troubling you.”
“Indeed,” Princess Luna answered, taking another madeleine and reaching to dip it into the chocolate. Her sister hastily dipped her own cake into the chocolate first, forcing Princess Luna to opt for the marmalade. She bit off the half that was dipped, before answering. “Strange things are happening, sister. Terrible things. And I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop them.”
“But, I’m sure you will,” her sister said, surreptitiously hoarding her own pile of madeleines as she sipped her tea.
“It’s not as simple as that. More creatures are falling into a deep sleep. And I’ve already promised the families of each that I would find a way to wake them. But, I haven’t even come close to finding a way,” Princess Luna said, dipping the other half of her madeleine into her tea, before eating it.
“I understand the burden that you bear. But, it seems too much for one mare to handle.”
“But--”
“Even if she is an alicorn,” Princess Celestia interjected. “Perhaps you should take a break from this endeavor for the time.”
Princess Luna pensively sipped her tea and stared pensively into it. Not even the clap of thunder roused her from her rumination.
“I can’t do that. I’ve made a promise that I can’t break to all those creatures. I’ve gone over the facts time and time again, yet I can’t make a connection between any of them.”
Both princesses sat silently, while the rain pounded the windows. Lightning flashed again, illuminating the room for a moment. For the brief moment that the room was lit, a small smile crossed Princess Celestia’s face.
“You know,” she began, “I think I remember mother once saying that if you were ever lost on a problem, you must start back from the beginning. From there, see what you have missed.
Princess Luna smiled next, mulling over her teacup.
“I do seem to remember that,” she said.
Thunder clapped again, making both princesses jump.
“This storm! Couldn’t we have been told it was scheduled!?” Princess Celestia said.
“I wondered the same earlier,” Princess Luna said. She downed the rest of her tea and poured herself another cup. “I’ll be working on this conundrum later, I suppose.”
“That’s the spirit,” Princess Celestia said. “In the meantime, I suppose I’ll leave you to your nightly work.”
She left the room after that, leaving the platter for her sister, but taking the stack of madeleines that she had hoarded earlier, along with the saucer of chocolate.
Princess Luna pretended not to notice and dipped another cake into the marmalade. As the madeleine was stirred, she magically collected all of the papers that were strewn on the floor and reorganized them in order.
“Alright...From the beginning…”
She closed her eyes and imagined herself back in Canterlot hospital. Back when she first received word of the case of a young foal who had suddenly fallen asleep and wouldn’t wake.
What did she know about the foal? His name was Iron Hide. He lived with his mother. His father was deceased, which was something that had taken a serious toll on the colt. And then he collapsed into his bed one day and never awoke.
“Could it be trauma? Some anomalous magical trauma that has seeped to other creatures?” Princess Luna wondered. “Was there anything odd about the foal?”
Nothing. He was just the same as the mare that Princess Luna had examined earlier that night. His breath, pulse, and heart rate were all as slow and steady as any sleeper’s should have been. And his eyes twitched as was to be expected if somepony was dreaming.
Princess Luna’s eyes slowly lit up, and her head rose from her papers.
“Dreaming…” she whispered to herself.
The foal had been dreaming. Unlike the other sleepers she had encountered, Iron Hide was dreaming. But, that didn’t add up.
Nowhere in Princess Luna’s notes was there a record of any of the afflicted creature’s dreams. Ever since they fell into a slumber, not one of them had a dream that she could enter or monitor. It was as if all of their dreams had stopped. Yet, Iron Hide was dreaming away when Princess Luna had seen him.
Her mind clicked when she remembered speaking to the foal’s mother. She had asked if Iron Hide was having any unusual dreams lately. His mother had told her that he always saw a light. A terrible, monstrous light that he was always running from.
“The light monster!” she said, remembering what Capper had told her.
That was her connection. That was her lead. Her sister had just told her that it was too big for one mare to handle. Now, she wouldn’t have to do it alone. She was going to enlist the help of a certain cat.