The dream portal passed before me as I stepped into Moon Beam dream and I moved from the sparkling blue dream realm and onto a street in the middle of Canterlot.
The sun shining above, ponies moving all around. Faceless, shapeless.
Like they can be in dreams when the focus of the dreamer is somewhere else.
I quickly located the dreaming thestral. She was in a small park to one side, sitting beneath an apple tree, filled with apples bigger than she was as she gazed up at it, eyes wide.
I grinned at the sight and moved over to her, using a twist of magic to solidify the dream as I got closer.
Moon Beam blinked and looked around, spotting me as I gave her a small bow,
"My apologies for disturbing you, Miss Beam."
She gaped at me, "Y-you're real!" and then surged to her hooves before bowing deeply, "Your Highness! I'm sorry!"
"What for?" I asked with a frown.
"Last time! I-I didn't think it was really..."
"Easy there," I told her with a smile, "When you see somepony in a dream, the natural reaction is to think they're a dream too. You'd be surprised how common that is."
Moon Beam glanced up at me and then shifted her wings, "I-I heard of the... expedition, your highness."
"Please, just Page," I said and then nodded, "Yes. And that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about."
Moon Beam raised her wings in interest, "Did you find anything?" she asked cautiously.
"We did," I said and then explained to her what we had found. All of it. The alicorn, the blood magic, the curse.
She looked at me for a long moment after that before she looked down at her hoof, "...so we really are monsters..."
"No... no Moon Beam, that's not it at all," I told her gently, moving up to put my hoof on her shoulder, "Don't you see? That's exactly what we were not! Before everything, before the blood magic, before the curse... we were already thestrals. We were never pegasi. All we need to do to return to what we were meant to be, is to break the magic over us."
Moon Beam shook her head, taking half a step back, "No... nonono!"
"Moon Beam..."
She sniffed, "I thought it could be over!" she exclaimed, looking up at me with tear filled eyes, "I thought... I thought that I'd be able to go out without being afraid! I thought you could do that!"
"And you will be able to," I told her firmly, "I promise you that much, Moon Beam. No matter what, I will make that happen."
She shook her head and spread her wings, "You can't! You can't change ponies! I just want... I just want to be normal!"
I stepped forward and pulled her into a hug as I sat down. She struggled for a second before collapsing against me and starting to cry.
I just held her, stroking her mane.
Moon Beam was one mare, one of possibly thousands.
I set my jaw. I'd make things better for them. They have suffered enough by far.
"It'll be alright," I whispered softly to her, "I promise you, it will be alright. I'll figure something out."
She sniffed and her ears twitched before she tensed and she quickly backed away, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"Nothing to be sorry about," I told her gently, "Just relax, Moon Beam. You're always safe in your dreams, even during the worst nightmare, it can't hurt you."
"B-but... I... you..."
I smiled at her and shook my head before lighting my horn and picking one of the massive apples, lowering it to the ground, "These are pretty fun," I told her, "Kinda wish we had these in the real world."
She nodded a bit but still seemed uncertain, but she moved up to it, "Y-yeah."
I split it in half with my magic, sliding one half to her before I tried a nibble. It was just about the best apple I had ever eaten, perfect and juicy and sweet with just the right level of tartness. It was the ultimate apple.
"...Your Highn-"
"Page,” I said before I sighed, “...or sir if you absolutely have to.”
"...Sir," she said and then shifted her ears, "Why tell me all of this?"
"Because you deserve to know," I said, "And eventually I intend for everypony to know. But... you're a thestral and you're in Canterlot. There are others, but I thought I should ask you first."
"Ask me what?"
"To break the magic, Princesses Twilight and Midnight need somepony to study the magic on. Several someponies if possible. They have looked at me, but I'm an alicorn. They need actual thestrals to figure out if they have it right."
Moon Beam tensed up at the idea of somepony knowing who she really was and I held my hoof up,
"You wouldn't need to tell them your name and you can come without your illusion. If you like, you can tape over your cutiemark and even wear a mask. But I trust both of those ponies with my life. You can trust them too."
Moon Beam hesitated for a long moment, gazing down at her apple half, "...Would... would it really help?"
"It would," I said gently, "Possibly every single thestral. Finding out more about how it works is the first step to breaking it. The first step to turning us back into a real tribe again."
Moon Beam looked at me and then she took a deep breath, "I...I'll think about it."
"That's all I can ask."