//------------------------------//
// Part 9: Dream on. 
// Story: True Harmony 
// by Saturni_Rose 
//------------------------------//

Long hours had it been since the sun had gone and Luna followed after it. Weak moonlight kept her company as she swam around in her own mind. Every position under those pink bed sheets felt stiff and unforgiving, so she tossed this way and turned that way. The minutes felt like hours. 
It’s true that Pinkie had gone some time without keeping in touch with others before, but not like this. Glancing at her window, Luna half hoped she’d see her out there, smiling away on the branch like before. Though, perhaps that might be a more welcome sight once the sun was up again, given the circumstances she found herself under. 
Again. She was dealing with the nightmare she’d created again. Perhaps the folk of Ponyville had been all too quick to give her this second chance, and nestle her into their community how they had. The mistakes of her past still haunted her, try as she might to grasp at a new life and hold onto it so gently. And just when she started to like the mare she saw looking back at her in the mirror, too. 
Mayhaps she ought resign herself to fate; wear the crown anew and decree the ushering of the next royal Equestrian era. One of such power as she could do much from a throne. But, well, no. What help would she really be upon a throne? She could hardly have met her new friends from some high chair in the mountains, nor face down the nightmare which had stolen her likeness. 
That wasn’t right, though, was it? Hardly had the nightmare stolen a thing from her. She had given and received everything readily, willfully. Such was the great hunger within a different her from a different time. Hunger that thrones and crowns had only exacerbated. Useful as those things might well be, Luna still found no desire to ever be near one again. 
Luna sat upright with a jolt. She thought back to what she’d said earlier, about the nightmare likely thinking how she did. A hushed voice escaped her: “Divide and conquer.” 
What if Pinkie hadn’t simply wandered off to sulk and gotten lost. What if the dreaded shadow had found her? What if she was trapped right this second, being used as bait and leverage? 
In Luna’s heart of hearts, she was still somewhat upset over what happened at the gala. But all the same, she cared for Pinkie dearly. If their fate was not to be each other’s beloved, she hoped to still share in many more laughs, like a duo of jesters true. She had to find her. She had to save her. 
Whispered incantations filled the room and a dull blue glow followed after them. Ruby stirred in the weak iridescence, but scarcely noticed as Luna disappeared. On she slept, none the wiser. 



Drearily, Sunset hoisted her head up. It weighed a ton. Peering down, she saw she’d dozed off at her desk again. Off in the corner, she saw Twilight having done the wise thing and pulled out the cots; doubtless she’d have slightly less of a crick in her neck come morning. 
Something had roused her, though, hadn’t it? That’s right, some noise… a magical discharge? Alertness came through stronger as her heart rate picked up. Memories graced her mind’s eye of the shadow and those burning white eyes. 
Sunset tried to keep her short, nervous breaths quiet as she crept through the normally sealed off entrance to the secret section of the archives. Her eyes darted this way and that, and her quivering lips mouthed the beginnings of a defensive spell. Silent words became a whisper when a small orb of witch-light appeared from behind the precipice of a tall shelf. The words faded when she saw Luna follow after it. 
Luna’s magic grasp held several books before her, her eyes furiously scanning page after page, trying to hook onto the right words and reel forth the information she needed. She was so focused in this endeavor, pausing only to pull another from a high shelf, she didn’t notice the bright goldenrod alicorn pace right up to her in the dark. 
“Luna?” Sunset hopped back to give her space as half a dozen books tumbled to the ground and Luna whirled around in a brief panic. 
“Oh,” she wheezed, hoof over her heart, “it’s you. Moon above, but you startled me.” 
Sunset couldn’t help but smirk once the excitement passed. “I guess you were right, then. Jumpy alicorns are pretty funny.” 
“Hm?” It took her a moment to parse her meaning. “Oh, right. Fair enough. At any rate, what are you doing here?” 
Sunset scoffed, agape at her. “I could ask you the same thing, girl. You just blipped right in here unannounced. I almost thought that thing had returned for me.” 
Luna’s head sank somewhat. She looked over the books she’d dropped. One had a dented spine now because of her. Sighing, she said: “No, you’re right. This was rash of me. But I had new concerns regarding… my shadow, and felt desperate to see to them.” 
Sunset felt at her frayed locks of red hair. Her mistakes crawled across her shoulders like so many bugs, and she instinctively scratched at them. “Twi… I’ve been working really hard to make this right, with Twilight’s help. We’re making decent progress, too. We almost have a way to track it, just…”
Reaching out, Luna laid a hoof upon her shoulder. “If there’s anything I can do to help at all, please.” 
Sunset met her desperate gaze, mouth widening into a frown. “I don’t know. You have your life, and I’m the one who messed this up. I need to make this right.” 
Nearly trembling, Luna sat before her, grabbing at both of Sunset’s shoulders now. She drew a long breath and her eyes began to water. “It’s my monster, Sunset, and I think it might have Pinkie, alright?” 
Sunset’s mouth tightened. She knew this battle of pride and the need to fix one’s mistakes was not one she was like to win. And while Pinkie might not have been her favorite mare in the world, she hardly wanted her to suffer what she’d gone through, or worse. She sat down too, placing her hooves over Luna’s. “We think dream walker magic could help, but even Twilight is having a hard time wrapping her head around these old spells.” 
Ponderance overtook Luna. She scrunched her face, thinking back to her forgotten specialty. Tapping her chin thoughtfully, she said: “That doesn’t surprise me, really. Twilight is a very analytical sort; she latches onto the numbers behind things. Dream walking requires a mind well steeped in abstractions, and—”
“Wow,” dryly mused Sunset, “great advice so far, but why don’t you come back here and just show us?” 



Celestia, giddy in her sundress, idly trotted over the rolling hills where the grass swayed like gentle ocean waves. Cresting one such hill, she basked in the winds which whipped at the tails of her black and white skirts. Her hair of warm, sunrise pink billowed out behind her and she closed her eyes, drinking in the sun with her wings outstretched. What a beautiful day. 
She turned to peer over her shoulder and called out: “Come on. This way.”
Luna came up the hill behind her, wearing a similar black and white sundress. Her powder blue locks were tucked under a sun hat of bound and woven straw, which she kept on with a pressing hoof in the face of the winds that greeted her. “Lovely as the view is, don’t you think it’s much too windy up here?” In the crook of her forelimb, she presented the large basket she was carrying, adding: “Why, the picnic is like to blow away on a gust, basket and all.” 
“Then forget the luncheon, dear sister.” Celestia threw her hoof across Luna’s shoulder and drew her in side by side. “I’m just so happy to finally get the chance to catch up, just the two of us.” 
“Easy for you to say. I was looking forward to this wine you insisted on bringing.” said Luna dourly, grimacing as Celestia guffawed loudly.
Above them, though strangely not really all that high above, another Luna stood upon a cloud next to Sunset Shimmer, watching the scene unfold below. Sunset looked from one Luna to the other and then back again. “Well,” she said, “this is awkward.” 
“Perhaps my sister was not the best choice for your first dream walk.” admitted Luna with a sigh. She’d been so wrapped up in her own life, she’d hardly caught up with her. No wonder the dream conjured this up for her. Her ear flickered as music carried over the hills. Where Celestia led the dream of her sister, a stage and curtains sprang up. They reeled back to reveal rows of woodwinds and strings and brass, playing just for them. 
Then Twilight Sparkle drifted by, hooves squirming and flailing for something to latch onto. Idly spinning round on wings that didn’t flap, she whined: “Ugh, why can’t I just… my hooves won’t stay pointed down.” 
“You’re thinking too hard about how and why the world works the way that it does.” Luna’s wings stayed comfortably folded as her own hooves rose off the cloud. She gently floated out onto the open air where Twilight craned her head about to compensate being upside down. “You have to let go and embrace the logic of the dream world.”
Twilight’s eye caught her hair. It still flowed down towards her hooves, even though those pointed skyward at the moment. “I’m trying, Luna, but there is no logic. That’s my problem.” 
Luna spun her horn in a tight circle and Twilight reoriented correctly. She floated herself beside her, one wing unfolding over her shoulder to keep her in place. She gestured over the scene beneath them as the sun suddenly rushed toward the horizon, skies dimming from blue to orange. “There is, it’s simply an abstract logic, influenced by feelings and desires. Celestia wanted music and cozy lighting. So the dream world bent to these whims.”
“Seems she also wants some time with her sister…” Through one eye struggling to stay open, Twilight peeked downward. Her hooves were touching nothing. That wasn’t right. They trembled. As soon as she thought that gravity should be kicking in, she slipped out from under Luna’s wing. Her scream was brief, as she disappeared right away. 
“Sun above!” cursed Sunset as she trodded slowly over towards Luna. Her nervous hooves hit the open air as if touching solid stepping stones. She closed her eyes and walked forward. “I-is she okay? What happened?” 
Luna sighed, shaking her head. “Have you ever woken up feeling like you were falling for half a moment? She thought that she should fall, so she did. She’s completely fine, just waiting for us back in the waking world.” 
“As long as she’s okay.” Sunset bumped against Luna’s haunch, so she opened her eyes. Instinct saw her wings splaying out and her hooves threw around Luna’s back. She stayed stable well enough, desperately transfixed on the idea that an invisible platform kept her standing right where she was. 
“You’re doing well, though.” said Luna, somewhat despondent. Peering down, she could see that Twilight’s little yelp carried over the music. Celestia was looking up at them, and the surprise quickly turned to disappointment. At what, Luna couldn’t quite tell from up here. “I suppose we should say hi. Here, walk down with me, okay, slowly. Remember, it doesn’t work how it’s supposed to. It works how you think it might if you simply… did it.” 
“To what do I owe the pleasure of hosting you, hmm?” Celestia sat back on the picnic cloth, crossing her hooves as Luna and Sunset slowly descended to join her. She pursed her lips to one side, ear idly flicking, unsure if she ought to be glad or frustrated to see her sister. Or, rather, her real sister. 
“Sister, dear,” chimed in the smartly dressed, dreamed up Luna, “who are these tacky interlopers? Why, they’re hardly dressed for the occasion. I would certainly hope they shan’t request a share of the wine.” 
Nonplussed, Luna looked to the version of herself conjured up by her sister’s mind. Focus shifting back to Celestia, Luna’s brow rose. “Is this how you still think of me, then?” 
“Psh.” spat back the dream Luna with a scoff, lip curling in disgust. She turned up her nose at the newcomers, magic grip swirling the dark red contents of an elegant glass. “You’re lucky I’m in a good mood. Otherwise, I’d properly discipline you. One should always mind when speaking to their betters, after all.” 
“Wow.” blurted Sunset. She hadn’t meant to, but figured there was no point stopping the thought at this point. Pointing at the dream Luna as she drank the dream wine, she asked the real Luna: “Were you really this nasty back then? Just threatening anyone who looked at you funny?” 
Luna sighed, rubbing her temple. “I’m… trying really hard to not be that mare anymore.” 
“Hey,” said Sunset, gently nudging her side as she approached, “same here, actually. So, ya know. Don’t beat yourself up so much.” 
A cold bead of sweat formed at Celestia’s brow. “N-no, she was never this bad. I hate to say it, but…” Celestia got the sudden feeling of wanting to be alone. So the concert faded, stage and all. The picnic disappeared, cloth, basket, and food. Lastly, the dream of Luna became an apparition, fading on the wind. She sighed, and lied down across the grass on her back. “I think I was feeling bitter.” 
“Bitter?” Sunset screwed up her face, looking down as her queen laid herself low. 
Shaking her head, Luna dropped down and rolled over beside her. Together, they peered up as the illusion of the skies above faded. Stars arced by in smears of light that pierced the black beyond. “I’m sorry I haven’t kept in touch like we’d planned. I’ve just had so much going on, between Pinkie, and then the whole shadow thing.” 
The night sky raced along, and the sun began to crest the far horizon once more. That way lied only grass and hill as far as the eye could see. Celestia hadn’t realized at first just how fake it seemed, the sea of green. By the time she looked up at the sky again, it was nearly noon. A bittersweet laugh bubbled up from her. “Isn’t it sad how often dealing with life gets in the way of living life?” 
“Ugh, I know. If not for all this, I would have read so many more books by now.” Luna threw her hooves up and caught the sun before it could sail by. She pulled it down and placed it between them as their own little night light, the sky beyond turning a deep navy like her own coat. “I run a library, and I cannot give informed points on classic literature to the young ponies passing through. That just won’t do.” 
Celestia propped herself up onto her side. “That’s the first thing you think about? Becoming better at your job?” 
Luna let the sun float above them, offering up a smirk and a shrug for her sister. “A mare ought to take some pride in her work.” 
Sunset, meanwhile, was enamored with Luna having plucked the very sun out of the sky. Leaning over the sisters while they chatted away, she reached out, thinking of it as nothing more than a common beachball. A very, very bright beachball. When she held it in her hooves, she was astounded. It didn’t burn the eyes that stared at it, nor the hooves that held it. She closed her eyes anyway, thinking of it not as a beachball, but a baseball. When she opened back up, it shrank between her hooves, feeling heavier, much more dense. It’s a baseball, she thought, but also the sun. The sun appears to go around the world, so… 
Luna looked up from her sister for a moment, watching Sunset wind up and toss. The shrunken sun bolted across the way and over the hills, disappearing beyond the horizon. They were left in the dark. A few moments later, they all turned to see it racing back towards them from the opposite direction. Reaching up her hoof without a care in the world, Luna caught it with a pop. It slowly skidded to a stop against her hoof, and she smiled over at Sunset. “Now you’re getting the hang of it.” 
“Yeah, I think I’m getting what you said, about things working how you’d expect them if you could just…” She looked between her hooves, eyes darting between them as she struggled to think in concrete terms, every possibility opening up before her. Dreams, reality, and abstractions all blurred through her mind at once. She darted back a few dozen paces and crouched down onto the grass until the two sisters rose above the horizon from the changed perspective. Keeping her gaze low, she ran back towards them. It took much longer this time. And because they stayed so much higher than the horizon, she herself never got any bigger from their perspective. By the time she got back over to them, she was no bigger than a doll. 
Offering her hoof to the giggling little thing, Luna hoisted her above where she lied, turning her about. “Not bad at all.” she said, before setting her down on her chest while she stayed right there, laid across the grass. She hadn’t taken a moment to just relax like this for some time, and was keen on staying just like this as long as possible. “If we can just get Twilight this far, we can proceed.” 
“You still haven’t told me why I had to host your little test flight.” Turning the other way, Celestia drew her knees in against her chest. 
Of course it wouldn’t last. “I’m really sorry, sister. It’s rather that we all know you better, and vice versa, than some random guard. This seemed less invasive to me.” 
“You who used to corral the nightmares of total strangers, you did not want to tread unbidden?” Celestia looked at her from over her shoulder, brow raised. 
“That was a touch different, considering that was once my duty.” Luna said. She reached out for the tiny sun and tossed it for a few rounds of catch. “And now it is not.” 
Sunset Shimmer leaned against Luna’s forelimb as it moved about to catch the sun. “Hang on, I thought Luna’s old job was bringing about pretty night skies.”
Celestia realized she probably loomed over her at the moment, so leaned down to address her apprentice. “Luna was a princess of many talents, dear.” 
“I was.” said Luna with another catch. She held the sun between her hooves, considering its blinding radiance. It was an awfully beautiful thing. “But now I’m not.” 
“You still could be.” When Celestia got an ugly look in response, she sighed. Looking away, she noticed the listless moon pacing across the starless sky. She reached out and made her own ball of it. She held it tight to her chest. “I wanted more than anything to rule side by side with my sister again.” 
“And I didn’t want to go back to that life.” Luna squeezed the sun between her hooves a little harder. The ball of heat and light deformed. “I didn’t want to delegate anymore. I didn’t want to make bad decisions for my country. I didn’t want to lead soldiers to… I didn’t want to fight anymore.” 
“Oh, Luna.” Celestia slid closer, still clutching her little moon. “You don’t still blame yourself for that after all this time, do you? It was an ambush, you couldn’t have known. A-and it was the vanguard, they’re supposed to range ahead, and—”
“I could have and I should have.” insisted Luna coldly. Her hooves squeezed so tight, the little sun popped like a balloon. Now, the only light they had came from the little moon her sister was holding over them. She tossed aside the brilliant white remnants of the sun, venomously adding: “And anyway, stop pressuring me back into royalty. Honestly, it’s like dealing with father again.” 
“I am nothing like that man!” spat Celestia, her wings flaying out. She felt the cold stone in her hooves shuddering, so she calmed down, smoothing her pink aural hair back and gently folding her wings in. “I have already accepted your decision, whereas he never would have stood for this.” 
Luna took up Sunset and placed her onto the moon in Celestia’s hooves. She needed her off her chest so she could cross her own hooves. “You’ve accepted it, but you don’t respect it. Like your snide remark about how unimportant my work is?” Looking the other way, she added: “What’s it going to take for you to respect the new me?” 
The feathers across Celestia’s wings rippled tensely, and her ears folded back. “I rather feel I don’t think I know the new Luna. I haven’t had the chance to get to know her.” She let the moon float about her, her hooves timidly tapping together. She chewed on her lip. “And I don’t mean to belittle you, really I don’t. But new Luna or no, I know she’s still one of the only mares as powerful as I. With an origin like mine. And I do so miss having someone I can truly relate to; one who is in every way my equal.” 
Luna’s eyes glazed over and one of her ears flickered as her mouth straightened out, nonplussed. She sat upright and locked eyes with her sister. “We are not equals, you and I. Not now, and we never were.” 
Sunset picked up her hooves, and the tiny moon began to roll away on the air as she walked across it. “If you two need some time, I can—”
“You were always equal to me.” whined Celestia, tapping her chest. “Regardless of what our parents said, or our followers or citizens thought.” 
“But you were always stronger than me. Always so many steps ahead, always more beloved by all.” Luna grimaced, but she would not cry. These wounds were centuries old. Those tears had long since dried by now. Her stint on the moon had partially seen to that. 
“I care so little about raw strength.” asserted Celestia, throwing her hoof out beside her as though deflecting Luna’s words. “You did so many things I never could. You mastered dream walking, you contacted entities beyond our world thought to be myth, you handled the night sky like a master artist with a canvas.” She shook her head. “I was so proud of the mare I called my sister.” 
“But you’ve no pride in me now?” Luna leaned in and her sister recoiled slightly. “Now that I’m not some pithy reflection of yourself? Now that I’ve sought a new life not under your shadow?” 
“Now that’s not fair, Luna. I—”
“A thousand years on the moon to figure out who I am and what I want my life to be, and you speak to me about what’s fair?!” Luna hadn’t meant to get so loud. She felt heat, and turned to find a crescent shape of hot blue flames licking up around her. Rain began to fall, slowly snuffing it out with a hiss, but she couldn’t tell if it was her own doing or Celestia’s. Turning back to face her, she had a guess. 
Celestia had stumbled back, and her breathing had grown heavy. In that moment, it almost seemed like those eyes flared with a familiar blue energy, and the pupils narrowed to draconic slits. The memories came flooding back, and it was all she could do to keep it together. She wiped away at her flushed cheek, though wasn’t sure why she bothered. The lone streak of tears ran with the rain, and neither was real anyway. At least, that’s what she told herself as she pushed herself forward. “No,” she mewled, “you’re right. What happened to you isn’t fair, and I shouldn’t lose sight of that.” 
When her sister tried to stand back up, Luna took her hoof and set her aright. She could feel the flames thoroughly doused behind her to smoldering ash. Sullen, she said: “I’m sorry I lost my temper with you. You just frustrate me so much when you don’t see me. But, well, all the same, you’re still… the first friend I ever made. And I shouldn’t lose sight of that.” 
Celestia withdrew her hoof just long enough to throw it around Luna’s back, leaning her head upon her sister’s shoulder. “And I’m sorry for acting as though things could simply go back to the way they were. I…” She held her sister a little tighter. “I’ve been alone for so long. And I’ve missed the first friend I ever made for even longer.” 
The rain let up. Luna pat her on the back a couple times before they parted. “I promise to make some time for you once this latest crisis of mine is sorted, alright?”
“And I promise to cease my comparisons to who you used to be, a-and making you feel lesser for not rejoining me on your throne, and—”
“No, no,” chided Luna with the faint beginnings of a smile, “you cannot apologize for more things than me. I promise to be more mindful of my temper.” 
“Oh, but I got mad too.” insisted Celestia, pouting. “Don’t go making yourself out to be worse than me.” 
“But you only got upset because I said something so low to you as to compare you to father.” Luna pat her sister on the shoulder in a reassuring fashion. “But you’re right, you’re nothing like him. You’re better.” 
“You only snapped at me because I was carelessly making you upset.” Celestia held her sister’s shoulders gently, her wings fidgeting. “The fault truly lies with me.” 
“Hardly,” disagreed Luna, “the fault is mine. I’ve been neglecting you, so it only makes sense you’d be upset.”
“Nonsense,” said Celestia a little more firmly, “you’ve been plenty busy, and I shouldn’t have held that against you.” 
Luna began another retort, but Sunset cut her off, rolling the little moon back over to rejoin them and say: “As fun as this whole situation is to watch, I think our time might be up?” 
The two sisters looked around, only just now noticing a blaring that rang out across the hills with no origin they could find. Celestia realized with a start: “That’s my alarm! It’s almost time to raise the sun.”
“Then it’s time to wake up, sister.” said Luna with one last hug. 
Celestia clung a little tighter, not wanting to let go, even as she felt her consciousness slipping away. “I hope… next time we convene, it won’t be because some other event needs us to. I want it to be on our terms.” 
“Same here, sister.” said Luna, her hooves slowly meeting as Celestial faded away, back to the waking world that awaited them all. 
From her tiny lunar perch, Sunset could see the dreamscape Celestia had imagined slowly fading away as well, into nothingness. Nervously, she called out to Luna: “Now would be a great time to tell me how to escape the crumbling dream world, teach.” 
Luna looked up from her empty hooves. Calmly, she told her newfound protege: “Oh, dreams don’t simply cease to exist. They are, after all, an elaborate creation of the subconscious mind. Once a dream ‘ends,’ so to speak, it recedes back into its usually much more subdued state. Watch.” 
Sunset found her tiny frame hoisted up and placed into Luna’s shoulder. She tried to follow some pattern of the world and light and seemingly everything that ever was flow in any given direction. She couldn’t see the currents like Luna seemed to, but found herself glad she was still tiny enough in form to be held up by her. If not for Luna’s shoulder, she felt every bit as though she might slip away once the earth itself slipped away like a rug from under, and fall forever into the nothingness below. 
“There it is.” Once it was all finally gone, Luna pointed out a distant star of sorts in the oily black. It rose, then floated about in the distance, moving this way and that. “That faint light is the queen’s subconscious mind, compacted back into place behind her conscious one.”
“Whoa.” mused Sunset weakly. She reached up and pulled Luna’s ear. “Okay, so, good first lesson and all. Can we go now? This place is kind of freaking me out.” 
Smirking at the little thing, Luna pondered a devious idea. Her lip wavered as she tried to hide it, saying: “Well, Sunset. If you don’t know how to wake yourself up, the quickest and easiest method… is to fall.” 
Sunset narrowed her eyes up at Luna. She felt all the smaller and frailer as a wicked smile took over her face. “What are you—whoa!” She felt Luna lurch upwards with a hop and start to descend, but she didn’t stop. Sunset tried to say something biting, to tell her not to dare, but the whipping of nonexistent wind took over and her jaw opened wide with an: “Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” 
Twilight recoiled when Sunset sprang up from the cot with a terrified scream, and she tripped backwards over her own hooves. Looking up from the floor, Luna rose from the other cot with an awfully hearty holler of her own, only she was laughing while she kicked the open air. 
“Whew.” she hooted, wiping away a single tear. “I’m so sorry, Sunset, but after all that back there, I really needed a laugh.” 
“Sun and moon and stars above!” cursed Sunset, dragging her hooves at the bags under her eyes. “No wonder you like that Pinkie girl. You’re both a real pair of clowns.” 
“A pair of jesters even?” she asked, playfully batting her eyelashes. 
Twilight rose between them and cleared her throat. Dusting herself off, she gestured towards the corner of the study. “I put some coffee on, if anyone’s interested.” 
Luna threw her legs over the edge of the cot. “We’ll need it, I’m afraid. Dream walking tends to lead to restless slumber, unfortunately.” 
“Woof, yeah.” agreed Sunset lurching into place. “I’m definitely feeling it. How did you ever deal with this?” 
Luna stood and stretched before a long yawn escaped her. “I’m admittedly out of practice. But the effect can be mitigated somewhat once you’re better at it.” 
Sunset made her way towards the coffee maker, but stumbled. Slumped against the wall of the hidden study, she groaned out: “Ya know, I might turn into a nightmare too if I was this cranky all the time.” 
Luna passed her by as Twilight moved to help her, and went ahead and poured her the first cup. Passing it to her with a wink, she asked: “And you weren’t before?” 
“Okay, I deserve that.” she grumbled before blowing across the lip of her mug once before taking it straight. It was hot and bitter. A perfect fit for her, really. She hated it. 
Luna similarly downed the scalding brew with nothing to improve it for her palate. She didn’t have time for that. It burned all the way down and left her grimacing. “Hrm.” 
“I’m sorry, Luna, did I forget to get any creams or sugars?” Twilight peered over the little space she’d made for it on the desk. Several books had to be shoved to the side. 
“No, but I must be hurrying along. I have to open my library shortly.” She began to turn away, but added: “Oh, and let the others know where I’ve been as well, come to think of it.” 
“Oh,” said Twilight, clasping her hooves together, “well. Um. Thanks for coming by and helping us.” 
Luna felt callous. So she turned and gave them both a smile. “No, I should be thanking you two. I had not realized how hard you both were working to help me with this. I truly appreciate it.” She nodded over at Sunset. “You especially.” 
Sunset looked into the billowing steam and the dark liquid beneath it in her mug. She said: “I mean, it’s the least I can do. It is my fault this thing got loose of its haunting grounds.” 
“I could just as easily say it’s my fault anything haunted that old castle ruins.” said Luna firmly. “You’re not escaping my gratitude that easily, Sunset Shimmer.” 
“Okay, fine.” said Sunset with the beginnings of a smile. “Only happy to help.” 
Luna went over and hugged her. She gave one to Twilight as well, who asked: “Will we get another lesson tonight?” 
“I think it best we all get some rest tonight before trying again.” she replied as she let go of her. She made some space to cast her spell, nodding to them one last time. “Maybe tomorrow night. See you, girls.” 
Pale blue light filled the room, and then Luna was gone.