Did I over react to Luna’s presence? I do not think so, but then again I should show at least a little more trust than I have. Time will tell if I was right to do this or not however. Strange though, Celestia has been gone for a couple hours now, I wonder if something is happening?
Meanwhile…
“What do you mean you made a deal with a creature? Tia, do you know how dangerous this could be?” Luna glares at Celestia from across their dining table, the guards having left as soon as the sisters entered, frowning. They have been arguing all evening, primarily about Celestia’s unknown friend in this, Nightmare realm.
“Dangerous? Luna, do you know what your reputation would be like if i hadn’t made this deal? They soothed the dreams of our ponies while yo- while you were away.” Celestia wilts, ears flattening against her head as she looks to the ground. “For the last 700 or so years, our ponies have been convinced that you were still actively protecting their dreams…”
“Tia! You bargained our duty off to some… Entity?! What if they had been malicious? You would have given our ponies over to some monster!” Luna’s glare bores into celestia as though trying to drill through her with a look alone. However, an almost understanding look comes upon her as she looks upon her sister. The defeat is evident in her posture as she slumps in the seat. “... Sister, We understand that you only wanted to protect our ponies, but trusting some entity with our ponies dreams was reckless. What is this entity going to do now that We have returned to resume my duties? What do they have to gain from your deal?”
“I, I promised to try and help it gain freedom, they have been trapped in some kind of underground ruin all this time. However, neither they nor I can figure out where this ruin is located and over the years, a purely professional acquaintance bloomed into a friendship. I don’t know what will happen now with them, Lulu, but I have reason to believe that our friendship will be enough to stop them taking action against us and our ponies” As Celestia talks, her confidence seems to return somewhat and she manages to look her sister in the eyes once more before the end. A small smile gracing her face. “I admit, it was a risky move, but our ponies were experiencing night terrors and you know I can't dream walk as well as you can… all I could do was watch what was happening. I found them by chance, I had entered a dream of an old mare who had come into court to ask for her niece's holiday to be extended. That’s where I found them, talking with the mare in the shadow of a large cherry tree. I am sure they can tell you the story of how we met better, they seem to remember such things far more”
Also meanwhile…
“Hey boss, the entrance is clear. So far we have found no traps but it matches your description.
What do you want us to do?” The gruff voice of the Pony standing before Dr.Caballeron shakes him from his daydream. Looking up from his journal, Caballeron gestures for the pony to enter his tent properly.
“I want you to get everyone out of the temple, stop anything from entering behind me. I must proceed inside alone. If Daring Do makes an appearance, lure her away with this” Caballeron reaches into his pocket and pulls out a gem, a luminescent glow shimmering off the surface. “Make sure she thinks it is the prize we came here for. After all, this temple isn’t in any known pony scripture, so hopefully she may not know the true worth that lays inside”
The goon takes the gem with a nod but pauses before leaving. “What if she doesn’t fall for it?” The glare that he receives in response to his question seems to say it all as he stutters and hurriedly corrects himself. “I mean, we won’t fail you sir. Good luck in the temple, call if you need help”
Back with our unnamed character…
It seems that I will be able to walk the waking world once more soon, one way or the other. Perhaps I shall steal some of Celestia’s tea, see how it compares to my own. Always did wonder how she would react to some of her tea cups going missing.
The realm ripples as Celestia re-enters the realm, a soft smile gracing her face once more as Luna enters behind her. A slightly more serious look upon her face but, a flash of hope in her eyes.
“Welcome back, your highnesses. Hope the mess isn’t too much of a bother” around them, scenery forms into a ball room covered in spilled drinks, food, the odd piece of clothing here and there from scarfs for shoes. “I haven’t had much chance to clean up since your last visit”
Celestia’s eye roll is almost audible as she shakes her head. “Now is not the time for your antics, my friend. I am sure you know what i wish to discuss with you”
“The weather? Your student perhaps? Or maybe you want to discu-” My response gets cut off by Luna narrowing her eyes and looking like she wants to growl at me for my disregard for the topic at hand. “My apologies. Princess Luna, I assume you have talked about the situation and likely have questions?”
“That would be… correct, yes” My shift from joking to semi-respectful seems to have thrown her off guard for a second as she puts together her response. “Firstly, introductions. Greetings, We are Princess Luna, Ruler of the Night and Guardian of Dreams. I am to understand that you have taken care of my duties in my absence, but We have returned to them since, We are Eager to find out what Thee intends to do without this burden now”
I can’t help but smirk at Luna as she introduces herself formally. “Greetings, Princess Luna. To answer your inquiry, I intend to continue what I have always done. Tend to my garden” My lack of introducing myself seems to irk Luna however as she frowns while raising an eyebrow.
“It seems thou hath forgotten to introduce thyself, might we know thee’s name?” Luna glances at Celestia as I chuckle, confused as to what I find so amusing. Only to find Celestia giving a slightly exasperated look in my direction.
“Still not telling anypony your name, my friend? Even after all these years? I don’t even know if the name you gave me is your real one” The slight frown forming on Celestia’s face is enough to get me to relent a little as I sigh.
“I know you have been slowly piercing my name together through little clues here and there, Tia. So before I give another Red Herring, how about you tell me what you think my name is?” Luna’s confused face seems to be enough to get Celestia to explain what is going on to her sister, much to my disappointment, ending my fun a little sooner than I would have liked.
“Luna, The have never introduced themselves with the same name twice until about 20 years ago, after the names became so absurd that they just stopped giving out a name at all. Each name though had certain things in common. A letter in the same place here, the same length there. Like the pieces of a puzzle slowly getting put together. I do however have an idea of what their name may be. Am I right, Steamworks?” Celestia smirks and overdramatically gestures a hoof at me, a confident shine in her eyes.
“Well well well, took you long enough. Yes, that was my name, back when there were those who knew me outside my realm.” The scenery changes once more, ballroom melting away to a light rainforest, greenish stone pillars pockmarked with blue moss clumps line a pathway into various small pyramid looking buildings. Odd cawing bird-song fills the air and a warm breeze brushes past them, bringing with it an almost bitter smell. “Things were simpler back then, before the flood reclaimed the area”
The realm shudders, the air growing thick and cold like being plunged into deep water. Forest fading into dark moss ridden stone walls. Barely lit by pale, dim blue light. The room is large, the edges hidden by shadow while the floor is beneath dark rippling water that looks to descend endlessly yet Celestia and Luna’s hooves barely break the surface before hitting solid stone.
From the darkness 6 purple glowing eyes open, considerably larger and higher than either princess as a long, rattling sigh emanates from the creature. a dim pale blue flame dangling from the ceiling suddenly grows into a bright sphere, showing that the water-logged room they find themselves in holds within the corpse-like form of the one they have been conversing with.
“It seems that your end of the bargain shall be held without you, Tia. maybe we should continue this talk face to face, if you’ll have me” Both princesses find themselves no longer in the Nightmare realm, standing outside it’s borders in the dream realm as the mist seems to rise, no longer a barrier between parts of the dream realm and more easily described as a cloud layer far above it.
“Sister… what was that? What was your end of the deal?” Luna questions, panic showing on her face. “And what did they mean face to face?”
“It means, Lulu, that we may have an unexpected guest at some point in the near future”