//------------------------------// // Alicorn of the Dream Realm Part 1 // Story: Back Home in Equestria // by FujiwaraJunko //------------------------------// “Indeed I was, Sunset.” Luna nodded in confirmation. “I was there when you freed me from Nightmare Moon. I watched you wield the Elements with wings and a horn. I stood witness to your empathy. And I know you are worthy of what you have.” “T-That night, when we talked… That was you too, wasn’t it?” Sunset spluttered as Luna nodded. “When I returned from the moon, I took up my old duties once again, one of which was watching over our subjects’ dreams. And I sensed a powerful magic from you, which drew me into your dream. But when I entered your dream, I found my nightmare instead, of being Nightmare Moon.” FLASHBACK “What’s this? Why am I Nightmare Moon again?” Luna spoke, fear creeping onto her when she found that she couldn’t control her actions. She tried to leave the dream, but found herself trapped within the body of Nightmare Moon. “No, please! I’m not her anymore! Please stop!” She begged to no avail. She was forced to watch as Nightmare Moon terrorised the ponies of Ponyville. “Please… stop this… Stop me...” She shut her eyes tightly, trying to will herself not to listen to their terrified screams. “Stop! Sister! Twilight!” She howled as she looked around. “I don’t want to do something like this! Somepony, stop me! I don’t want this!” Suddenly, she caught, through Nightmare Moon’s eyes, the gaze of a pony down below. She could recognise that pony as one who had charged at Nightmare Moon with all kinds of spells, Twilight’s friends backing her up, only for their efforts to be in vain when Nightmare Moon had simply shrugged them off. While the other ponies looked at her with fear and terror in their eyes, this particular pony regarded her with understanding. Luna felt as though she was seeing her, as Princess Luna, rather than Nightmare Moon. It was a strange feeling that she couldn’t explain. Somehow, she just knew that this pony could save her. And as if reading her mind, the pony stood firm, looking to the ponies surrounding her. “We need to stop her. We’re the only ones who can save her!” NEXT FLASHBACK Luna watched in awe as the pony named each of Twilight’s friends as the representatives of the Elements of Harmony. “I have my friends with me. And when those Elements are ignited by the spark that resides in our hearts, it creates the 6th Element; the Element of Magic.” Twilight represented the Element of Magic and was therefore able to summon and wield the Element of Magic. How did this pony manage to do the same? It was almost as if she was Twilight, back when she had stopped Nightmare Moon in the real world. But something was different. Twilight’s friends projected beams onto the pony and Luna watched, fascinated, as the pony’s horn grew longer and she sprouted wings of pure energy from her back. “True magic comes from Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, and Kindness! And this creates the most powerful magic of all; the Magic of Friendship.” The resulting magic that blasted her was strangely warm and comforting. It felt purer than anything Luna had felt before. The transformation reverting her back to her true form wasn’t painful, nor did it drain much of her magic. She didn’t feel tired when she awoke after the blast, and her form remained that of a powerful dark blue alicorn. She didn’t change to her light blue alicorn form like she did in the real world with Twilight, reborn with very low magic levels. And somehow, Luna knew the key was the pony who had led the group and wielded the Elements of Harmony. NEXT FLASHBACK Luna watched the Sun shining brightly in the sky. She could sense Celestia somewhere, but she couldn’t seem to pinpoint her location. Wherever her sister was, she was certainly not in Canterlot. She could only frown in confusion, before her attention shifted to the fiery-maned pony who was talking to Twilight’s friends. After the battle, Luna had listened as the pony spoke of having witnessed the night Celestia had banished her. From what Luna understood, the geode the pony and Twilight’s friends wore were remnants of the Elements of Harmony, and though the Elements supposedly bear the cutie mark of their bearers, the geode around this pony’s neck did not bear the cutie mark of the Element of Magic, but rather a sun, matching the cutie mark on this pony’s flank. Does that mean that there is another Element of Harmony, and this pony is its bearer? Is it even possible for there to be another Element of Harmony? I thought there were only 6. And what does her Element represent? Why does it give her the power to witness the past? How was she able to read the thoughts of ponies? And she even managed to share her thoughts with the other ponies as well. Luna wondered to herself, remembering how the pony had told her that she read Celestia’s mind in the past, and how she had read her thoughts from within Nightmare Moon and shared it to the other ponies so they could understand. For a while, Luna had almost forgotten that this was a dream, which she assumed belonged to this particular pony. But that brought about another set of questions. How did she know how the events of Nightmare Moon’s defeat occurred? And how did she know of the Elements of Harmony? There was no other pony in that old castle except us and Celestia. This was too similar to the actual event for it to be a coincidence. For something that’s supposed to be just a dream, it’s rather frighteningly realistic. What exactly is going on here? “Hey, um, Princess Luna?” Luna snapped out of her thoughts to see that the pony had bid Twilight’s friends goodbye at some point and had walked up to her. “Sorry to disturb you.” “It’s fine, um…” Luna trailed off when she realised that she still didn’t know the pony’s name. A fact which the pony herself seemed to have realised as well. “Oh, sorry. I never really introduced myself, did I? My name is Sunset Shimmer. I just wanted to ask about how you’re feeling. I mean, we did just blast you with a magical rainbow beam.” Sunset shuffled her hooves nervously. “Don’t worry, I am alright. The magic of the Elements did not hurt. In fact, it was strangely warm and comforting.” “That’s good. I, um, I was actually kinda worried that you might be angry at us for defeating you.” Luna shook her head. “No, I’m glad you saved me. Though created from me, Nightmare Moon was not an entity I could control at will.” Sunset just nodded. “Yeah, I got that when I read your mind in the past on the day you turned into her and caused a solar eclipse.” “Ah, yes, your mysterious power. I was wondering about that.” Luna said simply. “It seems that much has changed since a thousand moons ago. I was thinking you might be able to fill me in on everything I’ve missed out on.” “Well, I don’t really know much since I didn’t exist a thousand years ago, but I can tell you what I know. Don’t expect too much though. I’m a bit of a newcomer myself, so I won’t be able to tell you about anything that happened before I came here.” Luna listened as Sunset fed her tales of her adventures, as well as the myths that exist in this dream world. Just as Sunset neared the end of her story, Luna noticed a missing detail about the pony. She was fairly certain that Sunset had ascended into an alicorn during the battle with Nightmare Moon, and yet the pony that now stood before her did not bear any wings upon her back. She did a double check just to be sure and confirmed that Sunset was indeed a unicorn. It didn’t make any sense. Where did her wings go? Was it even possible for an Alicorn to revert back to the form they had before ascension? END OF FLASHBACK