"Sister, We hardly need thou to foalsit Us.", Luna said, giving her fellow diarch a sidelong glance. "We shall be able to enter his dreams again."

A concerned grimace spread on Celestia's face. "I wished I had an alicorn to stand guard over me when my powers began to grow and branch out, to bolster my magic as it faltered. Instead, once I had drained my wellspring, I lingered for days in a coma on the very edge of death, only to awaken in my own coffin as it was being lowered into the ground." A halfhearted chuckle escaped her lips. "The looks on the faces of those nobles and mourners as I shattered the lid of the coffin. I had to spend the next three centuries disassembling the religion that popped up in the wake of that, and even now the wraith of it still clings to the collective consciousness of our little ponies. We may not be mortals, but we are not immortal." A deep sadness spread across her face. "I failed you once, I shall not fail you again. I cannot bear to be separate from you again, so I shall stand guard over you and bolster your wellspring if it were to waver."

Luna gently placed a hoof on Celestia's wither. "'Twas not thou whom failed Us, 'twas We whom failed thee. We should have come to thee when We were feeling envious of thou instead of letting it fester until it became rage and hate."

Tears welled up in Celestia's eyes and spilled down her cheeks. "No, Luna. I saw that you were suffering and alone on your nightly vigil for years and chose to ignore it. It was only when things got so bad that I could no longer ignore it, but then it was too late, the darkness that I had allowed to fester was rapidly consuming you. The sun may shine brightly, but it casts long shadows and one can get so caught up admiring all that celestial wonder that it's easy to not allow yourself to not see those who are caught in the shadows. I was a foolish, young mare, the eldest daughter of a weather farmer, too caught up in the gold and the glamour and the lavish lifestyle as princess of the sun that I willingly blinded myself to the suffering of those who were supposed to be under my protection." She began to weep bitterly.

Luna wrapped her forelegs and wings around her sister, hugging her tight. Both shared bitter tears. Once their tears had been cried out, Luna asked, "What happened to mother and father?"

Celestia hung her head in shame. "They had withered from age. And I, Celestia, mighty raiser of the sun, banisher of the shadows, mistress of mages and the sole ruler of all Equestria, had simply forgotten about them until I needed advice. Wind Sprint had grown old, having great-grandfoals of his own, wanted nothing to do with me. I had rightfully earned the scorn my younger brother, your older twin by three minutes and no amount of penance would ever erase my sins. So I watched them from afar, subtly guiding and protecting them."

"Thunderbolt died without an heir shortly after the formation of the EUP fending off an incursion against griffon bandits. Hail Storm had always identified as a mare, something that didn't sit well with the community leaders. They ordered her to be flogged and hanged. Once the EUP had arrived to get the situation under control, she had already been badly beaten to the point where her wings were useless and was already on the gallows with a noose around her neck. It took her months to recover and she wound up marrying a unicorn named Blue Sea."

"Yes. The very same. I made sure to foster a strong sense of justice and duty in that bloodline, though they have a propensity towards superiority complexes and are...well...more than a bit foppish. Hail Storm and Blue Sea adopted an orphaned colt because medical knowledge at that time had not advanced as far as it has today. The third great-grandfoal of Wind Sprint, Spring Showers, married the great-great-grandson of Smart Cookie, White Smith. I had kept track of them for six generations until they moved across the sea and I had lost contact until two hundred and fifty years ago when they arrived here in Canterlot as seed collectors and sellers, utterly exhausted from their long trek. At first I thought they were just a band of caravaners and travelling merchants until I locked eyes with Bright Smith's eldest daughter, Annette Smith. It was almost as if I were staring into the eyes of Wind Sprint, she looked so much like him. I nearly broke down weeping right then and there. I immediately bequeathed to them Smart Cookie's clan's ancestral lands in the Everfree Basin that had remained unclaimed for hundreds of years. They wasted no time, planting orchards and fields throughout the basin, minus Whitetail Woods and Everfree Forest, even before they started construction on their house. Annette Smith married a naturally gifted, though simpleminded apple merchant named Apple Juice--"

"And thus Sweet Apple Acres and Ponyville came to be!", Luna interrupted. "Pray tell, sister, why haven't thou given them noble title and the privileges that come with it?"

"I did. You can check the registry. The family's title is County of the Everfree. I offered the title and all it entails to Bright Smith shortly after he settled down and he refused it. After his death, I approached Annette. She turned it down, saying..." Celestia cleared her throat and did her best Granny Smith impression. "Ah thank'ee kindly princess. But Ah don't need no fancy-schmancy titles and whatnot. Jus' gimme rich soil, apple tress full-a fruit an' plenny-a foals to chase 'round, an' Ah'll be happier'n a hog in mud."

"That family has Wind Sprint's stubbornness and Smart Cookie's pragmatism.", Luna stated.

Luna settled down onto the cushion making herself comfortable. "Let Us delve into the dreamscape to search for Dave's dream once again." Closing her eyes, she reached out with her newfound powers.

***

Luna moved through the aether of dreams as easily as one would move through a field of tall grass. Reaching out with her magic, she probed through silver orbs searching for the one that resisted her magic.

Luna found herself surprised when she discovered two such orbs. She gently pulled the closer to her so as not to disturb the sleepers and used her magic to feel them. Both resisted her magic in the same ways.

Changing her magical vibrations so that she could perceive the two orbs auras, Luna reached out to them. Though their auras were harder to perceive compared to other creatures of this world, she found after a few minutes that she could make out their auras. One had the gentle pulsing, even-colored aura of a mature mind. The other had the chaotically shifting colors and erratic patterns of a still developing mind.

Luna opted to study the younger mind first. Instead of using her magic to force her way into as she was unsure if doing so would cause harm to a young mind, she instead moved closer to the orb and peered down into it as she did when she first discovered her dreamwalking abilities. At first the orb revealed nothing, just randomly shifting silvery lines, then the lines began to part and reveal information.

Luna observed a young female, quite different from Dave in appearance. She had straight black hair, tannish-yellow skin and narrower eyes. The young female was in a room filled with smoke, the yellow-orange flickering light of flames shown from under the door. The young female scrabbled across the floor on her hands and knees to a closet and hit within. Suddenly there was a flash of light and the young female appeared in some sort of camp. Yellow-orange talons reached out for her and lifted her up to peer into an eagle's face sporting an eye patch.

"Be at peace, young one.", Luna whispered into the dream orb. "Thou art in Mine kingdom. We shalt find thee and rescue thee."

Luna watched from outside the dream orb as large, dog-like paws took the young female from the griffon's grasp, hauled her across the ground and tossed her into a small iron cage. From there it was the usual nightmare terrors a scared young mind would and could create, teeth and claws made of flames and shadows, monsters made of mish-mashed parts.

Luna reached out with her magic and projected feelings of calm in the hopes that enough would reach down into the orb and help dispel some of the terror and nightmares.

The dream orb popped. Whoever this young female is, she had been awakened from her dream suddenly.

"We have seen thine face, griffon. Thou shalt need sleep at some point and then we shall have thee where We desire thee."

Luna braced herself and began to push into Dave's dream. She was prepared for the resistance and began riding the currents of his sleeping mind. She pushed forward at speed when the currents were at her back and hovered in eddies when the currents turned against her so as to conserve her strength.

Soon Luna was on the ground of Dave's dream. She looked around to get her bearings.

Dave was on his hands and knees looking at the pair of ponies who were letting out a series of chattering nickers.

Luna recognized where this was. It was in the village outside Stalliongrad. Back before her banishment, this had been a cluster of villages close to the border of the Crystal Empire, now it was Equestria's shining pearl of the north and housed one of the many garrisons that watched for any signs of Equestria's first and oldest ally's return.

Luna watched as the two ponies, both stallions with bundles of firewood on their backs, stood still and let out chattering nickers. Dave stared perplexed.

"I don't recall there being rainbow horses here in Colorado.", Dave muttered softly. "Of course I don't recall any low lying forests near the Elk Mountains. Maybe that storm triggered a landslide and I hit my head and now this is all a delusion caused by head trauma?" He reached down and pinched his arm. "Nope. Somehow this is real and rainbow horses live somewhere here in Colorado? That can't be the case. Someone would have reported seeing them. Maybe I'm dead and this is the afterlife. But why would the afterlife have rainbow horses?"

Dave rose to his feet and the two stallions backed away, eyes wide with fear and ears splayed back against their heads. "Easy there...", he said softly as he looked at the stallions' hind quarters. "...boys. I'm no threat to you and it's obvious you're the property of some eccentric billionaire."

Luna froze. Did he just hear her? She chose to keep herself hidden and used her newfound powers to obfuscate herself lest his mind was powerful and it decided to attack her.

"Is someone there?", Dave asked as he walked around. "Huh! Must've been my imagination." He brought his hand down to his waist, drew his survival knife and began playing with it. He paused as the knife spun in the air like a top for several minutes."Waitaminnit! I'm being...what's the name of that movie? Inception! I'm being Inception'd! Well since this is a dream, my dream, and movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street have taught me anything, my dream, my rules."

Luna gasped in fright as the dream suddenly shifted. Instead of the pine forests near Stalliongrad, she was in a tight series of pipe-lined tunnels that occasionally released steam. Then she heard something over the rattling of pipes and the hissing of steam. It was low, it was soft, it was feminine. It was...singing?!

Luna followed the sound of soft singing and came across three young female maned apes. They all had light skin and long blonde manes. They wore simple white dresses and skipped rope as they sang the eerie, creepy, sing-songy words.

One, two. Freddy's coming for you./ Three, four. Better lock your door./ Five, six. Better grab your crucifix./ Seven, eight. Better stay up late./ Nine, ten. Never sleep again.

Suddenly Luna felt a presence behind her. She turned around and her eyes went wide. Standing there was another maned ape...a male. This one had no hair, wore a filthy red and green sweater, a dirty brown hat was atop its head, its face was marred with burn scars, and its hand had long nails...no...long finger knives. It let out an evil cackle as it drug its finger knives along the pipes, sparks flew forth as they made a loud screeching along the pipes.

Luna backed away, then turned and started galloping. The floor turned into a quagmire and she sank into it up to her chest. Every instinct in her mind screamed out there was a predator and she pumped her legs as hard as she could trying to move through that quagmire, the whole while that evil beast behind her continued cackling and screeching its finger knives.

The dream shifted and Luna found herself in a sun-dappled field. The scent of lilacs drifted on a warm breeze.

"Y'know...slipping into my dreams to try and convince trick me into siding with you or giving up secrets. So what'cha looking to find? How many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?"

Luna suddenly noticed a tiny green creature with antennae laughing madly as it rubbed two of its little stalk-like limbs together. "Neigh. T'was not Our intention to steal secrets from thee or sway thee to Our side. We encountered thy dream last eve and were curious. We were simply curious and wanted to know from whence thou came. Once we left thy dream, we found that we could speak thine tongue. Tonight we returned to learn more, but We encountered a dream of another of thy kind."

Dave circled the image and studied it. "She looks Asian. If I had to make a guess about the country she comes from, probably Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia. It's hard to be exact unless I can see her in person. She's young. Looks to be about five or six. Probably scared out of her wits and calling out for her mother."

"Being here is taxing on Our wellspring and Our sister is probably disrupting the spell to pull Us from the dream."

"--na.", Luna gasped as she snapped back into the waking world. Her strength gave out and she collpased, a gold aura cradled her before she could hit the floor.

"Easy now.", Celestia said. "Try not to talk. Just breathe slow and easy. Your wellspring began spiking and I had to pull you out. Mind magic isn't my strong point and I had to trace along your magic to pull you out."

"Don't speak yet, Luna. Take your time and gather your strength first.", Celestia said, cutting her sister off. She lit her horn and allowed some of her magic to gently flow into Luna.

After several minutes Luna felt strong enough to sit up on her own. "Sister, there's another maned ape. A young female, probably just arrived. We fear that poachers may have already captured it."

Celestia scowled and lit her horn. In a flash she disappeared. A split second later she appeared outside a cottage made of field stones. She raised a hoof and knocked on the door.

The door swung open and a green earth pony with a dark green mane stood in the frame, her cutie mark was a yellow flower in a terracotta pot drooping over as if it were wilting or trying to hide.

"Pardon me for disturbing you at such a late hour. Is your wife in? I need to talk to her.

"Wallflower? Who's th--", an amber unicorn with a red and gold mane spoke up before going quiet. She narrowed her light cyan eyes at the princess and worked her jaw, almost as if she were chewing on words. "Mother."

"Sunset, I'm sorry to bother you at your home. I know I haven't been the best mother, especially after--"

"After you all but abandoned me when father died and I didn't live up to your expectations. Is that what you were about to say?", Sunset interrupted. "If this is your attempt at an apology, it's a piss poor one, so save your breath. You can't use your courtly masks here, I'm not Blueballs or the anxiety librarian. I know you too well."

Sunset blew out a sigh. "Consider yourself lucky, mother. My wife talked me into hearing you out. Say your peace, then get the fuck off my property."

Shame and sorrow hung on Celestia's face. "What I've done to you was unfair. Just more sins atop the mountain I've already built for myself. I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I'll go now. If you even need me, reach out."

Sunset sighed and blew an errant lock out of her face. "I'm going to hate myself for saying this, but...come in. I know you didn't come here just for a social call. The neighbors have already seen you appear here at my door. They're gonna spend weeks pestering me and my wife. Wallflower already has pretty bad social anxiety. The only one who has worse social anxiety than her is her fourth cousin...what was her name? Butterfly? Flutter...she? Nutter..."

"Ah, yes. Thank you sweetness." Sunset gave her wife a quick peck on the cheek and the earth pony mare's face turned beet red. "Fluttershy. Isn't she one of the ones who gained use of one of your ultimate weapons?"

"Fluttershy's the bearer of the Element of Kindness.", Celestia said. Regret filled her voice "That was one of the elements that originally bonded to Luna." She regained her composure. "But you are correct. I didn't come here for a social call. I know you've probably kept tabs with your old compatriots within the EIA and know about the maned ape that came into my custody."

"Yes, yes.", Sunset said. "As the old saying goes,'There's nothing on the surface of Gaia that the Sun doesn't see.' I'm well aware that you've been keeping tabs on me. So what do--"

Sunset's words were cut off with the creaking of a door. Out walked a female maned ape with turquoise skin. A mass of scars atop her hairless head, the blindfold covering her eyeless sockets, the scars around her mouth indicating her tongue had been cut out and the stump where her right arm had been all spoke in silent volumes of the brutality that poachers inflicted upon her. It was clear she had hastily dressed by the way her dress hung off of her in a lopsided manner. Tendrils of energy extended from the four fingers of her left hand and probed around, touching objects around her. It was clear she was using magic to navigate.

Wallflower trotted over to the turquoise four-fingered maned ape and whispered, "It's okay, Mint. We didn't mean to wake you. Sunset's mom is visiting us and they had a disagreement."

Mint flailed around for a moment and patted Wallflower on her head. One of the tendrils of energy moved across the romm and touched Celestia. "Hewwo, Pwi'cess Cewes'ia.", she slurred out. "I appologi' for my wooks a' speak. Poakers cuk ouk my kounge, eyes, ahm a' cuk my baby fwom my bewwy fow sewwing koo foob mewkanks. 'Ey cuk off my scawp fow iwegaw cwoki'g mewkawks." She wiped drool from her mouth. "I heaw oo fouw' awokew oowan 'ike ee?"

Celestia had heard that the four-fingered variety could speak ponish and if Mint still had her tongue, she could speak more clearly. "You are correct, Miss Mint. We found one similar to you, only he has five fingers and is resistant to magic. My little ponies call him Big Red, though my sister after reaching his dreams has discovered his name is Dave. My sister just found out tonight that the poachers have captured another one of his breed, a filly."

Mint pointed a finger in the direction of Sunset. "Suwsek. Oo wee' koo fin' kak kilb befow 'ey kiww hew."

"So what say you, Sunset Shimmer? Are you prepared to take up the mantle again? To be my sword? To be my justice? To once again be the Solar Flare?"

"I'll do it, for Mint and for that foal they're holding, I'll do it for Equestria, but not for you.", Sunset said in a stern voice. "I'll become Solar Flare. If this turns out to be one of your courtly games or one of your manipulations, then I'll turn my flames on you."

Gordon sat behind his desk made of stacked crates. His hunting company had just recently set up a new camp when this morning he was blessed by the appearance of a five-fingered maned ape hatchling that appeared in front of him in a flash of light. After a quick inspection it was clear this was a young female. There were bound to be a rich collector up around Whinnyapolis or Maretropolis that would want her to as brooding stock for one of the male maned apes they kept as pets, then there were the exotic meat markets and the exotic clothing markets that would want her meat and hair, then there were the fighting pits back in Griffonia that might use her for some quick entertainment. All that would be needed was to send out a contact through the right channels. And of course make sure that the Broker gets to dip his hooves in the bit pot, after all as long as he got his cut, he kept the authorities off your trail.

Gordon felt the feather on the back of his neck twinge. Something was going to happen and he needed to break camp. He hadn't survived this long in the poaching game by ignoring his instincts. Gerald had all of his ferocity, but lacked his instincts. Maybe that would change once he took down that ape. His daughter, Gabby, was too much like her mother, Getty, nice, sweet and too much like a pony. Maybe her cousin Gilda would teach her how to be a proper griffon. Then there was his brother Gustav. All that griffon needed to be a pony was the hooves and the stamp on the flank. Instead of marrying a good, strong, proud, greedy griffon, he had married a pony.

Gordon strode through the camp. "Alright ya chumps, we're breaking camp in an hour! I catch any of you slackin', I'll skin ya myself and sell your hides to diamond dogs!", he shouted. He probably didn't need to shout, but it was good to assert his dominance, especially with the iron wolves. Show even the slightest bit of weakness and he'd find their teeth at his throat.

Gordon stepped back into his tent and began packing up his things. He stepped into his sleeping quarters and saw the maned ape hatchling sleeping fitfully in her cage. That's what this warning feeling was about. The moon bitch found her dreams and told the sun bitch about it and now there was probably a full battalion of EUP heading this way right now to comb the countryside. He picked up a baton and banged it against the bars of the cage. "No nappin'! Can't let them alicorns know where you're at." He felt that twinge in the back of his neck again. This was a feeling he had felt once before about five years ago when he encountered a predator that even the iron wolves feared, a predator that wore the guise of a pony. She was known by dozens of names. She Who Brings Fire the iron wolves called her. The Sun Wolf the 'lings called her. Feather Scorcher the griffons called her. Solar Flare the ponies called her. He had barely escaped her once with singed feathers and he had no desire to face her again.

There were dozens of stories about her origins. Some say she was a fire elemental that Celestia caught and bent to her will. Some say she is a fragment of the sun itself who only listens to Celestia. Some say she sprung fully formed from Celestia's chest during a day of rage. Some say she's a demon from another world. Some say she's the flesh and blood daughter of Celestia. That one was the most outrageous of them all, and Gordon laughed at that last one. He had no desire to even see her again, the whites of her eyes were black as soot, her irises glowed red as coals in a furnace, tongues of flames poured from her mane, tail and hooves like water and licked around the edges of her bronze armor, her sword was polished to a mirror shine and sliced through bodies like a razor blade through a banana.

Gordon hefted the iron cage holding the maned ape hatchling onto his personal wagon. He wracked his brain on where to move the camp to next. It had to be somewhere where it could be defended easily with only one way in and out. The canyons and buttes in the Appleoosan Desert? No. The bison were very territorial and rumors were flying about an oncoming confrontation with the pony settlement there. Plus he'd have to contend with the wingless dragons. The wasteland? No. Scouting parties had reported a small pony settlement of pony cultists and he didn't want to have to deal with the small chance they were Celestians. Sire's Hollow? No. Those weirdos, though harmless, would drop the bit on him in a Manehattan minute. The Too Hot Desert? No. Weird things were going on in Klugetown. The northern tundra? Yes. Once he moved past Stalliongrad and Gratzneigh, there wasn't much there except for yetis and Yakyakistan, and the yaks were extreme isolationists, plus he knew of some hot springs there, he'd have to ensure his patrols and hunting parties avoided the massive frozen plain where odd shadows would occasionally be seen roaming.

The maned ape

by sykko

4