A short time later the Advanced Projects group stood on the far edge of the city, before a smaller gateway.

They had been accompanied there by a large onlooking crowd of nightmares, seemingly drawn by sheer curiosity. Yet Trixie couldn't help noticing that none of the watching nightmares were too eager to follow all that closely.

Before them, the swirling, smoky barrier roiled and fumed. Then it abruptly swept open. Revealed beyond was a stark, near-dead landscape of jagged rocks and distant hills. It was dotted here and there with stunted, gnarled trees, like skeletal claws menacing a cold, starlit sky.

And looming on a peak in the far distance was the tower. Its glowering firelight flickered high in the darkness.

"I don't suppose we could just teleport up there?" Starlight asked. "Gonna be an awful long hike otherwise."

Twilight shook her head. "Best not. Any use of magic will put whoever it is on guard, let them know we're coming."

"Hmph!" Trixie grimaced. "Well, like I always say, the next town's not getting any closer by itself, so let's get this wagon on the road."

She set off determinedly through the gate, then through the gap in the barrier, and then followed a likely looking hoof-path, which curved away amid the tangle of rocky shards. The others followed close about her, with Nacht and the other nightmares marching in formation around the group. The nightmare guard was eyeing the shadows and crevices to all sides warily. It wasn't clear what they were watching for, yet nopony really wanted to find out.

Behind the party, the barrier swept closed again, sealing off the nightmare city, Princess Luna, and pretty much any other sign of life and civilization in the desolate landscape.

Despite the sudden isolation, Trixie was finally able to relax a bit. She glanced around at the others.

"Don't get me wrong. I totally appreciate you backing me up. But now we've a moment to ourselves, I gotta ask... why?"

Twilight smiled. "Princess Celestia once told me a good leader knows when to lead and when to follow. You know your way around here, Trixie. You know what to do, how we should deal with this realm and its inhabitants."

"Only because I was Nightmare Moon's student." Trixie hunched in her cloak. "Only because all this --" She gestured at the barren, chill landscape around them. "-- is as much a bad dream for me as it is for Princess Luna."

Twilight smiled sympathetically. "That's another thing Celestia taught me: there are no mistakes, only experience. If your past can help us figure this out, and you can turn that knowledge to good use, then it's nothing to be ashamed of. And we should follow your lead."

"Absolutely," Starlight said. She put a companionable hoof around Trixie's shoulders.

"Like I always say," added Sunset, "when the chips are down, we're a team. We back each other up, and nopony can tell us different."

Moondancer sighed happily. "Have I mentioned how much I love being part of this group? What about you, Tempest?"

The maroon pony shrugged indifferently. "Somepony still needs to keep an eye on this one." She nodded towards Trixie. "And it might as well be me." She smirked. "After all, more than any of us I want to see how she manages to pull this one off."

The others laughed at that. Then they companionably tramped onwards, through the oppressive silence and bleak rocky waste.

The way was long and frequently difficult, the trail fading in and out amongst the stony hillocks and shards. But thankfully it was uneventful. After seeming hours of trotting along barely visible hoof-paths, winding up through shadowed ravines and switchbacks into the hills, under a stark night sky filled with coldly distant stars, they at last attained the summit, upon which stood the great stone watchtower.

Set into the tower's curved stone wall were a massive pair of oaken entry doors. They were many lengths in height, carved with stern, knife-edged sigils. At their base was a smaller wicket gate, with a more conventional-sized set of doors. Trixie trotted up to the smaller doors, and experimentally yanked the heavy iron-ring handle of one. It didn't budge.

"Hope somepony brought a key," she muttered. "Don't think I can hocus-pocus my way into this one... unless..."

She reached out her forehooves and shoved the doors. With a creak of hinges and a whirling of dust and old cobweb, they clicked open, swinging inwards into the darkness beyond.

Trixie face-hoofed, then looked ruefully at the others. "You never saw that, right?"

"Or..." Twilight said as she peered into the dark interior, "maybe it's because whoever it is, they're powerful enough that nopony in their right minds would just stroll in unannounced..."

"It's really dark in there," Starlight said. "Should we risk using our horns? Just for a luminance spell?"

Twilight shook her head. "Better not, even for something that small. We seem to have avoided attention so far, and we don't want that to change. Still, a light of some kind wouldn't be bad."

Nacht glanced around the almost bare hilltop. Then he sent a couple of his nightmares over to a patch of scrub bushes nearby. The guards worked for a bit, snapping branches and bundling them, and quickly returned with crudely fashioned yet serviceable torches, which they lit with flint and steel.

These in hoof, the party stepped cautiously inside. And stared upwards, up the vast height of the tower's interior, towards where it vanished beyond the reach of the torchlight. Circling the inside of the tower, leading up into the blackness, was a flight of stone stairs...

"Look at it this way," Tempest said dryly. "The rest of you could use a good workout."

Trixie stared up into the heights worriedly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie... must admit she's never actually stormed a tower before. So!" she added, adopting a cheerfully blasé air, "Trixie would now like to call upon the able and capable experience of her bodyguard helper-pony. Uhh... Tempest? Over to you?"

Tempest nodded with a smile. She'd already been eyeing the stairs herself. "Nacht, if you'll take point? And I'll bring up the rear. Unicorns, keep close to the wall, nightmares to the outside. If things go south we use shields and levitation, and get ourselves out of danger. And don't forget everypony," she added sternly, "the exit is down. Any questions?"

Tempest shook her head. "You're our backstop, Nacht. If it comes down to it, I want your hooves free for a fight."

"Better trust her," Trixie added. "She's seen more street brawls than you have."

The nightmare snorted in amusement at that, then bowed compliantly. "We are at thy command, Mistress."

The group rearranged themselves, then slowly made their way up the stairs. And for a very long time, that was all there was to it. Step after trudging step, over and over, higher and higher into the darkness. The stone risers were chipped and gritty underhoof, the wall to the right grimy and crumbling. The air was stale and increasingly chilly as they ascended. And apart from the clicking of their hooves on the steps, there was no other sound in the dark as they climbed, seemingly forever.

"Yeesh," Starlight finally said, "I'd ask if we were there yet, but I doubt I'd like the answer either way."

Nacht leaned out fearlessly over the precipitous drop, looking upwards. "We are nearing the top."

"Ah. Of course," Starlight said. "Must be nice being able to see in the dark. Lots more to worry about, that way..."

In reply, Nacht gave a rare smile. Then he abruptly came to a halt, and looked down. The rest of the party did likewise. In the sudden silence they could all hear it: a gutteral snarling and chittering, accompanied by leathery slappings, as of wings. It was coming from below... and getting rapidly closer.

"Uhh..." Sunset looked around. "Did somepony remember to shut the doors down there?"

Nacht barked, sharply. The nightmare guards swung round, facing the open center of the tower. Their wings were spread, their teeth bared, tensed and ready for attack. Tempest motioned her head, and the unicorns gathered in a tighter group behind them.

Before them all, in the open center of the tower, there was a sudden eruption of wings and hooves, sweeping past and flitting upward. Out of the rush and confusion a few of the creatures paused and hovered, blinking in the torchlight. They were similar to the nightmares but smaller and sleeker, with dark blue coats and soft, almost fox-like muzzles. Plus glowing red eyes, and needle-sharp fangs, which they bared, hissing.

"Batponies!" Moondancer gasped. "Geez, I've got to give Hoofstradamus a re-read..."

One of the creatures, larger than the rest, swooped closer and snarled aggressively. The nearest of the nightmares bellowed a challenge in return. The bat-like creature hissed angrily, yet held its distance, as did the others, clearly unwilling to attack the guards individually. But they certainly had the advantage of numbers, if they ever realized it...

Nacht growled an order to his guards, and the group continued its advance up the winding stairs, pausing every now and then to hunker down, whenever one of the hovering creatures got bold enough to flap closer. It took seemingly forever to cover the last few turns of stairs. But finally they could see the flat, cobweb-swathed surface of the ceiling above them, lit by their torches.

And no way out. They'd come to the end of the stairs -- literally. The staircase ended in a flat, unrailinged stone platform.

"Nothing!" Starlight said. "But there's got to be! Who'd have a staircase this high, leading nowhere?"

The ponies hunted frantically, searching for a hidden switch, a false panel, any way out of the apparent dead-end. As they searched, the bat-ponies, sensing an advantage, swooped in to attack. The unicorns found themselves beset by fanged, hissing faces and flailing hooves. Nacht and the other nightmares snarled and lunged, holding off the feral attackers. Tempest likewise helped to protect the group, with occasional well-placed kicks and swings of her forehooves. Yet it was a standoff at best, a terrifying fight on a tiny, overcrowded platform high above an immense drop...

In the scuffle, Trixie found herself being buffeted forcefully about. Then she was abruptly swept off her hooves by an errant swipe of a guard's wing. She flung out a hoof, felt nothing stopping it. For a heart-freezing moment, she shrieked and fell...

... a length at most. She landed flat on her face, on a broad stretch of flagstone flooring.

"Ow," she muttered crossly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie does not like being pushed around. For reasons she hopes are obvious..."

"Ugh! I'm right here! As if anypony cares." Rolling over, Trixie sat up, shoving her hat off her face so she could see properly. And found herself facing a stretch of blank stone wall.

Turning to look behind her, she saw a marble-walled corridor stretching away. It was lit by familiar-looking blue magefire torches, in sconces along the walls.

"Trixie?" Twilight's voice called, apparently from behind the wall. "Is that you? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Twilight, just peachy. Look, there must be some kind of secret panel out there, made to look like part of the wall. Just walk through it... ahem, like Trixie did."

"Trixie, there's nothing here. Only the edge of the platform. And when I reach over it -- whoa! Thanks, Sunset! -- there's nothing beyond, just empty air. I don't feel a floor or anything."

"Oh. Well, let me see if I can work it from this side. Or I'll come back through, and see if I can bring you with me."

"No, wait! Trixie, listen! You might not be able to work it again. And we don't have a lot of time. Go on ahead. Maybe you can find something or somepony that can help us."

Trixie stared around, fearfully. She'd never felt so alone, as she did just then. Never felt so immediately her lack of anything beyond the simplest of magic spells...

Never had such an urgent wish to find the door marked This Way to the Egress...

But, she reminded herself sternly, the Great and Powerful Trixie never lets her audience down. The show must go on! Somehow...

Then she turned and hared off down the corridor, a hoof pressed to her hat to keep it from flying off.

------------------------------

The corridor stretched longer than she expected. Longer, seemingly, than the width of the tower should have contained. Then it turned a corner. And Trixie found herself facing a set of familiar tall, bone-white doors.

Beyond was the topmost room of the tower. It was a broad, circular stone chamber, with a massive roaring bonfire in its center, like a signal flame. There were open arches to all sides, looking out on the night sky beyond.

And to her right, across the room, seated on a cushion before one of the arches on that side, was a tall, cloaked figure. It sat, silent and watchful, gazing outward at something Trixie could not see. And something about the figure simply radiated power and purpose. A grim, fierce determination to carry out a self-imposed duty, to see some task to its end, however long it might take.

Then the figure sighed, and shivered, and got up and moved to the bonfire, to warm its silver-shod hooves for a spell.

The figure jerked, looked up. As it did so its hood fell back, revealing a familiar face... a very familiar face: a dark-blue, gentle-eyed alicorn, with a sword-like horn and an ethereal night-blue mane dusted with shining stars.

Abandoning all caution, Trixie rushed across the room and flung herself on the Princess. Hugging her tightly, Trixie looked up, tears in her eyes, at the face of her beloved teacher. Or one of them, anyways... the Good One.

"Thou should not be here," Luna said flatly. Gently brushing Trixie aside, the alicorn turned, crossed back to her cushion at the stone arch, and sat down again. She stared out at the darkness once more, without another word.

Astonished and hurt, Trixie stared at her. Then she cautiously trotted over, and sat down beside the Princess, on the cold stone floor. She peered up in bewilderment at the somber cast of the alicorn's face.

"And neither should she be here," Luna said. "Thou shouldst not have brought her here, back into this dream realm..."

"Wait. How is it thou are here at all?" She looked down at Trixie, an eyebrow raised. "Didst we not conceal the entrance to this chamber, against all who might seek it?"

Trixie lofted her snout archly. "The Great and Powerful Trixie... er... kinda fell through it. By accident, mostly," she added lamely.

"Perhaps," Luna said. "Or perhaps it is because now, thanks to us, thou represents the Element of Honesty? Thou can recognize deception for what it is, and cannot be fooled by it. Hence, a simple illusion such as this has no power over thee." She huffed in annoyance, and stared back out into the night. "We shall have to remember that from now on."

"Princess Luna?" Trixie edged hesitantly closer. "You asked us to come. You said you wanted to free your guards. To bring them back home, and --"

"A foolish wish," Luna interrupted. "The bond can never be broken, as long as this dreamworld exists. And this world can never be abandoned, can never be forgotten." She shut her eyes, miserably. "The risk is too great."

"Long ago, my little pony, in unthinking arrogance I opened a door that should never have been opened. Created a gateway to a realm that should never have touched ours. And loosed a terror upon our world that must never be forgotten -- or forgiven!"

"Out there -- do not look, my ever-curious student! Or thou wilt never be free of its influence. Out there, there is a land of night darker than Night. A land of Shadows... deep and black, encroaching and infesting. A world that knows but one thing, has but one thing to offer to any within its power...

Trixie hunched, pulled her threadbare magician's cloak closer about her for warmth, even with the roaring bonfire at her back.

And Luna laughed once, sharply and humorlessly. "And I thought I could contain it. In my supreme arrogance I thought I could use it. I was wrong. So very, very wrong..."

She shook her head, ruefully. "We are strange and unsettled creatures, Trixie. We exist eternally between the cold indifference of dead matter, and the blind, uncaring self-centeredness of total ambition. There must be balance, always a balance. Too little, and we lapse into tranquilizing philosophy. Too much, and our hearts grow cold, our ears flat and unheeding, our eyes blind to the damage we sow and the misery we reap. We must ever seek to rise above our station, to improve ourselves. Yet never without awareness of when we go too far, when we begin to hurt those around us. We must always walk the middle way, Trixie. Always the middle way!"

Luna's face was grim, her jaw set as she glared out at the darkness. Then she glanced sideways at Trixie. Her mouth quirked in a hint of a smile.

"Yes. Thou must go, and take that other Princess Luna with thee. Tell her whatever thou must. Take her back to the waking world, along with the nightmares that are still bound to her. There, she has a chance to begin anew. She can live, grow up, learn... and perhaps avoid making the same mistakes I did."

"While I... I must remain on watch, ever-vigilant, against the forces I have unleashed, here in my own dreams. I must ensure the Darkness never again takes hold, never again uses my arrogance as a conduit to reach the waking world. I must remain here, alone, without even my nightmares for company. For I must needs leave them be as well, interfere in their lives no longer..."

Luna nodded. "They misunderstand me. They think I keep watch on them. When in truth I defend them, by keeping watch on the Shadow realm. Such is my penance for my mistakes. And I shall not falter in this. It is far too important."

"Well? Why art thou still here? Wert thou not paying attention, my infuriatingly persistent student?"

Trixie winced, miserable. "I don't want this to be the end, Princess. I... I miss you."

"Because, well... you're the Princess Luna I remember," Trixie insisted. "The one who taught me, the one who understood. The one who cared about me. When my friends and I banished Nightmare Moon, I... I thought you were gone for good."

"Nothing is ever lost, Trixie," Luna replied grimly. "Though I am, at best, a memory. A memory of all that she gave up, in freeing herself from the Nightmare. A Nightmare that I created, and visited upon her, in my unthinking desire for glory and recognition." Luna shook her head, ashamed. "She is better off without me. And so art thou."

"That is not enough," Trixie said, stamping the flagstones with a hoof. "And you know it isn't! I need you!"

"Because you were always there!" Trixie shouted. "When I was little, and frightened, or confused, or just needed somepony to smile and tell me it was all going to be fine... you were there!"

"I didn't care! I put up with her because it meant I'd get to see you again! When my parents broke up, I had you. When Nightmare Moon used me against my friends, I had you. And in the end, when I wasn't even sure whether Nightmare Moon was still using me, when I wasn't even sure of myself anymore... I still had you!"

Trixie flung herself forward, grabbed hold of Luna, of her teacher, as she'd never truly been able to do before. And she just held on, sobbing uncontrollably. She never wanted to let go, not ever.

"I just..." she finally gasped, miserably. "I just want... just one thing I can always be sure of..."

Luna sighed wearily. And then bent to hug the small, sobbing pony, holding her gently.

"And I have always needed my diligent student," she said. "Who allows me to care, allows me to forget for a brief moment all that I was. Who allows me to see the world as I would wish it to be, just for a little while..."

She smiled, amused. "That must be why I kept opening doors for thee, whenever they barred thy way."

For a time the two of them held each other, quietly. Then Trixie sat up, wiping her snout with a fetlock.

"I want to stay here too," she said. It wasn't a request, wasn't an offer... it was a demand. "After all, if you can make these nightmare whatevers real enough to exist in the real world, then you could make me, well... unreal enough to exist here, right?"

"Doesn't matter, I'm staying." Then Trixie looked up at Luna. "Please? I've lost you so many times before... I can't... I won't lose you again."

"I must remain on guard, Trixie," she said. "Must remain vigilant. Must never forget the responsibility I have placed upon myself by my actions."

Luna nodded. "But there is a price. Thou must promise -- a promise thou must never break. Thou must keep a secret --"

"Thou must never tell anypony about what lies out there." Luna gestured through the arch, at the night-shrouded land beyond. "Nopony must know. Especially not Celestia... it would break her heart."

Luna tipped her head, thoughtfully. "I suppose I must show thee, just to slake thy curiosity. But only a glimpse, mind, and no more. Here, take my hoof."

Trixie peered cautiously over the low stone parapet of the arch, into the darkness beyond. And she saw far off in the distance, an enormous, shadowy range of rolling mountains, grand and majestic, lit in ghostly outline by the moon. Even at that distance their heights made the tower Trixie was sitting in seem puny and humble by comparison.

And atop one massive peak, very far away, Trixie saw a soaring spire, miles in height. It was far grander and more splendid than anything she'd ever seen. It sparkled in the moonlight, like chill ice, like the finest crystal...

Trixie gasped. "It looks like a palace!" she breathed. "It's beautiful! What is it?"

"I do not know," Luna replied, as she gently lowered Trixie again. "I have never been there. Nopony has... ever."

"Because, my attentive student, there are some heights to which one should aspire... and others..."

Luna fixed Trixie with a stern gaze. Trixie shivered at the look in Luna's eyes. It was ancient and forbidding, not to be trifled with.

"Good. Then we should be going," Luna said. "It is time for us to be waking in any case."

"And... Princess Luna? The other Luna, I mean?" Trixie gestured across the room, in the direction she assumed the nightmare city was. "What about her? How do we explain all this to her?"

"What need have we to explain anything? Recall, Trixie, this is a dream -- my dream. Everything thou sees is part of my dream: this land of Night, the nightmares, their city. Even thy friends... and even thou thyself." She nodded at Trixie's shocked look. "It is all part of me. In a way, it all is me..."

She gently touched Trixie's cheek with a silver-shod hoof. And smiled, lovingly and thankfully.

"What need have we to explain anything to her? When she has been here, all along...

------------------------------

She awoke, in utter darkness, and for a moment was frightened. Then she belatedly remembered, and shook her head at her own foalishness. Her horn sang, lighting the lamp hanging from the bed's canopy, and also the cold-light lamps about the room.

She sat up and looked round. And saw herself, in the mirror over the dressing table. The dark-blue coat, the sword-like horn, the flowing ethereal mane of night, flickering with stars.

Rising from the bed, she trotted to the doors, and gently swung them open with her magic. Beyond she found the nightmares, Nacht and Skaad, waiting sternly on guard. They bowed their heads silently in acknowledgement as she passed.

And in the room beyond, around the magic circle, Luna saw them all: Moondancer, Starlight, Sunset, Tempest Shadow, even her sister's favorite, Twilight Sparkle. They were sprawled on cushions and pillows swiped from couches and chairs around the room. All of them, lying where they'd fallen asleep, waiting for her.

And on the rim of the magic circle itself, as if determined despite the risk not to miss the opening of the portal... there was Trixie. The showpony's head rested on her bundled up magician's robe, her hat sat on the floor beside her. She feebly waved her hooves in her sleep, mumbling disjointed patter from some stage trick or other.

Luna strode over to her, gently nudged her awake. And then held a hoof to Trixie's snout for quiet, seeing the showpony's look of shocked surprise.

"It has been a long day for the others," Luna warned. "We should let them rest a while longer. Come, my diligent student. There are things we must see to."

Jumping to her hooves, Trixie flung on her cloak, grabbed her hat, and then hurried after Luna as, flanked by her nightmare guards, the Princess of the Night made her way out of the Lunar Suite and down through the Palace...

------------------------------

In the main Audience Hall, having just finished the lowering of the Sun, Princess Celestia was seated on the Sun Throne, attentively listening as her aide Raven went over the planned schedule for the following day.

Celestia's head snapped up when the Audience Hall doors suddenly blazed with blue magic and were flung wide.

Astonished, Celestia smoothly nodded assent. Her aides rapidly collected their papers and scrolls and departed. The guards left as well, shutting the doors behind them.

Leaving Princess Luna advancing alone down the length of the carpet. Tall and proud, Luna strode haughtily forwards and came to a halt before the Golden Throne.

"And, Sister," Luna interrupted, fixing Celestia with a sharp gaze, "we remember everything..."

Luna's stern expression suddenly faltered, becoming woe-stricken. "And Sister..." she went on miserably, "we are so sorry!"

"Luna..." Celestia lept to her hooves, and hurried down the ramp. She would have willingly thrown her forehooves around her downcast sibling to comfort her. But Luna swiftly put up a hoof to stop her.

"We must save discussion for another time," Luna said. "At this moment, we should like to express our gratitude to the facilitators of our return: thy Advanced Projects group... along with its capable leader, Trixie Luna Moon."

Her horn flared, the Audience Hall doors swung wide again. And the Advanced Projects team walked in, with Trixie in the lead, striding tall and proud and just a trifle smug. Behind her came the others, some of them blinking and looking around dazedly, as if still waking up.

"Luna," Celestia asked gently, "you do know Twilight is nominally in charge of the group, don't you?"

"Actually, Princess..." Twilight put in, "we've been trying out a rotational system, based on the project at hoof. Allowing the pony with the most direct expertise to lead the group."

"Oh?" Celestia's amused smile indicated she wasn't quite snowed by this but was willing to play along, for the sake of sibling amity.

"And in this case," Twilight continued, "I'd say Trixie more than rose to the occasion."

Trixie did so. "Princess?" she asked. "And... Your Highness?" She added a nervous bow in Celestia's direction.

"Trixie Luna Moon," Luna said, "thou and thy friends have done us a great service. Thou have restored not merely our memories, but our confidence in ourself. And our ability to visit the dream realm -- all at one go! A success exceeding even our wildest hopes. So in return, we should wish to grant thee a worthy boon. What should thou like? Name it!"

"Trixie, undecided?" Sunset whispered. "Now there's a first." The other ponies giggled discreetly.

"Which is not to say," Trixie quickly went on, "there aren't plenty of things Trixie would like. It's just, well... too many flavors of ice-cream if you see what I mean?"

"If we might suggest then," Luna said, "Thou hast spoken to us of wanting something thou could be certain of. Somepony who would always be there for thee. Somepony, perhaps, beyond a mere teacher, or a mentor...?"

"Well, Celestia, if thou canst adopt this Mi Amore Cadenza as thy niece, couldst we not do the same for Trixie?"

Trixie stared at Luna, open-mouthed, wide-eyed. And Luna gave her an examining look in return. "Too much, our student?" Luna said gently. "Perhaps thou aspires to something a little... less grand?"

"Well..." Trixie said carefully. "I don't need to be a royal to visit you, right? You will still be my teacher, won't you?"

"Absolutely." Luna nodded. "Thou shalt always be welcome, and acknowledged as our greatest of friends and our most favored of students."

"And, well..." Trixie went on, thinking out loud, "I guess I've kinda gotten used to hanging out with my friends." She turned to look at them, at Starlight, Moondancer, Sunset, Tempest -- even Twilight. And Trixie found that she meant it, every word. My Great and Powerful friends... she thought to herself. "And that might be difficult," she went on, "being royalty, and having to live in the Palace and so on. I mean, I've always been okay with just my wagon. Though it's not really that fixed an abode. In fact, apart from that clear space behind the Advanced Projects tower, I'm never certain where I'll be able to park the darn thing next, and..."

Trixie realized she was blathering and she belatedly slapped a hoof over her mouth. But Luna was smiling mischievously at Celestia.

Celestia nodded. "It would represent an interesting challenge for the Office of Lands and Titles, Sister."

"I believe they do," Celestia agreed. "And I for one should enjoy seeing what they make of this."

Celestia sighed, her eyes twinkling, though with laughter or with tears it was hard to say.

"Very well, then." Luna drew herself up formally. "Trixie Luna Moon! Pending official investiture by the Royal Lands and Titles Office, we shall for the nonce create thee as the Lady Trixie Luna Moon." She gently placed a silver-shod hoof on each of the astonished showpony's shoulders.

"And for thy demesne," Luna went on, "it shall be whatever locale thy wagon happens to reside in, or on."

"Anywhere. Thou shalt be able to park thy wagon wherever thou pleases, and none shall question thee."

"Um..." Starlight murmured thoughtfully. "If Trixie were to park her wagon right here, in the Audience Hall... would Equestria implode?" She glanced around at the others. "What? Just asking."

"Oh! And just so I know, Princess," Trixie went on. "What exactly is it that a Lady does, anyways?"

"Why, whatever she can get away with. I thought thou understood that implicitly." She put out a silver-shod hoof, and gently touched Trixie's cheek. "And we shall always be there for thee, Trixie. Always. Thou shalt never be alone, not ever."

"Never," Luna confirmed. "And this time, Trixie Luna Moon, have no fear... and have no doubt... that we truly mean it."

The End

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and indicia are the property of Hasbro.
No infringement is intended. This story is a work of fan fiction, written by fans for fans of the series.

What Nightmares Fear

by Lets Do This

The Watcher of Shadows