Even with her mind fully focused within her bastion, Luna could still feel the warmth of the five young ponies nestled under her wing. It had been foal’s play itself to ensure their dreams were bright and joyful. Such happy fantasies were not what held Luna’s attention, though.
Inside an orb of glass, a scene played out, unseen by all except one. Luna’s eyes narrowed as, within the dream, a white mare tenaciously held onto a tattered dress.
The delicate fabric was past saving. But, Rarity tried to smooth it anyway, to patch over the holes, regardless of the inevitable outcome. The repeating pattern of Sweetie Belle's Cutiemark told Luna all she needed to know.
Rarity's elegantly filed horn lit, and she tried again. She stitched frantically as a heavy red liquid seeped from each new rip and tear.
"No. No, no," Rarity wailed as the blood stained her hooves and coat.
It took but the smallest push of Luna’s magic, and then the blood was nought but tree sap, the damage to the fabric far less severe than it appeared.
A soft smile crept onto Luna’s face as that single change, that subtlest of brush strokes had changed everything. Rarity’s tensed facial muscles relaxed from their mask of anguish as the tear tracks vanished, instantly replaced by a well-worn frown of frustration.
A spike of pride stirred in her chest as it always did whenever she helped one of her ponies. Still, this was only a stopgap. Rarity loved her little sister. Luna’s muzzle twisted into a snarl as, for a moment, her eyes saw a very different white mare.
The heat of anger and the frozen ice of long-buried hatred warred inside her. She did nothing, allowing each emotion to play through her, accepting them, embracing them.
Slow breath by slow breath, the turmoil inside her balanced to normality. If only all sisters could care so much… She thought as a single tear made its slow crawl down her face.
Her smile came back, but sardonically. She lifted her wing tip and carefully collected the teardrop. That single drop of liquid was physical proof of her weakness. Her expression hardened, and with a burst of magic, the captured tear was rendered to ice. It floated there like a jewel suspended in her aura. She stared into it, looking for answers she knew it did not hold. What am I doing? She mused as her thoughts settled back into harmony.
She turned her attention back to Rarity’s dream. Sweetie Belle's older sister was content enough, at least for now. “You deserve more from me,” Luna thought aloud as she regarded her work.
Luna glanced away from the dream orb, checking nothing else had a higher call on her time than one of her savours. Insight was out there, floating on the edge of her perception. The bittersweet edge to the connection spoke of another pony that would not have to die alone. She looked up, surveying all the other dream orbs that made the sky of her bastion. Moonlight was still awake. None of her Nightguards called for her. By the colours, there were a dozen ponies that she would need to tend to tonight, but for now, they could wait.
She focused and gazed deep into the orb she held. The distortions and dark colours had faded for the most part, its core blazed with a bright star of ice blue magic, but its light wavered, and a few notes of insidious worry crept in again.
Slipping into Rarity's dream was as easy as breathing for the Night Princess. Luna formed a construct true to life. She stepped into it one leg at a time, stretching slightly, wiggling in to get the fit just right. She lifted a hoof and knocked on the door to Rarity's boutique.
"Comming," only a few seconds later than normal, Rarity called out, her clear ringing voice lacking any hint of emotional turmoil.
Rarity's ice-blue magic opened the door. "Welcome to the…. Oh, Princess Luna." Rarity recovered in an instant. Decorum took over, and she dropped into a perfect bow. "Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, your Highness. How may I be of service?"
“Be at ease, Lady Rarity,” Luna said with her softest smile. "We are here to allay your worries."
With those words spoken, the dream shifted. It was only a tiny change, but Raritiy's expression fell as her eyes found the departing stormship and the Cutiemark Crusader banner that flew below Luna's own.
The white mare took a slow breath. Anger, worry, fear, and so many other things were pushed aside, so when Rarity spoke, her voice had a calm and even tone. If it had been raised in song, it would have been beautiful. Used how it was, it was a blade of frozen ice ready to verbally flay Luna if it would keep Sweetie Belle safe.
“Princess, with all due respect, you are planning on taking my little sister to what, by all accounts, is a…, less than safe local for a Royal visit.”
“While your words ring with truth, they lack insight.” Luna met Rarity's eyes and, still with that soft expression, let the weight of years show through.
Here in the dream, eyes truly were the windows to the soul. The unicorn’s thoughts literally played out within them. Rarity opened her mouth to object, but the first dozen responses that came to her mind were un-lady-like. The next dozen she would never dream of even daring to say to a Princess. The well-forged blade of wits still sat there behind Rarity’s eyes. She hesitated to draw it, but her hoof still lay upon its grip.
Luna resisted the urge to let an amused smirk form, fanged or not, she knew it would defeat the purpose of her intervention here. So instead, she let her expression show the pride she felt for her Little Star. “By my daughter’s side is literally the safest place Sweetie Belle and her friends could ever be.” Luna placed a wing tip to Rarity’s lips, stilling any comment. “Little Star is currently the fifth or sixth most powerful pony in Equestria.”
Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance, Twilight, then maybe Starlight. Rarity's thoughts sounded aloud, completely unnoticed by her. It took Rarity several long seconds to fully process all of what that meant. All the most potent displays of magic Rairty had seen or even heard of those ponies prominently played upon her eyes. The last image was Twilight and Luna standing proudly as they watched Little Star outdo even them.
"Yes, Rarity. As you and the other Beares supported Twilight. Your little sister will be one of those giving my daughter the guidance and strength she needs to become all she can.
The images in Rarity’s eyes shifted to her adventures with the rest of the Element Bears.
“Now, do you desire to see how your sister fared this past day?”
The intensity in Rarity’s eyes was all the answer Luna needed. With a lazy swipe of a wing, the dream changed.