The rising sun's light had shone inside of the Golden Oak Library as the morning had been born anew. The sky was particularly clear, allowing for maximum, burning sunlight during the early hours. It shined on Twilight's closed eyes, allowing her to slowly awaken from a comfortable slumber.
She yawned and got up in bed, stretching exaggeratedly, scratching her back after. She tapped Spike's bed to wake him, which he didn't. Lazy... she thought, rolling her eyes. It was 7 AM, and Twilight totally had important work to do that involved the princesses! How could he not understand such a thing?
She gently shook his bed once more, Spike deciding to wake up this time around.
He rubbed his eyes with his arm, and looked up at Twilight with half-open eyes. "Huh? Twilight? Ugh... Whaddya doing?" He asked.
Twilight began walking downstairs, with Spike stumbling out of bed and following along. "As you probably remember Spike, I was summoned by Princess Celestia a few days ago," He nodded, half-listening. "Turns out, I was to be given an assignment by her. And that assignment was to assist Luna in the dream realm."
Spike's eyes opened up a little more. "You had to help Luna? Feel like she'd be the one to tell you that."
Twilight walked around the room. "Well, you see, Spike... Luna wanted me to help her with her dream duties." She explained, her pacing becoming circular.
Spike's eyes followed her. "Did she say why?" He tilted his head.
Twilight shook her head. "No. Luna and Celestia acted incredibly weird that day... The way they spoke was completely out of their personalities! Celestia kept looking at me with this weird smile too..."
Spike really just wanted to be in bed now, and probably dream about eating gems or something. Maybe about trying to win over Rarity for the 500th time (and failing, to the point where Luna would ignore it if she saw anything going wrong). "They were probably just playing a prank on you, Twilight. I don't see how it's that big of a deal."
"My main concern, Spike, is what Luna did while I was there," Twilight's put her hoof on her chin. "She... drew the dream. She poofed in a piece of paper and a quill, then drew the dream nearly perfectly!"
Now, that grabbed Spike's attention. Most of it. "So, she drew what she saw?" Twilight nodded in response. "Weird. Why would she do that?"
"And what's even more out of the ordinary is she opened a portal. It revealed some room, or closet or something, with stacks of the same paper!"
"And she... placed the drawing in there?" Spike secretly began thinking this was BS, but knowing Twilight, he could never be sure. Ever since Crystalgate, even he has heard of the princess' oddball antics. Through her, that was.
"Yes!" Twilight's eyes widened. It was kind of amazing somepony could be this awake and alert at 7 AM. "And before waking me up, she told me I was 'next', staring into my eyes..." Twilight's circular pacing definitely leaked anxiety.
Spike fell asleep for a brief moment, before waking to his name being called. "Wh- huh- oh, uh... I'm sure she would have told you something if you asked why," Spike looked at the floor for a second. "...unless she avoided that too."
Twilight felt a strike of fear for a split second. Being indirectly reminded of Luna's terrifying "response" to Twilight asking why she drew dreams wasn't very pleasant. "Uh... yeah. She avoided that too." She only responded with that, and no more. The sun had shined brighter into the Library as the morning progressed, only making poor Spike sleepier and Twilight more ready to execute her plans.
"What are you gonna do, Twilight? Do you really think it's as serious as you believe?" Spike asked, now accepting the situation for what it was. He just decided to roll along with her, not wanting to get the Treatment again. That's a long story. It wasn't fun.
"I'm going to go to Luna and squeeze the truth out of her," Twilight replied with much confidence. "She's a good meaning Princess, I'm sure she'll be honest!"
Spike stared with exhausted eyes, blinking. "Wouldn't that have some.. uh.. consequences though?"
Upon hearing that, Twilight shrugged. Her hoofprints began to faintly show themselves on the wood floor. By now, the sun had risen further, nearing its usual daytime summer brightness. "Good point," she replied. "Unfortunately, I don't really care!" She had a comically stupid smile on her face, to which Spike rolled his eyes in response to.
"I feel like you should plan something out before you go, uh.. something just in case this goes wro-" Twilight stopped Spike yet again.
"Nope. Not needed."
"But-"
"No."
A quietness grew around them, and it would have busted the windows if it was able to. Thankfully, no such worries were required. Perhaps, the two would have said something to break it, but, obviously, that didn't occur. It was kind of comforting. And nerve-wracking.
"Well... suit yourself," Spike began to walk back upstairs, the floor creaking under his heavy, tired steps. "I'm goin' back to bed. Good luck with your, er, goal."
And with that, Twilight turned over to the Library's front door, venturing off towards her destination: Ponyville's train station.
The day had progressed towards noon, with the sun reaching its peak height in the blue sky, now becoming dotted with some cumulus clouds. There were several other Unicorns, Earth Ponies, and Pegasi who couldn't be bothered to fly today populating the train's cars. The chugga-chugga of the train's wheels-against-track was monotonous yet calming to listen to. Several instances of a choo-choo was there as well. The greatest duo of all time.
Canterlot had slowly become more visible in the distance, the fog revealing the grand city; somehow still sitting on a mountainside with no landslides or other hazards ever happening to it. It was truly one of the cities of all time. And, of course, the grand castle was the most prominent feature Twilight focused on.
Once the train had finished its journey, Twilight hopped off and didn't waste any time making her way to Luna. She used that time really well - bumping into rich, self-centered ponies (because, again, that's anypony who ever sets hoof in here). Despite all her excuse me's and pardon me's, she didn't make a very welcoming entrance into Equestria's capital.
And, eventually, she reached the castle. Twilight entered inside, the guards smoothly allowing her entry as she was Celestia's very faithful student. In fact, so faithful that she decided to meet Celestia first; to try (and hopefully) make this go by faster. Luna wouldn't be there, though, because Celestia assumed her not having any form of a throne next to her sister was perfectly okay, and not damaging to their relationship.
Twilight entered the throne room as swiftly as she had ran through Canterlot. Celestia quickly straightened her posture from a slouched sitting position.
"Afternoon, Twilight. What brings you here today?" Celestia asked.
Twilight bowed, and panted gently from all that running. "I have arrived simply to ask about Luna, and the assignment I had with her some days ago." Celestia looked confused for a moment. "The one where I went inside the dream realm?"
Celestia perked up, eyes slightly moving around nervously. Secretly, she hoped Twilight would've forgotten about it (despite how dumb of a hope that was). "O-oh, of course! What is it you would like to know? Luna told me everything went well."
Twilight suspected Celestia was hiding... something, but stayed patient. "I suppose, if you call 'drawing dreams and storing them in a secret room' going well. I mean, I didn't get to do anything! I just sat there and watched."
Celestia was silent for an uncomfortable moment. "...drawing dreams?" she inquired.
"Yes. Drawing dreams."
Silence grew. Once more.
"And storing them in a room, huh?"
"Yes, Celestia."
Celestia finally decided to drop the mask she was wearing. She sighed. "Okay, okay. Go ask Luna about it, she's in her room."
Twilight smiled. "Will do. Thank you, princess."
Celestia let out a mumbled uh-huh as Twilight trotted off. "Smartass..." she said under her breath, going back to the lazy position she was in prior to Twilight's arrival.
Twilight politely knocked on the doors to Luna's bedroom, the guards curiously watching her as she's rarely been down here. She slightly opened the door, creaking quite loudly. Lo and behold; Princess Luna was there, assessing a pile of parchment at her desk.
She turned her head, surprised to see Twilight. "Twilight? Strange that you come here, is everything alright?" Luna asked. She used her magic to inconspicuously float the pile of papers behind a bookshelf.
Twilight closed the door behind her, a soft thud being made. "Hi, Luna. Look... I talked to Celestia about the 'assignment' I was given, and she told me to ask you about it." she explained.
Luna didn't budge. "I see. You may ask whatever confuses you."
"What was the purpose of me being there? As I've said before, I did basically nothing."
Luna thought for a second. "Interpret such things as learning experiences, Twilight," She looked back at her desk for a split second, making sure the papers weren't visible. "Sometimes, being assigned to learn is much more important than being assigned to do something. I'm sure you know this."
Twilight wasn't buying it.
"Of course I do, princess; It's a major aspect of educating yourself. But, was that really the point of that whole task? To be honest, I have no idea what I learned."
"It'll come to you."
"It'll come to me that you spy on ponies and draw their dreams for some reason?"
Luna still kept her posture. "That was simply a demonstration, showing you how I go about my duties. Celestia and I just thought you would be interested, is all."
"I guess I understand that, princess," Luna smiled in relief. "I still don't get the whole picture, though. Why were you two behaving so weirdly that day? It just struck me as odd." Her smile dropped to an indifferent look.
"We sisters thought there'd be no issue in that." She turned to her table, sorting items. "It was all part of the plan anyway..." she uttered faintly.
Aha! There we go! Finally, Twilight was right, those stinky princesses were plotting something all along! A lightbulb then sprung up above her head, brightened with a yellow shine. No, seriously, it physically manifested there. Luna observed the bulb for a moment, quite perplexed.
"The plan?" Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
Luna opened her eyes wide at that. Her mind managed a mental uh-oh.
"You didn't hear such things."
"I did."
"You're lying, Twilight."
"Nope!"
Luna shifted uncomfortably in her seat, the warm breeze of the daytime flowing through the open window behind the two. She avoided eye contact with Twilight.
She came closer to Luna, just a tad. "What were you planning to do with those drawings?" A sneaky (and admittedly cute) smirk grew on her face.
"..That's royally classified information," Luna's stare was shooting from her moon-bed on the side, to Twilight, and back. "You'd be... apprehended if you knew."
"Uh-huh. How?" She rubbed her hooves on the floor in growing impatience. A comfy, soft dark-blue rug with intricate designs gently cushioned them.
"Games, unlimited games, but no games."
Twilight's face presented slight bafflement. "Ooooookay. Got it."
...
"Care to inform me as to why you came barging into my room interrogating me, Twilight?" Luna finally questioned after an awkward break. She poofed in a coffee mug, and, yet again, took a comically larger sip from it.
Slurrrrrrrrrrrrrp.
"Well-" Twilight waited for her to finish. "The way you glared at me when I asked why you drew dreams, your 'heads-up' warning to me, the way you acted in general... none of it made sense," In reaction, Luna kept sipping her coffee (it seemed like an unhealthy amount). "And to put it bluntly, Luna, that 'heads-up' felt like you were threatening me."
"You're just overthinking. I meant none of that to be alarming."
"You sounded like Nightmare Moon, Luna..." Twilight pondered in her mind.
And Luna heard it, all while sipping her coffee, still.
"I can hear you." Twilight jumped back a little bit in genuine disbelief at Luna's sudden telepathy. She mustered a word of confusion, but Luna didn't answer with anything meaningful.
"Oh, of course you can read my mind. Wait, I'm able to communicate with you like this too?!" Luna nodded.
"Yes. I allowed you to take advantage of the ability."
"Well, thanks."
The pair were looking at each other, mouths frozen and eyes still, as they transferred mental messages. Luna finished her mug of coffee, and floated it over to Twilight, placing it on her head like a hat.
"If you're not gonna tell me what's going on, I'll make you!" Twilight insisted.
"I'm horrified."
"Ugh!" Twilight stomped her hoof on the carpet. "If you keep avoiding the truth... uh... I'll tell Celestia you hate the cakes shes makes you!" Twilight really hit the nail on the head with that one.
Luna came out of her mind-reading quietness in defeated, begging cries. Oh Celestia, was it overexaggerated...
"NO! PLEASE! DONT INFORM MY SISTER OF THAT, I PROMISE YOU IT WONT END WELL!!" She yelled with powerful effort.
Not only did Twilight feel some sympathy at Luna's reaction, but the guards outside opened the doors, peering inside. Twilight assured everything was alright. No royal interrogation in here.
Twilight struggled saying something that didn't sound... rude. Bit late for that, though. "Only if you just say why you spy on ponie-"
"OKAY, I YIELD! I do it because I want a discount at the Hay Burger in Ponyville! You simply wouldn't understand!"
Twilight found herself opening her mouth with no audible noises exiting her vocal cords. "Wh-what-"
"It is true! They charge me too much! I mean, 15 bits for one burger?"
Twilight just wordlessly agreed with Luna's statement.
Luna sighed. "So," She began, sitting back in her cushioned seat. "Does that answer your question?"
"Yes. Ye-yes, it does." Twilight stared at the floor, her eyes following the intricate carpet embroidery. "Is the apprehension you mentioned earlier gonna bite me later?"
"I made that up."
"Oh- okay. Thank you for clearing this up, Princess."
. . .
Twilight turned and started moving along. "I'll be... going home."
"See you at the Hay Burger on Friday at 4:36 PM!"
Twilight ignored Luna's weird (but at this point normal) goodbye and just closed the bedrooms doors behind her.
By the time she arrived back at her humble abode, Twilight had definitely interacted enough with the sisters today. As for Celestia, she was asleep when Twilight trotted back into the throne room. She didn't think the literal princesses of this kingdom were victims of sleeping on the job, but here we were. Arriving home, she was greeted by a now wide-awake Spike chowing down on a seemingly endless box of gems.
"Oh hey Twilight, how'd it go? Did you get your answers?" He asked, his munching muffling his words.
"I'd uh, I'd say it was a success."
"That's good! What'd Luna say?"
Twilight floated out a book from the shelves, The Science of Stupid Things, sat down by the middle table and began to read it. "You wouldn't understand. Not even I do."
"Well, as long as it's a mission accomplished!" Spike smiled, eating handfuls of those yummy multi-colored gems. It was still a mystery as to why dragons found them so damn tasty.
Twilight looked over at Spike's gem-feasting, but thought nothing of it. She simply kept reading her hilariously long, 657-page book on stupid stuff while pondering Luna's answers.
All of this, all of it, was for a Celestia-damned DISCOUNT?!?!