//------------------------------//
// CH 86.2 Moonlit Reflections 
// Story: Twilight's Nightmare 
// by Nightsclaw 
//------------------------------//





A content smile graced the muzzle of the mare that nestled under Luna's wing. Twilight, sheathed in Candice's flesh, had embraced slumber and, for the first time since her capture, did not retreat to her bastion. No, instead, she willingly cast off her defences and entered Luna's domain. Twilight dreamed at last. If she returned to her bastion, there would be a magenta orb. With Twilight's history, it was an affirmation of the deepest level of trust.

It should have been a perfect moment, and if you looked from the outside, Luna knew that's what any observer would see. What they would see would be true if it was not for one thing. 

One thing haunted her mind despite the tender joys of the past hours. A screaming skull wreathed in crystal, and fire prowled Luna's thoughts. With each heartbeat, that phantom of her Dream Augury stalked closer. 

May it be nought but mine fear. Yet even as she thought it, a part of her knew it to be untrue. She knew not how, why, nor when, only that the moment moved ever closer. Twilight would burn, and like all visions of portent, nothing could change it. 

Silken shadows flowed together as cushions formed under the sleeping mare. Luna cast her senses over Candice's form. Still, not a single sign of soul rot or mana burn. It was a good thing. It provided a refuge if Twilight's flesh was lost. A sigh wanted to escape her, but there was not the air to do so. What will be, will be. What is, is. 

Candice provided a soft pillow as Luna lay her head down, even as she cast her eyes above. Equus hung in this distance, the land far below wrapped in her night, even though it was many hours past the time she would generally declare morning. 

Closed eyes were no hindrance to her senses, and she focused all of them on this moment. The seconds turned into hours, and the hours into seconds. A moment as immortal as Luna herself, treasured until the day her duty was finally over. The moment lasted forever, even as it shifted to be nothing but a memory. 

Even as duty called her to action, she knew it would only be a matter of time before canvas bore a poor imitation of the memory told in pigment and brush strokes. She even knew just where she would display the painting. 

Alas, everything ends... Luna thought as she retreated to her bastion and then from there to the dreams of her ponies, beginning with her most loyal, her chosen.