Written by: Darth Cookie & Darthvalgaav
“Long ago there were two sisters who ruled the world of Equestria, and maintained harmony among the ponies. The eldest sister, Princess Celestia, used her magic to raise the sun while her younger sister, Princess Luna, used her magic to raise the moon. With the night came dreams, which was the responsibility of Princess Luna’s son prince Nightsong, but when his mother was banished within the moon the young prince withdrew from the waking world and locked himself away in the Dream Realm.”
“Whoa,” said the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they were currently at Twilight Sparkle’s home listening to her read from one of her old books.
“Wait a minute,” said Scootaloo, a small orange Pegasus. “What does this have to do with cutie marks?”
“Because Nightsong is said to know every little fillies cutie mark,” replied Twilight, “And the dreams he gives helps us realize what we are meant to do.”
“That’s an old mare’s tale,” said Rainbow Dash as she entered Twilight’s library/home. “He’s not real!”
“Isn’t that what every pony said about Princess Luna when she was Nightmare Moon?” smirked Twilight.
“Well…O.K. you were right about her,” confessed Rainbow, “But come on, a single pony that delivers dreams to every pony every single night sounds a little far-fetched to me. I mean if he was real then how come no one has seen him, even after his mother returned?”
“I don’t know,” Twilight admitted, than she smiled proudly. “But I have done plenty of research on him. In fact I wrote a paper on him.” With that Twilight used her magic to summon a scroll from its place on a shelf. The scroll then opened in front of Rainbow so she could read it. Well she could have if she wanted.
“Along with his personal history I was also able to figure out how to get to the dream realm!”
Rainbow ignored the scroll, “That’s all well and good but…” she was cut off by loud wail of soul spitting agony from outside. “Shoot, I forgot why I came here. Twilight Rarity needs your help big time.” Rainbow said with a shadow of humor in her eyes.
“I’m on my way,” said twilight as she her magic placed the scroll down on a small table. A moment later the only ponies occupying the library were the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Girls do you realize what this means?” Apple Bloom asked
“We wasted our time again,” complained scootaloo in defeated tone.
“Nooo,” replied Apple Bloom as she grabbed the scroll with her teeth and unrolled it on the floor. “We now know that there’s a pony who knows what our cutie marks are going to be. Maybe if we ask him nicely he’ll tell us what they are.”
“That’s a great idea!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle.
“But Rainbow Dash said that he’s fake,” said Scootaloo.
“But we should still try,” said Sweetie Belle as she turned to Apple Bloom, who was now reading the scroll, “So how do we find him?” she asked.
“Well,” began Apple Bloom, “According to this here scroll we have to be touching a statue of Nightsong’s mother during twilight.”
“That doesn’t sound hard,” said Sweetie Belle as she looked at Scootaloo. “We can go to the dream realm and back in no time.”
“I guess,” The little Pegasus reluctantly replied, “But when is twilight and where are we going to find a statue of Princess Luna?”
“There is the one in the forest that we go to on Nightmare Night,” said Apple Bloom as she walked over to the book case and started flipping through books. “And we can look-up when twilight begins.”
Scootaloo was still hesitant. She trusted Rainbow Dash’s judgment but the chance of getting her cutie mark was very tempting. “Well, I guess we can give it a try,” she said. And with that all three fillies began to look for the definition of Twilight.
XXX
“I can’t thank you enough Twilight!” exclaimed Rarity, than added dramatically “If you hadn’t come along when you did I would never have been able to be seen in public ever again.”
“It was nothing, just a simple growth spell,” blushed Twilight. The big ‘emergency’ had turned out to be a lot more humorous then serious. Rarity had gone to a new mane stylist who thought she would have looked better with a buzz cut. Sadly for him she didn’t agree and her high pitched complaint left him slightly deaf. Luckily for Rarity Twilight’s growth-spell, the same one that gave Spike a mustache could also be used to regrow ones mane.
“I thought she looked good,” laughed Pinkie Pie as she skipped around Rarity.
“Can we please never mention it ever again. My reputation would be ruined!” Rarity insisted as she glared at Pinkie.
Twilight had invited them back to her place for some herbal tea, but when they walked through the door the library looked like a hurricane had hit. Spike was in the center of the mess trying his best to clean it up. The baby dragon looked up at Twilight and sighed.
“Twilight could you try reading one book at a time?” he asked sounding frustrated.
“But I had nothing to do with this,” she insisted. That’s when she noticed her Night Song scroll. Several books were stacked in piles around the scroll. Slowly a creeping fear began to overtake her. Only a certain few ponies knew about her scroll. Not including the Princess there was Spike, Rainbow Dash, and the-
“Oh no! Apple Bloom and the other girls went to the Everfree Forest!”
XXX
“There it is!” yelled Sweetie Belle. Just ahead in a clearing within the Everfree Forest was a black statue of an amicorn. Her face had been crafted to inspire fear as it portrayed Nightmare Moon on her hind legs with her wings spread. While Princess Luna was no longer like this, it served as a reminder of what had happened a thousand years ago as well as a spot for fillies to offer there candy on Nightmare Night.
“Can we please just get this over with,” complained Scootaloo, she was still doubtful that this would work at all, “It’s starting to get dark.”
“Okay,” said Apple Bloom, “Every pony ready? One, two, two and a half, two and three quarters, three.” The three fillies touched the statue but nothing happened.”Well that’s odd,” said Sweetie Belle, “I thought we timed it right!”
“Well maybe we were too late,” Apple Bloom said with disappointment in her voice, “Or maybe to soooooon!” The Three fillies were suddenly falling. All around them was a sea of stars with nothing above and nothing below. Scootaloo tried her best to stop her friends from falling but her little filly wings weren’t strong enough to support them all, and then… they landed in the front seat of a roller coaster.
“Awesome!” exclaimed Scootaloo.
“What the hay is going on here?” demanded Apple Bloom as she looked over the side of the cart. Below her was empty, starry sky with no tracks or rails to hold that cart in place. Then just as she pulled her head back in, the cart began to move. It went forward for a few yards and then slowly climbed upwards. As it did, safety restraints magically appeared and latched onto the three fillies. Suddenly, without warning, the cart began to descend at alarming speed. The girls screamed as they twisted around small planets made of toys turned around asteroids made of marshmallows, and looped around a gigantic dog house. Scootaloo had her hooves in the air the entire time as she screamed in delight. The ride seemed to go on for hours until it took them to a small flat piece of land big enough to hold maybe thirty ponies. All it had on it was a small make shift hut, a single tree, and grass. The roller coaster cart slowed down and came to a stop at the hut.
“Thank goodness it’s over,” moaned Sweetie Belle as she and the others climbed out. Only Scootaloo looked disappointed when they departed the machine. As soon as they were all out, the cart seemed to melt into ground. “Looks like we’re walking back,” Sweetie Belle sighed with relief.
“Good, I had enough ups and downs to last me a life time,” replied Apple Bloom, “But why did it take us here? And where is this Nightsong fella?”
“Maybe he’s in there,” said Sweetie Belle as she pointed towards the hut. The three friends slowly walked over to it and opened the door. As soon as they did they began to cough as dust was kicked up into the air. Several inches of dust seemed to cover every surface of the hut.
“I can’t believe this,” Scootaloo said stomping her hoof. “We traveled all this way to meet Nightsong and he’s not here. Rainbow Dash was right, Nightsong isn’t real.”
“Funny, I feel real,” said an amused male voice from behind the girls. The fillies gasped in excitement and quickly turned around. But he was not what they had expected, like his mother and his aunt he had both wings and a unicorn horn. His coat was grey and his mane seemed to be made of mist, but he was also all skin and bones, like he hadn’t eaten anything in a long time and there were also massive dark circles around his eyes. On his side was his cutie mark which looked like a cresset moon with a night cap.
“Y-you’re Nightsong?” Stammered Scootaloo. Her checks were flushed with embarrassment.
“That’s right,” came the reply. “Sorry I can’t stay and chat but I have to start gathering dreams for tomorrow night.” With that he began to walk away.
“Wait!” cried Sweetie Belle. “We really need to ask you something important. It’s about our cutie marks!” At that Nightsong stopped and turned around. He looked at them for a moment before he rubbed his eyes with his hoof.
“Look, I’m sure you three came a long way,” he said gently, “But I am really, really busy and I am now really behind.” Then he yawned as his legs began to wobble a bit.
The girls looked at him with concern, “When was the last time you slept?” asked Scootaloo.
“What day is it?”
“Saturday” the trio answered in unison.
“It’s been 94 years,” he said in a dead panned voice. The crusaders stood with their jaws wide open. No sleep for 94 years?! Night Song then turned to walk away.
“Wait a minute,” cried Apple Bloom, “Maybe we can help you.” With a sigh, Nightsong turned back towards them, clearly annoyed.
“I appreciate the offer,” he said calmly. “But I am the only one who can implant the dream. Now, if you will kindly excuse me, I have to gather dream sprites.”
“Well maybe we can do that,” said Scootaloo, at that, Nightsong sat and got into a thinking pose.
“I guess you could,” he muttered. “And I could really use the rest.” He then shook his head. “What am I thinking? There is no way I can let three little fillies do that. It’s simply too much work, and the nightmares are dangerous.”
“But there will be three of us,” said Sweetie Belle. Then in unison, the three fillies said “Pleeease,” as they gave him their best puppy dog eyes and pouts. Nightsong sighed in defeat. No one could resist filly cuteness.
“Very well,” he said. He then lifted his right wing and three glowing creatures came out. They were no bigger than fireflies and they made a humming sound. Two of them were blue but the third was red. “These are dream sprites, I was supposed to put them in you girls tonight but, instead, you showed up here. The blue ones are pleasant dreams while the red ones are nightmares. Now I must warn you, never get bitten by a nightmare.
“The job itself is simple. All you three have to do is gather the dream sprites and bring them back here. They inhabit this entire realm so just pick a place and grab their attention. Personally, I find that humming or light singing to be the best way. The real problem, however, is the amount that we have to collect. I need nineteen billion dreams and thirty-two million nightmares. And I need them tonight.”
Three sets of jaws hit the ground. They needed to collect that many in one day? No wonder Nightsong looked the way he did. He must spend all day running himself ragged just to collect enough dreams for a single day and then he had to do the same thing the next day. He probably didn’t even have time to eat or anything like that.
“I-I think we can manage,” laughed Apple Bloom nervously. The other two gave an uncomfortable chuckle. “But, how are we gonna get around. That rollercoaster is gone and two of us can’t fly!”
“This is the place all dreams come from,” said Nightsong as he got up. “It follows the same rules as dreams do. So if you want to fly then you can.” With that said he began to walk over to his hut and then fell onto his dust covered bed. And as soon as he did he was out cold.
“Ok,” said Apple Bloom. “Sweetie Belle, you can help lure out the dreams with your singing while me and Scootaloo round them up.”
“Actually, I would rather not,” said Sweetie Belle shyly. “How about I help you round them up. I’m sure that Scootaloo would rather do the singing.”
“Alright!” yelled Scootaloo who was clearly excited to have the chance to show off what she believed would be an amazing musical number she had been thinking of since Nightsong told them about how to gather the dreams. The other two quickly ‘shushed’ her as they glanced at the hut. Scootaloo gave an embarrassed laugh. “Sorry, forgot.”
“Well I don’t see a problem with that,” said Apple Bloom. She then walked over to the edge of the land and looked down. The space like scenery seemed to go on forever. “But now we just need to figure out how to get around.”
“Well, Nightsong said that if we want to fly we can,” said Sweetie Belle. She then closed her eyes and began to think of flying. She imagined herself soaring through the clouds like the other Pegasus ponies, but without wing. At first nothing seemed to happen. Then, all of a sudden, she could no longer feel the ground beneath her hooves. Quickly she opened her eyes to see her friends staring at her as she floated several feet in the air.
A short while later the three fillies found themselves at the base of a giant apple tree that was just floating around in space. It was so large that it made the castle in Canterlot seem tiny. But it did seem odd that it grew giant pink apples.
“I wonder if this is where apple or fruit dreams comes from,” wondered Apple Bloom.
“Who cares,” said Scootaloo. “Let’s get to work.” With that, Scootaloo began to sing. Sadly, she was horribly out of tune. Yet as she sang hundreds of red lights began to come out of the giant apple tree. As they did, they began to make a horrible buzzing sound that sounded like a swarm of angry hornets. For a few moments, they did nothing accept circle around the tree until they all stopped.
“I think we should run,” said Apple Bloom after a moment. As soon as she said that the nightmares began to descend upon the three friends.
XXX
“Hurry up y’all,” said Apple Jack. “I’m worried about my little sis.”
“You’re not the only one,” said Rarity as she thought of Sweetie Belle.
Nearly a full day had passed since the Cutie Mark Crusaders had vanished. Naturally as soon as they figured out where the trio had gone they headed out for the statue of Nightmare Moon. But by the time they had gotten there, twilight was over. Hoping that the princess might be of some help, Twilight wrote her a letter explaining the situation and asking for any form of help. She quickly got a reply but it told her not to worry and that the girls would be safe. Now they were all heading towards the statue so they could try again.
“It’s all Twilight’s fault,” continued Rarity.
“What?” said a surprised Twilight. Rarity turned around, walked right up to her, and stared her in the eye.
“If you hadn’t told them that story about Nightsong or shown them that scroll then none of this would have happened,” ragged Rarity. “You should have kept you’re big mouth and dusty old books shut!”
“Hey,” said Rainbow Dash as she got in between the two. “It’s not her fault. I mean, she didn’t tell them to do it or anything like that. They did it all on their own. Besides, up until yesterday you thought Nightsong was fake just like me. If they had told you what they were going to do you would have just laughed it off and told Sweetie Belle to be back in time for bed!”
“I might have believed he was fake,” admitted Rarity, “but I would never have allowed Sweetie Belle or her friends to enter the Everfree Forest at night!”
“Please stop yelling,” added Fluttershy softly. “Arguing won’t help anyone now and I’m sure Twilight didn’t intend for this to happen.”
“Hush y’all,” barked Apple Jack. They all fell silent at the harshness of her tone. Twilight lowered her head. Since Apple Bloom had gone missing the normally cheerful Apple Jack had become slightly short tempered and growled out most of her words. It was clear that she also blamed Twilight as much as Rarity did. Maybe even more. And the fact that she had barely said a word to her made it all the worse. “The faster we get to the statue the faster we can get our girls home!” she said firmly.
“Hey lookie,” said Pinkie Pie as she began to bounce up and down. It was obvious that the current situation had done nothing to dampen her mood. “There’s the statue! There’s the statue!”
“Alright girls,” said Twilight as they all gathered around the statue. “Now all we have to do is touch the statue.” One by one they did as they were told. And after several long moments, nothing happened.
“Come on you stupid statue,” said Rainbow Dash impatiently. “Work alreaaaady!” She had nearly finished her sentence when she and the other ponies began to fall. Almost all of them were screaming except for Pinkie Pie who, for reasons known only to her, was giggling. They seemed to fall for a long time until the landed on…surfboards? In the middle of space?
“Ah Twilight, what in tarnation is going on here?” demanded Apple Jack.
“I’m not sure,” admitted a confused Twilight.
“Cowabunga!” cheered Rainbow Dash as her surf board began to move. She quickly put on some sunglasses and then stood upright. “This is AWESOME!” The other surf boards began to follow Rainbow’s and copy its every move. When she went left they all went left. When she did a nose dive they all did a nose dive.
Fluttershy had her rump in the air with her hooves covering her head and eyes, “Please tell me when it’s over,” she whimpered as she trembled.
“Oh my stars,” cried Rarity as she saw what was coming up on her left. It was a diamond the size of Jupiter or maybe Saturn. And, like Saturn, it had rings as well. But these rings were made of solid gold. Rarity felt a great desire to leave the herd and land on that giant diamond. ‘Sweetie Belle, giant diamond, Sweetie Belle, giant diamond,’ her mind battled with her desires. But she quickly shook her head to get rid of the idea. Sure it looked sooo perfect but how in the world would she be able to move it. Also, she had to find her sister and that took priority.
“Lookie, lookie!”yelled Pinkie as she pointed with her hoof. “A planet made of chocolate chip cookie dough!” And with that her surf board began to move towards what looked like a giant scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough the size of the moon.
“We don’t have time for this,” grumbled Apple Jack as she took off after Pinkie Pie. The pink pony had a good lead on her friend so she landed first. Then, after getting off her surf board, she took a big bite out of the ground…and then spat it out!
“What’s going on here?” cried Pinkie Pie. “It looks like chocolate chip cookie dough. It smells like chocolate chip cookie dough. It feels like chocolate chip cookie dough. But it tastes like mud!” she sniffed with disappointment.
“Pinkie Pie” yelled Apple Jack. “I’ll buy you entire tub chocolate chip cookie dough if you concentrate and help me find Apple Bloom and the others.” She pleaded.
At this, Pinkie jumped back on her board, “What are we waiting for!”
XXX
“I think we really messed up,” said Apple Bloom as she, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all looked out the only window in Nightsong’s hut. Outside, the area was filled with countless red nightmare sprites, all of them bussing angrily. After the giant apple tree the fillies had gone from object to object in this strange place only to get more nightmares. And all of them seemed to be upset by Scootaloo’s singing. Now they were in the only safe place they knew of: Nightsong’s hut.
“This looks like the end,” said Sweetie Belle.
“NOOO!” yelled Apple Bloom. “We’re too young to die. Plus, we haven’t gotten our cutie marks yet!” Just then the window began to crack.
“We’re all gonna die!” wailed Scootaloo. All the girls hug each other tight and began to scream but stopped when they heard a yawn. They turned around and saw that Nightsong was awake and stretching his wings.
“Wow,” he said slowly as he stretched out his back. “That was a nice nap.” He then calmly walked to the door while completely ignoring the three fillies. But when he opened the door and saw all the nightmares he quickly turned his head to look at them. “Who sang to them?”
“I-I did,” stammered Scootaloo. At that, Nightsong raised an eyebrow in confusion. He looked at her, then at Sweetie Belle, and then back to Scootaloo. He looked like he wanted to say something but stopped himself and returned his focus to the problem at hand. Nightsong opened his wings and all the red dream sprites began to swarm into them for several minutes. When it was over, Nightsong’s wings looked like they were glittering red.
“Well at least you got enough,” he said. “Could have gotten some dreams but I guess that’s a decent first try. I just hope Auntie won’t be mad with me.” He then gave them a small smile. “Thanks for the help. After I’m done delivering all of these nightmares I’ll make sure you three get home safely.” With that Nightsong walked out of his hut to the edge of his land. He opened his wings again and flew downwards into the empty space. The three fillies ran over to the edge and saw that Nightsong was nowhere to be seen.
“Apple Bloom!” came a loud voice. The Cutie Mark Crusader’s looked up and saw Apple Jack and the others flying towards them on the surfboards. As soon as they landed Apple Jack galloped straight towards her sister and began to hug her while tears of joy rolled down her cheeks. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again. I was so worried about you.”
“The same goes to you young lady,” said Rarity as she hugged Sweetie Belle. “I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”Then an embarrassed flush came across Rarity’s face as she turned her head to look at Twilight. “I owe you an apology. I never should have blamed you for what happened.”
“You mean we never should have blamed you,” said Apple Jack as she hung her head. “I’m really sorry Twilight.”
“There’s no need to apologize,” said Twilight with a smile, relieved that her friends were no longer mad at her. “I was at least partly to blame. I’m just glad every pony is safe.”
“Alright, enough of this mushy stuff,” said Rainbow Dash. “Let’s get out of here.” She turned around and saw that someone was right behind her. She jumped back, ready to fight.
“It’s ok Rainbow Dash,” said Scootaloo as she and the other two Crusaders walked over to the figure. “This is Nightsong.”
“You’re Prince Nightsong?” asked a shocked Rainbow Dash. When the figure nodded Rainbow fell down laughing. Nightsong’s eye began to twitch as Rainbow rolled on the ground while pointing and laughing at him. Apparently she had been expecting something else.
“Ah, sorry about her,” said Twilight as she stepped around Rainbow. “My name is-”
“Twilight Sparkle,” interrupted Nightsong with a small smile. “Auntie’s most prized pupil whose special talent is magic itself.”
Twilight blinked. “You know who I am?” she asked. Nightsong nodded.
“You have had some of the most amazing dreams,” said Nightsong. “The beautiful libraries in them are simply amazing. I wish I could start the remodeling on mine, but I just haven’t found the time.”
“Hehe, even in her dreams she’s studying,” said Rainbow as she finally calmed down and got up.
“Well it’s nice to meet you and all,” said Rarity as she stepped forward. “But you should have sent the girls home as soon as you realized that they were here. We have been worried sick.”
“But he was tired,” said Sweetie Belle. “All he ever does here is work with no time to sleep. We just wanted to help him out, that’s all.”
“Well it looks like he isn’t eating so well either,” added Apple Jack. She then turned her head to look at Nightsong. “When was the last time you ate anything?”
“It’s been about 85 years,” he said. “Give or take.” Everyone stared at him.
“Ohh you poor dear,” Fluttershy cooed gently.
“How have you stayed alive?” asked Twilight.
“It’s this place,” said Nightsong. “Here, the rules are different. You can’t die here so no matter how long I go without food I will continue to live. The same goes for sleep. Also, as long as you are here you won’t age.”
“Well that just won’t do,” said Apple Jack. “We need to put some food in that belly of yours. Like some nice fresh apples.”
“Or some carrots,” Fluttershy said softly.
“Or chocolate,” said Pinkie Pie.
“What’s chocolate?” asked Nightsong. Pinkie Pie gapped and stared at him in disbelief.
Pinkie’s eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head “W-what’s chocolate?” she repeated. “Why it’s only the greatest, yummiest thing ever to hit a ponies tongue. It goes great in cakes, pies, and cookies!”
“Ah, what are cakes and cookies?” asked Nightsong. Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes and turned her head to look at the others.
“We have to help this guy,” she said in a very serious tune.
“Look,” said Nightsong, “it’s nice that you’re all worried about me but I’m fine.” Just then his stomach rumbled. “And I don’t have the time. I can’t have two days in a row of completely random dreams or nightmares. Today I’ll have to work twice as hard to get every pony their specific dreams.”
“Well then just leave that to us,” said Rainbow Dash. “We can handle anything!”
“I wouldn’t mind helping, if that’s alright,” said Fluttershy.
“We have to get you to Sugarcube Corner,” said Pinkie Pie as she began to jump up and down.
“What he needs are some delicious and nutritious apples from Sweet Apple Acres,” said Apple Jack. “Not junk food.”
“I would like to help as well,” said Rarity. “It might inspire me with this new design I’m working on.”
Nightsong argued with them for awhile but they wouldn’t give in. They said that if he was willing to allow three young fillies to do this then he should have no problems with six mature ponies doing it. In the end Nightsong realized that they wouldn’t change their minds and simply gave in. Besides, all this arguing was putting him farther and farther behind. So he quickly explained to them what he had told the Crusaders. He also produced a check list, a large book, several hundred notebooks, a quill, and a magnifying glass.
“First the book,” he said as he checked his list. “This tome lists the names of every creature in the waking world and what dreams they get. To get a better idea about what the dream is about just put it up to your ear and you’ll get a glimpse of what the dream is about. Once you have done that please write it down in the note book with the ponies name at the very top. Make sure you only write down one pony and one dream per page. There is a map of the Dream Realm in the back of my library. If you need it just keep going until you reach the back.” He paused as he looked at his check list. “Hmm, would it be possible for one of you too freed my fishies while you’re at it?” Fluttershy’s face lit up with joy.
“Oh, I can do that,” said Fluttershy. “What kind are they? Gold fish?”
“They’re my fishies,” said Nightsong who had no idea what kind they were. He had wanted to look them up in one of his books, but had never had the time. He then pulled out a can of fish food and gave it to Fluttershy. “The instructions are on the back.”
“Oh, thank you,” said Fluttershy. “Now what about you? Will you be able to find your way around Ponyville?” Nightsong blinked.
“Ah, where is Ponyville?” he asked. The girls sighed.
“Wow, you really don’t get out much do you,” exclaimed Apple Jack with a light chuckle.
“He’ll never find his way around,” said Rainbow Dash. “Hey, I got an idea. Why don’t you show him around Twilight?”
“Ah, are you sure?” asked Twilight nervously. She had never been a guide before, but she had read on the subject. Also, she was a bit worried about letting the other’s do something this big without her organizational skills.
“Don’t worry about us sugar cube,” said Apple Jack with a reassuring smile. “We can handle this.”
“Alright,” said Twilight. “But how do we get back?” Everyone turned and stared at Nightsong.
“With a leap of faith,” he said. With that his horn began to glow a light grey which surround him, Twilight, and the Crusaders. The four of them began to float and hover over the edge of his land. “It’s really simple. Whenever some pony is falling in their dreams they wake up before they hit the ground. Same basic thing. All you have to do is allow yourself to fall and you’ll be sent back to the real world.” With that, Nightsong ended his magic and the four of them fell.