//------------------------------// // Chapter 5: Faceoff // Story: Luna's Dreamscape Journey // by ugugg93 //------------------------------// Princess Luna hastened her flight onward, for she was a mare on a mission. Her mission: to observe dreams. Just three hours ago, she would never have imagined that she would be doing something as crazy as what she was doing tonight. Just three hours ago, she was up to her ears in boredom as she sat in the throne room residing over the Lunar Court. Just three hours ago, the most entertainment she was able to get out of her night was simply toying with her captain, Vigilant Watch, and even then she was only able to go so far with the stallion before he stopped playing along. After that source was exhausted, there wasn't much to do beyond counting the bricks in the walls. No, she would not go back to that. She was going to experience more “fun” instead. She tilted the leading edges of her wings, and began her steep dive into Ponyville far below. The rows of houses, once simple shapes in the distance, grew larger as she quickly fell from the sky. Faster and faster she dove, until she was nearly forced to shut her eyes from the pain that the biting wind brought upon them. Then—as she had already done once tonight—she quickly pulled up, and began to trade her accumulated speed for altitude. However, instead of letting herself climb all the way back up into the sky, she beat her wings as strongly as possible to reverse her motion, becoming motionless in the sky above the village center. It was honestly a simple maneuver to pull off—even inexperienced pegasi could do it effectively—but it was one that was always a thrill to perform. While the center of Ponyville appeared to be mostly shops and stalls, the area that she was currently hovering over was mostly residential. Every single house appeared the same here—two stories, about six windows on each wall, a chimney, front door, and a short picket fence. Even the small flower pots that hung just outside of many of the windows were the same on every house. This made things a little bit curious—if not slightly awkward—for while there were three houses in front of her, Luna had no way to actually decide on a house other than through randomly picking. After thinking about it for a few seconds, Luna shrugged. “I guess, as my guards put it, 'right is right'.” With that, she dove from her aerial vantage, and with two flaps of her wings, began to make her way to the one guaranteed opening in the house on the right. It was a simple process for her to transform herself into her misty form—especially since she had performed the spell five times already tonight—and dive into the open passage of the chimney. Luna wouldn't lie—she pictured herself wearing a red suit for at least a second. Finally exiting the chimney, Luna remained a mist as she continued hunting down the ponies that lived in the house. Obviously, this was not the room that they would be sleeping in—the couch, chairs, and coffee table sure enough clues of that—and so she began to fly around the house in her quest. A kitchen. A dining room. A foyer. The alicorn passed by all of these, until she finally found a staircase leading up to the second floor. Zipping up the stairs, she darted to the first room to her left, and found what she had been looking for. It was a simple bedroom, with all the furniture and amenities that one would expect out of a typical master bedroom. Luna personally thought that the yellow walls clashed terribly with the red curtains, but she supposed that there were worse options for the ponies to pick. Over to the right, a large loveseat was situated next to a window, giving more than enough space for a loving couple to snuggle up with each other and bask in the radiant sun. To the left, a doorway led to a bathroom—most likely filled with all of the toiletries that the residents would need. And in front of Luna, two mares—one a seafoam green unicorn, and one a yellow earth pony—lay on the bed in blissful slumber. It was a cute thing really, for the two mares were facing each other, and while their bodies were well away from each other, their forelegs were lightly touching. Their manes were messily sprawled out on the pillows, leaving Luna to believe that the two really did not worry about what they looked like around each other in their shared home. Simple blue sheets covered up most of their bodies, but she could just imagine their tails intertwined as their minds carried the lovebirds into blissful dreamland. Princess Luna reformed back into her natural form, and with a small smile, sighed. “Ah, true love. Such a beautiful thing.” As much fun as she imagined staring at the two for the next hour would be, the thought of watching two lovers sleep with each other was not what Luna would consider a reasonable pastime. Sure, she was trespassing, but she had no intention to become a creepy voyeur tonight. Instead, she was more interested with peering into somepony's dream, which was not considered voyeurism in the slightest. That settled, the question was which mind to peer into. Sure, Luna could look into both of their dreams, but there was only so much time that she felt comfortable staying in the room before the likelihood of being caught outweighed the fun—the incident with the red stallion three dreams ago coming to mind. She had picked an earth pony already, so maybe she should pick the unicorn. On the other hoof, the earth pony that she picked was a stallion, so maybe an earth pony mare would be different. Did it really matter? Eventually, Luna settled with going with her guards' infallible 'right is right' method once more. That led the mare to look at the blissfully sleeping unicorn, the small mare lightly smiling in her sleep. With careful steps, Princess Luna brought herself to the side of the bed, right above the sleeping unicorn. For the fifth time that night, she brought the modified Memory Extractor spell to the forefront of her mind—her horn lighting up in response to her will. Slowly, Luna bent down, and with the lightest of touches, tapped her horn against the mare's forehead. “This is horrible!” All around Luna, the screams of panicking ponies filled the air of the village. Obviously, since she had just arrived, she had absolutely no clue what was going on, but from the state of Ponyville, it must have been something very grave. Buildings everywhere were in partial states of ruin, rubble from said buildings were clogging up the streets, and it appeared that every single cart and carriage in Equestria had been brought into the streets, and pushed onto their sides. That wasn't even mentioning that there were injured ponies everywhere as they tried to escape from some mysterious entity. In the thick of it all, Luna was able to catch a glimpse of the dreamer galloping along the road below. As swiftly as she could, the alicorn moved herself directly above the unicorn. From here, she could tell that the dreamer—while obviously running in a desperate attempt to avoid the carnage of the destroyed town around her—had the most determined face she had laid eyes on since she faced off against the equally determined Twilight Sparkle so long ago. Whatever the dreamer was doing was a mystery, but it was apparently something of grave importance. Suddenly, the house just in front of the pair collapsed, sending an entire building's worth of rubble into the street. Hooves skidding along the cobblestone road, the dreamer slowed herself down, but instead of stopping, took a left turn through an alley. Thankfully for the mare, this small alley appeared clear of all rubble, except for the normal trash that a village would accumulate. Faster she ran, until the constant taps of hooves on stone sounded more similar to a drum roll than a pony running down a back alley road. Luna followed as the dreamer took a right, and after another alley—this one thankfully free of debris as well—made her way back to a main road. Instantly, the dreamer ran towards one of the buildings along the road, and with a flash of magic, burst through the door and into the residence. Surprisingly enough, it was quite quiet inside, though Luna could still hear muffled screams and yells for help through the walls of the building. Disregarding the strange muffling effect, she continued to follow as the dreamer—now muttering something under her breath—ran through various rooms, until she came to a small sitting room filled with bookshelves and chairs. The dreamer quickly darted to one of the shelves, and with scrunched brows, began to search the various books for... something. Luna had absolutely no clue what the unicorn was looking for, but it must have been very important for her to have braved the chaos outside for. Maybe it is some kind of spellbook to destroy whatever is causing this destruction. Or maybe it is a survival guide on how to survive a natural disaster. Or maybe— “Ah ha!” the dreamer shouted as she apparently found the tome she was looking for. With a flash of yellow light, she used her magic to pull a book off from one of the top shelves. As quickly as she could, she pulled the book towards her, and set it on the ground. Luna got a little bit closer, so that she could see what in Tartarus' name this book was. An... An Equine's Guide to Bipedal Mammals? Before Luna could question it further, the dreamer lit her magic again, and with a quick flash, the ridiculously named book popped open. The insides of the book now fully visible, the alicorn was surprised to see that this was not an actual book, but some kind of covert storage device, for right where the middle of the pages should've been, there was a bright red button instead. Without a second thought, the dreamer slammed her hoof against the button, and looked back up. A sudden grinding sound pierced the soundless room, forcing Luna to instinctively try and cover her ears—an obviously fruitless endeavor. For a full ten seconds, the grinding sound of metal upon metal shook the room, until the alicorn was sure that her ears would be bleeding if they had physical form. Finally, and thankfully, the harsh sound ended, and after a few seconds, Luna looked back at what had happened. In front of her, the bookcase had slid back on a hinge, revealing a dark stone passageway that led down a series of stairs. Any further than that, Luna wasn't sure, for even her light-sensitive eyes weren't enough to pierce that kind of darkness. Apparently the dreamer didn't care about the darkness, for with a quick light spell, the unicorn began to run down the stairs in front of them. As swiftly and closely as she could, Luna followed the dreamer as the passage went impossibly far into the ground. All the while, the only light that could be seen was the light yellow glow of the mare's horn. Just as Luna had begun to suspect they would never reach the end of the staircase, the passage leveled off and opened up to a truly massive cavern. The dimly lit space itself was colossal in size, dwarfing all but the largest of pony-made buildings. Even her throne room back in Canterlot wasn't as large as this. The drips and trickles of surface water fell from the various stalactites above her, making the eerily quiet space echo with the recognizable sound. Of course, that wasn't the most notable feature of the place. What was truly amazing was the massive amount of technology that was hidden away inside the cave. A massive glass screen to her right filled the entire wall, with buttons at just the perfect height for the dreamer to do... well... something. Luna really didn't have any idea what the device was, but it still looked impressive. Just past that, a series of glass tubes were lined up against the wall, leading in all directions out and through the walls of the cave. Luna suspected that these were used to travel quickly to various places, though she had absolutely no idea where they would take the dreamer, as well as why she would use these instead of a simple teleport spell. Past these things, there were various other things that were still just as wondrous. A table filled with many tools and devices—many dangerous in the right hooves. Just beyond that, a larger glass cylinder sat. Inside, a blue jumpsuit hung. The dreamer galloped over to the suit, and with the press of a button, the transparent material protecting the outfit lifted out of the way. With a flash of magic, the unicorn pulled the jumpsuit off of the rack, and began to don the outfit. With another burst of light, the dreamer reached out with her magic to grasp a belt from the table just behind her, and strapped it around her midsection. It was an interesting outfit to say the least, especially since it actually covered her hind legs, flank, and tail completely, but once it was completely on, it looked strangely... fitting. However, if the way she seemed to be searching for something was any indication, the dreamer's outfit wasn't quite complete. “Mask. Mask. Where's my mask!?” “LYRA HEARTSTRINGS!!” Ah, so that is what the mare's name is—Lyra. Quickly whirling around, Lyra saw the form of a yellow earth pony wearing saddlebags. Even in the scant amount of light in the cavern, Luna could easily tell that the pony was the other pony in the bed outside of the dream. Another thing that Luna could tell was that this earth pony was not happy in the slightest. Scratch that, she looked absolutely pissed about something. From the way Lyra's face contorted, she was a little scared because of this. “Bon Bon!” Lyra shouted as she took a few steps forward, but stopped well before she was reach of her companion. Shifting slightly in her blue jumpsuit, she tried to give off the most genuine smile possible—it failed. “What a surprise to see you down here! I... uhh... I expected you to be upstairs hiding or something.” Ah, so her companion's name is Bon Bon. Curious name. “I WAS upstairs,” Bon Bon said as she took a few threatening steps forward, “but then I was surprised to see you running into the house with that face that I hate so much.” Lyra blinked. “'That face'? What face?” “That 'I’m going to save the world' face that you used to get just before you would put on that ridiculous costume and throw yourself at danger!” “I told you before, it's not a costume. It's a uniform,” Lyra said as she looked down at her clothes. “For all I care, it could be a filly's Nightmare Night outfit!” Bon Bon's voice grew louder with each exchange. This time though, she took a few steps forward—the mare's steps heavy and forceful. “You told me, neigh, you SWORE to me that you retired!” “I know I did!” Lyra—now with a fire in her eyes as well—took a few forceful steps of her own forward. “I know I promised that I was done with all of this, but the city needs me!” “But what about me!?” Bon Bon yelled. The mare stomped her hoof against the rocky ground as hard as she could, then louder than before, she yelled, “I need you!” Suddenly, a light sparkle reflected off of the mare's cheek, and everything became clear to Luna. The apparent anger. The insults thrown at Lyra's uniform. The protective nature that Bon Bon was displaying. Even the way that the mare stomped her hooves—once seemingly an insignificant sign of anger—now became pieces in the grand puzzle that was the mare's heart and soul. She wasn't angry. She was terrified. Thankfully, Lyra had apparently picked up on it as well, for the unicorn instantly ran to her partner, and with a driving force, passionately embraced her. Instantly Bon Bon returned the embrace, and together, the two mares fell to a sitting position. Despite all the signs otherwise, there were no tears. Instead, the two just sat there, sharing the warmth and love that they had for each other—both most likely dreading the moment that they would be forced to release the embrace. Sadly, that moment came to pass, and with grim resolve showing on both of their faces, the two parted. A few seconds passed as the two mares looked at each other, communicating on a level that Luna would never be able to understand. Never breaking her gaze with her love, Lyra's horn ignited with a bright glow, bringing over some kind of mechanical device. The device looked like some kind of weird gray box thing with a button encased in a glass shield to prevent an accidental push. “When I am done today, press this button. When you do, the entire cave will enter lockdown, sealing itself off from the outside world, and then open a floodgate to Saddle Lake to flood this place forever. That way, nopony—not even myself—will be able to get in here ever again.” Bon Bon didn't take the device. Instead, she just looked at Lyra with the most curious face. Confusion? Interest? A slight bit of despair? Luna couldn't tell either which way. It apparently didn't matter to Lyra either, for the unicorn used her magic to put the device into one of the mare's saddlebags. A few seconds passed before the earth pony finally snapped out of her daze. A small smile now formed on the mare's face, she reached her mouth into the other saddlebag, and after a few seconds of searching, finally pulled out what looked like a bright yellow helmet with a black facemask. Slowly, Bon Bon took the half cloth half metal headpiece with her forehooves, and after a little bit of fumbling, was able to get it comfortably onto the unicorn. The earth pony pulled the mask down, until only the mare's lips and chin were exposed. Even the unicorn's horn was covered by a thin black veil. Suddenly, Bon Bon leaned forward, and with closed eyes, pressed her lips against Lyra's. At first, Lyra's eyes were wide in shock at what her partner had just done, but after only a second or two, the unicorn closed her eyes, and leaned into the kiss. Together, for what felt like a full minute, the two stayed in their embrace. As for Luna, she averted her gaze—something like this was a little too intimate for the alicorn to feel comfortable watching. Finally, the soft voice of Bon Bon brought Luna's attention back to the pair. “Go get 'em, Tiger.” Princess Luna once more watching the pair, she observed as Lyra nodded—her mask already pulled all the way down by Bon Bon's loving hooves—and with a quick turn, the unicorn galloped towards the many tubes along the wall behind her. Realizing that her “ride” was about to leave her, Luna flew over to the tubes as well, and after Lyra got into one, she joined the unicorn in the glass container. Checking over her suit one last time, the unicorn took one last look at the mare outside the tube before the glass lowered, secured itself, and with a powerful burst of air, sent the pair upward. Luna had no idea how this was happening, but apparently the same forces that were pushing Lyra through the tube were pushing her through it as well. The blast of air forcing the two through twists and turns, their bodies speeding far along the line, until Luna was sure that they must have been beyond the borders of Equestria itself. The intensity of the shifting motions was bringing back that body-wide nauseous feeling that Luna had felt so intensely three dreams ago. Without warning, the pair were violently flung from the exit of the tube, the force literally throwing the pair into the air. With the light of the sun burning spots into Luna's eyes, she gently stopped herself from falling, and merely began floating in the air above the empty alleyway below. Lyra on the other hoof was launched high into the air, did a backflip, then landed back onto the ground. Without skipping a beat, she dashed off into the streets of Ponyville. Taking an extra second to get over the terrifying ordeal, Luna quickly began flying after Lyra. Finding herself in a street, she saw that the unicorn was running through the debris-filled road. She looked upon Lyra, and was surprised by the agility that the unicorn possessed, for several times the mare found herself in front of a roadblock of carriages, and each time she got past each with a few quick flips and jumps. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that it was obviously not the case, Luna would've assumed that the dreamer was actually a pegasus in disguise. Suddenly, there was a yell from Luna's left. “Look! Over there!” A yell to her right. “Is that who I think it is!” “Yes! It's our heroine!” With a final flip, the masked mare landed on her hooves—a jet black cape billowing in the wind—and looked up in front of her. Luna herself was absolutely stunned at what she saw in front of her. A loud and massive metal machine that was shaped like a large carriage sat before her. Six large wheels made it obvious that the entire device was mobile, the number of wheels suggesting that the machine's weight was as high as it appeared. Atop the device, ten small cannons—none larger than double Luna's hoof in width—were affixed, all pointing towards the front of the vehicle. With the way that the metal plates were attached to the side of the machine by dozens upon dozens of rivets haphazardly attaching the sheets of metal, it appeared that this thing was created by somewhat amateurish hooves. Atop the entire machine, seated behind the cannons, sat a single earth pony stallion. Strangely enough, while he was wearing a small black mask over his eyes, that was literally the only thing keeping his identity secret. His mane was completely unconcealed, leaving the straw colored hair to blow in the soft wind of the village. His coat was exposed, leaving the light gray hairs to narrow down the options on who this actually was to a very scant few ponies. Of course, even more strange was where exactly the stallion was sitting. Is... is he sitting in a massive jar of... of... jelly? The stallion looked closely at the mare in front of him, and with a slight smile, turned off his machine. Leaning forward slightly, he rested his weight on top of his forelegs on the lip of the jar, and smiled. “Well, well, well. And here I heard that you had retired.” Lyra pointed her hoof at the stallion. “And I heard you were stupid! I guess only one of us is correct, Jar-Jammer!” A light chuckle emanated from deep within Jar-Jammer's throat. After a few seconds, he said, “Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure to rectify that today, Handymare!” Without any additional warning, Jar-Jammer turned his machine back on, and with the press of a button, one of the cannons launched a projectile towards Handymare—the object arcing through the air. Without a second's hesitation, the masked unicorn ignited her horn, and after a brief delay, a pair of sparkling yellow hands appeared around the projectile. These hands began slowing down the bullet, until Luna was able to see what it actually was. A jar of jelly? I am honestly not surprised. Without any visible effort on Lyra's part, she willed the magical hands to twist, and after only a slight shift of the unicorn's head, the lid popped off. Luna was surprised that when this happened, the jar simply disappeared into thin air with no force explaining how or why this happened. Jar-Jammer didn't seem to be phased by this at all. “Ah, so I see you still have your hand powers honed to a point.” Handymare brushed a little bit of dust off of her shoulder. “Either that, or you just stink.” “Brash and cocky as usual!” the villain shouted as he pressed a series of buttons. “It's time that I stopped toying with you. Feel the wrath of my powerful Jar Javelin!” What is with this stallion and alliterations? As soon as the stallion pressed the final button, all the cannons atop the vehicle came to life. Instead of focusing all of their sights on Handymare, the weapons spread out their targets in an attempt to make stopping them all as difficult as possible. A loud and maniacal laugh pierced through the otherwise quiet street, and with a heavy hoof, Jar-Jammer slammed his forehoof against the console in front of him, activating all of the cannons. All ten of the cannons began to fire in various directions as the machine unleashed its power against all of the nearby bystanders. Soon, there were at least fifty jars in the air that quickly began to fall towards the ground, each containing enough gelatinous power to leave a dozen ponies sticky for at least a month. Heaven forbid if more than one were to hit a pony—the mare or stallion would be forced to shave his or her entire coat off! Throwing herself into action, Handymare's horn lit up with power, and she began to summon legions of hands to unscrew the horrific jars. As quickly as she could, the masked mare began the terrifyingly treacherous ordeal of attempting to open every single jar of jelly in the air. For Luna, it was a sight to see—the bright yellow glow of over a hundred hands darting around in the air as they went about their business. More and more jars were unscrewed, yet more and more were fired out of iron cannons atop the machine. The entire time, Jar-Jammer laughed. It suddenly became clear that, with her present strategy, Handymare would not be able to unscrew every single jar in time. She must have realized this as well, for she intensified her magic further, and even more hands were summoned. These were not meant for unscrewing. Instead, these hands had only one task—to cradle the jars in an attempt to slow their fall. For her part, Handymare appeared to be succeeding in her objective, for the jars were now being opened at a reasonable pace, and were no longer threatening to slam into the ground. However, it was painfully obvious that the mare couldn't take this sort of onslaught forever. While she was keeping up with the hundreds upon hundreds of jars, the rate that her magic was pouring out of her horn was astronomical, and there was absolutely no way that any unicorn—not even the most gifted—could hold out for much longer. Excess magical energy spilled out of the mare's horn as it discharged, a common symptom of overusing magic. Luna had observed this scene enough times to realize that unless something changed, and soon, Handymare was finished. And then, just like that, the jars stopped. Whether it was because Jar-Jammer gave up or because he had run out of ammunition was uncertain, but what was certain was that Handymare had won this round of the fight. A few more twists later, and she released her spells—the mare barely able to stay on her hooves after exerting so much of her energy. As Handymare heavily panted, Jar-Jammer flipped open a protective casing, showing a massive red button. “I didn't want to do this!” he yelled as he lifted his sticky forehoof into the air. “However, you've forced my hoof!” With that, he slammed his hoof onto the button. As soon as he pressed the button, the machine began to transform. Large struts appeared from the sides of the vehicle, planted themselves into the ground, and gave the machine that much more support and stability. The ten cannons on the top of the machine folded up onto themselves, then retracted into the body of the machine. There was a deep rumbling in the ground as several metal plates began to pull themselves out of the top of the machine, and began to assemble themselves together into a much larger device. Luna couldn't tell what it was at first, but after a few seconds of the sheets of metal attaching themselves to each other, it quickly became clear what had just been built. A jar cannon the size of a house. “Now, Handymare,” Jar-Jammer shouted as an insanely large jar was loaded into the barrel, “it is time for you to become sticky!” It was then that the weapon fired, sending the massive jar sailing through the air. Handymare—after muttering a quick prayer to both of the princesses—spread her stance slightly, and once again lit up her horn. In front of the jar, two of the largest hands that have ever existed in all of history appeared, and braced themselves to take on the massive projectile. A second later, and the jar slammed into the hands, sending both the magical appendages and Handymare skidding back from recoil. Once the jar was stabilized, the two sparkling hands wrapped themselves around the jar, and with the power of several dragons, twisted. However, something was wrong. Instead of opening like all the others, the lid didn't budge. Handymare threw more power into her hand spell, but the lid continued to remain shut. A yell pierced through the air. “Oh my Celestia! The lid! It's cross-threaded!” “What!?” “We're doomed! Doomed!” All the ponies that had previously been watching passively once again began to run in every direction, in a useless attempt to escape from the sticky fate that would soon befall them all. Handymare never gave up though, and with a loud grunt, poured as much of her magic into the pair of hands as she could. If she was exerting a lot of energy before, the masked mare was taxed to the absolute limit now. More and more power was channeled through the mare's horn, and as the massive jar of jelly fell to earth, all looked hopeless. Without warning, there was a sudden pop, and the threads aligned themselves properly. Just as the jar was about to hit the ground, Handymare twisted her head slightly, and opened the massive container—the projectile winking out of existence shortly afterward. Across from the heroine, a flabbergasted Jar-Jammer blinked slowly. “But... but... that's impossible! There's no way you could've opened that jar!” “Would you just... just...” Handymare closed her eyes for a second as she got her balance back. “...would you just put a lid on it already?” As if that was their cue to come out, several guardponies came out of the various alleys and debris all around the battlefield. Quickly, the twenty or so guards ran up to the machine, and with justice in their eyes, made their way to Jar-Jammer. At first, the stallion attempted to get away, but once he realized that he was completely surrounded and didn't have any more jars to throw—not to mention that he was stuck in a jar himself—he resigned himself to his fate. Cuffs slapped onto the stallions sticky forehooves, and one of the guards swiped away the mask covering the villain's face. There was a gasp from the crowd, before one of the bystanders yelled, “It's Hugh Jelly!” Sighing to herself, Handymare whispered, “I don't know how, but I always knew it was him...” She tried to take a step, but the amount of energy she had just poured into her spells was too much, so with wobbly hooves, she fell to the ground. Groaning to herself, Handymare attempted to roll herself onto her hooves, but was met with failure. Softly and helplessly, the unicorn chuckled to herself as she closed her eyes, yet remained silent otherwise. Almost a full minute passed with the mare on the ground, yet for whatever reason, none of the ponies around came over to help. It was then that one pony—a yellow earth pony to be exact—pushed her way through the crowd, and skidded to a stop alongside the spent unicorn. Luna made sure that she floated close so that she could hear Bon Bon's whispers. “Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings. Are you alright?” Coughing lightly, Lyra turned slightly, so that she was looking right into Bon Bon's eyes. “Bon Bon? What are you doing here?” A smile making its way upon her face, Bon Bon began to nudge her snout against Lyra's back. “Apparently getting you back up onto your hooves.” Groaning slightly, Lyra once again made an effort to get herself back onto her hooves. However, this time—her partner helping her the entire time—Lyra was able to roll herself over and get her hooves underneath her body. Slowly, the unicorn lifted her body off of the ground, and with a slight wobble, she stood back up on her four hooves. Granted Bon Bon instantly took to her side—Lyra welcoming the warm body to lean on—but the unicorn was standing. It was only then that Luna realized that the crowd around them was screaming and hollering in excitement and joy over Handymare's victory. Lyra must have noticed this as well, for as soon as she was situated properly against the earth pony to her right, she raised her foreleg into the air, and waved. “So,” Lyra said as she continued to acknowledge the crowd. “Are you going to press the button?” For a few seconds, Bon Bon was silent. Eventually though, the mare replied as a wide smile formed on her face. “Maybe... or maybe you need a partner help you. A sidekick if you will. I think the name Phalange Filly sounds pretty catchy. Don't you think?” Lyra didn't say anything in response. Instead, she merely leaned over, and kissed the mare on the cheek. Luna removed her horn from Lyra's head, and with a smile, gazed at the mare. Since the alicorn had entered the mare's dream, one of the two ponies had snuggled up closer to the other, and with a giant smile, they had unconsciously embraced. It was the most heartwarming thing to see the two ponies so much in love, that even their unconscious minds couldn't stand being apart. Looking down slightly, Luna saw that at some point while Luna was in the dream, the sheets had been bucked off of the two, leaving them bundled up at the hoof of the bed. While before the dream experience, Luna could only imagine what the pair looked like below the sheets, now she could see that indeed the very tips of their tails were intertwined with each other. Smiling wider now, she lit her horn, and with a light bit of magic, took the sheets in her grasp and pulled them back over the pair. Silently, as to make sure that neither mare was rudely awoken by her intrusion, Luna shifted back into her mist-form, and made her way out of the room. It only took a few seconds for the mare to make her way back down the stairs, into the living room, up the chimney, and back out into the crisp air of the night.