//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Late night sleep // Story: Shadows of the past // by WritersShadow //------------------------------// Shadows of the past Chapter 3: Late night sleep --- “I... I did it! I DID IT!” Twilight jumped up into the air. “Impressive. Very, very impressive. Now I know why my sister took you as her private pupil. You are really fast-learning.” Luna said. She never saw anything like this. It was incredible how fast she managed to use a completely new kind of magic. She herself had needed two weeks to master pegasus-magic. Celestia had needed five weeks. And Twilight had managed to do it in only one hour. After a few jumps, Twilight began so waver. A second later, she lost her balance and was about to fall to the ground. “Whoa hey!” Luna caught her, folding her wings around the little alicorn. Her eyes were closed. There was still a big smile on her face, but seemingly she just fell asleep. “Of course... She's really exhausted. Celestia, we should find someplace to sleep for her. Maybe...” Luna turned her head to the place Celestia stood a few seconds ago. But she was gone. “Celestia?” “I'm over here.” Celestia answered with a dull tone. She stood in the middle of the room. “How did you get there?” Luna was confused. She thought Twilight was the only pony that mastered the teleportation-spell to the extend where one can use it without the flash appearing. “Have you finally perfected you teleportation-skills? It was about time!” Luna smiled. Celestia just stared at her. “Shocked about Twilight?” “She... she is exhausted?” Celestia asked with lots of confusion in her voice. “Well, of course she is! It's impressive what she is able to do, but still, she's only one pony. All this finally got to her. And now she had to cast one of the most difficult spells existing. I think she really should get some sleep. But you were right. She really surprised me.” “Exhausted...” Celestia mumbled. “Is anything wrong?” Luna was concerned about the strange behavior of her sister. “...No. Everything is fine.” Celestia smiled. This was her first smile of the day that felt true to Luna. “Now, could you please help me a little bit? I can't hold her all night.” Celestia just looked at her and Twilight. Her eyes felt warm and calm. It was strange, but Luna had never seen Celestia like this. It felt like she was just really happy. It felt as good as it was strange to Luna. In the past, Celestia was always concerned about anything. But right now, there was just this warm aura around her, filling the room. --- “He was wrong. Twilight isn't the one. The spell exhausted her. She is not the heir of this terrible destiny.” Celestias thoughts filled her with joy. Twilight was only an alicorn. She wouldn't become a goddess. She wouldn't need to abandon her friends to protect them from herself. She wouldn't have to bear the destiny of Equestria alone. “Celestia! Seriously, we should finally stop standing here and find a place for her to rest. She can't stay here. The guards would wake her too soon. She will probably need more than just a few hours of sleep.” Lunas voice was soft and quiet. She didn't want to wake Twilight. She had just done something great. She really deserved the sleep. “You are right. Can you take her to the guest-rooms? I will go and tell her friends that she's alright. They're probably waiting for her.” Luna nodded and lifted Twilight onto her back. She slowly walked out of the room. As she reached the door, Celestia opened her mouth again. “And Luna?” Luna turned her head too look at Celestia. “Yes, sister?” “Please watch over her dreams.” Lunas smile widened. She left the room. “She isn't the one...” Celestia whispered to herself. “But what about those seals?” The voices in her head had awakened. “And what about this strange magical power?” “Are you sure he's wrong?” “What if he's not?” “What if she's the one?” “What if she will kill... me?” Those voices came with terrible migraine. Celestia bent down, putting both her front hooves on her head as if she tried to suppress herself. “Shut up...” she whispered to herself, yet, uncertain and weak. “You know he's right, Celestia!” “She will find out one day!” “Your past won't let us go!” “You will die!” “SHUT UP!” she yelled at herself. The voices were gone at an instant. But still, it felt like something was inside of her head. Something that was not a part of her. If felt like there was a stranger in her mind. “What has he done to me? What is this?” she asked herself. She walked onto the balcony and looked at the moon that had just risen. She closed her eyes to feel how her thoughts calmed. It was silent. The night had finally risen. --- “Where is she? She's gone one and a half our already!” Rainbow Dash was never known for her patience. But waiting for so long wasn't only making her nervous. “Seemingly she hasn't heard of beauty-sleep. I need to go to bed or I'll get hideous wrinkles!” Rarity whined. “At least the moon has risen. That means there's nothin' bad happenin'.” Applejack said. “Look! There she is!” Pinkie Pie squealed. They all turned their heads and looked into the corridor Pinkie pointed out. It was empty. “Pinkie Pie! There is nopony!” Rainbow Dash was furious. “You'll see! Just wait for it...” They all twisted their eyes. Pinkie Pie was just being random... again. But then, suddenly, a deep blue pony with a floaty mane appeared in the corridor. She was carrying something. “See?” Pinkie said. “Pinkie Pie! That's just princess Luna! What makes you think that Twilight...” Rainbow stopped mid sentence as the thing Luna was carrying spread its wings just to fold them again. They all panicked. What happened? Why was Luna carrying Twilight? And why did this take so long? They all broke into gallop, running towards Luna. She, however, didn't notice them and just went on, leaving the corridor through another door. “Where is she going?” Fluttershy asked. “I don't know, but we simply must ask her what happened.” Rarity said. They galloped faster. Applejack was the first to reach the door. “Twilight! Princess Luna! Wait!” Luna stopped, turned her head and looked right into Applejacks eyes. At the same moment, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash arrived the door. She looked very confused. “Hello everypony... could you please lower your voice?” “What?!?!” Pinkie Pie yelled. It echoed trough the hallway. Luna lifted one of her eyebrows. “Please, just calm down and be quiet!” Luna said as the other five ponies slowly approached. “What happened? Why are you carrying Twilight? And why isn't she answering? And why didn't you rise the moon earlier?” Rainbow Dash said with concerned voice. “Seemingly, Celestia missed to tell them. She wasn't herself today...” Luna thought. “Firstly: She isn't answering because she is asleep. So please try not to wake her.” “Asleep?” the five ponies asked as if they were just one. “Yes, asleep. Secondly, I didn't let the moon rise. It was Twilight, which may answer all the other questions.” Their mouths opened and stayed open wide. Luna giggled a little. “This was exactly Celestias reaction.” Luna said. “...without this silly look on her face.” she thought. “This still doesn't really explain what happened, your highness.” Rarity was the first to talk again. “You are right. This doesn't really explain anything. Well, Celestia and I decided to lengthen the day to literally highlight how special it is.” Luna said. “Awesome! Can you do this when I become a wonderbolt, too?” Rainbow Dash was amazed. Luna didn't know what to answer. A 'No' would probably hurt her, but becoming a wonderbolt wasn't even near to becoming a princess in matter of significance. And it wasn't even planned for Twilights coronation. Fortunately, Rarity said something before Luna thought something up. “Rainbow Dash! You just interrupted the princess! And it is not important what will happen one day. Right now, we are here because we want to know what happened with Twilight!” Luna was incredibly happy Rarity had jumped in. “However...” she went on, “we also used the sun and the moon to introduce her into a new kind of magic she just gained. But, because this magic is really hard to master, it exhausted her. So much that she fell asleep right after she was done.” “That explains why she isn't answering. But it still doesn't explain why you are carrying her.” Applejack looked at her even more confused than before. “Well I wanted to bring her to the guest-rooms of the castle so she can get some sleep.” “That's not what I mean. Why are you carrying her and not one of Celestias or your guards?” --- “Why am I carrying her?” Luna walked down the corridor to the guest-rooms. She had told the others that there was no guard at hand. A lie. She had told them that there was nothing strange about it. Another lie. It was strange. Luna usually avoided too much physical contact to other ponies. After a thousand years on the moon, not very surprising. She was used to the void, used to being alone. But, right now, she carried Twilight trough half the castle, voluntary. When she picked her up, if just felt like she had to do it. She felt very close to Twilight. But in fact, she had only met her a few times. “Why not one of my guards?” The time after she was restored by the Elements of Harmony she preferred to do everything through her guards. She had to come over the emotions first. She had to deal with all the pain still inside of her. But she completely forgot about her guards when she walked out of the room. Her faithful guards, who had stayed with her all the time and who had endured her strange manners. The guards she usually would've called to carry Twilight. Caught in her thoughts, she almost missed the door to the castles guest-rooms. As she passed the door, a sudden clatter ripped her out of her mind back into the real world. “Princess Luna! We haven't expected your arrival so soon. We thought you might take a few more minutes...” A pony in a white uniform went out of the door straight towards Luna. It was one of the several maids working inside of the castle. “A guard of your highness just told us you would bring somepony here to sleep and we had no made bed for our guest. So we had to quickly make one and we are not done yet. Besides, who is the guest and where is he?” Considering the way the maid talked to her, Luna could tell she was new. The old maids preferred not to ask the inhabitants of the castle anything and only talked if they were asked to do so. Well, this were the experiences Luna made with them. Maybe they were just afraid to talk to the pony formerly known as Nightmare Moon. “Well, out guest is right here with me.” Luna answered as started to walk into the guest-room. “Where? I can't see...” the maid froze at the moment Luna passed her. “Is this... Why are... What in...” The reaction of the mare spoke for the her confusion. But Luna didn't care. She just walked on into the guest-room. In there were 2 other maids. They bent down as Luna had passed the door. “Your highness.” both of them said as if they practiced it. “You can leave now.” Luna said. “But we are not done yet!” the maid in Lunas back objected. “She in fact is new...” Luna whispered as the two other maids left. They said something to the younger one Luna couldn't understand. Then the door behind Luna closed. Luna started finishing what the maids had begun. First, she added a few more pillows to the half-made bed. Then she used some blankets to cover the pillows and the mattress. It looked kinda messy. The maids probably had more practice in making beds. But Luna knew how Twilight used to sleep from her visit at Ponyville last Nightmare Night. And Twilights bed wasn't less messy when Luna saw it. She levitated the little Alicorn above the bed and wrapped another blanket around her before slowly lowered her onto the bed. There she lay, a ball of feathers, fur and blankets on pillows and more blankets. For some reason, it felt familiar to Luna, this inexpressible feeling of relief and peace. It felt as if she already experienced this feeling she had right now. But it was impossible. She could only remember pain, anger and hatred in her past. She could only remember how she hurt ponies, only remember how she became Nightmare Moon, only remember a millennium alone on the moon... --- “Awesome...” Rainbow Dash was the first to speak after they had met Luna. It was a shocking revelation that Twilight was able to raise sun and moon now. After all, this was something very special only Celestia and Luna had done yet. Of course all of them knew her friend was something special, but this was beyond their imagination. “What do you mean, dear?” Rarity had also found her words again. “That Twilight has raised the moon, that we all just became royal guards or this lovely banquet?” It was not only overwhelming to Twilight what had happened today. This day probably would change all of their lives forever. All of her friends were already agitated when they saw Twilights concerns about Celestia. It had just gotten worse since then. “All of it... Well, except for this boring banquet.” Rainbow Dash answered. “You know what I said when Twilight got her wings?” “Yes! You said 'Awesome! A new flying buddy!' And I was like 'Alicorn Party!' And Rarity was like 'You've become an alicorn!'” Pinkie Pie said. Her emotional state was just as random as she was. A few seconds ago she was too shocked to say a word. And now, she didn't stop talking... again. “And Applejack was like...” “I think we all got what you wanna tell us, sugarcube.” Applejack interrupted her. “I think I didn't get what actually happened... I thought nothing would happen. Well, except for Twilight flying around. But this will change everything forever. Things will never be the same again...” Rainbow Dash said. It was unlike her to be so serious, but her words mirrored what everyone of them was thinking right now. Everything was going to change. Only the future could tell whether it was to the better or the worse... “Come on, Dashie! Nothing has changed. Twilight is still the same pony we know, we are all still who we used to be and Equestria hasn't changed after all, too. How could things never be the same again if things never changed?” This was such a Pinkie-thing to say. But now, that Pinkie had said it, it seemed to be right. It was such a Twilight-thing to freak out for worries she made herself, like she did when she stood there and was waiting for Luna. It was a Rainbow-Dash-thing to suddenly get serious under stress and it was a Rarity-thing to be dazzled by the high-society of Canterlot. It was a Fluttershy-thing to stay in the background and only speak in crowds if she was either really worried or really stressed and it was a Applejack-thing to calm everypony down if they needed it. And Pinkie Pie was just being Pinkie Pie, there was nothing that could ever change her. None of them had changed after all. It was a relief to realize this. Maybe there were not so many things going to change. But then, Rarity and Applejack both realized one giant problem. “Where are we going to sleep?!” they both exclaimed at the same time. It was planned that they would return to Ponyville after the banquet. Twilight had to stay in Canterlot a few days anyways because of lots of things. But it was way too late for them to return to Ponyville now. The last train had left Canterlot hours ago. “Maybe we should ask the princess where to sleep. What do you think Fluttershy?” Rainbow Dash said, trying to involve Fluttershy into their dialogue. “Well uhm... We could ask her... I guess...” she said with her normal voice. Well, it was more of a whispering but Fluttershys voice almost always was a whispering. They all turned to walk. --- “Why can't I remember it?” Luna walked down the corridor to her rooms. This image of Twilight on the bed had awakened something in her. She knew, there had to be more than pain and hatred in her past, but she couldn't remember it. She knew, there was something the calmed her thoughts and gave her peace, even after she had returned from the moon. Sure, the fear of all the other ponies had hurt her and she felt lonely especially when she was with Celestia. It felt like she was being overshadowed again, like she was a thousand years ago. But there was something that helped her to take it, something that feared the loneliness away and helped her to see Equestria as the beautiful land it had become in her absence. It made her sad that she couldn't remember it... “What is it?” There was something all the time. It was something that made her want to be loved, though she only sought hate in her past. Something that made her want to change for the acceptance of those who feared her like if she was still a monster. Something that made her feel as if she already knew this bright world she had awoken in. It felt like the first light of the dawn after a long nightmare. And Luna couldn't remember what it was... She opened the blue doors to her rooms and walked in. Something felt different from normal. It felt wrong, as if she walked into the wrong toilet. But she was sure, this was her room. There was the carpet with the pale-white crescent moon on it, her round bed, the ceiling with a night sky out of diamonds... But still, this felt like another ones room. But why? She walked towards her bed as the doors behind her closed. She turned and looked at the now closed doors. She smiled. “How do those ponies manage to get along with me?” she whispered to herself. She knew, her guards never left her for a second. But she saw them very rarely. Sometimes it was like her guards were able to melt into shadows. “Shadows... They're always like shadows. I really need to thank the... SHADOWS?!” One of the shadows in her room began to move. It moved towards her. Her eyes widened. This was strange. She didn't remember entering someponys dreams. But this had to be a dream, shadows couldn't move on their own. And those who could would feel like a magical flare. But this one was a normal shadow. “Ok, in which ponies dreams am I?” she asked herself as she tried to remember casting her dreamspell. “This is no dream, Luna. And I am incredibly happy it is not a dream.” a voice answered. Lunas pupils constricted. There was no way a dream could interact with her! Only the dreaming pony could do so. But there was no pony dreaming. She only knew one spell that could do this. “Haha, very funny Celestia. Is this your revenge for the cake-jokes I made yesterday?” Luna said. “This has nothing to do with Celestia, Luna. However, I visited her already. Twice...” The voice answered. Luna was sure this was a joke. But this spell was to powerful to break. So she decided to play along. Maybe this situation could become fun. “Of cooooouuuurse this has nothing to do with you... ahem Celestia. Now, what do we do? How about some cake, Mr. Shadow?” “...You really don't remember me? It is a thousand years ago but still... You told me and my friends you would never forget us.” the voice said. “But it's probably not your fault.” Luna was startled. This voice... It felt familiar. And though she couldn't remember her promising this to anypony it felt like she had. “Who are you?” she said, now with serious voice. “Where do you know me from?” “You and your sister saved me and my friends from Discord. How did you forget about us?” “Wait! I and Celestia saved nopony from Discord! She had to banish his power and petrify his body using...” “Us.” the voice said dryly. Us? What was he saying? Luna was sure she and her sister had used the Elements of Harmony, not soldiers. And she was sure... Wait, Luna knew all of this, but it was strange. The memories were blurry and chaotic. “What are you?” Luna asked. “What happened? How could you forget about us? You, who never forgot a single thing? You were able to tell us what we had dreamed every single morning and you were able to remember our dreams better than we were. It was really impressive every single morning and it always enchanted us.” the voice said with happy voice. Seemingly, this was a very sweet memory for him. “What are you?” Luna asked again, now with fear in her eyes. This shadow knew her, but how? “You forgot about us...” the voice said, now with very sad voice. “Then, let me introduce myself. I am White Flare, former apprentice of your sister and element of loyalty.” “White Flare...” Luna mumbled. She knew this name. Her lips formed another name involuntarily. “Shadow Mirror...” “You haven't forgotten completely, have you?” the voice said enthusiastically. “Of course I remember Shadow Mirror. She once was Celestias apprentice.” Luna said. “No Luna, she was your apprentice. At the same time when I was Celestias apprentice. At the same time when Discord ruled Equestria.” An image flashed in Lunas mind. It was the image of Twilight lying on the bed. But, it was different. The coat was deep blue, there were no feathers and the blankets looked less expensive. The surroundings were also different. It was not a big castle room, but a small hut made of wood. With this image, this feeling of relief came back. “You saved from Discord. We all don't know what exactly happened... We all already knew you from old tales. It was a big shock to us all when we woke up in the crystal empire with you two standing in front of us.” The image became a full-grown memory... --- “Sister! Hurry! We have to get them before Discord finds out about them!” Celestia said. Both of them were flying over a twisted land. It looked as if someone gave an 4 year old girl the power to form reality. Everything had strange colors and seemingly the rules of physics didn't apply to this land. “I'll get the filly! Go and get the colt! We'll meet back at the crystal empire!” Luna said. Celestia nodded. They had already saved 4 other ponies closer to the empire. But those two seemed to live at the other end of Equestria! As she flew over the land she saw several other ponies. The first ponies she saw looked still normal, even though they should be scared. But the farther she went the more ponies seemed to be twisted. She could see some pegasi digging in the ground with their wings and she could see some floating earth ponies. There were also some unicorns with spiral-holes where theirs horns should be. Those holes were way deeper than their heads would usually allow them to be. Luna became very concerned. Was she too late? Finally, Luna arrived at an old hut. It was flying above the earth and it was upside down. Luna entered the hut without hesitation. In there lay a young pony, wrapped in blankets. She couldn't make out any details from where she stood, but the coat of the pony seemed to be dark blue. As Luna came closer, she felt relief. The young pony was still normal. It wasn't twisted. But then, Luna heard a whimper that wiped out her relief and filled her with deep sadness... “Mommy! Don't...” --- Lunas eyes widened. “You have regained some memories, don't you?” the voice said in relief. “Do you finally remember me?” “No...” Luna whispered. What just happened? This memory was completely new to her! There was no spell known to her able to make alicorns forget. Sure, there were memory-spells to erase memories, but those spells were unable to affect alicorns in any way. The sheer amount of magic alicorns usually possess prevents them from being affected by this kind of magic. “Do you at least remember Shadow Mirror? You meant everything to her. You owe her the memory.” “I remember the moment I first saw her. That's all.” Luna said. She still was shocked. What could make her forget? “You don't remember who she was? You don't remember what she did to save you? What she sacrificed?” the voice asked. She sounded concerned. “What did she do? What did she sacrifice?” Luna was perplexed. She couldn't remember anypony doing anything for her before the Elements of Harmony turned her back from being Nightmare Moon. The shadow hadn't managed to take a form all the time. It had tried all the time but for some reason, it was unable to take form. But now it looked as if the shadow was dragged back to his normal form. “Looks like Celestia didn't like this incident at the banquet.” the voice said. Luna suddenly understood what was going on. “You were this strange phenomena Celestia told me about? You were the one who threatened her at the banquet? And you dare to visit me after this? Do you think you can stir me up against her?” The shadow slowly turned back to his normal form. But before the shadow was completely normal, the voice said a thing that made Lunas heart skip a beat. “There is no need for me to stir you up, Luna. Celestia already did this in the past. You only need to remember it.” --- “Come on, Twilight! We're gonna be late for the Nightmare Night festival!” Twilight approached the stairs of her library. She was wearing a hoof-made costume of Starswirl the Bearded. She was very proud that she made it all herself. It had taken weeks and surprisingly many books about stitching. But it had turned out great! Twilight was sure everypony would identify her costume! She went down the stairs. “Huh? Are you that one kooky old grandpa from Ponyville Retirement Village?” Spike asked. “I'm Starswirl the Bearded!” Twilight was already annoyed. Not only did Spike take the most ridiculous costume Twilight could think on, a dragon, he seemingly had ignored her the last three days. And he still looked confused. “Father of the... Oh forget it!” She already knew he didn't read the book she gave him and Twilight was not willing to argue with him. Nightmare Night was a holiday after all. “Come on, Spike! You already said we're late and now I'm waiting for you!” Twilight said as she went to the door. “On my way!” Spike ran past her, opened the door and instantly jumped away from it. “Nightmare Night! What a fright! Give us something sweet tonight!” three little fillies sang instantly. One was costumed as ladybug, one as princess and the last one was wearing some strange kind of helmet with stars on it. It looked like one of those strange helmets described in this famous book-series about ponies in space. All of them had little bags attached to their costumes. There was also an elder mare following the fillies. It was Granny Smith. She was however not wearing a costume like everypony else. Twilight approached the door. “Happy Nightmare...” Spike had started coughing, thereby interrupting her. He was easy to scare anyways, but opening the door just to be surprisingly yelled at without any kind of warning was even startling for somepony less fearful. Everypony was looking at him. “Is he alright?” one of the fillies asked with concerned voice. “There's nothing wrong with him.” Twilight stated as she lifted Spike with her telekinesis and patted him on his back with one of her front hooves. He instantly stopped coughing. “Thanks Twilight.” “Enough! Where's the candy?” A pink pony with a chicken-costume pushed the fillies away. Twilight could now see that there was also a little colt that had hidden behind them until yet. His costume was the one of a pirate. “Pinkie Pie, that's very rude! Just pushing those fillies aside. Aren't you too old for this anyways?” Twilight asked. “Too old for free candy? NEVER!” Yep, this was clearly the real Pinkie Pie. For some reason Twilight was expecting somepony would dress up as Pinkie and therefor was always ready for a Pinkie-decoy. She giggled at bit before levitating the bowl with sweets to Pinkie and the fillies. After the fillies had taken one candy at a time, Pinkie almost jumped into the bowl, throwing sweets trough half the library. However, in the end she only took one candy, leaving all the other ones evenly distributed over all the floor. Suddenly the colt jumped into the room. “Pipsqueak the pirate, to your service bearded lady! I am here to vanquish this terrible candy-devouring chicken-monster from your home!” he said with playful voice. “Thank... Wait! Bearded lady?” he seemingly didn't get her costume... But he was too young to know who or what Starswirl the bearded was. However, before Twilight could say anything more, Pinkie screamed. “You will never get me, pirate!” Pipsqueak took to sword attached to the costume into his mouth. “Yuu will nut eshape, monshter!” Laughing loud, both of them ran out of library. Twilight turned to the fillies. “Do you at least get my costume?” “Yeah. You are costume the lead singer of this cool new band.” “Lead singer?” Twilight lifted one of her eyebrows. “Yeah they costume as important unicorn wizards of the past. The lead singer costumes as Starswirl the bearded.” “Well, close enough.” Twilight thought. “Well, actually we both share the same costume.” she explained to the fillies. “But why would you costume as ugly old stallion? Especially when you are a mare?” Twilight opened her mouth to answer but no answer crossed her mind. After a few seconds standing just around this way, she gave up and said: “Well... I don't know. Spike, lets go.” --- “Thank you everypony, and welcome to the Nightmare Night festival!” the mayor had started her speech. Twilight however was too frustrated to listen to it right now. Nopony she had met yet knew Starswirl. And everypony thought she was some kind of weird pony. Applejack even thought she was a country music singer. And that after all the labor she had put into her costume... “Now, all the little ponies who have been out collecting sweets should floolow our friend Zecora to hear the legend of...” she intentionally made a short break in her speech. “Nightmare Moooooooooon! MUHAHAHAHAHA!” A pony next to Twilight had started laughing. Twilight turned her head to see that the pony was lying on the ground trying to stop. She could also see that the pony had a blue coat, wings, a horn... “Princess Luna?!?” The pony turned its head. It had stopped laughing. “Dammit! You got me!” Luna said. “Wha... How... Why did nopony notice you yet?” Twilight was confused. The other ponies still behaved as if Luna wasn't there. “Well, because, for them, I don't exist.” Twilight was confused. “Don't exist? Wait, am I becoming insane? Or is this all some sort of illusion?” Twilights expression became suspicious. “Do you finally understand what's going on?” Luna asked. “...I failed at this memory-spell again, didn't I? The last time I did I was caught in a land made of bubblegum for about 10 hours... Oh how...” “Land of bubblegum?” Luna had raised her eyebrow. “Twilight, most ponies would ask themselves whether they were asleep. And you come up with such hilarious ideas?” she started laughing again. “This... is a dream?” Twilight asked. “Well it's not a failed memory-spell. And I am pretty sure if I was an illusion I would not laugh at you all time. Or I would laugh harder at you all time.” Luna was trying to stop laughing. She only had partially success. She still broke into giggle every few seconds. “Well this may be a dream. But why are you laughing all time? What's so funny?” “Well, actually nothing. I think I just need to laugh a little bit after everything that happened...” “What happened? Is it about me raising the... I raised the moon!” Twilight grinned from ear to ear. But then, her face again changed to suspicious. “Wait... Couldn't that have been a dream? Actually, me becoming an alicorn and raising the moon sounds weirder than you sneaking onto this festival.” “Have you ever remembered a full dream without any breach in real life?” Luna asked. “Well... No.” Twilight said. “So this is the dream? But, why are you here then?” “Well it makes more sense than me sneaking onto Ponyville Nightmare Night festival if you consider that I am the princess of the night, doesn't it? You just lowered the sun and raised the moon and fell asleep right after doing so. I thought I should watch out you get your sleep after so many days without it.” “How do you know how long I didn't sleep?” Twilight was confused but Luna just raised her eyebrow. “Oh, princess of the night, right...” “But I have to admit, I am concerned that you dream of this night.” Luna said. “Why? Isn't this just a normal dream?” “It's not a normal dream. It's a dream about your memories. This only happens when there is something bothering you about the memory. Something you haven't handled yet. And we both know what this memory is about...” Luna said. “I still don't know what worries you about this dream.” Twilight said. “That you dream of this night tells me that you fear something regarding me. And if you think about it, this can only be one thing...”