Princess Celestia paced anxiously back and forth at the top of the grand staircase in the darkened entrance hall as she waited. The brief letter from Luna had told her enough to realise how desperate her favorite student's condition was, but until she had seen Twilight herself and heard the full the story from her sister the Ruler of the Sun could only speculate. And that was what made her nervous the most.
Celestia turned sharply as the entrance hall doors burst open. Applejack and Rainbow Dash galloped in side-to-side, carrying the limp form of Twilight across both their backs with the others following close behind. Fluttershy was very much out of breath.
“Oh my...! Twilight!”
The elder princess quickly hurried down the steps to meet them as Twilight was carefully set down on the floor in front of her, still whimpering feebly and crying as Celestia bent to examine her. Celestia's distress at Twilight's piteous state was plain to see, and as she began to carefully probe with her magic her concerned expression grew.
“Oh Twilight...whatever has happened my little pony?”
“Sister...I-” began Luna, but at that moment Twilight suddenly began to struggle and cry out in her sleep.
“Nooo!...please! Forgive me Princess Celestia...I'm begging you!” Fresh tears streamed from her eyelids as her voice broke into sobs “Please...Princess Celestia...I don't want to be the Mare in the Moon!” There was a gasp from Celestia as Twilight sank to the floor crying again, as her despair overtook her.
“Oh no...Twilight...” Celestia immediately hugged her student close and Luna seemed to be on the verge of tears, both the princesses seemed even more distressed by Twilight's fevered outcry.
“Wait...did she just say the MARE IN THE MOON?!” Rainbow Dash's question hung in the air, echoing the rest of the Mane Six's thoughts, as the same realisation slowly dawned on each of them.
“S-so...t-that's wha' Twilight's dreaming about? Bein' banished to to the moon?” faltered Applejack in a shaken voice.
"Oh my goodness..." Fluttershy whispered.
“That is...SO not cool...” Rainbow Dash gulped and looked down at Twilight.
“B-but...if Twilight's banished to the moon...she won't have any friends...or anypony to party with! She'll be a frown-frowny face Twilight forever!” exclaimed Pinkie.
“Of all the worst things that could happen, this is The. Worst. Possible. THING!” Rarity dramatically declared.
Celestia steeled herself, the implications of what she had just heard running through her mind at high speed. “We must be strong my little ponies, for Twilight's sake. There may yet be hope for her, we must hold that hope in our hearts and use it to guide us to the way to save Twilight.” She lowered her head to nuzzle at Twilight's ear. “Our first step is to unravel the truth of how this came to be...”
“Sister...” Princess Luna approached her sister, her head bowed in remorse and shame.
"I'm so sorry my sister...this is my fault...I can't believe I was so careless...”
“Luna?” Celestia turned to face her sister, who bowed down and knelt on the floor in front of her. “Please Sister...you must tell me exactly what happened, if we are to help Twilight.” Celestia's voice was gentle, the eldest of the Alicorn sisters kneeling to reassure her sister.
Luna looked down at her hooves. “As you know sister, as Princess of the Night I watch over the dreams of all ponies. Twilight...as you know, helped us during the Nightmare Night celebration after our return, and has always shown us friendship during the few times we have met. I...have realised that perhaps we have not always shown the same. That perhaps... in truth, we feared Twilight in a way...because of what we did to her and her friends as Nightmare Moon, and feared her for the power she unleashed upon us which took away our dark powers.”
Celestia said nothing, but lowered her head to touch her horn to Luna's
“When I finally realised the truth, I was ashamed. I care greatly for Twilight sister...perhaps more than Twilight realises, and I resolved to not let our friendship wither. So this night I decided that we would would fly to Ponyville and visit Twilight Sparkle in her dreams...However, when we cast our spell and entered Twilight's dream, we found her in the clutches of the most terrible nightmare...”
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“Princess...please...I'm sorry!” Twilight's body shook with fear and misery, her voice breaking into a fresh torrent of sobs. “I swear I've studied hard on the magic of friendship!...I...don't understand!...I don't know what went wrong!” Princess Celestia glared sternly down at her pupil.
“It would seem that you have not learned enough from your experiences in Ponyville my student.” The princess of the Sun's voice was calm, but as cold as winter. “I am greatly disappointed in you Twilight. I had come to expect so much better from my prize pupil, and I had high hopes for your future. But you clearly have not lived up to my expectations.”
Luna looked down upon the group from above, trying to understand what she was seeing. Her sister...who loved Twilight the most...was glaring down at the purple mare with an expression that turned Luna's heart to ice. Never could she even imagine her sister capable of such a cold, unfeeling fury and hatred that this travesty of a dream was showing...but yet, a shiver of recognition ran deep within Luna's body, a distant memory buried in the far corner of her mind beginning to awaken.
“I can't believe we trusted you Twilight!” burst out Rainbow Dash from behind Celestia. “We were your friends, but you were just using us! Like - we were just some dumb research project!”
“Pullin' our strings, jus' so YOU'd have your reports to send to the Princess! You even care about our feelin's? Or was that jus' another part of the lie?” Applejack threw her nose in the air and turned her head away from Twilight.
“How could you do such a thing Twilight?” Fluttershy wasn't even crying, her anger visible all over her expression like words written in fire.
“You're a MEAN MEANIE-PANTS!”
Twilight cringed as the worst verdict in Pinkie Pie's vocabulary was handed down to her like a death sentence. Rarity refused to even speak to her, shaking her mane and pointing her muzzle away with a snort of utter contempt. Spike cuddled close to her foreleg with his back deliberately turned towards Twilight. Tears of horror, disbelief and pain streamed from Twilight's eyes as she tried to force herself lower and lower into the floor of the library as if to escape from the accusing words of her friends and her mentor's stern gaze.
“No...Stop this now! Why do you say such untruths of Twilight! How could her friends be so uncaring of her?” Luna stamped her hoof. She wanted to smash this dream, to take Twilight in her magic away to a dream of peace and comfort, to console her and tell her that it was not real. But her voice was silent to the figures below her, her anger invisible to their eyes. Luna's mind reeled - dark, half forgotten memories flashed before her, entwining with images of the horror that was beginning to engulf Twilight...
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“I...I began to lose control of the dream sister...” Luna buried her face in her hooves and tried to suppress the sob that was trying to fight it's way out of her. She could hardly bear to look at Celestia in front of her, so close now that Luna could feel the warmth of her breath. “It brought back distant, horrible memories of my own – memories from a thousand years before...and the memories began to merge with Twilight's dream...”
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“No!...No...I-It's not true! I love my friends! Please...please...give me one more chance! I beg you Princess Celestia! Please give me another chance!” Twilight's last pleas broke down into floods of tears as she covered her head with her hooves.
Celestia however shook her head, seemingly unmoved by her student's despair. “You have much to think about before you can advance your studies any further, Twilight Sparkle” she declared. “And I see no other choice, but to take action that will ensure that you have plenty of time to reflect on your mistakes. ”
“No Sister! No!...That's not me! It's not me! Twilight hasn't done anything! Please! I'm here!” Luna was screaming, desperate for her sister to stop - a cold knot of fear and panic rising within her, knowing what was about to happen...
“P-please...no...nooo!” Twilight began backing away in terror as the Sun Princess stepped forward towards her. On Celestia's head, the Element of Magic tiara gleamed potently. Twilight cried out again and fell to the ground, her body curling up and convulsing in the grip of her panic.
Celestia's horn and tiara began to glow brightly, releasing a rainbow coloured beam of light which dived straight towards it's target.
“Nooooo!” Twilight cried out in fear, rearing up on her hind legs and kicking helplessly with her front hooves as the beam surrounded her in a spinning vortex of rainbow colours. A blinding white light spread from Celestia's eyes and horn, Twilight's last despairing death scream of pure terror mingling with Luna's and echoing through the library as the blazing light swallowed her. A moment later, a towering beam of rainbow colours blasted through the top of the library into the sky.
“No!” Luna looked desperately about her as the light faded. She was alone in the library, the Nightmare Celestia and the other members of the Mane Six had vanished along with Twilight.
“Nooo!”
Luna galloped to the window, fear clawing at her heart as she looked up at her moon.
The shadow of the mare in the moon sprawled across it's face, memories of her own imprisonment slamming into Luna's mind like meteors.
“Oh no...Twilight...What have I done!?"
The dream world began to ripple, everything distorting around Luna as a vortex drew her in helplessly...
Spike woke with a start and sat up, suddenly wide awake and staring into the darkened bedroom of the library, as Luna fought to recover her senses. She had reappeared, dazed and in shock beside Twilight's bedside in the real Library.
“Princess Luna?...”
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Luna's voice broke as her narrative ended. “My magic turned on me...it began to strengthen the nightmare - I couldn't control it...I'm so sorry sister!”
Guilt tore at the younger Princess as she felt her tears well up in her eyes. “I never wanted Twilight to suffer a punishment she never earned! I should never have interfered....not if it meant this!” She lowered her ears, bracing herself for the inevitable wrath of her sister.
Celestia's warm muzzle moved across her back, a pair of gold clad hooves carefully drew Luna up into a tight embrace as swan-like wings encircled her like warm blankets. Luna sniffled into Celestia's coat as her sister tried to comfort her.
“Oh Luna.....Hush now little sister. I know this wasn't your fault.”
Luna couldn't speak. How could her sister even think that?
Celestia closed her eyes, and dipped her head.
“In fact...I fear that blame...may be mine...”