//------------------------------// // 3. Twilight's Dream and the Agreement // Story: Equestria's Dreamscape // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// "Generous. Honesty." "Laughter. Kindness. Loyalty." "Twilight helped us each to see..." "...all that we can be! So..." "So get up, get down. If you're gonna come around. We can work together helping Twilight win the crown. So get up, get down cause its gonna make a sound. If we work together helping Twilight Sparkle win the crown." Luna watched the small lavender alicorn mare dancing to the beat of a song that seemed to be playing all across her dream zone. The song appeared to be stuck in her head, but she didn't seem to worry too much about it. Luna smirked and observed as her sister ate some popcorn, which was unusual since she loved to eat cake and everything else sweet. Twilight seemed so peaceful that Luna wasn't about to interrupt her dance secession, which was improving her dance skills. That morning Celestia had sent a small letter to Twilight, explaining that she and Luna needed to talk to her that night after she went to sleep. She had written that there was some unknown being messing with the dream world and had corrupted one of the zones. What Celestia wanted was for her to meet with them and, hopefully, get her to at least run some tests to determine what was the cause of the corruption. She had also sent a second letter to her niece Cadence and asked that she join them in the dream world, to which the pink alicorn had replied she would definitely be there. Shining Armor had, of course, insisted that he join his wife in the meeting, to protect them all from anything in case the barrier seemed to fall apart. When he learned that his sister was going to be there he practically demanded that he be allowed to protect them, as if four alicorn's couldn't protect themselves. So Celestia looked the other way and let him ease his way into the meeting as well. Speaking of the royal couple they were supposed to be making their way to Twilight's dream, which happened to be placed within a minute or two of the corrupted zone. It was close enough for them all to walk over, but it was also far enough so if the corruption escaped it wouldn't be the first target. Luna had been specific in her placement of the corrupted zone, placing it where nopony would come across it if they left their own dreams. "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," Twilight spoke up, noticing the royal sisters at the border of her dream, "I wasn't expecting to see you guys until later. I assume there has been some... development... with the corruption you spoke of?" "Please Twilight, drop the formalities," Luna smiled, watching the dream power down until it was nothing, "First things first, we get to the zone so you can see the corruption first hoof for yourself. After that we'll talk about what we need to be looking out for and the possibility that there might be... something else that we haven't thought of yet." Twilight noted that there seemed to be something that Luna wasn't comfortable sharing with her, something that made her hesitate. As if there was something that she couldn't talk about. She sighed and paid it no mind, she would eventually figure out what was making her nervous and she would fix it. After all, she had fixed her friendship in two different dimensions and had bested so many villains that she figured she could best whatever was bugging the Princess of the Night. "Okay then," Twilight agreed, noticing another thing, "You still haven't answered my question. Has something happened since you sent me that letter?" "It's best for you to see for yourself," Luna replied, wondering how she could tell Twilight she she had seen. Luna led her sister and the young alicorn in the direction of the corrupted zone, quickly breaching the barrier of Twilight's dream and passing into the space between dreams. It was there that they came across the wandering royal couple, both of them looked confused, lost, and eager to join the group. It took them mere minutes to reach the spiraling black barrier that Luna wanted Twilight to see, only this time the thorns lashed out at it. The vibration coursed all across the barrier, but the thorns stayed on the other side and watched them. "So this is what you wanted me to see?" Twilight asked in awe, watching a thorn stare at her on the other side of the barrier, "I never knew that the Dreamscape had such fascinating specimens hidden from the public view." "The thorns weren't hitting the barrier last time I was here," Luna remarked, eying the things with caution, "but now that we're here they seem to have settled down quite a bit. In fact, they aren't even attacking the barrier now. What could have caused such a change in behavior?" "I don't know," Twilight muttered, approaching the barrier as she stared at the one thorn, "There is something about these thorns that seems intelligent. Almost as if something else was trying to reach out and contact us." "Twily, watch out," Shining warned, watching her sister cross over as a thorn readied itself and he drew his sword. The thorn neared Twilight's face and stopped short, rubbing it's smooth end against her cheek in affection. It was as if something was trying to reach out to her, but she couldn't put her hoof on it. The thorn wrapped itself around the samples Luna had taken the previous day and deposited them in her saddlebags. It made a little wave gesture before the entire forest returned to normal, or as normal as a forest of thorns could get. "That... was weird." Cadence said in shock, surprised the thorn hadn't struck out at Twilight, "What's in the bag?" "Samples I took the previous day," Luna replied, eying the trees as she approached the mare, "One of them is a sample of the thorns themselves. The other is a sample of the ooze that comes out of them when they're wounded or damaged. Samples that are supposed to be the key to determining if something could be corrupting this area." "Something is definitely behind this," Twilight remarked, eying the thorn that had gifted the samples to her, "It is almost as if something wants us, or me more likely, to figure out what's behind this corruption and stop it at the source." "I wish it were that simple," Celestia said, "We need you to figure out what's behind this and how to fix it. Your free to use whatever resources you need to figure this problem out, resources from both the waking world and the dream world." "The laboratory of my dreams." Twilight gasped, a light lighting up in her eyes as she realized what the dream resources could be, "I could conduct countless experiments on these samples and I could get countless answers. I could cross reference the answers with the Canterlot Archives and make sure my experiments are accurate. Maybe even stroll around the forest and collect some data from the dirt and the trees themselves." "I wouldn't dare risk asking you to investigate the Forest of Thorns," Luna said, worried about the thorns, "but seeing how they don't react to you I guess we can let it slide. How about you conduct your research and we'll share whatever we can with you, Cadence, and Shining. If we can figure this out then we can reverse everything that has happened to this area in no time." "I will share anything I find out with the four of you," Twilight replied, eying the samples in her saddlebags, "Hopefully we figure out what's causing the corruption in the... Forest of Thorns as you call it... and reverse it as soon as possible. I might have to ask my friends and see if they'll help me collect samples in exchange for being completely refreshed in the morning. Don't worry so much, the five of us and my friends are going to figure all of this out and stop whatever's happening." Luna dared not speak her mind to Twilight. If the one responsible for the corruption was who she and Celestia thought it was then Twilight might be taken aback by what they knew. She could not be allowed to know the deep and dark secret that the royal sisters shared with only a select few. A secret that could potentially tear apart everything that Celestia spent the last thousand plus years painstakingly creating. Yeah, Luna wasn't allowing that to happen for an eternity.