Luna stood atop the icy reaches of a desolated mountain. Despite majestically rising above green fields and foreboding forests the peak was serene, devoid of any movement or sound, apart from the howling wind and spiralling snow. Perhaps here she could cast her spell without interference.
She closed her eyes in concentration, her horn projecting a dark blue aura. Slowly she extended her magic across the night landscape of the dream land, her power probing every nook and cranny, over every tree and under every rock, in search of her long time — and now missing — allies.
She was soon sweating with the effort. Not the effort from extending her will; the power over dreams flowed in her magic ever since Luna first gained use of her horn. Rather, the effort to remain undetected, to hide her magic, was draining and tiring her. Perhaps now...
A roar reverberated across the mountaintop. Luna sighed, letting her magic dissipate; it had been like this for the last few days. Without her allies to keep the fragments of lost dreams, the figments, under check, one of them would invariably be drawn to Luna’s magic, forcing her to stop and deal with it.
She looked at the approaching red dragon, sparks of fire escaping its nostrils and reflecting in the snow, and narrowed her eyes, her voice icy as the surrounding dreamscape. “You should know better than to take that shape. You are fortunate I now keep my wrath under control.”
The dragon breathed a jet of fire towards Luna, engulfing the mountain peak. The fires died after a few seconds, revealing a steaming mountaintop now free of snow, except under a dark blue dome. As the dragon started to inhale once again Luna was already in the air, her horn pulsing brightly, sending a wave of light across the dreamscape and reducing the dragon to a wisp. Mixing with the escaping steam, the now incorporeal figment fled.
Looking away from the figment Luna scanned the horizon. She needed help if she was to find her allies before the dreamland got out of control, and with her sister’s lack of affinity for dream magic there was only one pony, one alicorn, she could turn to.
Twilight had a wide grin in her face as she looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, each eagerly practicing a different skill in the open field.
Apple Bloom had her eyes narrowed, her tongue sticking out in concentration, as she tilted a vial over a tiny sprout she had just finished transplanting to the ground. The smell of apples filled the air, and soon the ground started to tremble, the plant shooting wildly upward and enlarging, until it became a large apple tree, complete with a tree house.
To the side Scootaloo was tightening some bolts on a strange machine. It looked vaguely similar to the Flim Flam Brothers moving contraption, but smaller and sleeker, purring like a well fed cat.
At the opposite side Sweetie Belle was reading a book on magic, one that Twilight remembered from when she was a filly herself. Sweetie Belle lowered the book and fired a magical blast towards a stone on top of a nearby workbench, engulfing it in smoke; as the smoke cleared, a small potted cactus remained where the stone once stood.
Twilight furrowed her brow, her grin dwindling; the Crusaders were doing far too complex things for their current skill, some outright impossible. How did Apple Bloom even get a tree to grow glass panes and curtains?
She scanned the horizon; a pristine green field as far as she could see, not a blade of grass out of place, with a perfect moon overhead. She looked back at the fillies; the smoke from Scootaloo’s contraption rose undisturbed by any wind, the air eerily calm. No sound either, apart from the fillies’ experiments. Strange happenings, a too perfect landscape; it looked like a…
“Yes, Twilight Sparkle, you are indeed dreaming.” The familiar midnight blue alicorn appeared in front of the moon and glided down, gently landing in front of Twilight.
“Princess Luna!” Twilight tilted her head slightly. “Why are you here? Is something wrong?”
“Yes.” Luna turned to face Twilight directly. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle: did you study my old grimoires, the ones left at the library of our old castle? Did you read the spells concerning figments?”
Twilight remembered those books; the grimoires from the Princess’ old castle were now in a pile next to Twilight’s desk. The image of a dark blue tome with silvery flowing letters on the cover came unbidden to her. “Yes.” She winced softly. “But I never practiced them.”
“It should suffice. Now come, I require help with an issue —” Luna blinked, her eyes fixing at something past Twilight. Turning her head, Twilight saw the three fillies, ears perked, eyes fixed on the conversation.
Taking a step to the side, Luna’s horn flashed once, a soft light passing over the fillies. She raised one eyebrow. “You aren’t figments. How are you here?” Luna looked at Twilight, who had turned fully to face the fillies. “Were you demonstrating dream spells to those fillies?”
Twilight looked from the fillies to Luna and shook her head. “We are having a sleepover, but I didn’t cast any dream spells on them. I didn’t cast any dream spells today, in fact” She turned back to the fillies. “Do you know what might have caused this?”
The three fillies looked at each other; Sweetie Belle took a step forward, slowly hoofing the ground. “Well… We found a few old books in a corner, and one of them had a spell to share dreams. We wanted to try it and…” She looked at Twilight, her eyes going wide. “Wait. Did the spell affect you? I’m sorry, I didn’t want to —”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “I know this spell. It shouldn’t have affected her, not without great effort. Unless…” Luna’s eyes glinted with glee, a smile appearing in her face. “But of course, you are linked as students and teacher! You desire to share your dreams, and this has empowered the spell.”
The three fillies looked around, slack jawed for a second, and then huddled. “Wait, we are dreamin’ Twilight’s dream?” “Cool, now we can practice awesome things while we sleep!” “Did my magic really do this?”
Twilight lifted a hoof. “Girls.” The fillies went silent; Twilight turned to Luna. “You said you have a task for me. Will this be a problem? Maybe we should wake them.” Twilight suppressed a cringe as she heard disappointed whispers from the fillies behind her.
“It might be an issue. Waking only them isn’t possible; your dreams are now linked for the rest of the night. Where one goes, the others will follow; should one wake, the others will awake. We will have to bring them with us.”
Cheering exploded from behind Twilight. She shot a vexed glance behind and turned back to Luna. “Won’t it be dangerous?”
Luna shook her head. “Not for any of you. I will be there to protect you, and even if I fail the worst that could happen should your oneiric forms be destroyed is to wake up. Now let us go; we already lost too much time. I will reveal our mission on the way.”
The Crusaders were lifted, a dark blue magic aura around them. Twilight flew towards the alicorn and the floating fillies..
“Hey, Twilight. What is an ‘oneiric form’?” Apple Bloom looked at her.
“It’s your body inside the dream.” Twilight gently booped the filly’s muzzle, thinking about Luna’s wording. Not for any of you.