Later that day, Prince Blueblood heard a knock at his front door again. When he walked over and opened it, for the first time that day, he was actually pleased by who was standing there.
“Trixie! You’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said.
Trixie gave him a confused look. “Um… Did you forget it’s our date night?” she asked.
It was Blueblood’s turn to give her a confused look. “Trixie, how can we go on a date? I’m under house arrest, remember?” said Blueblood, pointing at the shock collar around his neck.
Trixie smiled. “That doesn’t mean we can’t still have date night here,” she said Trixie as she walked around Blueblood into his house, giving him a quick kiss on the lips as she did.
Blueblood smiled. “I’m really glad you came by, Trixie,” he said as he closed the front door behind him with his magic. “I have been having a really weird day so far. I could use someone to talk to.”
“Oh? Tell Trixie about it,” said Trixie.
So they walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa while Blueblood relayed everything that had happened to him since the previous night, from Princess Luna showing up in his house acting crazy, to that brief yet horrible visit from that purple maned, white marshmallow from Ponyville, and then the bizarre visit from Doctor Whooves, and his gibberish about something big and strange going on with Princess Luna and the fate of the world and stuff.
“Who knows what insane thing is going to happen next?” said Blueblood, and then he sighed. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
“Well, to be honest, I have noticed some unusual things myself lately,” said Trixie.
Blueblood looked at her with interest. “Like what?”
Trixie looked upwards in thought. “Well, a few days ago, I woke up one morning and all of the leaves on the trees in Equestria had changed color to brown and orange, and it was chillier than usual out, like it was late autumn, even though it’s the middle of spring. And then the very next day, the trees and weather were back to normal. It was like the season had spontaneously changed from spring to autumn for a day. And the weirdest part was I seemed to be the only pony who noticed. When I asked other ponies about the sudden fall weather, they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about, saying that it was autumn. And then the next day, when the weather and the leaves were back to normal, no pony remembered it had been like autumn the day before.”
“Huh,” said Blueblood. “That IS weird!”
“Oh well,” said Trixie, giving him a smile. “I know something you and I could do to take our minds off things.” She gave him a suggestive look.
Blueblood grinned. “Yeah?”
Trixie nodded. “You can help me practice my magic.” Her horn glowed as she levitated several spell books out of her saddlebags lying on the floor, and shoved them in Blueblood’s face.
Blueblood frowned and sighed in disappointment. He took the books into his magic aura and levitating them down onto the table in front of him in a pile. “You are such a tease,” he said to Trixie.
“Just open the green book there to chapter thirteen,” said Trixie, getting up from the sofa to prepare to cast spells.
...........................
Princess Luna woke up and found herself staring at a sealing she didn’t recognize. She was lying on her back on a bed, and it looked like she was in some bedroom, but not her own bedroom. This fact immediately caused her to start to panic.
“Ah. Your highness, you’re awake.”
Luna turned her head to her left and saw two mares in doctor’s uniforms standing next to the bed she was lying on. One was a cream-colored earth pony, and the other was a turquoise unicorn.
“Who are you?” Luna demanded. “Where am I?”
“Relax, your highness,” said the unicorn, apparently the one who had spoken before. “We’re doctors. I’m Doctor Lyra. And this is Doctor Bon Bon.”
“You’re at our office in Ponyville,” said the one named Dr Bon Bon.
Luna looked around the room she was in. The walls were a cream color, there was an open closet in which she could see a few hats and dresses, and a window to the outside with dark purple and violet curtains. The room actually looked more like a bedroom than a doctor’s office, except for the giant computer looking machine and a table covered in various doctor’s tools that is. Even the bed she was lying on wasn’t a hospital bed, or an examination table. It was just a normal, pony sized, sleeping bed.
“Why am I here?” asked Luna, sitting up on the bed.
“Well, what do you remember from last night?” asked Dr Lyra.
Luna thought for a few seconds. “I was at the castle. I had dinner with my sister, and then I retired to my bed chambers and was setting down to go through some paperwork I had been neglecting, and then…” She paused. “I… I don’t remember anything after that. The next thing I know, I’m waking up here.”
“So you don’t remember breaking in to your nephew Prince Blueblood’s house in the middle of the night?” asked Dr Bon Bon.
Luna looked at them in shock. “WHAT?! I DID THAT?”
“Yes, your highness,” said Bon Bon. “Prince Blueblood woke up and found you in his house in the middle of the night. He said you spoke to him briefly before passing out.”
Luna still looked shocked, and a bit scared too. “I… I don’t remember any of that!”
“Well, we came and brought you here to give you a full examination,” said Dr Lyra. “Don’t worry, your highness. We’ll figure out what’s going on with you.”
Luna narrowed her eyes at the two doctors. “You two look familiar?”
“We get that a lot,” said Bon Bon.
Luna sighed. As skeptical as she was about the two doctors, the fact that she had been sleepwalking frightened her, and she wanted to get some answers. “Very well. You may proceed,” she said.
The doctors brought over a big dome-like contraption that had wires attached to it that were connected to the large computer thing. They placed the dome part on top of Luna’s head like a helmet and strapped it around under her muzzle, much to Luna’s discomfort.
“Okay, Princess Luna. This device will read your subconscious and then display it on that screen,” said Lyra. She pointed to a video screen on the large computer thing.
“Where did you get this machine?” Luna asked them. “I’ve never heard of anything like it.”
“Oh, don’t worry, your highness,” said Lyra. “We stole it from Twilight’s basement.”
Luna’s eyes widened. “THOU DID WHAT?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll put it back when we’re done with it,” said Bon Bon, like it was no big deal.
Luna’s jaw dropped in disbelief at what she was hearing.
“And just so you’re comfortable, we invited a few of your friends over here to help you feel more relaxed,” said Lyra.
This brought a smile to Luna’s face. Hopefully they meant Twilight and her friends.
Just then, the door to the room swung open, and standing there was a female griffon and a blueish-green pegasus mare with a blond mane and tail.
“Hey,” the griffon said casually.
Luna frowned in confusion. “Who are they?” she asked the doctors. “I don’t know either of them!”
“Yes, you do!” said the Pegasus. “I’m Lightning Dust, and she’s Gilda! We saved Equestria from King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis when they returned! You were there when we received meddles for it!”
Luna had to think for a moment before it hit her. “Oh, right! Now I remember. But even so, neither of you are my friends.”
“Well, to be honest,” said Bon Bon, “when we said we invited a few of your friends, we actually just walked outside and asked the first two living things saw if they would help us.”
Luna facehoofed.
“But we assumed you were friends with everypony,” said Bon Bon, “seeing as you visit everypony in their dreams… apparently.”
“Speaking of which,” said Lyra. “I’ve been having nightmares for like a month now, and you still haven’t visited me in my dreams. What gives?”
“Sorry, but the list is pretty full right now,” said Luna annoyance. “Besides, I’ve been having these headaches and nightmares of my own, and blacking out and sleep walking happening to me lately! So, yeah, I’ve kind of got a lot on my plate at the moment.”
Dr Bon Bon spoke up. “Alright, everypony! So just so we’re all clear on how this will work, you two,” she pointed at Gilda and Lightning Dust, “will ask the Princess a series of questions, and the machine will then read her subconscious thoughts, and display them on the screen in words. We’ll begin with a few simple questions to make sure everything is working correctly.” She looked at Lightning Dust. “Lightning, please begin with question one on the paper I gave you earlier.”
Lightning Dust lifted up a small sheet of paper in her hoof. “Okay,” she said. “Princess Luna, what are you thinking about right now?”
Luna glanced up towards the sealing in thought. “Um…”
Suddenly, the words ‘Big Macintosh’ appeared on the screen.
Luna’s eyes widened when she saw what had appeared on the screen. “Wait a minute!” she exclaimed, a blush appearing on her face. “I never said that!”
“But your mind did, your highness,” said Lyra with an amused grin.
“This is going to be juicy!” said Bon Bon with the same amused grin on her face.
Over on the other side of the room, Luna saw the griffon and the pegasus also looking amused. She growled in irritation.
“My mind did not think that!” Luna huffed defiantly.
Just then, the words ‘Yes, it did’ appeared on the screen.
Luna gritted her teeth. “The machine is a liar!” she spat angrily.
Then the words ‘No, it isn’t’ appeared on the screen.
“YES YOU ARE!” Luna shouted at the computer.
Then Bon Bon spoke up. “Alright! Enough!” she said. “Now then, Princess Luna, why exactly… are you thinking about Big Macintosh right now?” Bon Bon asked with a grin.
“I am not!” Luna growled.
On the screen, the words, ‘I am attracted to him’ appeared.
“NO, I’M NOT!” shouted Luna, still blushing deeply.
“Why exactly are you attracted to him?” Bon Bon asked, clearly enjoying this.
“I THOUGHT THOSE TWO WERE THE ONES WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO ASK ME THE QUESTIONS!” Luna shouted, pointing at Gilda and Lightning Dust.
On the screen, the words, ‘He’s big, strong, handsome, brawny, burly, simple, kind, and I just want him to plow m-’
"STOP!!!" Luna screamed, using the deafening royal Canterlot voice, causing the four other ponies in the room to cringe and cover their ears at the loud noise and miss the end of the text on the screen.
“Ow! Okay! This is getting out of hoof!” shouted Lyra, giving Bon Bon a scowl.
“Yes. Sorry, your highness,” said Bon Bon sheepishly. “I suppose I crossed a line there. Lets get back to the real questions, shall we?”
Luna crossed her hooves, rapidly loosing her patients. “Forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm,” she said.
Dr Lyra spoke. “Okay, your highness. I want you to try to remember when you broke into Prince Blueblood’s house.”
“I told you. I don’t remember that at all!” said Luna.
“We know!” said Dr Lyra. “Just try, please.”
Luna sighed and closed her eyes.
After a few seconds, the lights in the room suddenly began to flicker, and screen on the computer froze up.
“Um… okay. That’s weird,” said Bon Bon.
“Turn the computer off and then turn it back on again,” said Lyra.
Bon Bon nodded and began working on the computer.
“Was that supposed to happen?” asked Luna in concern.
“Don’t worry, your highness,” said Lyra. “We just had a little hiccup there, but we’re fixing it.”
As soon as Dr Bon Bon turned away from the computer and gave Lyra a nod, Lyra looked at Lightning Dust. “Okay, ask her more of the questions on that paper.”
Lightning Dust looked at the paper again. “Okay. What is your name?” she asked the Princess.
“My name is Luna,” she answered, rolling her eyes.
On the computer screen, however, a very different name appeared. ‘Starswirl the Bearded.’
Everyone stared at the screen in complete silence for a few moments. Then Luna let out a small chuckle.
“Heh. The machine must be glitching again, right?” she asked.
Bon Bon gave the machine a quick look over. “Actually, it appears to be working fine,” she said.
“But… that can’t be,” Luna muttered in utter confusion.
“Ask the question again just to be sure!” said Lyra.
Lightning Dust nodded. “What’s your name?” she asked again.
“Luna,” said Luna.
Once again, the computer screen read ‘Starswirl the Bearded’.
“Okay. This is getting spooky,” said Gilda.
It wasn’t any mystery as to why. It was common knowledge to all of them that the ancient and famous unicorn, Starswirl the Bearded, was dead. Lightning Dust and Gilda had personally witnessed his death when he had been murdered by King Sombra. They had even had a funeral for him in which they had cremated his body and launched his ashes into space. Nearly half of Equestria had attended.
“Ask a different question!” said Bon Bon.
Lightning Dust looked back at the paper she had. “Um… Why would you go see Prince Blueblood in the middle of the night?”
Luna didn’t say anything this time. She just waited to see what would appear on the screen, like the rest of them.
The words, ‘To give him a warning’ appeared on the screen.
“Warning? What warning?” asked Gilda.
The lights began to flicker again and the screen froze up again. Lyra and Bon Bon started fixing it again.
“Why does it keep doing that?” asked Luna.
Dr Bon Bon shrugged. “Not sure. It could be because the computer isn’t finding any subconscious readings from that particular question, or the machine is just glitchy."
“Okay. Go ahead and ask the next question on the list!” said Lyra as soon as they got done resetting the computer again.
“Princess Luna, where are you right now?” Lightning Dust asked.
“I’m obviously in this room with you,” she said.
On the screen the words, ‘Approximately 200,000 miles above Saturn’s moon Titan, inside the hole’ appeared.
“Titan?” said Bon Bon.
“Saturn’s moon?” said Lyra.
“The hole? What hole?” asked Gilda.
Suddenly, the lights began to flicker again. Then something weird started happening on the computer screen. Instead of words appearing, images of what looked like space and bizarre calculations and charts began flashing on the screen, one after another.
“Okay. What the heck is this now?” asked Gilda.
“I don’t know!” said Bon Bon, her and Lyra looking like they were on the verge of freaking out. “It looks like… star charts!”
“But the computer isn’t designed for that!” said Lyra. “It’s only supposed to show text! Not images!”
All of them looked over at Princess Luna, and it was a good thing they did to. At that moment, the Princess of the night suddenly wasn’t looking so good. Her eyes had rolled back up in her head and her body was starting to shudder.
“Princess Luna? Are you okay?” asked Lyra.
Luna didn’t respond, and she only seemed to get worse. The Princess was starting to convulse where she sat on the bed.
Lyra and Bon Bon began to panic.
“YOU TWO!” Bon Bon shouted at Gilda and Lightning Dust. “HOLD HER DOWN SO SHE DOESN’T HURT HERSELF!”
“TURN OFF THE COMPUTER!” said Lyra as Gilda and Lighting Dust started to try and hold the Princess down on the bed while she convulsed uncontrollably.
Dr Bon Bon tried to turn the computer off, but for some reason it didn’t work. “ITS NOT WORKING!”
“QUICK! LETS GET THAT HELMET OFF OF HER!” Lyra shouted.
They tried to remove the helmet, but it wouldn’t come off. Both doctors pulled as hard as they could on the helmet, but it stayed held fast to the Princess’s head.
“Its no use!” exclaimed Bon Bon. “I think it’s being held down onto her head by her own magic!”
“So what do we do?” asked Lyra.
“I don’t know!”
On the screen, the images continued to appear one by one, getting faster and faster, until it finally stopped on one image. It was of some sort of swirling vortex in space, with a view of Saturn and its moon, Titan, behind it in the background.
Lyra spoke. “Princess Luna, is this the hole you were talking about?” She pointed at the image on the monitor.
The image then cut away and a singe word appeared on the screen. ‘Yes’.
At that moment, the computer screen exploded. Everyone in the room leaped backwards in surprise, and Luna suddenly stopped convulsing and collapsed on the bed, unconscious again.
Lightning Dust and Gilda let go of Luna, now that she was no longer convulsing.
“Wow!” said Gilda. “And I thought today was gonna be boring!”
Lyra and Bon Bon rushed to Luna’s side and began looking her over. They could safely remove the helmet on her head now, and they threw it off her and let it clang onto the floor.
“Is she okay?” asked Lightning Dust.
“She’s unconscious again,” said Lyra, “but seems to be stable.”
“Okay, so can either of you tell us what the heck just happened?!” asked Gilda.
Before either Lyra or Bon Bon could answer, they all heard a loud bang behind them, like a door had been knocked down. They all spun around and looked out the bedroom doorway to see royal guards were inside the building.
“FREEZE, CRIMINAL SCUM!” shouted one of the guards as they rushed into the room they were in. There were a bunch of them, some of them pegasi guards, and some of them unicorn guards.
“Hey! What the hay is the meaning of this?!” shouted Bon Bon at the guards.
Then one guard, a unicorn guard with a blue coat and a black curled mustache, stepped forward. Judging by the difference of his armor, they guessed he was a ranking officer. “You are all under arrest for the kidnapping of Princess Luna!” he said to them in a sharp, smug tone.
“Kidnapping!?” exclaimed Gilda. She and Lightning Dust looked at the two doctors.
“We didn’t kidnap the Princess!” said Lyra. “We’re doctors! The Princess is ill, and we are trying to treat her!” She pointed over at Princess Luna lying unconscious on the bed.
The guard raised his eyebrow. “Doctors? You two aren’t doctors.”
“Yes, we are!” shouted Bon Bon. “See our lab jackets and our stethoscopes? We are clearly doctors!”
“No. You’re just-” The ranking guard was suddenly interrupted when there was a bright flash of light beside them in the room, along with the sound of electrical sparks.
Everyone in the room squinted as their eyes adjusted to the light. When they looked at where the light was coming from, they saw a stream of bright light floating in mid air beside them, bending here and there in a zigzag pattern, like a lightning bolt.
They all stared awestruck at it.
“WHAT IS THAT?!” shouted Lightning Dust.
No one answered. Suddenly, the… thing… gave off another bright flash of light, and then it was gone.
All of them looked around the room, but the thing, what ever it was, was no where to be seen, like it had never been their at all.
However, they did notice that something was different. Dr Lyra and Dr Bon Bon were no longer dressed in their doctor clothes.
“What are you all doing in my house!?” Bon Bon shrieked suddenly, she and Lyra looking around at all the ponies in the room, their eyes widening when they fell upon Princess Luna lying unconscious in the bed. “Why is Princess Luna on my bed!?”
Gilda and Lightning Dust also noticed that Bon Bon’s voice was different now too. Where before it had been light and singsong, it was now kind of deep and nasally. Gilda and Lightning Dust looked at each other in confusion and then looked back at the two mares.
“You brought us here, remember?” Gilda said to them. “You were treating Princess Luna because she’s not right in the head?”
“Why in Equestria would we do that?!” said Lyra.
“Because you’re doctors?!” said Lightning Dust.
“We’re not doctors!” said Bon Bon.
“Yeah. What gave you a silly idea like that?!” said Lyra.
Gilda’s and Lightning Dust’s jaws dropped as they stared at the two mares in disbelief.
“BUT YOU SAID YOU WERE DOCTORS!” exclaimed Gilda.
“I never said that!” said Bon Bon.
“Me neither,” said Lyra.
“YES, YOU DID!” Gilda and Lightning Dust both shouted.
On the other side of the room, the lead unicorn guard was rubbing his chin with his hoof in thought as he watched the argument before him. He then turned to the other guards that were in the room.
“Arrest them all!” he ordered. “They’ve all learned far too much. And get Princess Luna to safety. Princess Celestia will want to know she's safe.”
“Yes, sir!” The guards saluted him and then stormed forward to arrest the three mares and griffon in the room.
...........................
“Okay. Are you ready?” Trixie asked Blueblood, levitating an open spell book out in front of her.
Blueblood whimpered where he stood. “Why do I have to this?” he whined
“Because I need an assistant to test my magic on, and as my coltfriend, that’s your job,” said Trixie. “Now hold still!”
Blueblood scowled. “I don’t remember reading THAT in the job discrp-”
“I SAID HOLD STILL!” snapped Trixie.
Blueblood froze. “Yes dear.”
Trixie smiled and closed her eyes to start concentrating on the spell.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light beside them along with the sound of electrical sparks. Blueblood glanced out of the corner of his eyes and saw a stream of bright light floating in mid air beside them, bending here and there in a zigzag pattern.
“Amazing!” Blueblood said to Trixie in high regard, who was also staring at the beam of light hanging in the air. “I didn’t even see your horn glow!”
Trixie looked at Blueblood with wide-eyed expression. “Um… I… I didn’t do that,” she said, pointing at the strange light.
“What?!” said Blueblood in confusion. “But then… how did…?” They both turned their eyes back to the strange streak of light hanging in midair, and then they both instantly felt an overwhelming amount of fear wash over them.
...........................
Surprise was at her cloud house, lying on her bed in her room, reading a new book she had gotten from the library. The Hunger Games. At the halfway point through the book, she angrily slammed the book shut and through it to the floor, which since her floor was made of clouds, the book just fell right through it.
“Well that was really disappointing!” she huffed. “And here I thought a book called Hunger Games would be about an eating contest! And here I find out its actually about children killing each other! I haven’t been this disappointed in a book since I found out The Last Unicorn wasn’t about a post-apocalyptic Equestria in which all ponies, except one, had been turned into zombies. What a jip!”
Suddenly there was a knock at her front door. Surprise looked up in surprise.
“Wow! I never get visitors!” she said to herself excitedly. “Coming!” she shouted. She got up from her bed and trotted happily over to the door.
“Hello?” she said as she opened it, instantly putting on one of her biggest smiles. But then her smile faded when she saw exactly WHO was at the door. “Oh no! Not again!” she screamed in terror.
Surprise tried to slam the door shut, but it was blocked by a pitch-black hoof with holes in it.