Chapter Nine - Luna
Luna stared around the dream realm. She had not been dragged into a pony’s mind in a very long time; only the elite unicorns could attempt to probe the minds of the ponies, and only one unicon had enough of her trust to do so.
She turned her eyes to the one other moving object in the dream realm.
It was Artemis. Oh Faust, he was so… mmm.
She smiled, doing what she believed was called boggling the stallion.
Luna’s eyes traced over his figure; eying his strong legs with approval, licking her lips as she saw his beauti- er, handsome ethereal mane dance elegantly in the non-existent wind, and his flanks… mmm!
The other alicorn spun around, his horn glowing and eyes wide! She let out a little meep; he must have heard her boggling him!
“Luna!” He was obviously surprised, but for some reason his was horn dimming. She let out a sigh of relief; he didn’t care that she was boggling him!
“Artemis,” she did her best to imitate her sister now, hoping that she appeared as serene as Celestia did. “It is wonderful to see you again, but I would like to ask you a dual question.” She had to focus her mind on the matter at hoof though; how she was here and where here was.
Mimicking her older sister, she tried to strut over to him, feeling ridiculous as she- Why was he backing up and why did he just cause a torc to appear on his natural form? Had she done something wrong?
“Y-yes Luna?” Artemis's ears went back, the tips reddening as he blushed.
Luna giggled softly, her worries vanishing. She was doing a good job! Huzzah!
“Did you recently fall asleep, as in the last minute or so?” She reigned in her mind, trying to figure out this little problem. Maybe, just maybe, they were -
Her heart raced at that possibility!
Artemis blinked, and then nodded his head.
“What is the-” Artemis started to speak but Luna had to go on this strand of thought before she lost it. She halted him with a raised hoof, causing him to raise an eyebrow. He looked so cute when he did that!
“Why and how did you bring me here?” She had to know, please let it be what she thought!
“What?” he blinked, surprised at this piece of information. Yes! “I brought you here?” His eyes went wide, missing her obvious joy! “How-” he paused, his eyes settling back on her. She was lucky that she was able to have a more reasonable face on before he saw her excitement. “How do you know I brought you here?”
Luna let out an annoyed huff of air before speaking to him again, annoyed that he clearly hadn’t come to the same resolution as she did. “Because, I know when somepony drags a mind into another’s quite well. I have dealt with alp and mara before.”
Artemis let out a bit of a shudder, and for good reason. Alp and mara were true monsters to deal with, and the one set of races she was glad was extinct.
“As have I, Luna,” he let out a soft nicker, probably remembering the harder cases that he’d had to deal with. She didn’t wish to go over the memories of the past, content to leave them to the faded history books. “But to the point at hoof, I do not know how I brought you here or if I even did.”
At that word, both of their eyes darted around the dream realm, a question looming over their heads.
“Luna, is this my dream realm or yours?” The question snapped Luna’s head back to Artemis as it was a bit of a concern to her now that she thought of it.
“I have no idea Artemis,” Luna frowned, wondering how deep this connection between them was now. “While I am unsure of the exact answer, this does require some more information to form a better hypothesis to determine which dream realm this belongs to. Tell me, what has happened while we have been in the other’s realm?”
Artemis wiped away a tear, clearly enjoying what Luna did to Bluebelle. He had been in stitches ever since she told him about that trick of hers. It was a fairly common practice; one that Tia had sadly used on her more than once…
“I still cannot believe you did that to that fool Blueblood,” Luna laughed, seeing Artemis start to relax, which made her smile. “It was a work of art, although I do swear I had heard the line from somewhere...” It would drive her upwards the ceiling, as she believed it was called, until she figured it out.
“Perhaps,” Artemis smiled, which made Luna’s heart swoon. “I do know I have seen two versions of the play, with the latter being far more enjoyable…”
“Yes, I know exactly what you are talking about!” Luna pointed a hoof at him, poking his nose. She blushed at her silliness, a bit worried that Artemis would be uncomfortable with her touching him as she’d picked out he had some reservation about being touched in his tale of his time in her realm. He hadn’t said it, but it was clearly there.
Instead of shutting her out, Artemis just wrinkled his nose and smirked at her. “A thousand curses, as I cannot remember what it was!” She pouted, sitting back down, relieved that she had not crossed a line with him. “Perhaps I will ask Twi- Dusk and his friends what it is…”
“Indeed…” He sighed. She desperately wished to know what he was worried about now, as she understood what it meant to carry burdens for so long. “Do you have enough potion for another trip to… our dream realm?”
Artemis was a bit unnerved by the fact that their own private dream realms had merged. But what had really worried them was that neither of them were able to influence it anymore. Their souls might be entwined now, and this brought forth many implications, none of which Luna, and clearly not Artemis, were comfortable with. What if Celestia and Solaris were to be put in this state if they were to meet again?
“Ye-yes, I did send Celestia to make enough for a few night travels,” Luna answered, tracing a hoof across the floor, her heart starting to race. “But I assume that Twilight Sparkle and Dusk Shine will both wish to come and examine this pr-” Her eyes went wide, realizing she had nearly made a grave mistake. “No, not problem…” she frowned, seeing his sigh of relief. “‘Situation’.”
“Ye-yes,” he stuttered, smiling at his cute little blush that was on his cheeks. “I am sure that those two ponies will be able to bring a non-clouded mind to this situation, and hopefully explain everything.”
She froze as her mind raced to the one possible situation that she was deathly afraid of admitting. Looking across herself, Luna saw the same fear on Artemis’s face.
He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, clearly too troubled to say anything.
Luna placed a hoof on his shoulder, pleading silently with him to relax by her eyes alone. By Faust, was she this bad too?
“I do not know if it was because of us that our older siblings acted the way they did, but tonight we will know.” Luna hoped that Artemis didn’t see her worries or sadness, remembering how hard everything was now in this new world. Artemis was the sole pony that could understand that pain, and for the chance it was all false would be heart wrenching.
“Wh-” he squeaked out, trying to build up the confidence to ask that dreaded question. “What if-”
“We will not think of what-ifs Artemis,” Luna said smoothly and firmly, forcing him to be at ease. Even if that was the cause, so be it! They would have each other, and she would have the one pony that would never cease loving her! “We will deal with that possibility if and once it comes to be, understood?”
He nodded his head, and to her surprise, he gave her a gentle nuzzling.
She was sure, everything was going to be just fi-