Twilight blinked open her eyes. She felt warmth covering her, and came to the conclusion she was home in bed.
But eventually she recognized her surroundings, and remembered she was in a different dimension, in a cave, under eternal night. She'd fallen asleep next to Celestia and Luna, most likely shivering. That would explain why her mentor's wing was over her. She gave off a long yawn, and rubbed her eyes. She felt a lot warmer than usual, so she decided to gently escape the blanket she called Celestia's wing. When she was on her hooves, she shook her ruffled feathers out.
Weird, she was still really hot.
Maybe some fresh air would cool her off. The lavender pony trotted outside, where it was a lot brighter. She breathed in, and let the cool air surround her.
But why was she still warm?
She opened her eyes, and immediately got blinded by a bright light. "Gah!" Covering her blinded eyes with her hoof, Twilight backed back into the cave.
She looked outside. It was daytime. Confused, the alicorn trotted over to the two sisters who were both cuddled up next to each other. Twilight would of called it cute if she wasn't full of confusion.
"Princess!" she whispered, poking her mentor.
"No Luna... you can't have any vodka..." Celestia murmured, before blinking her eyes open. "GAH! Uh... Twilight. What is it?" she looked up at her.
"Remember how we thought it was eternal night? Well... it's daytime," she quickly explained.
"Huh? It isn't eternal night... Luna's reformed," she muttered, still getting used to her surroundings.
"We're in another dimension, remember?" Twilight reminded her.
"Oh... so it wasn't a dream? Ugh," the older princess sighed, disappointed. She was about to stand up, before realizing Luna was slumped over her, still fast asleep. Twilight could see there was a bit of drool hanging off her mouth, and couldn't help but giggle at it.
"We should wake her up," Twilight reached a hoof to tap her, but Celestia stopped her, smirking.
"Let me do this..." she told her, turning to her little sister. "THY PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT, WE COMMAND THEE TO AWAKEN THY SELF!" Celestia yelled, using her own Royal Canterlot Voice. Twilight cringed and covered her ears by the level of volume, and Luna woke up straight away and was flown back in shock.
"Ow... my ears... I hate it when you do that!" the Night Princess scolded, rubbing her head. Celestia was just laughing to herself.
"Sorry, you'll have to try and get up earlier then," she teased, "so, what did you say before, Twilight?"
"It's daytime."
"That's totally normal," Luna said.
"We're in a dimension where it's eternal night."
"And now I'm confused," the princess corrected herself.
"Maybe there's something we need to figure out here?" Celestia wondered, walking towards the cave entrance. "Ow... why is the sun so bright?" she muttered, shielding her eyes.
"It's a fiery ball of gas, sister. It's always bright," Luna told her.
"I know that. It's usually not this bright though."
"A better question - why is the sun even up?" Twilight remarked.
"Hey, maybe Solar Flare rebelled and now the world's saved! Yay, fixed, we can go home, we don't have to do anything else!" A grin spread across Luna's face.
"What do you mean, we don't have to do anything else?" Twilight asked, raising a brow.
"Oh, right, we didn't tell you because you fell asleep."
"Tell me what? Celestia?" She turned to the white alicorn.
"I kept reading the spell last night. Once we figure out all we can about this, the next step is to figure out a way to save it," she explained, still looking outside.
"Wait... so Starswirl knew about this dimension all along?!" Twilight figured out.
Celestia nodded. "He traveled through time, he probably came across this place at some point, but wasn't able to save it on his own."
"Why didn't he just come with you?"
Celestia shook her head. "He was old when he gave me the spell... and I was young. I didn't want to complete it," she sighed, "not on my own, anyway."
"Oh... Well, um, how do you think we should find out why it's daytime?" Twilight asked, changing the subject.
"To be fair, we don't know much about Solar Flare. Perhaps there's more information in the journal?" Luna suggested. Celestia and Twilight exchanged a glance, then nodded.
"It's worth a try," Celestia said, "simplest way it to teleport straight there, I just hope we don't get caught."
"Oooor one of us can teleport there and bring the journal here?" Luna added. Her sister looked at her, then gave a sigh.
"Alright. I'll be right back," she told them, and teleported away.
The two remaining mares stood in an awkward silence. Though, it didn't take long to break it.
"Luna?"
"Yes?"
Twilight looked at the floor, hesitating before she asked her.
"Does Celestia blame herself for everything that happened? You know... all that stuff she mentioned yesterday."
Luna paused and squinted, but then nodded. "I think it's safe to tell you Twilight, she has nightmares quite a lot. She's good at faking, isn't she?"
Twilight was quite surprised to hear that. "I would've never guessed, to be honest," she admitted, "but... she mentioned Discord's rule at some point... why did she blame herself for that?"
Luna opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Celestia teleporting back, levitating the book.
"That was quick," her sister commented.
"It was right where we left it," Celestia said, "now, let's see if we can find out anything more."
And so, they opened the pages.
---
As the sun beamed through the window onto Spike's closed eyes, the little dragon flipped his body around to face the shadows and groaned.
"Spike..." a distant voice called. But he ignored it. "Spike... Spike!" the voice repeated.
"Just a few more minutes Twilight..." Spike muttered, pulling his blanket more over him. That's when he remembered.
Twilight wasn't here.
Spike slowly opened his eyes and became less oblivious to his surroundings. He heard the sound of hooves coming down the hall.
"Spike! Are you awake?" he recognized Applejack's voice.
"Uh... I am now!" he called, rubbing his eyes. The door then opened, revealing his five remaining friends. Pinkie bounced up to him.
"Morning Spike!" she greeted, beaming.
"Uh... hey guys. Why are you all here so early?"
"Early? Oh Spike! We just had lunch!" Pinkie giggled.
"Gah... lunch?" Spike echoed.
"Yes darling, which is why I brought you some left over gems. You've been waking up later and later each day," Rarity smiled, handing him a jar half-filled with different coloured gems. Seeing them made Spike realize how hungry he was, and his mouth started to water.
"Wow... thanks Rarity," a smile spread on his face, before opening the jar and digging his claw into the jar to grab the first gem.
"We are actually here for a reason though." Applejack told him, as he crunched on the shining rocks.
"Really? Wha fow?" he mumbled with his mouth full, spitting some small pieces out in the process.
"Well I came up with this awesome idea-" Rainbow stopped as everyone glared at her. "Uh... we came up with an idea before," she corrected herself.
"Yeah?" Spike gulped down a gem, and went to grab another one. "What is it?"
"We figured out a way to contact the Princesses!" Fluttershy said gleefully. Spike paused.
"Really? You have? How?" He leaped up from his bed and started hopping from one foot to another desperately.
"We can send a letter to Princess Celestia through you," Rarity explained.
"Oh, right. Geez... why didn't I think of that?" Spike scratched his head. "Eh never mind that. Anyone have a paper and quill?"
"Yup!" Pinkie confirmed, pulling some paper and a quill out of seemingly nowhere. They could question her, but this had become everyday stuff for them.
"Alright... what should I write?" he began, getting his quill ready.
"Uh... how about asking them where the hay they are?" Rainbow Dash suggested.
"Good idea," Spike complimented. "Okay...
Dear Princess Celestia,
Sorry it took us so long to work out we can just send you letters through me, but with all our respect, we would like to ask, where in Equestria are you?!?!
-Spike.
Is that too disrespectful?"
The five friends looked in doubt.
"Nah..." They laughed casually.
"Well okay!" he shrugged, then blew at it so it went to wherever it was going. The other mares then stared at him.
"What?" Spike asked.
"We were being sarcastic," Rainbow muttered.
"Yeah... sugarcube... that was a tad less formal than usual," Applejack pointed out.
"Oh," Spike said, "eh, nothing will happen. Princess Celestia isn't a tyrant."
---
The three princesses looked hopelessly at each other. The had skimmed over each entry, but there was nothing useful.
"Well this is a disappointment," Luna sighed.
"Twas indeed," Twilight slumped her head on her hooves, copying the olden language Luna sometimes liked to use.
"Surely there's some other way we can find information," Celestia muttered as she flicked through the pages, bored.
"Hey... Celestia?" Twilight lifted her head up and looked at the white alicorn.
"Yes, Twilight?"
"If it's okay to ask... why did you blame yourself for Discord's rule?"
Her mentor stared at her uncertainly, then slowly opened her mouth to answer. But she was interrupted by a green smoke that seemed to appear out of thin air.
"What's..." Luna started.
"It's a letter from Spike!" Twilight exclaimed, hooking it out of the air with her hoof and opening it.
"What does it say?" Celestia asked.
"They don't know where we are..." Twilight murmured, "does anyone have a quill? And some ink?" she asked hopefully, preparing to rip a page out of the journal. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, then shook their heads.
"I have to find something to write with... they must be worried sick!" Twilight stood up, and galloped towards the cave entrance, only to be stopped by Celestia.
"Twilight, you can't go out there alone!" She called after her, keeping her tail in place with her magic.
"But Princesses, my friends... they're worrying about me!"
"Then we're coming with you," Celestia told her firmly, "but where do expect to find a quill and ink?"
"Uh... the... castle?" The young mare grinned innocently.
Luna shook her head. "Too risky for writing tools. Maybe Ponyville have some?"
"Oh, Celestia can get a book but I can't get a quill?" Twilight scoffed.
"Because she knew where the book was. We don't know where to find anything to write with. Ponyville's less risky."
"But..." she trailed off
"Twilight... do you not want to go to Ponyville?" Celestia held her chin up with her hoof. Twilight's eyes drooped, and she shook her head. "Why is that?
"If the elements don't exist... does that mean... my friends don't exist either?"