//------------------------------//
// The Night 
// Story: New Digs 
// by ThatLimeyFuck 
//------------------------------//

This new foreign voice put Shovel Knight on edge. Whirling around on the ball of his foot, he clenched his shovel tightly, trying to find the source of it. "Show yourself!" Brief moments of silence followed, before the ghastly voice replied. "...Lay your weapon, and we shall approach."

"We?" Shovel Knight thought "Is there more than one? Is the voice from before here too?" Tense and cautious, he slowly laid his shovel on the bleak white ground. "I have done as you asked, now come forth." A shadow painted itself against the encompassing fog, before the figure itself emerged. Like the inhabitants of this land, it, too was a quadruped, its coat a dark blue. However, while the most features the others had were wings or horn, this one featured both, and its stature was larger than that of any of the others, even the large red workhorse at the orchard, easily reaching eye level, and its mane and tail looked much more bizarre than the ones he had seen thus far - it seemed to flow on its own, and it almost looked like it was filled with stars. But something to note was the fact that there was only the one - it had clearly said "We". Perhaps the other was something amorphous? Or maybe it was just a speech pattern.

Aside from its build, it was also wearing several things, most notably, a small diadem and a breastplate with a white crescent moon on it, the same as her so called cutiemark. Whoever it was, it certainly had something to do with the moon, that much was made very obvious.

"Thou art indeed a peculiar being." Well, there's the answer, it's a speech pattern. "I could say the same about you." Shovel Knight retorted. "I've not seen any locals quite like you. Who are you?" It replied with a short bow of the head. "Luna, Princess of the night, sister to Celestia."

This introduction left Shovel Knight slightly ashamed - he didn't know this was the monarch's sibling, hastily dropping to a knee and bowing his head. "My apologies, I was not aware I was speaking to royalty!"

The two shared a short, awkward silence, broken by Luna chuckling quietly. "No matter, we are not in a place for formalities. Thou may put thyself at ease." Shovel Knight stood back up, clearing his throat, having narrowly escaped a potentially dangerous situation had left its mark on him, his voice flustered and unsteady. "Speaking of...where exactly are we? This place feels oddly familiar. It feels like I've been here, but just don't know it. Almost as if-" 

"It's a dream?" The Princess interjected "Correct. We are inside your mind, inside your dream." Shovel Knight was stunned into silence, fully becoming conscious of his lucidity, turning his back to gaze on the funnel of whiteness.  "Now I see. I remember this, all of it, the towering fog, the bleak backdrop, and what is absent - the insurmountable odds, the endless swarm of foes..." 

Once again, Luna stole the words from his mouth. "...and Shield Knight."
Slowly looking back over his shoulder, Shovel Knight stuttered and mumbled in bewilderment. "H-How do you...what?"

With her voice mirroring the conversation's sudden change of tone, she sidled up next to Shovel Knight, staring up into the sky, and its unusual emptiness. "We can read dreams, see what has been dreamed in the past through this one, a pathway to past imagery of the mind."
"So, you're a mind reader?"
"Of sorts. Alicorns possess the ability to delve into memories in one form or another, based on our talents; we can observe and enter dreams at will, so we can use them like a window to see dreams of the past."
"...Intriguing."

Leaving his side, Luna walked on ahead towards the fog. "This has been a most enjoyable introduction, Shovel Knight. We shall leave you to your endeavours."
"Good night, Luna."

She disappeared through the fog, and the white of the world around began to flood his vision as the dream came to an end.

"Wait, how did she know my...oh yes...dream reading."

-----

Shovel Knight prised open his eyes, the morning light bleeding colour onto the land. Grabbing onto the handle of his shovel, he pulled himself to his feet, stretching out his tired limbs under his clanking armour.

His ears were treated to the familiar sound of the trees rustling in the wind, and the cheerful birdsong.
And a maniacal giggle behind him.