//------------------------------//
// II. - Missing Memories 
// Story: Whispers of the Past 
// by Sealcake 
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She was there. 

She would always be there.

Because she had not escaped and there was no way out and she would always be there. Trapped in a place that didn't obey any of her knowledge in magic nor psychics and that would never go away because she was destined to be there until the stars burn out and her body was consumed in the explosion of a decaying old sun.

She was condemned to be there until the rest of eternity passed away. And she would stay there, trapped, screaming, raging, and crying and hurting and running.

And she would never, ever, stop running. Because if she was going to be there, she would run, she would look for a way out. It didn't matter that there wasn't a way out. She would not stop. The cursed place couldn't stop her. No chains or handcuffs would stop her.
And she. Would. Not. Stop.

She would not control herself. She would not alter her objetive. And she would not count to four to calm herself down. She would run until the damned place was out of space and then she would escape.
And then she would be free and would have tons of friends and would be loved by so many ponies and creatures that even if she died everybody in the world would miss her and, and, and-

A gentle tap made her stop in her tracks. From where it came from was a mystery, as the tap seemed to echo in the whole place, distorting the outlines of every thing in it as the sound travelled.
Turning her head around, the alicorn tried to locate what had produced the sound. However, her magical senses tingled as another presence tried to enter her dream -dream! It was not real! It was not real!!-, pushing gently through her consciousness. The sudden presence made her body shudder.

In front of her, the shape of a tall mare appeared. Though it was faint, she could make out some of her colors; fur as white as the snow and a mane with the colors of dawn. The blurry outline seemed to be looking around, before locking her eyes on her -no, not her, she had a name, 'Twilight', right?-. The mare's body, after a few steps, took a more consistent form. Though Twilight wondered were her legs ended, as her hooves seemed to gradually disappear in the air, with the same going for her horn.

The intruder sighed, and Twilight felt as if the mysterious mare -alicorn, she noted- had been expecting way too long for this meeting. Tilting her head, Twilight approached the mare with caution, never leaving her gaze. Though, further inspection made Twilight notice that the intruder's eyes had no pupils whatsoever.
The intruder was, as proven by her superficial scan, blind. Completely and utterly blind.

'Then how is she...?' Twilight didn't dare to end that question, as she feared -ridiculously so- that the other alicorn might posses telephatic abilities, in short; that the mare could read her mind. 'She certainly has the vibe.' True, the alicorn irradiated an aura of wisdom, an as Twilight walked closer, she sensed the passive magic's warmth surrounding her, which only made her appear wiser.

The alicorn's eyes gained a sudden spark in them, as if she could feel Twilight approaching and was happy -in her strange, wise-y way- for her doing so. But her eyes clouded when Twilight was just a mere steps away from her.
Twilight, from her part, had noticed how the alicorn's eyes lost their shining quality -like that of a mother embracing her foal for the first time- and stopped. The air, which had previously been warm, had become rather chilling, and Twilight could feel it creeping into her bones. She shivered involuntary and sat on her haunches.

Without wanting, but feeling tempted to do so, Twilight locked eyes with the other alicorn, and she could feel, -feel, what a weird word to explain her situation, as her short glance into the ancient being's eyes made her lightheaded, like she didn't have a body and was just a gaseous creature with a short lifespan looking into the heart of time itself- the years -oh, the long and painful, and yet so short and happy years- behind the pupilless pink irises, all hid behind a mask of kindness, a mask so worn-out that it was falling to pieces, showing the tiredness below.
For a moment, the alicorn in front of her turned in the real, powerful ancient being that she was. A being that had seen centuries pass by, a being who had stood as a silent observer over destruction, a being who had brought destruction and yet... And yet a being who had appreciated and treasured every happy moment in life, from the birth of a foal, to the simple act of smelling a flower, to greeting a friend in the street. A loved being who had loved and loved to love.

The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. A few seconds -Twilight didn't know how she knew, since time seemed to be frozen in that particular eternal moment when their eyes locked- passed and then the illusion broke when the white alicorn blinked.

"I'm sorry for that," said the alicorn, slightly shaking her head.

The air regained its warmth, though it was not quite like before, and Twilight would have problems trying to erase the real image of the alicorn in front of her. The mask came up again, but the tiredness could be seen through little cracks; the soft wrinkles under both eyes, the smile that wasn't a smile, and the eyes; were one to look into them, only one question of relevance would pop up in their mind, rendering worthless all the others; 'How is it that nopony sees it?'

Twilight, still holding her breath, forced her jaw shut. The stranger's voice felt so familiar and so soft and sweet, like honey. She moved awkwardly her hooves, and, struggling, decided to speak, "Who are you?"

The alicorn smiled, but it was sad. She stepped closer to Twilight and, using her inmense wings, shielded her from the world, embracing her. "I'm sorry," she whispered in Twilight's ear, her tears wetting the black fur of the mare. "I'm so, so sorry."

Twilight's heart had quickened its beats when the stranger had embraced her, eventually relaxing. But the spoken words tightened it, 'What is she sorry for?' thought Twilight. She moved her neck and tried to look into the alicorn's eyes, but the stranger noticed was she was doing and quickly looked again, as if she were ashamed. "Who are you?" Twilight repeated, her throat tightening with each word.
'Answer me!' Twilight mentally yelled, her eyes begging the mysterious alicorn.

"You don't remember me." Her voice sounded broken. The tone of it made it sound like the words were physically hurting her. It was not an accusation, it was a simple fact. Twilight didn't remember her, and her eyes begging for answers only confirmed it. 
For the stranger's part, it felt like somebody had shoved an icy spear through her heart, and then twisted it for entertainment, wanting her to scream. She knew she deserved it -the pain-, but her acknowledgement didn't ease it.

"Who. Are. You?" Twilight, a little angry, broke apart the embrace. Her breath was heavy, and her thoughts were scrambled and foggy; she couldn't make feet or head of anything. The mare's presence felt intoxicating, and even her vision seemed affected, as the alicorn looked blurrier than before. 'Puke puke I need to puke.' It was stupid, she knew, but her body felt like she had taken a ride on top of a train.
Head swirling, Twilight could barely make out the other alicorn's next words.

"Something is coming. I saw it, in the wind and the wild, and in the blazing Sun. It comes and it comes for you. A heart so cold and dark and yet ready to burn everything."

'Sun?' she wanted to ask, Sun sun Sun Sun Sunsuns u n. Had the white alicorn made herself blind by looking into the Sun? Twilight tried to move towards her, maybe attack her. The rage inside her had started to boil, and her current objective was to make her 'shut up!' However, her legs gave out from under her, and she fell on the water.
The only thing Twilight could see from her position was the mare's blurry legs -not even that, as her foggy vision made them seem like two pale white tubes-, and since her legs had stopped working altogether, it would be the only thing she would see until her dream ended.
Closing her eyes, Twilight noticed tears in the brink of falling, and tried to stop them. It was a vain attempt, as her tears trailed down her cheeks as she growled, the foam in her mouth making her look like an angry, but defeated, wild animal.

'I hate you!' she wanted to scream. 'I hate you! Get away from me!' If her lattest thought could have been voiced, the white alicorn would have noticed the hurt in the tone. 
But it was far from that, because the other alicorn's presence not only affected Twilight in an emotional level, but it also damaged her in a physical one. The white alicorn's voice had morphed from sounding like the sweet voice of a mother, taking a sound similar to a fork scratching a dish. Every word that she said made Twilight's ears twitch in pain, leaving a nasty ringing behind, and she cursed her legs for not being capable of moving and cover her ears. To add more salt to the injury, the whiteness of the alicorn's fur hurt, as if Twilight were just waking up and the first thing she saw was the Sun.

The Sun Sun Sun Sunsun sun sun s u n "Sun!" It came out weak; horribly, painfully and pathetically weak, and she hated herself for it. The mare in front of her had no right whatsoever to hear or see her in that state; vulnerable and angry and sad. It only made her cry more. Trying to blink away her tears had not worked as expected, because the flow just didn't stop.
Though...

Squinting her eyes, Twilight noticed something. The mare had stepped away from her, giving her a full-body look, but, even with the distance and her blurry vision, she could notice the trails of silent tears going down the mare's cheeks. 

'Why?' She felt like her ribs were crushing her lungs, making it hard to breathe. 'Why are you crying?'

"This I have foreseen. Something terrible, its roots lost in a bloody past, has waken and it comes -" she swallowed the lump in her throat, "- and it comes for you," she repeated.

'Stop!'

"Please." It didn't sound like an order, the mysterious mare, which had awaken an inner demon in Twilight and didn't shut up!!, was outright begging her. "Please come find me."

Their eyes locked again, sending a tremor throughout Twilight's entire body. 'Move!' she screamed to her body and, this time, it decided to answer her orders. But just as she was rising from the floor, the white alicorn's body slowly started to disintegrate in the breeze. She was still wearing that sad and tired smile of hers, but the freshly-added tears made a radical difference in her entire aspect; she didn't want to go.

"Celestia!" Twilight screamed just as the last of the alicorn's body disappeared from her dream, possibly forever. The stranger's exit had left a weird emptiness behind, and Twilight could feel her throat tying into knots, just as her stomach sunk. Her back felt like it had been sprayed with icy water, and her wings shivered, even while trying to warm her sides. Her breaths came short, not helping her situation.
Her eyes were irritated, and no matter how many times she closed them, the tears didn't go away. 

Twilight clenched her teeth and, keeping her gaze firmly were the other alicorn -Celestia?- had previously been, sat down on her haunches. Nothing could help the impotence that Twilight felt at that moment, as Celestia had gone away before she asked the most important question.

'Why are you sorry?'

tap

Twilight raised her head. Her eyes scanned the whole landscape, somebody was trying to enter her dream. A -Twilight would frankly admit, probably misplaced- sentiment of happiness bubbled up in her chest. Was Celestia returning?
She stopped short in her tracks. Why did she care, in the first place? The alicorn had just popped up, left a cryptic message, said sorry and left -mind you, without any explanation at all-, leaving her alone to deal with her rage.

'But why did I get angry?'

tap!

This time, it wasn't a gentle tap. The whole placed seemed to tremble as this new intruder experimented on it. Twilight, regaining her footing, barely had time at all to get ready when the next tap came.

TAP!

It was monstrous, not similar at all to Celestia's gentle tapping. While the latter had been soft, going with the curves and gently entering her dream, the former was more of an experimental entrance; like the one trying to enter was confused at the situation and was, to put it in the most blunt way possible, poking at it with a magical stick.
In Twilight's case, the almost-childish reaction of the new intruder translated into the landscape crumbling. That is, her dream was reaching an abrupt end.

'Wait, no!'

TAP!!

And there it went, the pieces and chunks of earth and water floating in her surroundings only confirmed it; her dream had ended and she was waking up.





Luna was no stupid mare. Centuries ruling and maintaining together a kingdom had proven that.

So, when her guards had shot discreet glances to each other during the Solar Eclipse Celebration and after it, she knew it. Something was up. 
But what really intrigued her was how she had not noticed it before; the nervous reactions of some of her guards when speaking to her, the whispered conversations that ended when she entered the room, and how it all seemed to revolve around the same group of guards.
Luna could almost taste the conspiracy in the air, could almost sniff it.

A nervous -nervous, nervous, nervous, she should pay attention to that- "ehem" brought her back to reality. Luna glanced to the pony; a maid. "Your tea, Your Highness." The maid levitated the mug in her bright blue aura, put it on the table and, inmediately after that, turned around, intent to leave Luna's chambers as fast as possible.
Nervous when talking to her, and quickly to disappear from her presence.

'Don't run away. Don't slip away, my dear,' Luna thought, reciting in her head a love song as she calmly said, "What is your name?"

The maid froze for a fraction of a second, and then partly turned her head around, eyes looking anywhere but Luna. "Star Catcher, You Highness," she said, closing her eyes and trembling slightly.

Luna frowned. 'It is not like I'm going to punish you,' she thought, taking a look at the mare. Fur a plain gray, mane and tail a darker gray -nearly the color of petroleum-, and eyes gray like ash. Star Catcher was gray all over, and this fact prodded at Luna's mind like a pin puncturing skin.

As Luna would like to reiterate, she was no fool. She knew, just as everypony that had not been born yesterday, that names were a magical thing for ponies. They were directly attached to a pony's inner magic, and, generally, were connected to that pony's cutie mark.
Adults would often name their foals basing themselves off their appearance and the family's current business -which, while a major setback to Equestria's progress, served very well in keeping the family's business going on-. 
There were exceptions; Luna had seen names with wider ranges of definition, and names that couldn't simply be defined or tied to a concrete object. But they all were, in a big or small way, connected to a pony's future cutie mark or appearance. It was a normal thing for a pony whose name contained the word 'apple' to be red, or a pony with their name including the word 'sky' to be blue.
And then there were ponies who tried too much to keep themselves on the definitions of their name. An act that normally involved dye jobs, but- 'Keep focused, Luna.'

Focus; what a hard thing to do. Even Luna's sight seemed to distract itself when she looked at Star Catcher, like her sight didn't fully acknowledge that she was there at all. Her name confused her, her palette confused her. And what was doing someone named Star Harvest working in the palace, anyways?
Simply put -an in Luna's humble opinion-, Star Gatherer would be doing better if she worked at an astronomy lab.

"Your Highness?" Star Catcher asked, cowering a little. If she suddenly gained the ability to shrink to a molecular level, she would have used it then and there. "C-can I go now? I have stuff to d-do in the other room."

Luna's brow furrowed further. Wasn't Star Collector part of the hidden guards' group? Since when was the Iluseu group recruiting spineless ponies? Her acting wasn't even convincing; or she was really bad, or she was a real coward. Both of those were good reasons to not be in the Iluseu group.
That and... something seemed -no, was- off about the mare. Luna couldn't pinpoint it, but something was there, and it was eating her not knowing.

'Didn't I mention something about an astronomy lab just a moments ago?'

Luna's eyes widened, though she looked away to evade Star Picker -Picker?- getting a good look at her. Surprisingly, Luna was rewarded with the sight of her mug. She had not even intended to look at it in the first place, and yet...
The brown steaming liquid, to Luna's silent horror, gave her an answer. 

"Uh, oh. Yes!" Luna exclaimed, turning her head so she could get a clear view of Star Catcher. As clear as she could get it if her theory was correct.

Trying her hardest, Luna focused her eyes on Star Catcher and Star Catcher only. The maid's body seemed wrong, as if her body itself wasn't defined and slightly disappeared in the air, the scale of grays that made up her colors didn't make her stand out, in the contrary, it seemed to make her blend in in a society known for its inhabitant's wide variety of colors. No, not blend in, it made her disappear.
Luna didn't remember a Star Catcher ever enlist in her Royal Guard, the list of ponies in the Iluseu group didn't include a Star Catcher, and there wasn't a Star Catcher in the maids' list.
If she had truly existed, Luna would remember it.

Remember, remember, 'remember to constantly check the list of ponies that makes up the palace's staff. Remember all the names of said staff. Remember the family tree of every guard under your care. Remember the name of that little donut shop. Remember the reign of Discord. Remember the fall of the Crystal Empire. Remember, remember, remember...'

Luna's head felt dizzy as the flow of information assaulted her. Trying to regain control over her quivering legs, Luna inhaled deeply and then exhaled, following this with short quick breaths to placate the nausea.
Still looking at Star Catcher, Luna took a few steps and, with her hoof, cleaned off imaginary dust from the maid's outfit. She noticed how the gray fur nearer to the outfit seemed to turn slightly blue and... real, like it was actually there, like it was actually on Star Catcher's body.

"You can go now to fulfill your duties." And with a wave of her hoof, she dismissed her.
If tachyons were a real thing, Star Catcher would be the first succesful catalyst in Equestrian history.

As the Star Catcher-shaped cloud of dust dissipated in the air, Luna let out a sigh. Her mind hurt. 

Closing the door with her magic, she turned around, levitated the mug in her dark blue aura and threw its contents into the fire, watching as the flames diminished for a moment only to dance wildly again, this time with a faint cobalt hue.
Luna had lost count at how many times she had frowned that day. Looking closer to the flames, she concentrated in all that had happened that day. From discovering a conspiracy in her own guard, to finding out that she had been drugged from an unknown period of time.
Star Catcher had only been the confirmation to a terrifying theory. Whoever was the one who had enchanted the maid with a perception shifter spell had been moving the strings from a time.
She had the how; the tea given to her probably had a complicated variant of a perception spell, one connected to the one put on Star Catcher, one that required ability. But the 'why' of the situation escaped her, and the thought of the 'who' made her shudder. Who was magically strong and patient enough to plan something like that, and so carefully that she had not noticed it until today?

Closing her eyes, Luna closed the curtains, throwing her chambers into darkness. The crackling of a fire in the darkness always helped her relax, and relaxing made the stress of the day go away, leaving behind a clear mind to sort her thoughts.
Humming softly a song, Luna made a mental list of spells dedicated to shift or modify a pony's perception of an object. The first one was a simple variant of easy illusion spells, called 'reflection'; it was normally used on her guard to make every soldier look the same. It didn't make them disappear, it didn't shift ponies' perception, it just made them look like a bunch of doppelgangers.

'Probably not a reflection.' 

Her thoughts turned to the ponies that had brought her tea all this time; simple, faceless ponies that she didn't bother to look twice. If they were related with Star Catcher's case... "Maybe a variant," she said out loud, opening her eyes to stare into the fire.

The fire crackled in response, and Luna smiled, her weary eyes closing on their own. "Further research is -" she yawned, the world of dreams already calling for her, "- needed."

Thinking as fast as she could with a mind too tired to keep her up any longer, Luna studied her situation; would it be a good thing to sleep right in that moment? It was true, she hadn't slept in days, what with the preparations and all, but the mystery hadn't been solved, and she feared that it could turn to a worse path. 
Her own guard was infested with what were probably traitors to the Crown, and she didn't have a clue about the puppet master behind it all. If she went to sleep now, she wouldn't make any progress in resolving the mystery.

However, the constant lack of sleep -even for an alicorn- would drain her -was draining her-, physically and mentally, not to mention emotionally, making her irritable and hotheaded.
Luna would have a best shot at resolving the situation at hoof if she was well-rested and with a focused mind.

"Hhmm," she said. A selfish part inside of her wanted to sleep, too, and she didn't want to refuse it its request any longer.

Lying down on the carpet, and with the fire's crackling macking a comfortable background sound, Luna drifted off to sleep. Her last thoughts being about her sister, Celestia.





Star Catcher found herself catching her breath a few hallways away from the Queen's chambers. Her little escapade had drained a lot of energy from her and she was sure that her cover had been blown up. The Queen never, in all her stay in the palace, had ever touched her. 

"Stupid, stupid!" she whispered, clenching her teeth and stomping on the floor. She regretted her little outburst when her already empty lungs shrunk painfully. If they could talk, they would be saying something along the line of 'Don't waste more air, you dumb filly!'

What she had to do was pretty easy. Normally, the Queen would see her, grab the mug, says thanks and go back to her pseudo-philosophical thoughts, always staring at that eternal fire in her fireplace.
To Star Catcher, that had looked rather silly at first. It wasn't until she heard the Queen muttering one day that she realized what she was really doing. She was trying to remember.
In that moment, it felt like someone had stabbed her heart.

Regaining her breath, Star moved her hooves through her mane, thinking into what to do next. 'Don't kid yourself,' the nasty voice in her head said, whispering like a stalker would do to its prey. 'You're thinking of the reasons of why you're doing this, aren't you, little Star?'

Cursing under her breath, Star put her hoof in front of her. It looked gray and out of focus, it always looked gray and out of focus. "Does this seem like a good reason to you?" she spat out. The voice in her mind shut up, but its presence lingered for a few moments in her mind.
Star sighed, that little part of her mind would never truly go away.

"Enough, you idiot," Star said to herself. She let out a resigned sigh. "I will have to tell the boys," she trailed off, her eyes moving on their own accord. After a moment, she closed them, thinking about her family.
Tears were in the borders of her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She didn't want to look more weak than she already did.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Star Catcher stood up and started walking. Even with her eyes closed, her hooves had no problem carrying her to her group's meeting place. Her train of thoughts focused solely on what would the Queen be probably doing in that moment.





Luna was puzzled. Puzzled, confused, stunned, dumbfounded, her mind kept thinking of synonyms to add to the increasing list.

Laid before her was the city, and from every house, going through the windows, were floating golden sand streams. The streams waved on their places, like small rivers that invited her in. It was normal; every sand stream led her to a citizen's dream. And as the original Guardian of Dreams in Equestria, it was in her rights to take care of them.
But Luna wasn't focused on them. The object of her attention was a small and erratic black sand stream that crackled with red lightning, and the owner of it.

It had been centuries since she had felt such a powerful magic signature. And there would only be five candidates -that the public knew of- to be the possible owners of said magical signature. Three lived kilometers away, one's destination was unknown, and the other one was herself.

'Who are you, my little pony?' she thought as her form walked towards the black stream, small blue circles forming under her steps and disappearing shortly thereafter.

The black sand stream seemed to sense her presence and stood as still as possible, but even now and then it would move abruptly, small red rays shooting out of it. A smooth curve in one moment, a zigzagged and sharp line at the next. 
It wasn't a dream with one terrifying thing, like most ponies' nightmares, it was a dream completely dedicated to something horrorific to the owner, from its beginning to its end, be it a phobia or the reliving of a trauma.
Whoever it belonged to, they were having one hell of a nightmare.

As Luna was nearing the black stream, she thought about the recent events of that day. Maybe this stranger's nightmare was somehow related to them. Or maybe her magical senses were interpreting things in the wrong way; maybe the owner of the nightmare just had an incredible amount of magical raw power and wasn't an alicorn at all.
Watching the stream, Luna noticed that it was far larger than she first thought. Its beginning wasn't on the city at all!

Luna frowned, the part of the sand stream that she could see was far too thin and far too unstable to provide a direct entrance for her to use. She would have to find a bigger part if she wanted to appease the pony's nightmare.
Giving a quick glance to the rest of the citizens' dreams, Luna made sure that there were no nightmares. And even then, if she missed one, her team would see it and follow the protocol.
Inhaling the fresh night air, Luna glided over the stream, flapping her wings ocasionally, keeping an eye out for a possible spot to land on the dream. From time to time, Luna would have to dodge a stray red ray.

Thin, thinner, too unstable, shooting rays and on and on.

Eventually, the urban streets turned to stony roads, and the stony roads turned to dirt paths. It got to the point that Luna's surroundings went from houses to trees, and she was as close to finding a good point as she was in the beginning.
The sand stream was far longer than she had thought, and for a moment Luna believed that it wouldn't end at all. 

Luna stopped, and landed on the road. Looking around, she tried to locate herself. Trees tall enough to cover the moonlight surrounded her, throwing the place in a darkness thick enough to cut with a knife.
The moonlight rays that could get through the trees' branches didn't help, nor did the red electricity of the sand stream. Even with her night vision, Luna was having problems to see clearly.

Just as she prepared a spell to enhance her vision, Luna's ears lifted upwards in attention; something, or rather, somebody, was close. Had one member of her team seen her and followed her into the forest? 

'But why would you be hiding?...' She let the question trail off in her mind. A thousand possible answers and theories popped up instantly, craving her attention; that maybe it was one of the traitors -'but that would be too obvious', she thought-, that maybe it was just her senses tricking her, that maybe she was in a dream -after all, it had happened before, after that party- and there wasn't other pony at all.
If it weren't for the events of that day, Luna would have discarded her thoughts and keep searching for an entrance in the dream, ignoring completely the other dreamwalker. But now, she couldn't afford that. Her disdain and little effort to put attention to details had put her in this situation in the first place.

Scanning her surroundings, Luna searched for the presence. It wasn't really far off, just a few steps, but where it was, exactly, Luna didn't know. She didn't dare to lit her horn in fear of scaring it away, it was silly, but... 
It was warm, soothing, even. And it felt so familiar, -though she couldn't quite place why-, emitting soft whispers of reassurance and forgiveness, dancing in the air of the night.

And just as she spotted it in the darkness, it dissappeared. 'Wha-'

And then she felt it, the familiar sensation of entering into a dream. Only this time, it wasn't her. Whoever had been spying on her had found an entrance to the pony's dream, and had used it to escape from her.
Luna's pupils narrowed into dragon-like slits. Slowly, she turned around her head and stared at the sand stream. The stream pulsated and then clustered together, a faint spiral with the colors of the dawn encircling it.

Luna's brow furrowed. Who was this being and why was it being so... benevolent?

'Who are you?' Luna thought. The being wasn't a Nightmare Force, as she could see how the pony's nightmare got placated -or rather, stopped altogether. This was no joke, as Luna could see, clearly as day -Faust bless enhancing spells- that the sand stream had gone completely still, even the mysterious presence seemed quiet.
Then, the black sand started to seep off. Literally. Dreams and the like were known for being sort-of ethereal concepts, and they could change their state depending on what was done to them. Whoever had entered the nightmare was laying more ruin than anything, emotionally upsetting the owner of it.
That was the last straw. First, this being had broken several laws; entering dreams without a license nor training, and then stealing her nightmare and doing a bad job at calming it.

'This is it, whoever you are. GET. OUT!' 

If Luna had been known for something throughout the ages, was the rage hidden behind a calm and quiet masquerade. Nopony, or rather, nobody, dared to push Her Majesty to her limits. It was common sense to not take her patience for granted, and only an idiot would push those invisible buttons.
So, eyes shining white with uncalculable power, rage found the body of a black alicorn in the middle of the night.

But just as rage gives, it takes away. And giving raw power, it took away dexterity. And thus, when said alicorn tried to keep together and at the same time forcefully enter the nightmare -various times- to kick the unexpected and criminal visitor's flank out and fix the freaking mess, her power went -just for a second, a tiny, little second- out of control and, in consequence, she shattered the dream altogether.
And as the shards of glassy sand fell to the ground to promptly disappear, Luna descended on the ground, her wings folding. 

Putting a hoof in front of her mouth, the Queen of the Night whispered, somewhat guilty, and an almost comical, "Oops."





If Butterscotch knew one thing, it was that even in a life of nearly-complete isolation, a pony was compelled, almost like it was natural instict, to do a decision that they would later regret. Not the decision itself, mind you, but the consequences or side effects of it. Because he didn't regret picking up and feeding a stranger he found in the woods. Nor carrying her to his home.
However, he did groan internally to the fact that Posey would probably be there, getting up from bed with a messy mane -after all, the first rays of Sun were clearing up the sky-, cooking breakfast, and humming as she did so.

Butterscotch's face didn't show his regret, not even when his big friend woke up in the cart.

"The sun goes down, the stars come out." He had been singing the same song for the past hour. He didn't mind. Anything to keep him thinking of all the things that could happen inside the house.
His voice didn't falter as he saw the old, two-story wooden house that belonged to him and his sister came into view.

And when he stopped walking, he turned his head around, a smile on his face, and spoke with false enthusiasm to Twilight -who had poked her head out from under the blanket-, "Good morning, Twilight! We've arrived. You stay here, okay? I'm gonna-" a gulp, almost imperceptible "-talk with family. Wait here. Don't wander off." And please don't scream if you hear me getting murdered.

He detached himself from the cart, wiggled his body, gave a reassuring smile to his friend -who was looking at him with confusion all over her face- and walked towards the big, majestic doors.

If Butterscotch knew other thing, was that he would like the ability to erase himself from existence.