Twilight floated. She floated in a seemingly never ending void. She could no longer feel her limbs, and she felt as if she was just barely holding on.
What was she holding onto? She couldn’t remember. All that was left for her in her shattered mind was just bits and pieces of broken memories.
Did she even want to remember? It... it hurt.
She cringed a bit as she floated, pulling her limbs in closer to herself as she shook her head softly.
She didn’t want it to hurt.
She wanted it to stop.
Maybe if she... just let go...
It would end.
Celestia sat down heavily, looking down at the report that the doctor had given her less than an hour ago. She already knew what it said by heart, but it offered a small glimmer of hope. Somehow, miraculously, Twilight’s condition had stabilized. The Princess of the Sun knew that her student was in critical condition still, but she wasn’t getting worse.
She gave a small smile at that before letting out a sigh. There was still a long way to go.
She was disrupted from her musings by her door opening, a familiar dark blue mare walking in slowly.
“Sister,” Celestia greeted, forcing herself to bring another smile to her face.
“Celestia,” Luna replied, giving a courteous nod as she walked into the room and sat herself down next to her sister. “How fare thee?”
Celestia shook her head, before answering honestly. “I don’t know, Luna. I’m hoping for the best... but I know that I must prepare for the worst.”
Luna leaned against her sister comfortingly. “I know,” she said softly, “but I’m here for you now. Never forget that.”
Celestia gave a true smile at that. “I suppose I can’t forget it with you here to remind me,” she said, lightening the mood a bit.
Luna chuckled a bit, before nuzzling her sister once more and getting serious.
“Sister, I didn’t come up here just to see how you were doing. I came up to tell you what I plan to do,” she said slowly, changing the subject suddenly.
Celestia looked down at her sister with guarded curiosity.
Luna explained herself. “Sister, while I may not be able to dreamwalk with the Changelings, Twilight Sparkle was-... is... a pony; I can still sense her, dreaming in her coma. She was not strong enough for me to enter before, but it seems she has gotten some of her strength back,” she said before pausing to gauge her sister’s reaction.
Celestia wore a guarded expression, but Luna knew her sister well.
“I... do not know if I will be able to talk to her, but this will at least give us some idea of what she’s thinking about. If nothing else, I can try to manipulate away the bad memories and bring the good ones to the forefront of her dream,” Luna said, taking a breath. “I can remind her that her friends care for her,” she added.
Celestia nodded slowly, thinking. The silence stretched on for a bit before Luna found herself embraced in a hug.
“Thank you,” Celestia said, her façade breaking for a bit as she hugged the smaller Alicorn.
Luna jumped a bit at the sudden hug, before relaxing and hugging her back. “She is my friend too,” Luna gently reminded Celestia.
Celestia chuckled a bit, holding the hug. “Yes, yes she is.”
Twilight floated on. It was cold. So very cold.
She shivered in the dark.
It had been warmer earlier, hadn’t it? A brief moment of warmth among the cold.
She had liked the warmth.
Where had it gone?
She shivered again slightly, before she felt warm again.
She stopped thinking for a moment, before she did something she hadn’t done in a while.
Twilight Sparkle smiled.
Luna walked into the medical ward that was holding Twilight, startling the Doctor that was in there looking at a clipboard. Looking up, the doctor’s eyes went wide and he hurriedly hung up it back on the bed and nodded his head respectfully towards the Princess.
“Doctor Haywick,” Luna replied with a nod of her own.
“What brings you here, Princess Luna?” he asked, before looking back at Twilight. “On second thought, I might know the answer.”
She smiled sadly. “Indeed, Doctor,” She said, before pausing as a vibrant blue caught her eye from the corner of the room. “Loyalty?” Luna seemed confused seeing the pegasus on the other side of the room. “What is she doing here?”
Haywick chuckled at that as he nodded. “She’s certainly living up to her element, Princess. After Twilight... went into cardiac arrest and quite literally died for a minute, and Dash has refused to leave her side, only doing so when her other friends come to drag her away for food,” he said with a hint of cheeriness at the last part, although frowning thereafter at the mention of the earlier incident.
There was silence for a moment before Dash snored softly, causing Luna to give a small smile before she looked up at Doctor Haywick and spoke. “Look, Doctor, she is smiling!” Luna exclaimed as soon as she witnessed Twilight’s smile. It bought a moment of joy into the Princesses’ heart to see her smile, knowing Twilight had something worth smiling about.
Haywick shook his head. “Princess Luna, she’s in a coma, she can’t,” he stated, before looking at her and raising an eyebrow. “Or... she can!” he said, a mixture of dumbfoundedness and surprise written across his face.
He shook his head. “I really shouldn’t be trying to apply regular medical practices to this particular case. Nothing about this is normal,” he muttered, before speaking louder to the clearly bemused princess. “Yes, well. That is most likely a good sign. If I had to guess, and I am completely guessing here, I would say that she’s probably responding to some internal stimuli. Which is good, because it shows she’s having higher brain functions.”
Luna gave him a quizzical look, tilting her head to the side slightly.
“It shows she is dreaming,” the doctor simplified. “Probably.”
Luna turned away from the good doctor and smiled again. “Of course she is, Doctor Haywick. Why would the sleeping not dream?” Luna quizzed.
Haywick thought about that question. “I... honestly wouldn’t know, Princess.” He answered. “We just assumed that those in coma’s don’t.”
“And, no one has thought to ask me, the princess that can dreamwalk?”
Haywick opened his mouth to respond, before closing it it with a shrug. “I didn’t really think to come to you to ask if our patients dream while comatose,” he said, giving a sheepish smile.
Princess Luna smiled back. “Relax, Doctor; I am merely teasing,” Luna said with a sly grin before her smile dropped a bit. “Do you have any idea of her mental state, Doctor?” she tentatively asked, looking back at Twilight whose smile had slipped a bit.
“Unfortunately no. Her smiling right there was the most emotion we’ve seen from her since she’s been admitted,” he said, rubbing the back of his head as he thought. “But from what I’ve heard — just rumors mind you — she’s literally been to hell and back. No one can go through that and be okay in the end. Twilight should be fine physically, but then again the mental anguish she’s had to endure at the clutches of Chrysalis… She might need extensive mental therapy. When she wakes up I’ll send in a psychologist to gauge her mental state when appropriate.”
The dark blue alicorn nodded slowly before breaking the silence that threatened to fall across the room. “Doctor Haywick, I am going to attempt to dreamwalk,” she started, “I have no idea how Twilight will react to my presence; I have never done this in this sort of situation before,” she explained.
Haywick nodded before speaking up. “If she were to have an adverse reaction, would there be any way for me to stop you?”
Luna nodded in affirmation. “Yes, all you would have to do is just shake me awake.”
Haywick nodded, biting his lip for a moment. “Okay, Princess. I’m going to have to trust your knowledge in this one.”
“It is not misplaced, Doctor.” Luna said before taking a deep breath, her horn lighting up with a soft light blue aura. “Although you would have more confidence had you consulted me about your comatose patients in regards to dreaming. I will be a while, Doctor Haywick. You might wish to find a seat.” Luna closed her eyes, the glow on her horn intensifying with the act. With that, Princess Luna became still, the only movement of her body, now, was her breathing.
Haywick nodded to himself, watching the Princess for a moment before smiling softly. “Right. Chair.” He said to himself, before leaving to go find one quickly.
Princess Luna opened her eyes in Twilight’s dreamscape, prepared to see a broken landscape appear before her. What she saw instead surprised her.
There were no nightmares for her to ward off.
There were no memories playing through Twilight’s mind.
In fact, as far as Luna could tell, there was nothing at all on Twilight’s mind.
Luna had never, in all of her time as protector of dreams, seen this before.
It worried her.
She flapped her wings, moving around in the inky mindscape, keeping an eye out for anything that contrasted. For a while she just traveled in one way, nothing ever changing in the bleak mindscape until something strange caught her eye.
There, as a slight glimmer on the horizon, was Twilight.
Luna gasped, flapping her wings quickly to speed herself up. She flew towards her friend, until she had to stop as dread filled her heart.
Twilight Sparkle was gray.