"Is everything alright Luna?" Twilight asked as she sat down on the couch.
"For the most part, yes and I apologize for my outburst yesterday," Luna replied. "The topic at hand is...a tad difficult to explain and I fear that my sister may react badly. So I brought thee-you- here in the hopes of 'breaking the ice' as it were."
"By telling me, you could summon the courage to tell Celestia right?"
"Yes, I would also like to impart some knowledge of dream walking to you as a payment of sorts for your aide."
"Dream walking? You want to teach me how to dream walk?" Twilight asked. "I'm honored but you don't need to bribe me to help you Luna, I'm your friend."
"I know...My apologies Twilight, it has been quite some time since I could call somepony a friend." Luna explained. "Mind you that was in a less truthful sense than the meaning of it today."
"I'm guessing the nobles weren't much different a thousand years ago?' Twilight quipped.
"Indeed, for all those who are petty and selfish today, their ancestors were worse!" said Luna and the two shared a small laugh."Fret not Princess Twilight, thy friends shall save thee from the gold-hoarding masses...But we should get to the reason I called for thine presence this night, ah I mean..."
"I don't mind if you use the royal we," Twilight said. "It's great that you trust me enough to use it freely."
Luna smiled gratefully. "Tis a comfort to me as much as a way of speech," she replied. "This now outdated tongue is the only way I know of to express how grateful I am that I have a pony who does not see me as an old, obsolete ruler nor as princess who has much to learn compared to her sibling..."
"Is that what's bothering you?" Twilight asked gently. "You mentioned the truth behind Nightmare Moon, are you worried it could come back? Or is there something that I'm supposed to know? Is it really that bad that you won't even tell your own sister?"
"Thou shalt get the answers that thou doth seek, but to tell that tale, my friend, There are concepts thou must understand and grasp to know the true origin of Nightmare Moon," Luna stated. "This intertwines with the purpose of teaching thee to traverse the realm of dreams, for only through the sea of the unconscious, of memories of the past, can the story of my fall to the nightmare be told in full."
"Memories? You mean like that potion Zecora gave me that only responds to alicorn magic?"
"In a way, only this time you will have somepony to guide you, to explain the events that have already unfolded," Luna explained. "Now close your eyes and link your magic with mine..."
***
Twilight found herself standing on a sea of twinkling lights and surrounded by a fog that changed color to various shades of blue. She tried to walk forward and found herself almost floating with each hoofstep.
"Princess Luna?" she called out and in response the voice of the moon princess echoed around her.
"This is the dream realm, a vast ocean of the thoughts and dreams of all things. Focus on where you wish to go and this place shall take you there."
Twilight nodded to herself and walked onward. The area seemed to blur around her and she would have lost herr footing were it not for Luna, who steadied her.
"Easy Twilight, if you lose focus, you could endanger yourself," Luna said. "Dreams are not as safe as they appear."
"They're not? But how, they're dreams."
"Well, how to put this, ah I know" Luna began. "A dream is much like the number zero, it may start off as nothing but it has infinite possibilities, much like how the number zero is a part a near infinite combination of numbers."
"I think I understand, anything could happen right?"
"Precisely. I have kept watch over the dreams of my subjects for many centuries and over the years I noticed changes within ponies, their dreams reflected how they truly felt about the world or showed the darkness within themselves that they wished to hide away."
"You mean their fears?" Twilight asked.
"As well as the parts of themselves they disliked" Luna elaborated."A pony may view a piece of their personality as bad or evil, so they try to to suppress it, be it cowardice, selfishness or greed, they would try to hide it away from the world and themselves. I saw what that did, so I made it my duty to help ponies at least understand, if not accept that part of who they were."
"What happens if you fail?"
"A good question," Luna replied and tapped a hoof on the ground. the area blurred once more and a row of doors appeared on either side of them. "Why don't we find out?"
"Are you sure that's ok? What if somepony gets mad at us for invading their privacy?" Twilight rambled.
"I have already thought of that" Luna interrupted. "I have asked one of thy friends to allow us to look in on their past, it will do thee and thy friend some good to learn what I have to teach."
One of the doors opened and in a burst of confetti and streamers, Pinkie Pie popped out.
"Ooh sparkly, Hi Twilight, hi Princess Luna!" the party pony exclaimed.
"A good night to you Pinkie Pie," Luna replied. "Are you ready for the lesson?"
"Yupperoni!" Pinkie replied. "But are you sure you want my help? Maybe Fluttershy or Sweetie Belle might be better for this..."
"Pinkie?" Twilight asked. "Are you alright? You don't have to help out if you don't want to."
"I'll be ok Twilight, it's just a little embarrassing that's all..."
"Rest assured that what transpires here will not be told to anypony, you have my word" Luna stated and much to Twilight's astonishment, performed the actions of a pinkie promise.
"Ok then, come on in!" Pinkie replied cheerfully and bounced on back through her door.
***
When the bright light faded from her vision, Twilight found herself standing in a side street in Ponyville. She was about to speak when Pinkie pushed a hoof over her mouth and made a gesture to stay silent.
"Shhh!" she stage whispered. "Or I'll hear you."
The pink hoof over Twilight's mouth forced the purple pony to look over at a bale of hay on the other side of the street. It had an old grey coat over it, a baseball cap rested on top and familiar pair of blue eyes looked out over the street behind a pair of groucho glasses. Before she could question anything, Rainbow walked past wearing a pair of saddlebags, instantly recognized the pony hidden under the hay and proceeded to run away like a bat out of Tartarus.
Te scene shifted several times to show the sheer insanity of Pinkie seemingly able to keep up with Rainbow as the pegasus did her best to hide from the pink pony. It dawned on Twilight what she was seeing as Rainbow made a beeline for Applejack's barn.
"This was on your birthday!" Se exclaimed after pushing Pinkie's hoof away.
"Yeah..it's mostly after this part that tings got weird..." Pinkie replied as the scene shifted again to show the dream Pinkie at Sugarcube corner with Spike.
"Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed as she saw the mock interrogation scene that unfolded before her. "How could you do that to Spike!?"
"I wasn't really thinking straight, honest!" Pinkie replied.
"He's lying! They're hiding something!" the voice of the dream Pinkie echoed around them. "What could they be hiding? Why would they hide something from me?"
Twilight stood shocked as the monologue continued.
"Why won't they spend time with me? m i doing something wrong?Maybe they don't like my parties- No! I can still be fun, they can't not like my parties."
The real Pinkie wilted slightly as her dream counterpart forced Spike to lie about the true reason her friends avoided her.
"Don't leave me..." the monologue finished as the dream Pinkie sat on the floor, her mane deflated. "Please, I don't want to be alone..."
Twilight looked over the real Pinkie and wordlessly Pulled her into a hug. Pinkie smiled gratefully and motioned back to the scene, it had shifted once again to show the pink pony's room decorated for another party. A table was laid out with dining implements and plates with a cake as the centerpiece. The walls were decorated with streamers and a few balloons were scattered here and there.
The most unusual thing were the party guests, a variety of inanimate objects were seated around the tabel, with the straight maned Pinkie at the head.
"I'm not alone" The thoughts of the dream Pinkie echoed around them again. "I have new friends, we'll ave tea and cake and be just peachy!"
The innocent tea party soon twisted and warped to reflect the delusion of its host, even the monologue echoed the conversation around the table as the straight maned pony feel further into her madness. Twilight's jaw dropped at the mention of Pinkie abandoning her and the rest of their friends in exchange for the assortment of objects seated at a party fit for the Mad Hatter.
"Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm to spread joy to her friends often overshadowed a desire to validate her own self worth," Luna explained. "While the need for others to prove one's own worth is not inherently bad, if done to an excess, one may bury the undesired parts of who they are to fit in with others. If these desires are not faced and dealt with, they fester and grow to a point where a great amount of stress may bring those feelings to the surface and control one's actions."
"But's its ok, it's all under control now," Pinkie said happily. "it doesn't bother me anymore."
"Oh really?" the dream Pinkie replied. "Try telling that to yourself!"
A dark aura appeared around the other Pink pony and her eyes changed from blue to yellow and almost seemed to glow menacingly.
"What in Equestria is that?" Twilight exclaimed in shock.
"This is a reflection of Pinkie's inner thoughts, her shadow in a sense," Luna explained. "these are the thoughts she has tried to hide from even herself and she must accept them for it to go way."
"I don't want to be alone," the 'shadow' Pinkie said. "If I have to act like an idiot to keep my friends, then I'll do whatever it takes!"
"What? No I would never-" Pinkie tried to counter.
"I can be smart like Twilight!" the shadow continued. "Look, look! I can be just as random as you want, notice me! Don't leave me by myself!"
"That's not-"
"I just want ponies to be happy," The shadow interrupted again. "I don't care what happens to me as long as i'm not alone."
"I...I guess you're right," Pinkie finally admitted. "i do want ponies to like me and sometimes I do stupid things for attention but that's not the main reason why I throw parties or want to see everypony smile."
"Everypony can be a little selfish or afraid of something sometimes," Twilight said. "But a true, true friend won't ever judge you for that, I promise."
Princess Luna nodded in agreement and Pinkie smiled softly.
"I guess if you're ok with me... Then I'm ok with me too," she said and walked over to her counterpart and pulled out a cupcake. "Friends?"
"Friends." her shadow agreed.
***
Twilight and Luna bid farewell to Pinkie and continued on down the hall of doors.
"I think I'm starting to understand" Twilight said. "in the legend of the mare in the moon, it mentioned that your jealousy turned you into Nightmare Moon...Is Nightmare moon your shadow?"
"Luna nodded sadly. "When my envy first took root, i ignored it for the benefit of my subjects, they needed a perfect princes to guide them through their own darkness. s the years wore on it twisted my perception of reality and by the time I realised it had grown too powerful, it was too late."
"Wasn't there somepony you could talk to?"
"On the day I attempted to bring my concerns to my sister, the fear and anger at myself was all Nighmare Moon, my shadow, needed to control me, the potion you mentioned before showed you what happened next..."
"What about after my friends and i discovered the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked. "Didn't we...?"
The hall of doors blurred past them and the two came to a stop at its end. t the end of the impossibly long hallway was a set of dark blue double doors bound shut by golden chains, The lock that held the chains in place was decorated with six genms that represented the elements.
"The elements returned control to me and sealed Nightmare away in a place where i could face ion my own terms" Luna explained. "yet I have ignored my own well being for the peace and stability of my subjects..."
"You're worried history will repeat itself, aren't you?" Twilight replied. "But hasn't your bond with Celestia been repaired? what's stopping you from telling her?"
Luna smiled sadly. "To put it simply, my sister wears a mask of sorts when dealing with our subjects. She is a ruler, a teacher and a symbol of perfection. I often worry that she has become that mask and she is no longer Celesti...Should i bring my concerns to her, she could view as a threat to the kingdom."
The Princess of the Night looked over at the door and sighed. "I ask thee to forgive me once more Twilight, for up to this point I have treated thee as a teacher would their pupil, now i ask of thee, wouldst thou accompany my s my friend, as mine anchor to myself as I face the one thing I fear most? Willst Thou join me as I face myself?"
Twilight nodded and placed an encouraging hoof on Luna's foreleg.