//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 - Five To One 
// Story: 10 Days, 3 Adventures - Part 1 - "In Dreams They Came" 
// by TP Night 
//------------------------------//

“Princess Luna?” Sweetie Belle asked with an unsure, slightly shy tone.

“Yes, child?” Luna said with a smile.

“We.. uhm... Me and Scootaloo and Spike... We had a thought about
the stones, and.. We wanted to ask you if it makes any sense,
or if our theory is wrong...”

“I see. Then, tell me your theory and I will tell you what I think.”
Luna said, still smiling. “Oh, and you need not bother with “Princess”
while I am here on non-royal business. Simply call me ‘Luna’”.
She added with a small wink. She looked around the room.
“That goes same for everypony - and dragon - in here. 
For the remainder of this... Adventure, shall we call it - You need not
use formal terms with me. Do you all understand?”

Everyone nodded and approved.

“Now then, your theory.” Luna turned her head back toward Sweetie Belle.

“Well... Spike said that when he found ‘his’ stone, he took a short nap
before doing so, and when he woke up he suddenly wanted to dig where
the black flowers were. And when Winona - the dog - found the other stone,
it was the same. She took a nap, and when she woke up she ran to the
black flowers and started digging.”

“And your theory to this?” Luna asked with a slightly curious
look in her eyes.

“We were wondering about those... Nightlings, was it? You said they were
inside the dream place. So we thought, maybe they somehow ‘told’ Winona
and Spike where to dig, in their dreams while they slept?”

Luna looked at Sweetie Belle with a curious smile.

“Interesting how you children came up with that idea.
I can not honestly say that I fully understand the Nightlings and their
abilities, but it does sound like a possibility. Perhaps they can give
subliminal suggestions through the dreams.”

Twilight came up to them.

“I overheard most of what you said, and I agree that it sounds possible.
I wonder though, why Spike and Winona? Why were they affected, 
and nopony else?”

“You just answered your own question, Twilight.” Luna said.
“no PONY was affected.”

“So you mean, since Winona and Spike are not ponies, That’s why
the Nightlings could make them dig up the stones?”

“It all fits the theory of subliminal suggestion. Spike, What I am about to say
might sound a bit offensive, so try not to take it personal.
Ponies and Dragons have a slightly different mental construction.
We process thoughts differently. Dragons are actually closer to dogs in
that regard than they are to Ponies. However, in terms of intelligence
dragons and ponies are, on average, more or less equal.”

“So Dragons and dogs would be easier to suggest things to?”
Scootaloo asked, joining the conversation.

“In a matter of speaking, yes.” Luna said.
“Which is why Spike and Winona was affected, but no ponies in the
same areas were.”

“Anyway, now that we have all five of the stones,
what do we do with them?” Twilight asked as she turned her head
toward the five stones lying on her floor.

“First of all, I need to check if they are fully activated yet.
After that, I will attempt to fuse them together into one single,
somewhat bigger stone instead of five.”

“Why?” Applebloom asked.

“So that we may enter it.” Luna said.
“And by ‘we’, I mean myself, Twilight and Applejack.”

“Why can’t WE come?” Scootaloo whined.

“Spike can not come due to what we discussed just a minute ago.
I can not bring him into my dream realm. My powers only include ponykind,
not dragons, gryphons, or other species. And you three children I am 
unwilling to bring due to the various risks involved.
Shortly and simply put, it is too dangerous. Or rather, might be.
There is no way of knowing what may happen inside, and I am not willing
to risk the safety of you three. But I am an Alicorn, and a former Element.
Twilight is an Alicorn too, and a current Element.
Applejack is also an Element, although not an Alicorn, but still an adult.”

“I agree.” Applejack said. “If we don’t know the risks, I’m not gonna
risk the safety of you three if we can avoid it.”

“I agree too, it’s simply too dangerous. Like Luna said, we do not know
what awaits in there.” Twilight added.

“Now then, I will check the stones.” Luna said as her horn started glowing.
The stones were surrounded by the same blue glow and flew in front
on Luna as she stood up and closed her eyes, focusing.

“They are only half-way activated. If we act now, we can stop them before 
they regain their full strength.” She said and opened her eyes again.

“This will need a lot of my magic, so do not worry if I start to look tired
while I do this.” She said and sat down again. The stones flew into positions
around her. One in front, two on her sides, and two slightly behind.
Between them thin lines formed in the air, connecting them in a pentagonal
shape around Luna. Then, another set of lines appeared between them,
forming a pentagram as well, with Luna sitting in the middle.
The double Penta-shape started spinning. Slowly at first, but then gradually
increasing in speed. The Pentagram faded, and the pentagon lines started
bending outwards to form a circle instead as the stones still increased speed.
Now, they rose up above Luna, and the circle started shrinking, 
the stones flying closer together until they touched.

They began shining in a bright white, and while still spinning,
they started fusing together into one. When they had fused completely,
the bright glow faded and the large sphere turned back into a pitch black.
It was the size of a bowling ball now, and had almost stopped spinning.
It moved from above Luna to just in front of her.

Luna did indeed look a bit tired.

“It is done.” She panted.

“You want some water or something?” Applejack asked.

”Yes please, I would like that very much.” Luna said with a tired smile.

“Are you sure you can go on?” Twilight asked. “You look really tired...”

“Do not worry. We can not proceed yet in any case. We must wait until
morning. It is soon time for me to raise the moon. When that happens,
the Nightlings will be in their strongest forms. But if we wait until
morning and go in when the sun is up, they will be weakened.
Remember, their purpose was to keep ponies away from sleep at night,
so that is when they are strongest.”

“Makes sense.” Twilight said. “But, will you go back to Canterlot?
Or will everypony stay here overnight?”

“I think it would be best if everypony remains here. Most of us has touched
the stones, and thus we are connected to them.”

“actually....” Sweetie Belle said in a nervous tone.
“I... touched ours too when we found it. As we said, I was the one
to get it from the hole...”

“Ah. Then we are all connected. So we shall all stay.”

“Will we be able to get any sleep?” Spike asked.

“You will, but it will most likely be filled with nightmares.
I can not protect you this time, because I too will need to sleep
if I am to regain my strength before we go inside.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine.” Applejack said. “What about the moon though?
Can you do it from here? The raising I mean.”

“I can do it from anywhere in Equestria. The Castle simply amplifies
the spell slightly to make it somewhat easier.” Luna responded.

“So we’ll all have a sleepover, I guess?” Applebloom said.

“Yes, quite correct.” Luna said.

“And in the morning you adults will go inside the dream world...”
Scootaloo said, with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

“Also correct.” Luna said. “However, If you children do as you are told...
I would need to reward you after all this is done. You have been a great help
in all of this, after all.” She smiled.

“Rewarded?” the three fillies asked with big, curious eyes.

“What kind of reward?” Applebloom asked.

“Oh, I do not know.. We will have to discuss that and agree upon something
suitable once we are done, I think.” Luna said with a smile.

The three fillies smiled widely and nodded.

“Now, if you all excuse me, I must go outside and raise the moon.
Celestia will lower the sun any minute now.”

“Can we come and watch?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“It’s really not that much to see... My horn glows, the moon rises,
and that is all.”

“I still wanna see...”

“Very well. Anypony else?”

Scootaloo and Applebloom nodded and followed as Luna walked outside.

When the sun began sinking, Luna looked in the other direction.
Her horn started glowing brightly, and in the horizon they could
see the moon arise in sync with the setting sun. When the moon
was in the correct location, just above Canterlot, Lunas horn stopped
glowing and she turned to the three fillies.

“And that is all there is to it. Now you have witnessed me raise my moon.
If you want, I can wake you tomorrow just before I lower it again.”

The three fillies nodded in agreement, and Scootaloo spoke.
“Yes please, do that!”

“Then so be it. And now, I suggest we should all go to bed.
We need all the sleep we can get, and I am quite sure tonight we
will all have nightmares. Since I too will be sleeping, I can not stop
them from invading your dreams, or my own either.”

“We can handle a few nightmares! Right, girls?” Scootaloo said
to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom. “Yeah!” they both responded.

They all walked back inside and found Twilight and Applejack
preparing sleeping bags that Twilight kept in a closet just in case
they became necessary. 

“So, let’s just go over the plan one last time before we go to bed.”
She said when they were all gathered in the room again.

“Good idea.” Luna said.

“So... First of all, we try to get a few hours of sleep.
After Luna lowers the moon, we have some breakfast.
And after that, we should get started. Me, Luna and Applejack will
go inside the dream realm, while the fillies and Spike wait here.”

“I was wondering...” Applejack started. “How exactly DO we do that?
Do you like, go inside our heads... or do you take our entire physical 
bodies along somehow, like a teleport spell?”

“I will explain all that in the morning during breakfast.
There is quite a bit to tell, and I am sure you will also have some
questions while I explain it. Now, let us go to sleep.”

So they all went to bed. Twilight and Spike took their regular beds upstairs,
while the others all took sleeping bags in the living room,
except Luna who instead opted for sleeping on the couch between
two of the bookshelves, saying that sleeping bags were to hot,
and she preferred sleeping ‘in the open’, so to speak.

They all found it hard to fall asleep, but they eventually all did.
And all of them had nightmares, just like Luna had suspected...