10 Days, 3 Adventures - Part 1 - "In Dreams They Came"

by TP Night

Chapter 20 - Epilogue

When the three ponies entered the library, Applebloom ran up to her sister.

“....Why are you an alicorn?”

Applejack gave a sheepish smile as an answer. “Luna, do you mind explaining?”

Luna smiled and nodded. “You see, Applebloom, I had to turn your sister
into an alicorn temporarily to fill her body with magic.
Without it, she would not have been able to cross a certain point in the dream world,
so we had no choice. However, she will return into an earth pony soon.”

“Speaking of which...” Applejack said, “You never actually explained HOW
that’s gonna happen. Will the wings and horn just fall off, or fade away, or “grow in?”

Luna looked thoughtful for a few moments. “Honestly I do not know. I have never
attempted a temporary alicornification before. We will have to wait and see.”

Meanwhile, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had also approached and was looking at
Applejacks temporary additional body parts.

Scootaloo noticed the damaged wing.

“What happened with the wing?” She asked. “looks burned.”

“Well, yeah.. When we were fighting Nightmare Moon, she used some fire spells,
among other things. My wing got hit by one. Luckily for me, the wing is
not one of my real body parts, so the damage should go away when the wing does.
Worst case scenario, I might get a burn scar where the wing used to be.”

Twilight sat down at the table. “Well.. Now what?”

Applejack sat down on the opposite side. “I vote for a few days rest,
Before everypony else comes home. I mean, Rarity, Pinkie, Flutter and Dashie
Were all gonna be back on the same day, right?”

“Rainbow and Flutter will be back in five days, Rarity and Pinkie Pie will be back
in six. They’re all leaving the same day though, but Rarity and Pinkie is taking
a night train. Rainbow and Fluttershy are taking a day train.”

“So, we’ll all be back together in six days... Which is also the same day as
the annual Apple Acres party - Whole town’s invited. Which in turn means,
I can’t stay too long, I gotta get back home and start preparing,
‘cause it’s gonna take days to get everything set up. And you’re helping too,
Applebloom.”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo smiled. “We can help too, if you need a few extra hoofs!”

Applejack smiled. “We need all the hoofs we can get if we’re gonna have the orchard
ready for a party of that size. And when she gets back, Pinkie will take care of
final details, so everything is in good hoofs.”

“Well, I’m not much of a party planner, and I have a lot to do here in the library....
So I’ll stay here for a few days, but I will join you at the party.” Twilight said.

“Same here.” Spike added.

Twilight turned to Luna. “What about you? Will you join us at the party?”

“Alas, I can not. Not this year. Too much paperwork back in Canterlot,
I need to write a literal ton of reports and journals regarding everything we did,
in extreme detail. I will be stuck in my office for at least a week, probably more.
However, you say it is annual? I could plan ahead for the coming year and make
sure to have some free time for the next time, but not this time.” Luna smiled.

She started walking toward the door. “Now if you all excuse me, I need to return
to Canterlot and get started on all those papers. I also expect my dear sister would
like a detailed report from you two, so when you have the time and strength,
please write and send a letter to her, would you?”

“Of course, I was already planning to.” Twilight replied with a smile.
“Well, it was nice seeing you, and I hope we meet again soon.”

“Likewise. And, it was also nice meeting the rest of you. And fillies...”

Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle suddenly stood in full attention.

“Oh, and Spike too.” Luna added, upon which Spike also stood with the three fillies.

“Yes?” They all asked.

“As a way of thanking you all, You can each expect some very pleasant dreams
for the next few days. I will personally make sure of that.”

“Yaaay!” They all cheered, and thanked Luna before she left the house.

Shortly after, Applejack and all the Crusaders left the house too, while Twilight
sat down to write her letter.

“Dear Princess Celestia.
I am sure you will also hear Lunas side of this story, but we all agreed - her included
that it might be good if you also have mine and Applejacks perspective on the events
relating to the orbs. First of all, Lunas suspicions were correct, and they were in fact
the dream stones she created while influenced by Nightmare Moon, before her
banishment...”

The letter went on for a few full pages, and reminded spike of a short-novel collection
when it was finally done. At Twilights request, he took it in his claw and gave it a
breath of the green magic fire, which instead of destroying the papers, transported them
to Celestias room in Canterlot.

* * *

A few days passed during which not much happened. In the library, Twilight and Spike
cataloged some old books and scrolls. The crusaders did as promised and helped
with the party preparations at the farm, which also occupied Applejacks full attention.

On the day of the party, Twilight and Spike got ready to go there.
They did not bother dressing up, since it was a farm party, not a fancy gala.
Nopony else would be dressed up either, except probably Rarity, but since she dressed
up for nearly ANY occasion, it didn’t really count.

They arrived to find Applebloom sitting at the gates of the Acres, with a long scroll
of parchment and a quill.

“Guest list.” She explained when Twilight asked.
“Basically, anypony who goes in has to sign their name, so we know afterwards
how many guests we had. So, sign here please.” She said and pointed at the scroll,
right below the rows of names.

Spike signed his name and waited for Twilight, who did the same.

“Hey Bloom. Before we enter, I have a question.” Spike said.

“Sure!” Applebloom replied.

“Where’s all the food and drinks? I’m already getting a bit hungry, we had a
very light lunch so we could eat more here...”

“Foodtable’s lined up along the barn walls, Cider is inside where it’s shadowed
to keep it cold. Ya’ll better hurry though, Dash’s already there...” She laughed a bit.

Twilight and Spike entered the farm and went to the barn, where they found
Rarity looking thoughtfully at the various baked goods - pies, cakes, cookies, fritters,
and all sorts of other stuff.

“Hi Rarity.” Twilight began. “Trouble choosing?” She nodded toward the table.

“Oh, Hi Twilight, Hi Spike.” She smiled. “Ah, yes, indeed.. everything looks quite
delicious, and I’m not sure what I feel like. I can’t quite decide if I want the apple
and pecan pie, or if I want a piece of the apple cream cake.”

“I’ll have some of that cake!” Spike said with a grin, and started cutting a piece.

“hmm... Oh, I shall have the same! Spike, would you mind...?” Rarity gave him
the slightly flirty puppy eyes.

“Of course!” Spike said, almost blushing a little as he cut another piece of the cake
and gave to her.

“Keep cutting, I want a piece too!” A voice behind them said. As they turned around, they saw Rainbow Dash with a tray of ciders for each of them, as well as three more.
Behind her came Applejack and Pinkie Pie, and from another part of the farm
they saw Fluttershy moving toward them.

They all joined up and sat down at a table, each with a mug of cider and a piece
of the cake.

“So, how was your week guys?” Pinkie Pie asked openly.

“Well, I had quite an adventure. Or rather, me and Applejack.. and princess Luna.”
Twilight began.

“We had an adventure too!” Pinkie interrupted. “We solved a crime!”

“What?” Rainbow Dash cut in. “Me and Flutters too! well, sort of... more like a sabotage,
but still!”

“Well, We fought Nightmare Moon inside the Dream world.” Applejack said.

Spike interrupted everyone. “Okay, okay! Let’s all stop talking in each others mouth.
Let’s take turns telling our stories! Who wants to go first?”

“ME!” Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie all yelled at the same time.

Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy all laughed. Shortly after, the others joined in too,
and after they stopped laughing they all told their stories.

// The End... of THIS part.

Author's Note:

And thus, we reach the end of Twilights and Applejacks story...

The second part (currently being written) is Rarity and Pinkie Pies story.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Can I please get a longer description for the actual adventure?

[TP Night]

6261524 Sure, but I'll still keep it relatively short and (mostly) spoilerfree, as not to ruin the story for you if you plan to read it.
(Hover mouse over the black lines to reveal text, I made it spoiler-guarded in case others see the comment
who does NOT want any spoilers)

It starts with the Crusaders finding a black crystal orb, which they don't know what it is.

Together with Applejack, they bring it to Twilight, to see if she might know what it is.

Turns out, it's an old magic artifact, and it also turns out there are more than one of them.

For reasons I'm not going to spoil, Luna gets involved too.

After that, Luna, Twilight and Applejack has to travel inside the dreamworld to fix a few things, And most of this story takes place
in the Dreamworld, the adventure itself is basically what they do in the dreamworld.

This is as much as I can tell you without any bigger spoilers, but I still can tell you more if you don't mind spoilers.

Also - If / When you read the story, I'd appreciate if you drop a message with your opinion, such as if you liked it or not and why,
and I'd also thankfully accept any constructive criticism, if you have any suggestions for improvements. :)

[TP Night]

7332009 Well, I'd imagine that would depend on the dream and the dreamer, but... In some cases, yeah, you could.

[TP Night]

7332968 Yeah, I know, they're assholes, right? Have you read the whole story yet?
Don't wanna risk spoiling anything you haven't seen..

[TP Night]

7676961 Yeah, the show never explains any of that, so I didn't either..
I blame it on cartoon logic