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

by TP Night

Chapter 5 - Luna Arrives

In the library, Spike was finishing up the sorting the last bookshelf.
Twilight was working on her weekly planning for the coming week,
like she did every sunday evening. Spike gave out a burp of green fire,
and a scroll of parchment appeared. “Letter from the Princess.” He said
as she handed the scroll over to Twilight. She opened it and started reading.

“Dear Princess Twilight.

Due to minor complications I am unable to visit tonight,

but I need to examine the orbs as soon as possible.

Therefore, expect my arrival tomorrow, around lunch time.

I would also request that anypony else other than thou self

who touched the orbs be present. If they are what I and my sister

suspect, They will all need to hear about it.

I will explain more when we meet in person tomorrow.

For now, I advice that nopony - including those that already did,

touch the orbs until I have seen them.

Best Regards

Princess Luna”

“Very well, I guess she’s not coming tonight.” Spike said.

“I guess not.” Twilight said. “Anyway, we better go to bed early tonight,
since she is coming tomorrow.”

“You don’t mean right now, do you? Not this early?”

“No, but a bit earlier than usual. Maybe around eleven instead of midnight.
That sound fair, doesn’t it?”

“Fair enough, I guess.” Spike said smiling.

“By the way, are you done with the book sorting, Spike?”

“Yeah, it’s done. Every book in the library, sorted according to the
new system you wanted.”

“Dewey Decimal System.”

“Whatever. It’s done.” Spike smirked.

Time went by quickly, and the clock soon reached eleven.
Twilight and Spike both went to bed, but they both had trouble
falling asleep at first. They both lay awake for nearly an hour
before they finally fell asleep.

In the morning, they both got up just after seven.

“Good morning, Spike.” Twilight mumbled.

“...Morning...” Spike said, still half asleep.

“Sleep well?” Twilight asked.

“Not really... you?”

“No.. I couldn’t fall asleep at first, and when I did I only got a few hours of restless, light sleep..”

“Same here. I usually sleep much deeper, and dream.”

“You didn’t dream? Strange...”

“Why?”

“Neither did I, Spike.”

“So... what?”

“The orbs? Maybe they cause bad sleep. Luna warned us not to touch them
after all. Maybe that’s why?”

“Maybe... We’ll see what she says when she arrives in a few hours.”

“True. Speaking of which, We need to clean up a bit here before she does.
Dust the floors and such.”

“And by ‘we’, you mean me.”

“Well, it IS your job.” Twilight smirked.

“I know, I know... I’ll fix it after breakfast.”

* * *

The door to the library opened, and Applejack walked in.
She was followed by the three fillies. Spike had come by the orchard
earlier and told them about Lunas letter, and request that they all
be there when she arrived. Thus, they all decided to have lunch at the
library with Spike and Twilight and then meet Luna when she arrived.

“What’s for lunch?” Scootaloo asked.

“I made a leek pie.” Spike said with a proud smile.
“Although, I’ve never tried this particular recipe before,
So I don’t know if it’s any good.. it smells nice though.”

They all sniffed the air, followed by smiles.

“Smells mighty delicious to me.” Applejack said.

“Yeah!” Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie said all at the same time.

“I’m sure it will be delicious, Spike.” Twilight said with an encouraging
tone and a smile. “You followed the recipe carefully, and you are quite
the chef. And it was a relatively simple pie after all.”

“What’s in it?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Mainly leek, some shredded potato, molten cheese cover on top.”
Spike responded. “And some salt and pepper of course, but only a little
of each to enhance the leek-taste.”

They all sat down and started eating and talking.

“So what do you guys think?” Spike started.
“Anypony have any guesses what the orbs might be, or what they do?”

“Well, I suspect they cause sleep trouble, but I’m not sure.
And I also don’t know why.” Twilight said.

“What makes you think that?” Applejack said.

“Spike has had trouble sleeping since he touched it. So have I.
And Spike also mentioned you guys had trouble sleeping too, right?”
Twilight turned her head toward the three fillies.

“Well, Me and Applebloom.” Scootaloo said. “Sweetie Belle never actually
touched them, she only looked at them.”

“That explains my lack of sleep too.” Applejack said.
“So now we know what they do. At least, one thing they do.”

“Yes, but is it all they do, or just part of it? A side effect of something else?
And also, why? How? So many questions remain unanswered.”

As she spoke, the doors opened again and a blue alicorn walked in.

“Allow me then to present a few answers.” She said.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight said, smiling.

Applejack and the fillies all got up from the table and bowed lightly.
“Princess.” Applejack said.

Luna smiled and motioned toward them to rise again.
“No need for those formal things today, My little ponies.
What I DO need from you is your attention, As I am about to explain
a few things. But first, Allow me to see the orbs and determine if it
is indeed what I and Celestia suspect.”

Twilight led her in to the inner room where the orbs still rested on the
table. Lunas horn started glowing with its blue aura, and the same
aura surrounded the two orbs. For a few seconds she stood in silence,
with a focused look on her face. “Hmm...” She said.
“It is indeed the Dream Stones. Or rather, two of them.”

“Dream stones? And, you mean there are more than these two?” Twilight said. She had a curious look in her eyes.

“Yes, in total there should be five of them.” Luna said as she walked back
out to the larger room. She stood in the middle of the room.
“Is everypony present who touched them?” She asked.

“Yes, everypony is present. I touched both of them.” Twilight began.
“Spike found and touched one of them. Scootaloo and Applebloom found ad touched the other one,
and Applejack also touched that one.” She continued.

“I see. And you, young unicorn?” She looked at Sweetie Belle.
“Your name was... Sweet-something, correct?”

“Sweetie Belle.” She answered, a bit shyly.

“Ah, yes. And, you did not touch either of the orbs?”

“No, I only looked at them. But I wanted to be here, because Applebloom
and Scootaloo are my best friends, and also because I’m curious.”

“Very well.” Luna smiled. “Everypony who touched them, plus one more.
As I said, these are indeed what I suspected. They are called Dream stones.”
Luna began, as the others gathered in a circle on the floor around her.

“They are called Dream stones, and they were made over a
thousand years ago. They are not dangerous yet, but they might become
if they are not stopped. Luckily these were found early, and the remaining
three will be easy to find now that they are ‘awoken’. I will tell you the whole story.”

“How do you know so much about them?” Applejack asked.

“Simple.” Luna responded. “I made them.”