Even though she may help ponies in their dreams and their nightmares, doesn't mean she doesn't have nightmares herself.
Even though she may help ponies in their dreams and their nightmares, doesn't mean she doesn't have nightmares herself. Luna actually has nightmares constantly that she may be abandoned by her sister sooner or later. Luna confesses these fears to the only pony who will listen, her sister's faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.
Art by Ellen124
For Luna is Best Pone Contest Subject: Even Luna (The Princess of the Night) has Nightmares
It was just a normal morning when Luna had her first nightmare in one hundred years. As she laid there in bed, the shock of it all awoke her peaceful sleep. She then began to pace for several hours straight until Celestia came into the room. "What's wrong, little sister?" asks Celestia concerned.
"I had a nightmare, the first one in a hundred years," responds Luna.
"Well, wanna grab Twilight and the three of us can talk about it?" asks Celestia.
"Sure," responds Luna, "I'd like that."
A few minutes later, the three princesses sit down together at the table behind freshly baked pancakes. "So, what's wrong Luna?" asks Twilight quietly.
"I've started having nightmares again after a hundred years," responds Luna, "and it shook me to the core."
"Well, there's got to be a reason," says Celestia as she rubs Luna on the back.
"Yeah, I just wish I knew what that reason was," sighs Luna.
"Well, think about it," says Twilight, "anything that's happened to you lately that could trigger nightmares of this nature?"
"I dunno," responds Luna. "There could be one thing, no, wait."
"Well, what is it, Luna?" asks Twilight concerned. "What were you gonna say?"
"It may be because I became Nightmare Moon a hundred years ago today and I'm still haunted by that," responds Luna.
"That's probably it, but we can get through it together, I promise," sighs Celestia as she embraces her little sister in a hug. The three then get back to enjoying their breakfast. While Celestia and Twilight down their pancakes, Luna only fiddles with hers and ends up eating only two or three out of the ten pancake stack. She then walks off and goes back into her bedroom. Celestia then starts to get up but Twilight stops her.
"Celestia, let me handle this," says Twilight as she flies down the hall to Luna's bedroom.
"You can come in Twilight," sighs Luna. Twilight then enters the bedroom.
"Thanks," responds Twilight as she sits down on the bed next to Luna. "You know Celestia is worried about you? Don't you?"
"Yeah," responds Luna. "I know, but the reason I'm having these nightmares is partly that of her banishing me and the other half, I blame myself for, turning into Nightmare Moon."
"But you still have to forgive your sister for the pain to stop," responds Twilight.
"Yeah, you're right," sighs Luna. "Tell Celestia she's free to come in." Twilight then goes and fetches Celestia and then Celestia goes into Luna's bedroom.
"Hey, sister," says Luna with a smile. "Come on and sit down." Celestia nods and goes and sits down beside her sister. "I have something to admit to you."
"Sure, what is it?" responds Celestia.
"I'm sorry for all those years ago when I turned into Nightmare Moon."
"And I'm sorry for banishing you, I regretted it ever since I did it," responds Celestia. The two then embrace in a hug. The two then go out for an early morning flight, all the while, really enjoying themselves. Luna is glad she's able to confide in her sister and in Twilight, that definitely makes her struggles easier right now.
A few nights after her talk with Celestia and Twilight, Luna begins to start having dreams of being abandoned by her sister on top of her dreams about turning into Nightmare Moon to the point she can no longer sleep. After a while of staying awake, Luna turns to the only pony she feels will listen to her on this particular dream, Twilight Sparkle. A few minutes later, she knocks on Twilight's door and gets a frantic come in from the young princess. Luna then enters the room. "Hey Luna," says Twilight, "what's wrong?"
"I had another nightmare, a nightmare about Celestia abandoning me, and I haven't been able to sleep because of it," sighs Luna.
"Well, we can talk about it in a minute once I get this last book on its shelf," says Twilight as she uses her magic to guide it into place before climbing down the ladder. "Ready to talk?" Luna nods and then begins explaining everything that happened in the nightmare to Twilight.
"It was the most horrible nightmare of them all," sighs Luna, "Celestia abandoning me still scares me to this day I guess. In the nightmare, she pushed me to the side and flew off back to our old home alone, like she didn't want me anymore. What am I to do? I'm a leader, I'm supposed to be strong, not the weakling you see me as right now because of these nightmares."
"Oh Luna," says Twilight. "We don't see you as weak because of these nightmares. You have nightmares just like any other pony. It's fine."
"Yeah, then what should I do?" asks Luna.
"I'd say confront your sister, let her know how you feel," responds Twilight. "That's all you really can do."
"Yeah, but if I confront her, she may leave like she did in the dream," Luna responds as her eyes well up with tears. Twilight then embraces her in a hug and does her best to comfort Luna but to no aveil. After several hours, Luna's tears finally come to a stop and the two go and talk with Celestia once again.
"Celestia," sniffles Luna, "you'd never abandon me, would you?"
"Luna," responds Celestia sweetly, "of coarse I wouldn't. One thousand years without you was enough. Why?"
"It's the nightmares," explains Twilight as Luna begins to cry again. "She had a nightmare that you abandoned her and flew off back to your old home."
"Oh," responds Celestia, "well, that would never happen. Luna, I promise."
"Thank you, sister," responds Luna as she falls into Celestia's arms and gives her a great big hug. "You have no idea how much that means to me hearing that come from you." The two sisters then go and spend the rest of the day together at the royal spa. It's exactly what Luna needs to relax and unwind.
A few minutes into their day together at the spa, Celestia begins to talk with Luna about the nightmares. This is exactly what she feared. "Luna, you need to learn to share important things like this with me. I'm your sister. That makes it even more important that you talk with me. I'm not going to abandon you, you're not going to turn into Nightmare Moon. I promise. Promise." Celestia's voice begins to shake. "Why would I ever abandon you? You being banished for so long shook me to the core and I don't want to feel pain like that ever again." Celestia begins to cry. "You know that."
"Shh, shh," responds Luna as she goes over and embraces Tia in a hug. "I know you would never abandon me. My fears, however, they are a monster all their own, even worse than the Tantabus sometimes."
"You see," says Celestia with a smile through the tears, "was admitting that to me so hard?"
"Yeah, it wasn't, you're right," responds Luna as a small smile peeps across her face. The two share another hug.
A few hours later, the two finish up at the spa and go on a nice fly together through the sunset sky. "It's so pretty," sighs Luna. "Sunsets like these always erase all my fears and drown out all my sorrows."
"I'm glad to hear that," responds Celestia. A few hours later, the two land back on the castle balcony and Celestia retires for the night while Luna goes into the dream realm for several hours and looks over ponies dreams. Watching as they dream and helping with their nightmares if they have any.
"Now if only I could do this for my own dreams and my own nightmares," sighs Luna. "That would make things so much easier."
A few hours later, the sun rises and Luna exits the dream realm and goes and turns in herself. As she sleeps, she doesn't have any nightmares because her dream projection of herself is actively beating those nightmares into oblivion. As her dream projection does that, Luna continues to sleep peacefully. She's relieved. Somehow, her mind finally adjusted and realized that the nightmares were harming her and are now working against them, hopefully for good. She can't wait to tell Celestia about all this, but first, it's time for a good night's sleep.
A few days later, the two royal sisters go away for a family vacation and leave Twilight in charge of the castle for the weekend. Twilight is thrilled but nervous at the same time. The last thing she wants to do is let the princesses down. She promises herself that she won't. She then gets back to sorting through all the books in the royal library as she has nothing better to do until Celestia's planned meeting at noon.
Meanwhile, the sisters soon land in a small town that they used to visit all the time as children. "It's that town from our childhood, Mist Hoof Valley not far from the Hoof Falls if I remember correctly," says Luna with a smile.
"It is indeed," responds Celestia with a smile. The two then walk into a house in the village and there, they are met by Star Swirl and Stygian.
"Hey," says Starswirl with a smile. "It's been too long."
"Agreed," respond the sisters as the embrace him in a hug.
"Luna needed to get away from the palace for a little bit," sighs Celestia, "she's been having nightmares lately."
"Well, unwinding and letting your mind wander is definitely a good way to fix that problem," responds Starswirl as he strokes his beard. "Can I interest either of you in some tea?"
"Sure, tea would be nice," reply the sisters as they sit down. Starswirl then goes over and pours each of them a piping hot cup along with himself. The three then begin to chat and catch up but not before Starswirl gives Luna a "nightmare cure all spell", at least, that's what he calls it. Luna thanks him for it and then she and Celestia then begin to tell him all of what he missed since he came back to the town and left Canterlot behind.
"So, Twilight is teaching magic to some of your students now, good on her," says Starswirl to the sisters.
"Yeah, we're proud of her," responds Luna, "Celi, especially."
"It's true," blushes Celestia.
"As for me," responds Luna, "I have started a whole new night symphony choir for the night guards to participate in since Celestia has a daytime symphony choir."
"It's about time," laughs Starswirl with a smile.
"I agree," sighs Luna. "Celestia's also been teaching me how to bake and I really enjoy it." She lets out a laugh. "It's fun."
"Well, I'm glad you two have gotten so close," responds Starswirl with a smile.
After a few more hours of talking, the three go and walk around the town together, continuing to talk as they walk. All the while, sharing laughs, memories, and daily happenings. Luna's just glad to be away from the castle and she has the feeling the spell Starswirl gave her will definitely help her with her nightmare problem.
The next morning, after a glorious night of sleep, Celestia, Luna, Starswirl, and Stygian go out to the old fountain in the midst of the town, and together, they rebuild it. "This is nice, doing something to help the townsponies," sighs Luna with a smile on her face. "And that spell you let me use definitely helped slow down the nightmares. They're almost completely gone."
"That's good," responds Starswirl with a smile. "I'm glad to hear that my little star glow."
"Oh, you kept that nickname for me after all these years, that's sweet," responds Luna with a smile.
"Yeah, I still remember both of your nicknames, my nickname for you, Tia, was little sun drop."
"Yeah, I remember that nickname fondly," responds Celestia.
After about twelve hours, they finish building the fountain and then they move on and rebuild the well also. They then go on to rebuild the rest of the village together over the next few days. The sisters couldn't be happier. After all, the reason they became rulers in the first place was to help ponies and this was a great way to remind them of that. Once they are done in the town, the four go and enjoy a nice walk through the valley and down to the falls, where they enjoy a nice moonlit picnic. As they enjoy the food, the four talk, chat, and share laughs and jokes. Luna is having a blast and Celestia can see it clear as day. She's glad her little sister is happy. She'd honestly have it no other way.
Around noon the next morning, the two sisters return back to Canterlot and their thrones and relieve Twilight of her duties. "So, was the getaway good? How are Starswirl and Stygian doing well?" asks Twilight ecstatically.
"It was great, very much needed," responds Luna with a smile. "And they are doing well. Starswirl said for us to tell you hello, by the way, Twilight." Twilight's eyes widen and she goes over and embraces Luna in a hug.
"I'm glad he is finally not being mean to me and is starting to care about me enough to send me a hello," responds Twilight with a smile.
"Yeah, we helped him rebuild the village from our childhood," sighs Luna. "It was great."
"I bet," responds Twilight with a smile as she lets go of Luna. She, Celestia, and Luna then go off to Sugar Cube Corner for a nice lunch. There, the three talk and Luna tells Twilight about the spell that basically cures her nightmares she's been having. "Well, that's good. Who knew there was a spell for that? Seems like there's a spell for everything nowadays."
"Yeah," sighs Luna. "Who knew? I sure didn't until recently."
After a few hours, the three return back to the castle where they have a nice dinner with several dignitaries. All the while, Twilight feels uncomfortable as always while the regal sisters have the time of their lives laughing it up with the dignitaries. Eventually, Luna notices this and dismisses Twilight back to her comfort zone, the library to Twilight's relief.
Around two hours later, Celestia and Luna part ways with the dignitaries and Celestia turns in for the night while Luna delves back into the dream realm. While there, Luna takes an at ease breath before she jumps into the first dream of the night, none other than her own sister's. "Awe, she dreams about us playing together as foals and hanging out together before my banishment, that's so sweet," sighs Luna. She lingers in that dream for a few moments before going into the next dreams, which is Twilight's and of course, she's dreaming about books, books, and more books. After several hours, Luna leaves the dream realm and turns in for the morning and Celestia goes out and starts the sunrise. As she sleeps, Luna sleeps calmly with no nightmares whatsoever thanks to Starswirl's spell. Luna couldn't be more satisfied. Hopefully, this spell will remain in her system for awhile without needing to be recast. She can only hope.
A few months later, the spell runs out and the nightmares return but Luna quickly recasts the spell upon herself. "There," she sighs. "That was a close one." She then goes out into the main hall where she meets with Celestia and the two then head out on their annual royal visit to YakYakistan, leaving Twilight to rule in their stead once again.
After several hours of flying, the two sisters touch down in YakYakistan and are greeted by Prince Rutherford and his son, Rutherford II. "Hello Princess Celestia, Princess Luna," say the princes with smiles on their face. "It's good to see you again."
"And you," respond the sisters as they take turns sharing hugs with the two yaks. The four then enter the main courtyard of the village. There, the four continue their conversations.
"The town has grown so much," sighs Luna. "I'm impressed."
"Yeah, thanks to your friends, we've been able to rebuild faster than we'd ever be able to rebuild alone," responds Prince Rutherford I. "Applejack and Rarity especially have a knack for building and Pinkie and Twilight for refurbishing and organizing."
"Don't I know it," replies Celestia with a smile and a laugh.
The four then enter the main castle, which has been newly rebuilt and restored. The four then sit down to lunch. As they eat, they can't help but do just some friendly chatter and crack jokes and share laughs and have an all around great time. After lunch, Rutherford pulls Luna to the side. "I can see something is bothering you, Princess," he says. "What's wrong?"
"I've just been having nightmares lately, I'm fine," responds Luna. "Thanks for asking, though. I appreciate it." The two then go and catch back up with Celestia and Rutherford II. The royal sisters came just in time for the YakYakifest. The royal sisters enjoy the festivities alongside the two yak rulers, especially Luna. This makes Celestia glad and she doesn't even realize that Luna has started having nightmares again or even recast the spell and that has Luna relieved above all else.
That night after the festivities come to an end, the two are shown to their guest rooms and turn in for the night. While Celestia sleeps peacefully, Luna can't help but feel guilty for not telling Celestia that she had to recast the spell upon herself. She finally resolves to tell Celestia in the morning before the princes come and fetch them for breakfast. She then falls fast asleep and is not disturbed by anything but her own guilt and to her, that is better than being awoken by the nightmares she used to have.
The next morning, Luna goes over into her sister's room. "Ti," she says, "I've started having the nightmares again. I recast the spell upon myself before we came here. I just thought I'd let you know."
"Well, thanks for letting me know," responds Celestia with a smile. "Now, who's ready for breakfast?" A few minutes later, the two are grabbed by the princes and they go and enjoy breakfast together, all the while, Luna feeling good now that she's gotten the guilt off her chest.
A few months after their visit to see the Yaks, the spell wears off once again and again, Luna recasts it upon herself, this time, however, it backfires and the nightmares continue, this time followed by massive headaches and blacking out. Celestia, realizing this, goes to Twilight and the two share a talk of concern.
"The spell is hurting Luna and she doesn't realize it, what should I do?" sighs Celestia. "I don't want her to continue to hurt herself like this."
"Well, tell her," responds Twilight. Celestia nods and goes to talk with Luna but not before snatching the spell from under her sister's muzzle and setting it on fire.
"Luna," says Celestia as she enters Luna's room. "You need to stop casting that spell upon yourself. It's starting to harm your health."
"Yeah, I think I noticed that," responds Luna as she rubs her head before she blacks out once again. Celestia then picks her up and tucks her into bed. Celestia then stays there with her until she comes to once again. "So," says Luna once her head stops thumping, "how did you manage to get rid of the spell?"
"I burnt it, it's never going to be able to be used ever again by anypony," responds Celestia with a smile.
"Good," responds Luna, "because right now, the nightmares definitely aren't the worst thing in the world. The blacking out and the headaches are. I have a feeling I'm going to be out of commission for a while. You'll have to raise the moon on my behalf until all this subsides."
"I will," responds Celestia as she embraces her sister's hoof and gives her a kiss on the head. "I promise."
"Good," responds Luna. Luna then falls fast asleep and Celestia goes and stands on the balcony outside Luna's room alone. All the while, all she can do is hope Luna will get better soon. That is all she wants. After all, ruling without her sister is her worst nightmare coming true.
One night after hours of working, Luna dozes off and gets visited by her worst nightmare: the thing that turned her into Nightmare Moon, to begin with, the Nightmare Force. "What? What do you want with me?" asks Luna.
"What else but for you to return to your Nightmare Moon form," responds the Nightmare Force. "You know you want to."
"No! Never!" responds Luna.
A few minutes later, Twilight stumbles by the sleeping princess and soon notices that she is shaking and flailing violently. Not knowing what else to do, she goes and grabs Celestia. The two then come running back to Luna's side.
"Luna, wake up," says Celestia as she shakes her sister. "Wake up. Why won't she wake up?" Celestia's eyes begin to well up with tears. She then turns to her last resort. She casts the dream walking spell on Luna and goes inside her mind. There, Celestia confronts the Nightmare Force.
"Why are you tormenting my sister? She doesn't deserve this!" yells Celestia madly.
"Because" responds the Nightmare Force, "it is time for the nightmare to rise again. "
"No, no it's not!" shouts Celestia at the Nightmare Force, tears in her eyes. "She will never feed into your darkness ever again." Luna then looks up at Celestia.
"Celestia, don't, don't anger it," says Luna weakly. "It will consume you. That's what it lives to do."
"Well," says Celestia turning to Luna, "I'm not letting it take you away from me again." Celestia then shoots a beam of light at the force and it vanishes, letting go of its hold on Luna and the two sisters leave the dream realm. Once out, Celestia tucks in Luna and lets her sleep for a little while. She then goes and raises the sun as it is now around 5:00 AM. They were struggling with the Nightmare Force for close to six hours, maybe more. All Celestia can hope for now is that the Nightmare Force will give up and leave Luna alone permanently. Alas, all she can do is hope.
A few nights later, Luna has a nightmare she hasn't had in awhile, the nightmare of her and Celestia's mother and father dying at the hoofs of the evil unicorn Matriza. As the nightmare continues, she begins to call and Celestia and Twilight come running. "What's wrong, sister?" asks Celestia as she shakes Luna awake.
"It happened again, I dreamt of mom and dad dying at the hoofs of Matriza, it's the worst nightmare of them all," Luna bursts into tears and Celestia sits down and takes her little sister in her arms.
"Wait, what? I've never heard of any Matriza," says Twilight confused. "Who was she?"
"The ancestor of the pony you know as Prismia, the pony that Cadence stopped to get her wings. Matriza was Prismia's great great great grandmother and was just as evil, if not more than, her great great great granddaughter," explains Celestia still trying to console Luna.
Twilight then bows out and goes off to her studies for the night. She wants to do a bit more research of her own on this pony known as Matriza and how she was able to take down two full grown alicorns on her own. In the library, Twilight scours through every book until she finds the one on Dark Magic and Its Users and on the top of the page is Matriza and right under her is Prismia. As she continues to read the book, she also stumbles across a familiar name: Sombra. She then flips to the page with information about Matriza and begins to read. "Matriza was the prized pupil of King Sombra while he was still alive. She was his faithful student and even took up the dark arts and dark magic after his banishing. With her newfound power, she went and confronted the most powerful creatures of all Equestria: the King and Queen of the Alicorn Kingdom. She then killed them as their daughters watched on from the sidelines. But still having a little bit of heart left, she couldn't bring herself to kill the little fillies." Twilight continues to read. "After having killed the King and Queen of the Alicorn Kingdom, Matriza returned home, satisfied with her accomplishment. Until her, no other unicorn was able to take down two full grown alicorns on their own." Twilight then closes the book. "Wow! No wonder Luna is having nightmares about this pony killing her parents. This pony was powerful, by the looks of it, extremely so." Twilight then goes off to her room in the castle and falls asleep after all that research. She's tired. She's also glad to know a little bit more about why Luna is so scared of this unicorn and her descendants.
Later that day, Luna goes off and finds Twilight in the library. "Twilight," says Luna, "why do ponies have to have nightmares? They're not fun at all."
"Well," responds Twilight, "I don't know, Luna. Do you wanna talk?"
"Sure," replies Luna with a smile. "A talk is nice."
"Well, tell me what's on your mind," responds Twilight with a smile.
"Well, these nightmares, these constant nightmares of mom and dad dying and me turning into Nightmare Moon, they both continue to haunt my dreams and they scare me. I've never been this scared before, well, not since the whole Tantabus incident anyways that is. When I defeated the Tantabus, I thought it would've taken all my nightmares right along with it, but alas, it is not so and that scares me." She lets out a sigh. "I just want to have happy dreams again. I want the nightmares gone for good." Luna then bursts into tears and Twilight flies down from her shelf and comforts the princess.
"Well," says Twilight, "you can't let your fears take over. You're strong. You can fight this. I promise you can fight this." Twilight wipes the tears from Luna's eyes.
"Thanks, Twilight," sniffles Luna. "I hope you're right." The two then leave the library and join Celestia for some pancakes in the dining hall. Luna then admits these fears to Celestia who comes over and embraces her in a hug and promises her sister she'll help her fight this. That's all Luna really wanted to hear from her sister. It definitely puts her more at ease knowing that her sister and Twilight have her back. Right now, to Luna, that is the most important thing she needs: the support of those she loves and those who love her.
A few weeks later, Twilight takes Luna on a visit to Zecora's and the three meditate together. "You've been having nightmares I see, that 'tis why you're here to visit me," says Zecora to the princess as she enters.
"Uh, yes, yes I have," responds Luna, "very disturbing nightmares. Ones of me turning back into Nightmare Moon and my parents being killed right in front of my sister and me."
"I see, I see," responds Zecora, "you need to clear your mind and you shall find peace at last inside your mind."
The three then begin meditating together and they do so for several hours before parting ways for the day. The two princesses return to Canterlot and the two then begin the night duties as Luna doesn't want to do it alone right now. "Thanks for doing this," says Luna with a smile. "It's nice to have company."
"You're welcome," responds Twilight, "you gonna teach me how to dream walk?"
"I'll think about it," giggles Luna.
"Please..." begs Twilight.
"Fine," responds Luna. She then brings herself and Twilight into the dreamscape the two enter the first dream of the night, Celestia's.
"This is Celestia's dream, why are we here?" asks Twilight puzzled.
"She's having the same nightmare about our parents that I am, see," says Luna pointing to the scene unfolding in front of them.
"Yeah," responds Twilight, "she's just as scared as you are Luna."
"Yeah, if only she'd tell me how she feels. She tends to keep her emotions closed off from me even though she shouldn't," sighs Luna.
The two then fix the nightmare and turn it into a dream and as they do, it also corrects Luna's nightmare. Twilight is impressed. She's never seen Luna fix a tandem dream before. She is stunned. The two then leave Celestia's dream and goes off to the next dream followed by Twilight. The two then continue this for hours before finally returning to the main realm by sunrise. The two then share a hug and part ways. Luna turns in for the day and Twilight goes off to the library to work on a scroll on Parasprite Feeding Habits. Some things aren't going to change anytime soon, but Twilight hopes the princesses' nightmares will soon turn into beautiful, happy dreams.
The next day, Luna confronts Celestia. "Why didn't you tell me you were having dreams about our parents dying too?"
"I, I didn't want to worry you," responds Celestia as she rubs her neck. "You're already having a hard time as it is, ya know."
"Yes, but that still doesn't mean you can't come to me," responds Luna. "Promise me you'll tell me next time."
"I promise," the two then embrace in a hug and then go and enjoy some freshly baked pancakes together. As the two eat breakfast, the two laugh, joke, and have an all-around great time. Luna is glad Celestia is willing to listen to her as well as admit her own fears to her.
A few hours later, the two sisters go off and deal with some dignitaries while Twilight continues to hold herself up in the library working on so many different papers and scrolls worth of research. "Why do I have so much work? Ugh!" sighs Twilight as her head falls down onto the desk in front of her. "Maybe some fresh air would do me good? Or maybe even a nap?" Twilight then goes and flies off to her room in the castle where she soon falls fast asleep.
Three hours later, the royal sisters get out of their meeting with the dignitaries and go off to Pony Island Amusement Park together, where they ride every coaster and enjoy funnel cake, cotton candy, and ice cream cones. The two are so glad to have this alone time together before the big Canterlot Founding Day Parade that night. It's definitely not going to be a dull day for the two sisters and for that, they're grateful. It's a way to get their minds off their parents' deaths and to them, that is definitely something they need the most right now.
Several hours later, the parade begins after the sisters sound off the ceremonial horn. The two then fly down and join in on the festivities from their float, the focal point of the parade. As they sit atop the float, the two smile and wave and the image of their parents' death soon fades from their minds and the fun and happiness around them fill their hearts and minds as well. It's the warmest feeling in the world, and right now, that's what they need the most.
A few days later, the two sisters take a trip to the place where their parents were murdered in front of them. "Why, why did that mare have to be so cruel?" cries Luna as she looks at the two graves in front of them which read Queen Glorious Day and King Midnight. Celestia then consoles Luna under her wings.
"There, there," says Celestia. "That pony came to justice and her descendants that are still around are actually much nicer and naive than their elder ancestors were."
"Really?" Luna says with tears in her eyes.
"Really, I promise," responds Celestia with a smile.
The two then fly off to their childhood castle and enter. "It's just as it was when we left all those years ago after mom and dad died," sighs Luna. "Some things never change I guess."
"Yeah, I guess," responds Celestia with a sigh.
The two sisters then begin walking throughout the castle and soon enter their old bedrooms. There, they find their old beds, made, with their plush dolls from their first birthdays left on their pillows. "Huh," sigh the sisters, "I remember this doll. I got it for my first birthday. I loved it so much." The two then set the dolls back down on their beds and then go and look in the old throne room. There, the two find a picture of their parents under the rubble and they begin to cry. The two then take the picture with them, fly home, and there, they frame it and hang it in their throne room.
"There," sighs Celestia, "the picture is back home where it belongs."
"Yeah, for that I'm glad," responds Luna. The two then share a hug and leave the room and enjoy some pancakes for dinner as they laugh, talk, and reminisce about their parents. It's the best night they've had in awhile and they couldn't be more grateful for that alone.
A few days later, Luna shows Celestia a surprise. She made a dream world where their parents are still alive. "Why, why do this?" asks Celestia confused.
"So we can remember what things were like when they were alive," responds Luna, "and also to help me get over the nightmare that was losing them."
"Oh Luna," responds Celestia as she embraces her sister in a hug, "I miss them too, thanks so much." The two then enter the dream world together and enjoy it together until it is time for Celestia to raise the sun and Luna to lower the moon. A few hours later, Luna falls asleep in the dream world she's created but the nightmare of their death still lingers in the back of her mind. She has to come to terms with the fact that she'll never fully get over their parents' death.
A few hours later, Luna awakens and goes and joins Twilight in the library. There, the two do some organizing of the old scrolls and old books that are in the room. After a while, Luna zonks out on the table and begins to have nightmares once again, this time not able to awaken from them. Scared, Twilight runs off and grabs Celestia. "She fell into a nightmare and won't wake up. I'm so scared," says Twilight concerned.
Celestia then nods and she and Twilight enter Luna's dreams. There, the two identify what is keeping Luna in this nightmare state. "It's the nightmare phantom, Miasma," says Celestia to Twilight. "She's what's keeping Luna like this." The two princesses then aim and begin to fire magic at Miasma. Eventually, Miasma retreats from Luna and moves on but not before vowing to return back to take over the night princess once again. A few minutes later, Celestia and Twilight leave Luna's mind and enter the real world once again and there, they embrace a crying, confused, scared Luna.
"I, I was so useless under Miasma's control," cries Luna. "It had me so scared, so terrified, so horrified. I didn't know what to do."
"Shh, shh, it's okay," sighs Celestia as she strokes Luna's mane. "Now how about some pancakes?" Luna nods and the three princesses head off to enjoy some freshly baked pancakes together. It's definitely the best way to get over the nightmare phantom that is Miasma. Luna can definitely agree to that.
