Nightmares are Exhausting
Staring out the window of the castle, Twilight struggled to keep her eyes open as she lifted the sun. While she perfectly understood why Celestia picked her as her replacement, she wondered why Luna decided to give her nightly duties to her. Maybe it was because she and her friends helped Luna in stopping the Tantabus but even then, it was a group effort. While she could handle raising and lowering the moon entirely on her own, it was dealing with the terrors and abominations of thousands of dreaming ponies that she had trouble with. As hard as she tried to stay awake, she nodded off while lifting the sun.
“Twilight, no!” Spike shouted.
Twilight immediately sprung up and noticed the sun was a mile away from Ponyville. Tired from her nightly routine of giving ponies lovely dreams, she could not be bothered to question why all of Equestria hadn’t burst into flames yet. And to make sure nopony else had to ponder what she would have to ponder, she quickly lifted the sun up into the sky.
“That was close,” Spike said, “Are you okay? You look a little burned out.”
“I’m fine,” Twilight replied, “Just had a rough night.”
“Was it the guy that hates spiders again?” Spike asked.
“Yes, it was the arachnophobe,” Twilight replied while rubbing her sleepy eyes, “And the war veteran. And dozens of scared little fillies.”
“Have you ever thought about taking a night off?”
“And have the whole of Equestria in an insomniac state of panic?!” Twilight said frantically, “No, I can’t do that! If that happens, I’d be the worst night princess ever and everypony would force me to abdicate!”
“Come on, Twilight,” Spike said in a relaxed tone, “Nopony’s gonna force you to give up the throne. We saved Equestria more times than anypony can count. And you’re doing a great job with the sun.”
“Spike, I nearly burnt Ponyville into a crisp,” Twilight deadpanned.
“Okay, except for today.”
Twilight put her head in her hooves, “What am I gonna do?”
“Why don’t you ask Starlight to help you out?” Spike asked, “She helped you get over your fear of ladybugs.”
“I don’t think instilling a compulsion in me to fly a kite every time I see a ladybug counts as ‘getting over it’”, Twilight replied dryly, “But she did use to be the school’s guidance counsellor. Perhaps she could fill in my nightly duties.”
“And that’s why I decided to come to you. So, would you be interested?” Twilight asked as she sat in the principal’s office.
Starlight put her hoof to her mouth in thought as she sat at her desk, “I dunno about this, Twilight. Didn’t Luna trust you with her dream-walking magic for a reason?”
“She did,” Twilight replied, “But the only time I helped her out with her own nightmares was with the Tantabus incident and even then, it was a team effort.”
“Isn’t everything we do a team effort?” Spike asked rhetorically, which earned him an annoyed scowl from Twilight.
“What about Cadence?” Starlight asked.
“I have thought about it but then I remembered Flurry Heart would keep her awake more often than not,” Twilight replied.
“I see,” Starlight said as she picked up a cup of coffee from her desk and sipped it, “Well, if there are no other options, I suppose I’ll have to be the new Princess of the Night.”
“Eh...more like the Principal of the Night,” Twilight sheepishly muttered, “I can’t guarantee that transferring Luna’s power to you would give you wings.”
“Good point,” Starlight said.
Twilight got up from her seat and closed her eyes, concentrating her magic into a ball that hovered over Starlight. The ball shot a beam straight into Starlight’s horn. As the ball of magic slowly dissipated, both Twilight and Starlight collapsed from exhaustion. As the both of them slowly got back up, Starlight took a quick look at her back, disappointed that she didn’t spontaneously grow a pair of wings.
“Next time, baby,” Starlight said quietly to herself.
“Well, if anypony needs me, I’ll be in the castle taking a nap,” Twilight said as she trotted off.
“Wait, how do I know somepony’s having a nightmare?” Starlight asked.
“Trust me, you’ll know,” Twilight replied, “You’ll probably show up in their dream anyway.”
Starlight woke up in a dark misty area of nothingness. Going by the atmosphere, she assumed this was a bad dream. The question is whose dream was it. Was it her own dream or the dream of somepony else. She trotted around the black space, her hoofsteps echoing throughout the darkness. She lit up her horn to see if she could get a better view of her surroundings. There was still nothing. She felt a chill down her spine and quickly turned around to see if anypony was behind her. But there was nothing. Only the mist was there to keep her company. She continued trotting, hoping to encounter somepony. Eventually, she came across a darkened version of Ponyville, occupied by one lone pony.
“Hello?” Starlight called out the pony.
There was no response. Starlight carefully trotted towards the pony. When she got close enough to it, she waved her hoof in front of its face. For a brief moment, it looked like it didn’t have a face, its head blank of any features. The pony turned around, with Starlight trying to get a better look at its face. But every time she got close, the pony just kept turning around. Around and around and around until Starlight became exhausted.
“Don’t bother,” a voice said to her, “No matter what you do, it will keep ignoring you.”
Starlight yelped in surprise. She turned around and saw a red unicorn with an incredibly messy mane and tail and an equally messy beard.
“Hey, I know you,” Starlight said to the unicorn, “You’re the guy that kept stalking Twilight.”
“Like you’re one to judge,” the red unicorn deadpanned, “Speaking of which, where is the princess?”
“She’s taken the night off,” Starlight replied.
“Wait, princesses can have time off?” the red unicorn asked.
“Well, if they’re capable of retiring, they are certainly capable of having days and nights off,” Starlight replied.
“You know, it kinda annoys me that they refer to their abdication as ‘retirement’,” the red unicorn stated, “Not exactly professional, is it?”
“So, what seems to be the problem?” Starlight asked.
“Not much,” the red unicorn replied, “It’s just that I’m worried that, no matter what I do, I will be ignored and forgotten by the majority of Equestria.”
“Oh,” Starlight said, “I have a friend who has a similar problem. Well, if her worrying about ponies not thinking of her as ‘Great and Powerful’ is similar enough.”
“And there’s also these giant spiders and murder hornets,” the red unicorn added.
“What?!” Starlight turned around and saw a massive swarm of humongous spiders and hornets and all sorts of big creepy crawlies.
“I hope you brought bug spray before showing up, Discount Twilight.”
Starlight dragged herself into the next nightmare she was summoned to, covered in stings and possibly venomous bites. She looked around her new surroundings. It was a massive playroom, the kind one would kind in Magic Kindergarten only ten times bigger. At the centre of the room was a wooden table, where three of the most dangerous villains to ever threaten Equestria was having a tea party, with Tirek looking like he absorbed three-quarters of Equestria beforehand.
“Care for some tea, Tirek?” Cozy asked.
“Don’t mind if I do,” Tirek replied.
Chrysalis just sat in the centre of the table with the biggest frown on her face. Starlight couldn’t tell what was funnier, seeing those three at a tea party or Chrysalis wearing a pink fluffy frock. If it weren’t for her face feeling puffy and sore from the previous dream, she would have laughed her flank off. And then Chrysalis noticed her.
“You!” Chrysalis shouted before tackling Starlight into the ground, “You will release me from this nightmare at once!”
Starlight laughed, “You’re kidding, right?”
“Because of you, I’m stuck with these imbeciles for time eternal,” Chrysalis bellowed, “And since it’s your fault I’m trapped in stone, you are going to pinch me to wake me up!”
“Pinch you?” Starlight asked.
“Or slap me or throw water in my face,” Chrysalis replied, “Anything so I can continue staring out into the distance with my petrified eyes!”
“You’d rather be awake and paralyzed than have sweet dreams about your friends?” Starlight asked in between laughs, “I thought Tirek and Cozy being buddies would give you all the love you could want.”
“They are not the real Cozy and Tirek,” Chrysalis replied, “And even if they were, I do not need their friendship to sustain me!”
Starlight continued laughing before wiping away a single tear because she was laughing so hard, “On second thoughts, I’ll leave you to your tea party while I find somepony that is actually suffering from a nightmare.”
“Noooooo!” Chrysalis wailed, “Don’t leave me here! Bring me a dream about all of Equestria bent to my will!”
“Why so serious, Chrysalis?” the dream Cozy asked, “Have you tried the scones?”
“I hate you,” Chrysalis hissed as Starlight trotted away.
Starlight continued giggling to herself. She was still sore from all the spider bites and hornet stings beforehand but it was worth it to see Chrysalis in a frock. Maybe governing the dream realm wasn’t as bad as she thought.
“Now, let’s see what Trixie is dreaming of.”