The Unwanted One

“NO-O-O!” Own scream teared the throat, the Princess of the Night opened wide her eyes and, trying to brokenly inhale, started to cough. Heart beat in the temples, giving painful kicks in head, tears were pouring down the face, the breath is lost. “It… Was a dream?” Luna sighed huskily, still trying to recover herself. Neck was unpleasantly chilled by the sticky wet mane, throat was sore, headache was rampant. Across the whole body, pressing the awkwardly swelled wings, the cover became a wet rag, fore legs were tangled in the balled sheet. Tired Princess, drilling her way through out of the bed clothing, stood up on wobbly legs and went to a window slowly. Behind draperies, spread with a sharp rush, the Moon was glowing on the sky. Behind the door a pat of teleportation and fast-paced steps were heard, and after a few moments, Celestia came into the room in a rush, driving away the half-light with the golden warm light of her magic. Luna shivered, unsure in what scared her more: the chill draft across her whole wet fur or the memories from the nightmare, which were brought by the plain magical light that drove away the darkness and reflected from the walls. “Luna, are you alright?” Tia examined sister worriedly. She twitched a wing nervously, not knowing what to answer. “You’re okay, Lulu. Everything is good. I’m here, I’m close. Everything is good.” Junior Princess flinched, when Tia hugged her lovingly. “Guards, that were standing by your chambers, reported, that you were calling me. Calling in such a manner, that blood turns to ice! What happened, sister? What can I do for you?” “I… I don’t know.” Luna panted in answer on both questions at once. She was still shivering from the memories. Celestia hugged her sister tighter for a moment, then stepped away, breaking the hug. Anxious and unrest were in the senior sister’s pink eyes. “Maybe we should continue our talk in my room?” The junior Princess looked around, stopping gaze at the scattered bed and answered with a shy nod. “Then close your eyes.” Tia pressed to her sister, and her horn started to glow brighter. Blue alicorn put her eyes together obediently, and in the next moment, a flash stroke through them, ears became clogged after height discontinuity. Being on the place, Celestia immediately found a fluffy plaid, in which Luna wrapped herself in with thankfulness: it became warmer and more cosily right away. Laying her sister down into a huge bed, Tia settled nearby, hugging sister with a wing. “How are you, Lu? What happened?” The Princess of the Day looked at still shivering Luna with worry and carefully put away the hair that sticked to her face, at which she, as it seems, didn’t pay attention at all. Blue alicorn smiled faintly, looking at sister thankfully. Princesses were laying silent for some time, hugging each other. Luna clearly needed a rest, so Tia didn’t rush forth, stroking her sister’s clotted mane slowly and awaiting an answer with patience. “I…” The Princess of the Night finally broke the silence with a sigh. “I had an awful nightmare, Tia.” “A nightmare?” The senior sister asked dazedly. “I had a guess, but… You’re the ruler of dreams! How is it possible?” “I don’t know.” Luna shook her head tiredly. “But I just couldn’t manipulate this dream or influence it: I didn’t even know, that it was a dream! Everything was so real…” The junior Princess droop head onto the bad limply and stared into a wall with unfocused eyes. Celestia, hugging sister tighter, mused. Long ago, even a few years before their quarrel, Luna found an old diary of some dead magician, who described the dream-walking and magic of dreams. Desiring the recognition by the subjects and from the senior sister, feeling, that this knowledge is a part of her talent, the Princess of the Night basically had dove into them, trying to examine and know everything as fast as she can. And even knowing the basics only, Luna effectively became the rightful owner of the Kingdom of Dreams — no one could go up against the alicorn, which talents were the dreams themselves. As sister told, after that, she had dreams as a rare occasion. And even if they came, nothing could fooled her: she knew clearly where dream ends and reality begins. But it was hard to get into the dream-walking even for Luna and her talent: it took her more than a year before her first attempts turned into tangible results! Was it hard for the back then Queen Celestia to cheer her little sister up at least with words? But she just waved away… “Yeah, okay, good that it’s interesting for you. Just don’t sit far into the night: there’s an important meeting tomorrow morning, and you should be there!” Tia sighed. Getting zero recognition from the sister, Luna swiftly lost interest in defending ponies from nightmares. And when she noticed, that after two months of hard labor and constant sleeplessness, no pony started to respect her more… Crushed and exhausted, she came to Tia again for support, and again — nothing. Queen, which, allegedly, never had nightmares in her life, did not take the words serious again… “On the bright side, in the next three-four centuries after Lu’s banishment, I’ve seen all kinds of nightmares.” Celestia chuckled sadly. At one moment she even decided to learn the magic of dreams herself, but after seven years of attempts — there were no gains at all! Not having talent to catch the needed feeling, to guide her magic in the way it had to be done, wasn’t possible. In the end, trying everything that her mind had come about, the Princess of the Sun admitted her failure and stopped it. “Tia.” The Princess of the Sun was brought back from the memories by a shy voice of sister. “Did… Did you really forgive me?” “I did, and I did it a long ago, Lu.” I don’t bear a grudge against you — if it’s important to know for you.” Luna, sighing heavily, smiled wanly, but darkened in the same moment again. “Yes, I know. Sorry. Just… You know it, dreams — especially nightmares — don’t appear just because and…” The junior Princess hesitated. “You’ve seen a dream of me, not forgiving you.” Celestia realized and looked at sister with sympathy. “Yes.” Luna drooped. “And… Left me alone.” Tia wanted to say something, but interlocutor waved with a hoof, stopping her. “It all started with me, waking up from a feeling of heavily swelled wings…

…

Celestia, sighing barely audible, covered her poor sister with a blanket and went out of the bedroom quietly. Luna paraphrased her scary dream in details, bursting into tears at the end. Tia was able to somehow calm her down only after half an hour, after which Lu fell asleep right on her hooves. Leaving sister in such a moment was something like a betrayal for the Princess of the Sun, but clocks already were showing eight and a little bit in the morning, and the Moon was still shining in the sky… And these deputies with ministers have proved themselves not the best ones during the past vacation, messing things up in just a week — it just cannot be postponed. Discord’s job… Tia, sweeping the last sad gaze across sleeping sister, accurately closed the door behind her and, leaving her chambers, moved towards the Sun Tower — the night is too long already… “And here I am, Luna is left alone… As she saw in the dream.” Princess, walking down the hallway, was struck by this thought out of the blue. Without making the next step, Tia immediately turned around and, almost galloping, ran back. “Find and invite my secretary here, please.” Stopping at a post near the enter of her lair, Princess addressed to a guard. “Consider it done, Your Highness!” Pegasus stood at rigid attention for a moment and rushed forth. Entering, the first thing Celestia did was popping into the bedroom — sister cuddled and was sleeping peacefully. Tucking the blanket in, Princess left to the receiving room and went closer to a window: she can raise the Sun even here, after all…

***

Finding herself in a situation, that she’s watching somewhere through the sheet for already a couple of minutes, while not seeing what’s written on it, Celestia put the letter aside and rubbed her temples by hooves with a sigh. Princess hoped she could at least deal with the mail before her sister woke up and then, after talking to her and making sure Luna was okay, she could go to her office and do something more complicated and serious there than sorting out letters, but… Tia stood up and, going back and forth across the room, went closer to the window. Work was clearly not going well: thoughts always went back to Luna and her nightmare, that she saw. What could trigger it, what stress of sister turned into this terror? Alicorn rubbed forehead discontentedly. Something in all that mess wasn’t right, some vague thought was at the edge of the mind. It’s strange in general, that the Princess of the Night, the ruler of dreams and defender of ponies from nightmares, could have seen a nightmare herself. Sometime ago, Luna described how it all works. Nightmare is an energetic parasite, feeding itself by negative emotions of the sleeper, and who can trigger them with no outside help. But it cannot be triggered out of the blue by the parasite: the prey should already be in an unstable, nervous state of mind, and the stronger pony’s emotional stress — the easier for the parasite to drag them onto the surface, converting it into dreadful dreams. But the most important, as sister said, is that no one, even the most full-fed and strong nightmare isn’t a fight for an alicorn, who even barely knows dream-walking… But only if you can see it: realize, that it’s a dream, not reality. But Luna, by her words, realized, that it’s a dream only when she woke up… The ruler of dreams didn’t understand, that she was sleeping? It’s even a bigger nonsense than the Sun, which revolves around the Equus by itself, as small number of sectarians from “Free Equestria”, which are for the overthrow of the “tyranny of the lying alicorns”, says and believes. What could have changed, why sister didn’t recognize the dream? Could the still not healed magical insufficiency influence Luna? No, hardly… It could have intervened during their the day before yesterday attempt to get into the reality of dreams, since it badly affects specifically the complex and energy-consuming magic. So badly, that even a focusing ritual, designed to up the efficiency of a wizard in both control and energy consumption, couldn’t help Luna. But even so, not allowing to simply understand where a dream ends and where it doesn’t, the magical insufficiency clearly could not make such an effect… Celestia went around the room again, nervously trying to understand what she misses. Looking into the bedroom simultaneously, Princess noted, that her sister, during the dream, got rid of the blanket again, and now, curling, helplessly trying to protect herself from cold with wings. “Oh, Wuna.” Tia couldn’t hold a short smile, and, entering the bedroom quietly, took up the plaid to again cover the restless Princess of the Night… To froze in the next moment, without executing the action, examining the pictured crescent on a black cloud on the blue alicorn’s hip instead with a nervous scowl. “Nightmare has the same, but with purple…” Celestia remembered the talk with the Mare in the Moon about the cutie marks. Tia, getting back to reality, followed some multicolored bug with a gaze reflexively, flying by before her nose loudly and settling itself down onto a big bright yellow flower. Formerly, the palace garden was barely attended by her, but now, after two weeks, the Princess of the Sun noticed, that there’s nothing better for thoughts. And there were some… She still couldn’t make a final solution what to do: what happened yesterday with sister and own following guesses still weren’t giving rest. What could it mean? Idea, that came into head, was savage: could Luna lost her talent to the dream magic at all? Could the Elements somehow transfer it to Nightmare during the division instead? Nightmare Moon, controlling the dream magic. It was… Celestia rubbed her forehead worriedly. It’s a scary thought — what can do someone with these abilities, who doesn’t have a good will? The worst of all — Princess just couldn’t leave this idea. However, Tia didn’t see strong and definitive arguments for that theory either. One thing remains: invite the Mare in the Moon to castle and here, during a private meeting, try to confirm or deny this unusual and scary thought: Nightmare Moon — the ruler of the Kingdom of Dreams. Fortunately, even surprisingly, she gave her agreement to meet already today, and the chariot will deliver her very soon. Princess sighed. In yesterday’s letter she didn’t explain the reason of this emergency invitation to the Mare in the Moon. It wasn’t right, but… What if this nightmare was made by her hooves? Then she could escape and hide. Or opposite — attack. Or… Celestia fixed eyes at the Sun, thoughtfully examining its surface, intolerably bright for anyone else. And she still couldn’t think, that it was Nightmare — by the own experience of talking, in the student’s letters, she wasn’t the kindest and best person, but she didn’t have desire to harm pony, to conquer, to enslave… But it cannot be tossed out entirely either way: she could have done this just from personal hatred towards Luna. And if so — will do again… In that case, Nightmare should be stopped. But even if this crazy theory is right… Bad dream may not be Nightmare’s deed. And in that case everything goes even harder: there wouldn’t be reasons to punish and restrict her. She didn’t have desire to do so, but if she earned access to the magic of dreams, didn’t use it for creating the nightmare, then… Then what to do? Keep it quiet from her, forbid its usage just because of concerns? Celestia sniffed angrily: the idea was extremely ugly and disgusting. Absolutely unacceptable! Then… Teach and guide her? But how? Even the Princess of the Sun herself couldn’t do much in the magic of dreams, even though she still remembers a bit of theory. Magician’s diary, which was used by Luna as a textbook, is lost. Sister herself… No, even if she lost this power, she didn’t lose her experience and knowledge and surely would use it after the recovery, but… Meeting with Nightmare cannot be a good one. Celestia sighed tiredly. In any case, all these thoughts are not well-timed — she has to find out if Nightmare is even involved in this or not. Princess fixed her eyes on the Sun again and, closing eyes, focused, guiding magic into her horn. What she’s going to do was hardly honest — this is why it became even more unpleasant in the soul. Barely noticeable dizziness passed off swiftly — the spell is active. Now outright lying will not be unseen… Tia cringed: it didn’t matter how much she tried to persuade herself about necessity of such a step, but the feeling of personal dishonest during usage of this possibility never left her. However, this is the only way to find out everything, asking only one question… The door silently banged behind her back, shoes started to clatter on the stairs like metal. Princess slowly turned around, meeting a heavy gaze from turquoise eyes. High pitched and nervous, like a string, the Mare in the Moon was looking at her expectantly, slashing her hips with the tail nervously, clearly awaiting nothing good from the invitation. “Good day, Nightmare.” Tia smiled, turning to the black alicorn. Smile looked a little bit forced. “Hello.” She replied with a slightly cracked voice, clearly trying to not show her worriment. Talk is excepted to be not an easy one… “How was your flight to Canterlot?” Princess tried to slightly cut the tension with a relatively standard question. “Fine.” Guest replied in a monosyllabic tone, and it seemed, that she got strained even more. “Hm…” Celestia scowled a little. She didn’t know Nightmare well, but, as she could judge, this stiff behavior is not a standard one for her. “How it is going for you overall? What’s your opinion about Ponyville?” Princess tired to get the black alicorn on the path of talking once again. “Settling in. More or less.” Concerning answers in a monosyllabic tone were spoken once again. Meeting the Mare in the Moon’s gaze for a moment, Tia reflexively shivered from the flaming annoyance and heavy anxiety. In the next second she closed her eyes, trying to covertly make a few deep inhales, clearly for calming purposes. What happened? Maybe she’s nervous because the dream is made by her hooves, or maybe the reason is different? “Is everything right?” Celestia asked, not counting on getting a direct answer. Nightmare cringed for a moment, as this question was unpleasant for her. “It is. Maybe you’ll just say why do you need me here?” She answered sharply — even evilly. Something did happen. She surely needs help. “Nightmare.” Tia addressed to her after a short pause. “I can see, that something bothers you. Tell me what. Maybe I can help?” “Why do you need it…” Black alicorn waved away angrily, causing a short twinge of sympathy from the Princess of the Sun. Maybe she’s nervous, because she doesn’t wait for anything good… As always… “Just… Just a gross mood. I don’t have any desire to talk talkings. Just get to the business already, if you can.” “I just wanted to cheer you up. Mood cannot be bad without a reason. However, if you don’t want to talk about it — I won’t bother you.” Nightmare really wasn’t happy about the perspective of having a conversation. Knowing, how hard it’s for her to believe in someone else’s benevolence, it would have been a mistake to persuade her to open… Celestia sighed. “About the reason of my letter…” Princess continued. “Unfortunately, it’s far from a pleasant one both for you and me.” Stopping, Tia looked at the Sun. It’s time to get down to bedrock, but didn’t want to do this. It was hard to get even a bit of trust from the Mare in the Moon, and lose it because of today’s questions is very easy and simple… But there was no other way to find out her involvement in the sister’s dream. Making decision, Princess Celestia lowered eyes and narrowly looked in the guest’s ones. “Nightmare, answer please: what do you know about the world of dreams?” Nightmare shivered, like from a strike, and panic flashed in her eyes, forcing out every other feeling. Is she really?… What a shame…