Part 3 MLP A.I. Story “Dream Deception”

Yeah, so the title is a play on words. It's like dream-ception, like dream inception, but decpetion for alliterative purposes. I posted the third part to the story almost a week after I finished it. That is, I am posting it now, but I finished a while ago. But I don't think anyone has been to site yet, so no one knows that. Since no one is there to see my blunder, I don't care to explain myself.

I actually was third of the way through the this section of the story when I stopped to mow the lawn. While I was mowing the lawn, I thought about where I could go from where I was in the story. By the time I was done mowing the lawn, I knew exactly what to do to wrap up the story from where it was. So I took the reigns and finished the story in one big post, so that A.I. Dungeon couldn't do anything about it except add a few words at the end. It didn't add anywords because my massive entry was too much for it handle, and it couldn't come up with any response.

Also, before I took the reigns, the A.I. Dungeon was trying to kill everyone. I had to go undo, retry, and rewrite A.I. additions because they were too violent and took the story far too off track. I was not entirely successful. There is a period in the story when it suddenly shifts to violent, and the A.I. originally started with the character and everyone else burning alive. So, I had to change that.

Anyway, after I stopped using the A.I., there was nothing to pull me off track, which was good because I wasn't looking for anymore conflict. I was trying to pull the story to a close.

Here is the last part of the story. I hope you enjoy it.

You wake up in a white room with blinding lights. There are a lot of ponies moving a round, though they a look like silhouettes to you in this blinding light. "She's waking up," You hear some pony say. You try to move, but your strapped down to a table. There is so much noise and so much light. It's all too much. You hear more ponies talking. "Did it work?" "I don't know, I wasn't there for this part." "Oh well, time to wake her up."

Suddenly, the lights decrease in brightness, and you shut your eyes again.

You feel the table being tilted so that your back hooves are touching the floor. "Alright, Diana, we're going to unstrap you. You're gonna want to I catch yourself. Can you do that?"

You don't do anything. "Diana? Can you hear me?" Then you see a lime green unicorn walk up, she turns to the side and says, "She doesn't know that you're talking to her." Then the pony turns to face you. "Hello there. You don't know me, but I'm your friend, Lyra Heartstrings." You nod slowly, it takes a lot of effort because of how tightly your strapped in. "Good," says Lyra, "Now, where going to take this nice and slow. Don't worry, we'll catch you if you fall." You nod again, but you honestly don't think you'll be able to stand.

Lyra begins to talk.

But you can't understand anymore. You're too tired. You're overwhelmed. Luckily, it doesn't seem like she's talking to you. She's giving orders to other ponies. You realize why every pony looks like a silhouette. There backlit, but now that the lights are dim, you can tell they're also all wearing black suits. You feel your straps loosen slowly, until they break off completely. You were preparing yourself to land, but you still are caught by surprise. Your much heavier than you anticipated. That or you're just really weak right now. You land on your hooves, but your knees buckle and you begin to fall because you can't hold your own weight. Your instantly encapsulated by a dozen different glowing auras as almost twenty unicorns, including Lyra, catch you with their telekinetic powers.

"Shit, she's incredibly weak. Scary, actually." You hear Lyra say.

"I guess that's one way of looking at it," says a familiar voice.

You look at the familiar voice, who is this? You don't recognize the pony, but it's a hulking stallion, the same one that called you ‘Diana.' He's wearing sunglasses, so it's hard to read his expression. Your really dazed. You're not sure you can do anything at all. "Alright," Lyra says, "Let's bring Diana to her new quarters, that's right. Slowly, easy does it." You hover through the air as you pass through multiple doors and hallways. Your too tired to keep your eyes open, so it's hard to know where you going. But you hear some strange noises. You eventually feel yourself being lowered onto a bed. "Alright," You hear Lyra say, "Let's give her some space. We'll talk to her more when she's feeling better." The noises eventually stop, and you feel yourself being lifted into the air once again. But this time, you recognize the room. It's your new bedroom.

Though, now that you think of it, recognize might not be the right word. It looks a lot like the room you woke up in, but that probably just means that all of the rooms in this building look the same. You don't remember much of why your here. In fact, you don't think you remember much of all. You look for a mirror, you want to know what you look like. You find one over a sink in your room. And there you are, a pink earth-pony with a long flat mane that is only slightly a darker pink than your fur. Then there is your cutie mark. It's an equal there isn't one. You don't know why, but you feel like that's strange. You stay most of the day in your bed. Every few hours a pony comes in, brings you some food and water, and asks you how your feeling. You are trying to figure out where you are, but the ponies who bring you food only ever answer that you are safe. They call you Diana, you guess that must be your name. You certainly don't have any other ideas as to what it could be. You don't know how many days passed, but you are certainly feeling better. You don't know if you feel normal, perhaps you are normal physically, but your experience, you don't have much to compare it to. Finally, Lyra comes in to talk to you.

"So, how are we doing?" You hear her ask, "Are you feeling up to an interview?”

"An interview, you ask?" You reply, "I don't know any-." You stop yourself. You don't know Lyra, but you know that she isn't any pony you've ever met.

Lyra nods, "Yes, we'd like to know more about you."

You feel disappointed. "You mean, you don't know who I am?" You kind of thought that these ponies could answer your questions.

Lyra looks up from her notepad. "Oh, of course I know who you are, Diana. But we don't want to influence your answers by telling you that yet. First, we want to hear what you think. What you know. Who you think you are."

"I'm not sure what to tell you," You begin, "I just woke up here. I didn't even know who I was until you told me."

Lyra looks disappointed. "Well, that's going to make this harder," She says. Lyra sits down and makes a notation on her pad for a bit, thinking. She then looks over to you, "Do you have any memories at all?”

You shake your head, "No."

Lyra scribbles wildly on her notepad. You find a hard time believing that she could be writing anything legible with the way her quill is moving. Then you realize, she's not holding her quill. It's moving on its own. "How are you doing that?" You ask. Lyra looks as if she's surprised you didn't know, but isn't bothered by it.

Lyra asks, "How am I doing what?"

"How are you writing with that quill," You say, "It's moving on its own."

Lyra frowns at you. "It's magic."

You roll your eyes, "Come on. I may not remember anything, but I'm not baby. You can tell me."

Lyra looks confused. "I... just... did."

You smirk, "So... magic. What does that even mean?"

Lyra lifts a hoof to her horn. "It means I can move thinks with the power of my horn."

You look at her horn and try to figure out how that lump on her head could cause the quill to move on its own. You can't figure it out. "I don't understand," You say. Lyra smiles at your confusion.

"I have to admit, this is the first time I've ever had some pony who didn’t understand what magic was. I’m not sure how to explain it.”

"Well, maybe you could just try to explain it," You suggest.

"Yes," Lyra says, "I suppose I probably should. Magic is like anything you can normally do. You move your hoof, and you can walk. But how do you move your hoof? It's a simple mental command. Intrinsic, innate, too inborn of a talent to even be explained. This why those who study magic don't seek to understand it, they seek to understand applications of it. So I'm not trying to figure out why I can move my hooves, I trying to figure what I can do with them. Long answer becomes short, I cannot explain magic. But you should just do what every pony else does and accept as how the world works."

Lyra takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and begins to talk in a slow, steady voice.

"I realize this is hard for you and everything is new. I really hoped that you would remember more, but I realize that was foolish, now. I don't know if I should even bother explaining it to you. The questions you used to have, you don't even remember. But, I... you know what, I'm just going to give you space to recover. If you have any questions, just knock on your door and ask for me. I'm Lyra Heartstrings, but the staff will probably recognize me by the name of Heartstrings, so call for me by that name. I'll see you later, Twi-I mean Diana."

And with that, Lyra leaves you. You really wish you still had your memory.

You sit down on the chair and look over to your table. Perhaps somepony will answer your questions.

But first you need to gather your thoughts and your questions. What do you want to know? Well, first. Who are you? You know your Diana. Maybe you can get more information than that. Lyra did say to ask her if you had any questions, but she also seemed to want to give you some more space. But honestly, more space is really not what you need. You're feeling better now. You just need to know why you are trapped inside of... well also need to know where you are. But you suppose you can just ask her tomorrow.You go to sleep, and in the morning, a white unicorn comes in to bring you some more food.

You look around and see the white unicorn munching on some hay. Is she fond of eating hay? Looks so boring. But at least it's something to keep her energy up. Strange, they don’t give you hay. They give some sort of soup instead. Why don’t you all eat the same things?

You decide to ask the white unicorn if you can see Heartstrings. The white unicorn doesn't answer, but he does nod his head and head out, soon Lyra enters. "I'm glad to see you again, Diana."

"Thank you, Lyra," You say, "I'm glad to see you, too. I've got some questions."

"That's what I'm here for," Lyra says.

"Who am I?" You ask.

Lyra frowns. “I thought we told you. Your Diana.”

You shake your head. “No, I know my name. But I don’t have my memories, I don’t who I am.”

Lyra nods her head. “I see, now. Yeah, sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s kind of hard to imagine how you feel, right now. Okay, who were you? That’s an interesting and unusually complex question. You see, you used to be somebody else. But the person you are now has a past of its own. And I really don’t how to explain it.”

“But...”

“No, don’t worry. I’ll explain it. I just need to think of how best to put it. Okay, so you are Diana. Diana is not the name of any pony you ever were. It is the name we gave you because you had no name. No part of you had any name. You were literally nobody. Not just no pony, nobody. Specifically, body. This here, this creature that you are. This was some pony, but more important, this was somebody. Unfortunately for the pony this used to be, we had to, for no better term, kill her. But don’t hold it against us. It is something that you, or rather the pony that you once were, also did. You or the pony you once were didn’t kill this exact pony that you have taken the body of, but she killed ponies who exactly like this one. I mean exactly like this one, they were clones.”

“I’m a clone.”

“No, I know it’s confusing.”

“I used to be a clone?”

“Um, kind of, the body you possessed was once the body of a clone of another pony who is still around today. However, these clones were a hazard, and since there didn’t exist before they were magically produced, we didn’t consider it murder to nullify them. Unlocks, you or, oh boy this is hard. I’m just start using names here.”

“Okay,”

“Yeah, so here we go. You are Diana. The body that is currently Diana, was once a clone of Pinkie Pie. Who’s Pinkie Pie, not important right now. We erased the sentience, the memory, the literally everything out of this specific clone of Pinkie Pie. But we kept her alive, we kept her body functioning. Then we found Twilight Sparkle, a pony who you no longer are but used to be. Twilight Sparkle lost her name, her identity, every part of who she is, and became literally no pony with nobody. So I took you, and put you into the body we named Diana. This body had no sentience, no memory, it had no mind, and thus, no identity. So you, the identity-less creature, could take this body because it matched who you are.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Honestly, if I weren’t there myself, I would be unable to fathom what this means either. But I’m going to give this one more shot before I give up. Diana has two origins. The origin of her mind and soul, and the origin of her body and capabilities. The Origin of her mind and soul came from Twilight who lost her name and thus her body and everything that was her, but she was still left as an empty slate. We put this sentience into the body of clone of Pinkie Pie. This clone has had it’s mind completely pied. It would be lifeless if we hadn’t magically forced it to continue living. But now that it has a sentience again, it is whole, it is one. It is Diana, it is you.”

Lyra says, "Yeah, I know it's a lot. Who you are now is basically two pieces of other ponies combined into one. The body of a clone and the sentience of a disembodied pony."

"Well, when you say it like that, it sounds a lot simpler."

"When I say it like that, it sounds crazy."

"Ha ha," You laugh, "Magic is something is apparently so natural, that nobody questions, I'm willing to accept clones and disembodied ponies."

Lyra nods, then she asks, "Why were you skeptic about the existence of magic?"

You say, "It just doesn't sound like something that makes sense. Being able to make things happen without physically touching anything. I still understand, but I've learned to just accept things without an explanation."

"WOW," Lyra says, "Yeah, you are nothing like Twilight, and you definitely aren't anything like a a clone of Pinkie Pie either. I guess that is why your Diana."

"What do you mean?" You ask, "Of course I'm not like them, didn't you just explain that to me?"

Lyra shakes her head, "Your right, but I still expected you to inherit some characteristics from them sense you did originate from Twilight and Pinkie Pie. But you are not the nonsensical creature of chaos that Pinkie Pie is, and you're not scientifically minded Twilight. What you said about accepting things without explanation. That is really hard for Twilight to do."“So, I understand why you have trouble answering who I was, since the creature I am now never has existed before,” You say, “But maybe you can tell me about the ponies that I originated from. Tell me about Twilight and the clone of Pinkie Pie.”

"I guess I'll start with the easy one," Lyra says, "Pinkie Pie and her clone. Her clones didn't exist very long before we caught then essentially killed them, but Pinkie Pie is still alive and has been for some time. So I'll tell you about Pinkie Pie. She is close friend of Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie is incredibly enthusiastic, loves hosting parties and loves making other ponies happy most of all. But sometimes she doesn't make much sense. What she does can seem chaotic and random, but she always seems to find it completely normal. And as for Pinkie Pie's clones. They had no identity even though they were formed in the mirror image of Pinkie Pie. But Pinkie Pie taught them to be like her. So they all learned the basic ideas of who Pinkie Pie was copied them to an extreme. Clones of Pinkie Pie love having fun and parties and doing nonsensical things. But they were abstractions and exaggerations of who Pinkie Pie was. They didn't have full personalities. They just copied what Pinkie Pie told them about who they were. So they were destructive. But they were ignorant. They had no concept of danger or harm. So they didn't truly understand that they were being killed. They didn't understand when that they were hurting ponies. We can't blame for what they did because they didn't know any better and weren't really alive to begin with. But we had to stop them. Luckily, for you, they also were one hundred percent real ponies. So the body of one of Pinkie Pie's clones is exactly like the body of Pinkie Pie. Except for the cutie mark. This clone lost its cutie mark when we erased it's memory and its sentience. A pony doesn't lose it's cutie mark when it dies because it never really loses its identity, it is still a corpse of whoever it was. This clone, it was never someone to begin with, and we erased it's identity its memories, its mind. So its cutiemark, its mark of who it was, disappeared. You don't have a cutiemark because you haven't earned it yet. It takes a few years for a pony to realize who they are. Usually, ponies are born as foals, so they gain their cutie marks sometime before mature. But you, you were born into the body of a full grown adult pony. So you will go a few years as an adult pony without a cutiemark, something that is entirely unheard of. This will draw plenty of unwanted attention, so we will have to give you a fake cutiemark."

"I get to choose my cutiemark, right?" You ask.

"Yes," Lyra says, "You can choose your cutiemark, though you are barely a week old. I'm not sure you even have a preference yet."

"You're right," You say, "I'm not sure what design I'd even pick. Anyway, tell me about Twilight Sparkle."

"Ah, yes," Lyra says, "Princess Twiligtht Sparkle."“Wait,” You say, “Princess?”

"Yeah," Lyra says, "She's rules all of the land of Equestria, with the help of her friends of course."“Oh dear,” You exclaim, “I wonder what’s going to happen now that the ruler died.”

"What?" Lyra says, "Twilight didn't die. She ascended into godhood. In fact, by law, all rulers of the land have to become Eternals to ensure the survival of the nation."

"That sounds like a bad idea," You say.

"Ha ha," Lyra laughs, "Yeah, when you say it like that, it's sounds stupid. No, I exaggerated, Twilight Sparkle was a purple unicorn with above-average ability to use magic. Eventually, she ascended to become an alicorn, a pony with the powers and abilities of an earth-pony, a unicorn, and a pegasus. That means she has earth-pony's strength and connection to the earth. She has the wings and weather magic of a pegasus. And she has the horn and magical ability of unicorn. I was really joking with my initial description. I say she became an Eternal, but what I mean is she became an alicorn. and alicorn don't seem to have any age limit. They're don't die of old age, or at least none that we know of have ever died of old age. So in that way, they are Eternal. They live forever. However, they are not gods. Many ponies seem to think that alicorns are gods. It is true that every alicorn we know of has incredible powers, but they are not infallible, omnipotent, or omniscient. Becoming an alicorn didn't give Twilight any more knowledge, though she certainly had greater powers both physically and magically. The law that says all rulers must be alicorns. I'm not sure if it's a rule so much as a tradition. We've only ever had three rulers. All of them alicorns. Our first rulers were Princess Celestial and her Sister Princess Luna. Both of them ruled side-by-side. Then, just recently, Princess Twilight took their place."

"But now Twilight is dead," You say, "Are Princess Celestial and Princess Luna going to take up rulership again?"

"Oh, I see," Lyra says, "Princess Twilight is not dead."

"But you said I was Princess Twilight, then I died..."

"No, Twilight lost her name to Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie became both Pinkie Pie and Twilight, one consciousness inhabiting two different bodies. When Twilight lost her name, her sentience lingered on, but it lost it's name and everything that belonged to Twilight, including its memories. So it lost its identity and that is what I have placed in this body that belonged to a clone of Pinkie Pie. Twilight is not dead. I doubt that any pony besides Pinkie Pie and those with me know that anything happened to her. However, you are right that Pinkie Pie tried to kill the sentience that was Twilight to take all that is Twilight for herself. I am still confused as to why Pinkie Pie would do this. As far as I know, Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie are best friends. They would never harm eachother, especially not for selfish gains. And even stranger, Pinkie Pie is not a selfish pony. Like I said, the thing she loves most is making everypony happy. So, it doesn't make sense for her to do what she did."

"So" You say, "I am the sentience of Twilight and I posses the body of a clone of Pinkie Pie. And Pinkie Pie posses the body of Twilight, with the sentience of Pinkie Pie?"

"WOW," Lyra says, "I didn't even notice that. Yeah, that's kind of funny. What a strange coincidence."

"Lyra, is there anything else I should know?”

"Yes," Lyra says, she pauses a bit before speaking again, "I am just trying to think of what it is. You have no memories, so it is hard to imagine what it is that you don't know that I take for granted. Ah, yes. Diana. We have mission for you."

"A mission?" You ask, "I thought I was just going to integrate into society and become my own pony."

Lyra shakes her head. "No, like I said, Pinkie Pie is not acting herself. And is the princess as well as herself now. So, what do you get when you combine the extremely potent powers and the cunning intelligence of Princess Twilight Sparkle with the chaos and illogical actions of Pinkie Pie who has now suddenly started acting evil in a way that is wholly opposite to who Pinkie Pie is?"

"I dunno," You answer, "Is it chaos magic?”

"Ha ha," Lyra says, "I'm not sure either, but strangely enough, that is one of our working theories. Yeah, Pinkie Pie has become a terrible threat, a threat magnified by how no pony knows about it. The ponies who usually take care of such threats are Twilight and her friends, you might see why they can't help us here. Not only are third of the heroes suddenly the foes they must face, but I don't think the remaining heroes could force themselves to hurt their beloved friends. Something that Pinkie Pie and now Twilight apparently don't have as a concern."

"Alright," You say, "So what's my mission?"

Lyra says, "Your mission is to find out what is wrong with Pinkie Pie and stop it."

"That's pretty vague," You say.

"Sorry, we've got to work with what information we've got," Lyra says, "So far, all we know is that some strange is going on with Pinkie Pie and Twilight and we need to investigate further. However, we also know enough to say that it needs to be stopped. If Pinkie Pie is willing to kill her best friends, she's probably willing to do anything, no matter how atrocious."

You think for a moment and say, "I still don't get why Pinkie Pie would do such a thing though.”

Lyra shakes her head, "Me neither," She says, "Okay, so you're going to be working with my partner. I think Pinkie Pie might have noticed me when I saved you, so I can't be seen. But you and everypony else should be good to go. Pinkie Pie should have no reason to suspect any of you. However, she does have access to your dreams and nightmares, so be careful when you sleep."

Lyra brings you to a room with a large table surrounded by a bunch of chairs. There is a picture on one of the walls. There are a few ponies sitting at the chairs, despite the massive amount of chairs. There is that hulking stallion, the first one to call you Diana. There is Lyra, of course, and there is another pony. An earth-pony mare with mane and tail the color of dark-blue and pink. All of the ponies wear black suits and sunglasses. Lyra gestures to the mare, "Diana, this is Sweetiedrops, but once outside this building, you call her Bon Bon, understand?"

"Yes," You say, "But if I'm not going to be here for very long, right? I'm about to go on a mission for an indefinite period of time. And I just met this mare. So why did you bother telling me her name as Sweetiedrops if I am only ever going to call her Bon Bon?"

Lyra looks concerned, then she just says, "I don't know. The code names we have aren't even that good. I'm fairly sure that we'd be just fine using the same name no matter where we went."

"So, do I get a code name?"

"I mean, only if you want one, "Lyra says, "As you just pointed out, they are already kind of useless, especially for you, since no one can possible even know who you are since you were literally just born a week ago."

"Yeah," You say, "I don't really need a code name."

Bon Bon studies you for a bit, then she says, "Lyra, Diana doesn't have a cutie mark, she's going to stand out like Discord in, well, any situation."

Lyra nods and gestures towards a parchment and quill. "Yeah, Diana, you should design yourself a cutiemark. If you need help or can't think of one, you could just describe what you want or leave it for us to decide."

"Thank you," You say. You think about how a cutie mark is meant to show you are. But you don't really know who you are. Sir you decide to have your cutie mark show a merging of two things to show how you are the remnants of two creatures combined into one. Your cutie mark is a fractured heart with arrows pointing direction to show that the two halves of the broken heart are coming together. You think this is a fitting cutie mark.

The three of you talk for a few more minutes before Lyra takes her leave and goes back to her office.

Soon another pony comes in with a needle-like rod connected to machine. Bon Bon explains that the machine is going to tattoo a cutie mark onto you, and she tells you that it is going to be incredibly painful. You look at the needle-like rod with dread.

Agony. Your not sure how much pain one is supposed to feel, you haven't felt any pain besides when you first were born and felt weak. But right now, you feel pain. Everypony thinks you overreact to it, but you have very little tolerance for pain, you aren't used to it. Soon, you have a new cutie mark. It may be fake, but it is good enough. You spend the rest of the day in your room getting ready for your next mission. The next morning, you wake up early and head downstairs to see Lyra.

"Are you ready for your mission?" Asks Lyra.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," You respond.

"Alright, meet up with Bon Bon in the briefing room and we'll send you on your way," Says Lyra.

You walk to the briefing room where you find Bon Bon standing by the door, ready to leave.

"Are you all ready to go?" Bon Bon asks.

"Yes," You reply.

"Good," Bon Bon says, "Let's move."

You follow Bon Bon out of the complex and she leads you to Ponyville. Unfortunately, Ponyville is overrun by the worst type of fans: shippers. They're fanatics. They're obsessed. They're nuts. And they love their ships.

"Just keep a low profile," Bon Bon advises, "If we blend into the background, they shouldn't have any reason to pair us with any pony else."

You nod, and you follow her lead as you travel through Ponyville.

The shippers are putting up posters of their favorite ships, and some are putting up graffiti shipping their favorite ponies.

You keep your head low hoping no one will notice you. You're a secret agent, not a celebrity.

"Keep your hood up," Bon Bon advises. You do so.

You follow Bon Bon for awhile before asking, "Bon Bon, where are we going? We can't stay in Ponyville when there are shippers here."

"We're heading to the Everfree Forest," Bon Bon says, "I know a way in. We'll be at AppleJack's house."

You follow her as she leads you through the dense forest.

You ask, "Bon Bon, is Applejack's house in the Everfree Forest? I can't imagine why any pony would live so far away from the town."

"No," Bon Bon says, "Applejack lives in Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville."

"Then why are we going through the Everfree Forest?" You ask.

"Because," Bon Bon says, "If we're quiet enough, the shippers probably won't be."

You follow her lead as she leads you through the forest.

You are not sure what she means about us being quiet and the shippers not being quiet, or why that would matter. But Bon Bon is the more experienced agent. You decided to follow her lead.

As you travel further, the forest gets darker and darker.

Eventually, Bon Bon leads into a clearing. This clearing in the forest is full of ponies. Some of them are in costume. You see tents here. It looks like all of these ponies have been living here for awhile.

"These are residents of Ponyville," Bon Bon says, "Applejack should be here."

You understand now. Applejack lives at Sweet Apple Acres, but like everypony else, she was driven out of town by the shippers, and they all took refuge in the forest. That still doesn't explain the costumes.

Suddenly, somepony in a Cutie Mark Crusaders costume jumps out.

"Ha ha," Says the full grown stallion, "Look at me, I'm Sweetie Belle, ha ha."

"Go... Go away," Sweetie Belle says, "Get out of here, you've gone too far.”

You look down at the filly who spoke, she is a little white unicorn. The stallion's costume seems to be an imitation of her. She must be Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle looks very uncomfortable at seeing some pony dressed up like her. She doesn't really seem to like the attention.

"Leave her be," Says someone else in a costume that resembles a school uniform, "Or else there'll be trouble.

You look at the school uniform, and you really can't figure out what their costume is supposed to be. Who are they dressed up as?

"Look, we're not going to stand for this," Bon Bon says, "These are OUR friends and family being harassed by these loony tunes."

"Trouble," The pony dressed in school uniform repeats.

"Bon Bon, why are some ponies in costumes pretending to be others?" You ask, "Why is this even happening?"

"I wish I knew," She answers.

You look around and see several ponies who look a lot like you. But these ponies have balloons as the cutie mark on their costumes. You realize that they must be in costume as Pinkie Pie, the pony you are a clone of. You think it strange that Bon Bon and Lyra took measures to change your cutie mark but took no other efforts to change your appearance. Surely, ponies would recognize her as looking exactly like Pinkie Pie even if she had a different cutie mark?

Before you can ponder this mystery, a strange stallion with a snot green face and a large red nose wearing a backwards straw cowboy hat with pompoms comes out of a tent.

"Who are you?" He asks.

"Oh, me," You say, unsure of what to say, "I'm in costume as... um... Pinkie Pie."

The stallion nods. "That's a pretty good costume," He says, "The only thing that gives you away is your cutie mark. Just slap some stickers on your flank and no pony would be able to tell you that you're just a fan."

"Thank you, sir," You say.

"I'm not sir, I'm Brother 029," He answers, "I also am a big fan of Pinkie Pie."

You. Look around and realize that several ponies are wearing Pinkie Pie masks.

"WOW," You say, "There are lot of Pinkie Pie fans."

"Thought you were the only one?" Asks Brother 029.

"I mean," You say, "I figured wasn't alone, but I had no idea how many ponies loved Pinkie Pie."

Brother 029 nods, "This must be your first convention then?"

"A convention?" You ask, "What's that?"

Brother 029 smiles, "It's where fans meet up to celebrate their shared interests. I'm surprised you made it here without hearing the term, but not everypony calls it by the same name."

Bon Bon looked a little worried when you started your conversation, but has returned to an impassive expression upon seeing you lie your way out of suspicion. Bon Bon walks up to you and whispers in you ear, "Good job, Diane. I thought you were going faint when he started talking to you, but you held it together. But we need to start looking for leads on why Pinkie Pie might have changed, so we can keep talking to fans."

You nod, but then you consider. These fans of Pinkie Pie. Surely, if any pony knew anything about a change in her behavior, it would be her fans.

You ask Brother 029, "What's your costume? Who are you dressed up as?"

He smiles and nods, "The fake pony mask is cool, huh?" He says.

"Yeah..." You answer, "...I mean no. I mean, yes it is, but..."

You hadn't realized he was wearing a mask. "It's really realistic," You say, "I didn't even notice it until you pointed it out." You really want to ask him how he puts the mask on and take it off, but you can't help but notice that he and the other fan wearing a mask are staring at you.

But then you remember that you're talking to them. Of course they're going to be looking at you. It would be strange if they looked away from you while talking. So you ask, "Brother 029, who are dressed up as?"

"Oh, this?”

"Yes," You say.

"Oh, this is just a costume." He points to the mask. "That's my character."

"Oh," you reply. "What's your name, then? I mean, what’s the name of your character?”

"Oh," He says, "My character is named Rotten Hazel."

Brother Rotten Hazel nods to you and points a hoof to the nearest exhibit, "This is a bomb. It will explode in five seconds.

Bon Bon immediately jumps into action. She sprints into the tent and drop kicks the box with the wiring around it. Her kick knocks it deep into the forest and away from the tent.

"Come on!" She says to you, "We have to go. Those wires could still beHot."

You nod and follow her.

Brother Rotten Hazel wears an expression of shocked confusion. "It was just a joke," He says, "I wouldn't really bring a bomb to a convention." Sure enough, five seconds pass and nothing happens. Luckily, the poor humor of Rotten Hazel drew more attention than the drop kick that launched it through the forest. A crowd gathers around Rotten Hazel and criticizes him for joking about something as serious as bombs. You don't stick around to hear his apology. You follow Bon Bon, who is still in a sprinting in a full gallop.

Luckily, she knows where she's going. You don't even know where you're going, but you're following her.

Bon Bon leads you to a crowd gathered in front of a stage. On the front of the stage is a podium and tired-looking Hippogriff. "And that's why we wear costumes on nightmare night," She says.

"Tell us the story where Twilight defeats Nightmare Moon, again!" Screams a pony in the crowd.

The Hippogriff sighs and then begins to tell the story of how Twilight defeated Nightmare Moon. Bon Bon points at a purple pony sitting on the stage behind the Hippogriff. The poor purple pony must be so bored. She certainly doesn't look like she's having fun. "That's Twilight Sparkle," Bon Bon says. Sure enough, when you look closer, that purple pony definitely has a unicorn horn and pegasus wings.

After finishing the story, the Hippogriff steps aside and the purple pony takes her place behind the throne. "Thank you, royal," She says, "You may return to your seat."

Twilight Sparkle looks tired. You know she is possessed by Pinkie Pie who is acting evil right now, but you can't help but feel pity for how she needs to run this convention. You wonder how long this convention has been going. "Alright, everypony, I know you have all been having a fun time here, but I think we should stop here and deal with shippers."

The crowd roars, "No!" They really don't seem willing to stop.

Princess Twilight Sparkle frowns, then she shouts, "We've been doing this for over a week! It has end sometime. That time might as well be now."

"No, not yet," Cries the crowd.

Twilight puts a hoof to her head, and closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath before returning to address the crowd. "When would you all like to end the convention?" She asks, "It can't last forever, but when would you like it to end?"

There are various answers shouted out, most of them are unreasonable: "Another week." "Another Month." "In a year!"

Twilight gestures for the crowd to quiet, then she says, "You clearly can't agree on anything. So unless you can all come up with a single answer, I'm deciding that tonight is the last night of the convention."

The crowd complains and boos. It really does not seem cooperative at all.

"That's strange," Bon Bon says, "This isn't ordinary behavior for a convention. Something must be wrong."

"It's Nightmare Moon!" Screams a pony, "She's turning everyone into stone!"

Suddenly, the entire crowd levitates into the air. You realize that Nightmare Moon has taken control of the crowd.

"Nightmare Moon?" You say, confused.

Bon Bon frowns, "Nightmare Moon is Princess Luna's alter ego. She doesn't exist anymore."

You hear maniacal evil laugher. You look up to the clouds in the sky twirling and lightning striking the trees nearby. The clouds part to reveal Nightmare Moon.

She is a black mare with wings and a horn, she's an alicorn. But her mane, it flowing with the darkness of space and gleaming pinpricks of stars, but the edges of the mane... where have you seen that before? As ponies as thrown through the air, you remember. The Pinkie Pie fans. Their manes were pink and fluffy. Nightmare Moon's mane is not pink, but it sure is fluffy. "Nightmare Moon looks like Pinkie Pie," You say to Bon Bon.

"Obviously," She replies.

"Look at all this lightning!" Nightmare Moon laughs, "So much for staying in port. I'm going to have fun with this.”

Trees crash and ponies are thrown about. But then Princess Twilight steps up. "You can't do this, Nightmare Moon! I'll stop you, I've done it before."

Nightmare Moon laughs, "Ha ha ha. Did really think I'd return if you could still defeat me? I've taken your friends, without them, you can't defeat me with the power of your friendship."

"You're wrong," Twilight says, "Our friendship exists no matter the distance between us. My friends are still my friends even if they are far from me."

"Oh," Nightmare Moon says, venom in her voice, "Is that so? I've talked with your "friends" and their friendship has dwindled since you abandoned them to take the throne."

Twilight looks shocked, "Abandoned? Dwindled! You're... You're wrong. I'll prove it with the power of my friendship."Twilight Sparkle floats into the air. Her eyes glow white and her crown materializes on her head. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle,” She says, “With my friends, I can do anything. I can even defeat you!” With that, a beam of purple light flies form her crown towards Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon doesn’t move, she doesn’t even flinch. The blast of light hits her straight on, and Nightmare Moon doesn’t even care. “Your power is gone, Twilight Sparkle. You no longer have any friends. You may be the princess of friendship, but you can’t even keep your own friends.”

Twilight Sparkle looks panicked. She returns to the ground and her eyes stop glowing. Purple crown dulls in color until it is grey. "You're right," Twilight Sparkle says, "I'm not a good friend. I left my friends to please Princess Celestia. I'm not a friend. I'm a synchophant."

"Surrender, princess," Demands Nightmare Moon, "I might even spare Ponyville if your cooperative."

Twilight prostrates herself upon the ground in submission. "I surrender," She cries. The entire crowd gasps, as if they hadn't really thought she was losing until now. Nightmare Moon laughs, then she fires a blast of magic at Twilight. When the smoke clears, Twilight is gone. The crowd gasps again, and then they all run.

You aren't sure what to do, though you can't let Nightmare Moon take control of this situation.

You look to Bon Bon for ideas, but she looks just as lost as what to do as you are. You decide flee in terror. You run as fast as you can towards Ponyville, but Nightmare Moon casts a cloud of sleep gas. You choke and breathe in, then stop breathing all together as you lose consciousness.

You wake up in Ponyville, tied to a chair. You look around, you're in center square, the are in front of the Mayor's building. You look around. There a lot of other ponies tied to chairs. It seems like everypony who was at the convention is here. But there are more. There are still the shippers that overrun Ponyville, and they are not tied up. And they are all watching.

The Canterlot Royal Guard have not arrived yet, but they will be here soon. Also, Nightmare Moon and her sister will be there.

The crowd of ponies begin to chant.

The ponies chant in worship of Nightmare Moon. They chant in adoration. The shippers are forcing the tied up ponies to chant, beating them if they refuse.

You look to the left. You see Pinkie Pie, tied to a chair, covered in bruises and burns all over her body.

"Wait, Pinkie Pie?" You ask. You thought for sure that Nightmare Moon was secretly Pinkie Pie.

"She betrayed you," Says a pony, "She thought she could betray you and take the throne. But, she failed. Now, she will pay."

The crowd raises their hands and begins to chant again.

You look at the pony who said that. The pony has frizzy hair and rainbowed eyes. She looks familiar, but you can't place her. "Where do I know you from?" You ask.

"My name is Discord. I was your teacher in magic."

"You were my teacher?”

"I taught you the magic of friendship. It was something you already knew, but you had forgotten. You didn't have faith in the power of friendship. You relied too much on material representations. You have learned because I taught you. It seems it wasn't enough. I should have been teaching the rest of your friends as well. Maybe it could have saved Pinkie Pie. Maybe it could have saved you."“I’m sorry, Discord,” You say, “I think you are confusing me with some pony else. I don’t think we’ve ever met before.”

Discord shakes her head. “No,” She says, “It is you who is mistaking me.”

You don't think you are mistaking Discord for any pony else. You don't have much memory because you have only been alive for a little bit, but you surely would have remembered such a colorful pony as this Discord. In fact, you don't think there is any other pony here with such a diverse color pallet.

"No," She says, "You truly understood the power of friendship. It is why you were chosen to stop Nightmare Moon. I will miss you, my student. May your soul find peace."

"Wait, chosen to stop Nightmare Moon? But I can't stop Nightmare Moon!"

Discord smiles, "You already have."

The noise of the crowd is getting louder as they get closer and closer to beating and torturing you. But you are not afraid.

You check on Pinkie Pie to see if she is still conscious. She is not conscious, but she is still breathing. You notice that her belly has been cut open repeatedly. She won't be able to have any more fillies.

You look around the crowd, searching for Bon Bon. She is the only one left that you haven't checked on. She is tied to a post, her black suit and sunglasses have been removed. Not to mention her body is horribly bruised.

She continues to refuse to chant. The shippers are angry with that. They beat her, they torture her, but they won't kill her. They need her to chant with the crowd. They need to chant praise to Nightmare Moon. Finally, a group of shippers reaches you and tries to coerce you into chanting.

"Join us! Nightmare Moon is coming soon! Join us in our revelry, join us in our chant!" They chant.

You want to refuse, but they raise their clubs and knives threateningly. You comply and begin to chant their eerie praise and adoration to Nightmare Moon. You chant that she will purge all of Equestria of "weakness", and give it to the "worthy".

While they continue to chant, you turn to your friends.

You look for your friends, or rather, those of Twilight Sparkle. You were once Twilight Sparkle, after all. You look for the friends of Twilight Sparkle.

There's AppleJack, who you see hanging upside down from a pole, most likely being tortured. There's Fluttershy, on her knees, looking terrified.

Fluttershy quietly chants, but the shippers beat her, "Louder!" They demand. "Stop it," Applejack whimpers.

"I'm too weak. You're too mean. Stop it! Please!" Fluttershy cries.

The shippers continue to beat and taunt her.

Applejack yells at the shippers, which causes them to focus on her instead of Fluttershy for a time. You find Rainbow Dash hanging from the ceiling, with a loop of some type around her wings. You hear her screaming, "I'm sorry, darling! I'm sorry! I love you! Please, get me down!"

You find Rarity hung upside down, her neck being slowly broken as she kicks and yells, "I won't say it! I won't say it! Get away from me!"

Finally, you see Spike.

Spike is tied to a pole, facing you. They have taken his sword, and he looks terrified. You hear him saying, "Please, Mommy! If you love me, stop this! Let's go! Let's go home!”

That's when you notice Twilight Sparkle. She's the one wielding Spike's sword.

She stands in the circle of shivering ponies, her beloved pupil by her side. She stares at them all, nodding slightly.

The shippers don't seem to be bothering her. You are starting to wonder who's the real bad guy here. You thought it was Pinkie Pie, but she's tied up. You knew it must also be Twilight Sparkle because she is possessed by Pinkie Pie. But why would Twilight Sparkle be untouched when all of her friends are being tortured and forced to chant to Nightmare Moon. That's when you remember. She's called Nighmare Moon. You recall waking up in a chair. Perhaps... "Hey! Princess Twilight Sparkle!" You yell, "Yeah, you!" Twilight turns to look at you she and her pupil share look and she nods at the pupil. The pupil starts dashing towards you.

You try to struggle, but you're bound tightly. Spike's crying and begging for mercy. "Please, don't do this! I want to be free!"

The pupil, a reddish-pink unicorn with a gradient of an orange mane, arrives in front of you. The pupil wields the sword with ease, easily cutting through the ropes that bind your hooves. You step back, knowing that this is a nightmare and you can wake up.

"What is it you wanted, peasant?" The pupil asks.

"Um," You say, "I want to know where Nightmare Moon is."

"After you've caused so much chaos, you'd still seek her out?"

"Yes!" You nod quickly. "I want to bring order back to the world!"

The pupil does not respond.

She stares at your eyes. You stare back. Her eyes are a golden orange. Your eyes are a deep crimson. The pupil smirks, before forcing you down to your knee.

"Are you sure you want to pursue this path?" She asks, her voice now a thousand miles away.

"Yes," You say.

"So be it!" Says a deep feminine voice, like crashing thunder.

You look for the source of the voice. It's Nightmare Moon.

"Nightmare Moon!" You say, "I was looking for you."

"Really?" Nightmare Moon says, "Why ever would you want to attract the attention of some pony like me?"

"I'm here to stop you," You say, though you're not confident in your abilities.

Nightmare Moon raises an eyebrow, "Do you really think that you can defeat an alicorn?"

"Well, no," You admit, "But At least you can't defeat me!"

Nightmare Moon smiles, "Tell me, foal, why would I be unable to defeat you?"

The way Nightmare Moon said that. You have feeling that she knows the answer. But considering the answer, it only makes sense. "You can't defeat me because..." You say, "Because this is all a dream."

"A dream?" Nightmare Moon asks.

"Fine, it's a nightmare," You say.

Nightmare nods. "Yes, but what makes you think this isn't all real?" She asks.

"Well, for one," You say, "Pinkie Pie is tied up and bruised. And for another, you exist separately from Pinkie Pie."

Nightmare Moon nods, "It seems Lyra has been giving out my secrets. Hmm, I wonder? What about Discord?"

"What about Discord?" You ask back.

"Well, don't you recognize him?" She asks.

"Um," You say, "She was my mentor."

"She?" Nightmare Moon asks.

You look at Discord. You're pretty sure she's female. "She's a mare, right?" You ask.

Nightmare Moon booms in laughter. "A mare? In order to be a mare, he would first have to be a pony."

Nightmare Moon begins to study you closely. "I wonder if I have finally found you," She asks.

"What do you mean?" You ask.

"If I'm right," Nightmare Moon says, "And believe that I am, Lyra has sent a foal to stop me."

"Hey!" You say, "I'm no foal. You're the foal."

Nightmare Moon rolls her eyes. "I didn't mean it as an insult," Nightmare Moon says, "It's merely a fact. You are a foal, a newborn, an infant. You can't possibly be over a week old."

So she knows. She knows who you are. You wonder why that matters. You wonder why she cares. In fact, why did she even put you in a dream. Surely, she could produce such terrible atrocities in the real realm. She's an alicorn, she's unopposed. She has Twilight to assist her as well. There is no reason that this nightmare can't become reality, so why hasn't she made it so?

"You were looking for me," You say.

"What?" Nightmare Moon asks.

"You gave everyone nightmares so that you could find me," you respond.

Nightmare Moon says, "Yes, I suppose I did. Lyra and those she told, including you, would know that this is a dream because Pinkie Pie happens to be tied up and bruised. Out of the people Lyra could have told of what happened, only you would be unaware of Discord's tribe nature. Only you would be fooled into thinking that Discord was a mare. Even better, you admitted that Discord was your mentor. No pony else whatever do something so foolish."

"But why were you looking for me?" You ask.

Nightmare Moon frowns and actually seems to be considering the question. "I simply needed to tie up loose ends. Oh, I don't care about what you know. Who cares if people know that Pinkie Pie is Nightmare Moon, who cares if people know that Pinkie Pie and Nightmare Moon are also Twilight Sparkle. I'm too powerful for any pony to stop me anyway."

"You aren't powerful enough to stop me," You say.

"Ha!" Nightmare Moon laughs, "How can you, an earth-pony without memory or even a true identity defeat me, Nightmare Moon, me, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and me, Pinkie Pie, all while your trapped inside of a nightmare?"

You think about it. "Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle are the same pony," You say, "And both of them are Nightmare Moon. So you are both Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie. Do you know who else is both Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie?"

"Well, certainly not you," says Nightmare Moon, "You don't Twilight's Sparkle's identity, and you aren't Pinkie Pie."

"Oh," You say, "But I do have the soul that once belonged to Twilight Sparkle and the body that once belonged to a clone, and exact copy, of Pinkie Pie. I may only be a combination of the left-overs and scraps of both Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle, but I still have enough to be threat."

"A threat?" Nightmare Moon asks, "Your soul has been wiped clean of anything that belonged to Twilight, but even with the essence of Twilight in your soul, you still only have the earth-pony body of a clone of Pinkie Pie."

"Maybe so," You admit, "But even you agree that I have a clone of Pinkie Pie's body. What is a clone of Pinkie Pie? Well, you could say that it is her. They are indistinguishable, after all. The same way that there is nothing to distinguish Twilight form Nightmare from Pinkie. But if I have Pinkie Pie's body then my body is indistinguishable from yours. This means I am Pinkie Pie. Since Pinkie Pie is also Twilight Sparkle and Nightmare Moon, then I am also Twilight Sparkle and Nightmare Moon."

"WOW," Nightmare Moon says with a sarcastic tone, "Really impressive. But how does your thought experiment help you? You don't actually have access to the powers and abilities of Nightmare Moon or Twilight Sparkle. And you are wrong, I am not indistinguishable from myself. Pinkie Pie and Nightmare Moon might physically share the same body and form, but Twilight Sparkle, while sharing my soul, has her own body. Thus, I can be in two places at once in a way that I never could be, even with clones. You have as much access to my power, as I, Pinkie Pie has access to the powers of me, Twilight Sparkle. That is to say, none. No access to powers of other ponies."

You are disappointed. You weren't really sure how you were going to use the powers of Nightmare Moon and Twilight Sparkle, but you were sure that this was the way to defeat Pinkie Pie. You were so certain that you were on the right path.

"I think Lyra thinks the same as you," Nightmare Moon says.

"Huh? What?" You ask.

"Why did Lyra send you? Nightmare Moon asks, "She told others of her discover, others who far more experienced and able than you. Why did she pick a newborn to defeat an alicorn?"

"I-I don't know," You say.

"She thought that you inherited something from your time as Twilight Sparkle," Nightmare Moon says, "She would never admit it because it makes no logical sense. But she was holding out on the idea that you would succeed because Twilight always succeeded."

You must agree with Nightmare Moon. Then you realize something. Nightmare Moon is still talking to you. Did you really just distract her, so she forgot to kill you. Or is she distracting you? Why does she need to kill you anyway, you're not a threat. Unless, you are. Nightmare Moon must think that you can stop her. You just need to figure out how.

"Nightmare Moon," You say, "I don't need the power of Nightmare Moon or Twilight Sparkle to stop you."

"What?" Nightmare Moon asks, "You still think you can stop me?"

"Well," You say, "You certainly seem to think so."

Nightmare Moon says, "I don't know what gave you that impression, but you have misunderstood it."

"Then why?" You ask, "Why are you still here?"

Nightmare Moon freezes. She wasn't really moving much to begin with, but now she is like motionless like a statue. Then she returns to normal and says, "You're right."

"I can defeat you?" You say, hopeful.

Nightmare Moon shakes her head. "I don't know about that," She says, "But you are right to question why I'm still here. And to be honest, I'm not really sure. Now that I know who you are, I'm going to finish what I started." Nightmare starts flying upwards in the sky. You know she is going to leave the dream. You know she is going to kill you. You only a have a short time to do something. But there is nothing you can do. You're going to die. You think about what happened. You think about why Pinkie Pie became Nightmare Moon. It was because Twilight Sparkle let her grow distant. You feel yourself begin to hate Twilight Sparkle. That hate becomes shame when you remember that, at the time, you were Twilight Sparkle. You were the one to make Pinkie Pie suffer, to make her to turn to darkness and become Nightmare Moon. The story of Nightmare Moon continues to echo through your mind. You remember the Hippogriff telling it at the convention. "Hey, Princess Twilight," You say. Twilight turns to face you. You walk up to her. "Twilight," You say, "I want to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for what I did. I want you to forgive me. Twilight frowns in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She asks.

"When I was you," You say, "I let our relationship with Pinkie Pie grow distant. I know you hate yourself for that. Well, that wasn't you. That was me. And I'm sorry."

"What?" Twilight says, "I don't hate myself!"

"As you shouldn't," You respond, "It is me who is at fault. Do, do you have it in you to forgive me?"

Twilight looks conflicted. "No," She says, "I can never forgive for what happened."

"You don't forgive me," You say, "That's okay, but I was hoping that you would at least forgive yourself."

Twilight doesn't say anything.

"I see," You say, "Do you blame Pinkie Pie for what happened?"

Twilight looks offended, no angry, definitely mad for some reason. "No, it wasn't her fault. She's an excellent friend. I could never fault her for growing distant."

"Do you think she faults you?" You ask.

"Undoubtedly," Twilight responds.

"Twilight," You say, "I don't have much experience in these things, or in anything at all, but based on how you blame yourself for what I did. And you don't blame Pinkie Pie, I would think that Pinkie Pie feels the same way as you."

"You don't mean..." Twilight says.

"I think the core of Pinkie Pie's feelings is hate, not for you, but for herself," You say, "It's actually quite sad. But the most you can do is tell you how you feel. She probably won't forgive herself even if you tell her that you forgive her, but it would probably help to do so."

Nightmare Moon flies through the moon and enters the real world. All she needs to do is find your unconscious body and she will easily destroy it.

Soon you feel the world shake as the horizon crumbles. The world is breaking apart starting from the farthest points you can see. The breaking makes its way towards you.

"It's too late for me," You say to Twilight, "But it's not too late for you. You can still make things right with Pinkie Pie. Can you promise me that you will become friends with Pinkie Pie again?"

"I don't know if I can face her after what I did," Twilight says.

"Twilight," You say, "I'm dying. This is my dying wish. This is your dying wish. You want this even more than me. Pinkie Pie wants this. Be friends with her. And remember, Pinkie Pie does not want you to hate yourself or hold yourself responsible for what happened. She probably blames herself the same way that you blame yourself."

Twilight looks away. "I can't promise anything. I..." The world breaks. The ground beneath your feet falls away. But you aren't falling. You aren't anything. You don't exist. You...

"Twilight," You hear a voice say, "Twilight wake up."

You open your eyes. It's Queen Novo, the Hippogriff. "Twilight," She says, "I just finished the story about Nightmare Moon, you must have fallen asleep during it."

So it was all a dream? You are still Twilight Sparkle? There is no Nightmare Moon? "I'm sorry you missed my story about Nightmare Moon," Queen Novo says, "Would you like me to repeat it?"

You think about how many times you heard the story of Nightmare Moon ringing in your head during your dream. "Um," You say, "No thanks." You think about how Pinkie Pie and you drew distant in the dream. You wonder if it was a portent of what is to come. You wonder which of your friends is in charge of the dreams right now. They must be really worried about drawing apart from their friends if that leaked into your dream so powerfully that it became a nightmare. You realize that you still have a duty to help with ponies in this clearing. But, being too busy with your responsibilities is what got you in the mess with Nightmare Moon in the dream. You need to find someone else to take care of this. You look around. Princess Celestia, of course. She's the one who led you here. But, you're not sure how you could possibly ask Princess Celestia to lead this meeting while you leave. But do you really have a choice? What if the dream about Nightmare Moon comes true, you need to check on your friends. You walk up to Princess Celestia. "Hey, Princess Celestia?" You ask, "Can I ask you a favor? I wasn't really planning on presiding over a meeting in this clearing today. Can you run it? I need to do something else." Oh dear, this is so embarrassing. This was a bad idea, maybe you should just... but its too late now, you've already asked her.

Princess Celestia looks shocked and then seems a bit disappointed. Oh, dear, you knew it. You've made her sad. Look at what you did. "Of course you can go Twilight," Princess Celestia says.

That was unexpected.

"Wait, really?" You ask.

"Yes," Princess Celestia says, "I didn't really ask you if you could run this meeting, I kind of just expected you to do it. I'm sorry, I am just so used to you accepting responsibilities that I've taken your help for granted without considering how it affects you."

"WOW," You say, "Thank you, Princess Celestia."

You start to fly away, but Spike comes up to you and asks, "Where are you going?"

"Um," You say, "Spike, I need to do something."

"But," Spike says, "What are we going to do about the shippers?"

You think about the shippers from your dream. You are suddenly horrified about the idea of shippers, but then you remember what shippers are in realize that there really is no problem with shippers being in Ponyville. In fact, you wonder why Spike fled the scene. He really is overreacting. "Don't worry about the shippers, Spike," You say, "They're harmless." You fly to your castle so you can check your planner. On the way you see that there are, indeed, a group of ponies and some other creatures gathered in Ponyville. They seem more confused than anything. They don't know why Ponyville is so empty. Well, you should probably tell them that everypony is at that clearing in the Everfree Forest, but you need to check your planner. At your castle you look through multiple lists and charts until you find the document that makes it abundantly clear whose turn it is to be in charge of dreams.

"I swear to Celestia," You say, "If it ends up being Pinkie Pie, I'm going to have a panic attack." It's Spike. "Spike?" You say, shocked, "That doesn't make sense. We are great friends and spend so much time together. He wouldn't be having any deep-seated worries about drawing distant from his friends." You decide that as long as it isn't Pinkie Pie, you can worry about it later. You fly to the gathered shippers in Ponyville. "Hello," You say, "You're probably wondering where everypony went. They all went a place in the Everfree Forest where everypony or creature can gather without prejudice or judgement. Come on, I'll lead you there."

One of the shippers closest to you says, "Ooh, thank you Princess Twilight Sparkle." You recognize that voice. Looking closer, you see it's an enthusiastic female grey griffon. "Gabby?" You say, "Is that you?"

"Hey," She says, "You remember me!"

"Yeah," You say, "I remember you. You are one of Spike's closest friends,"

for some reason Gabby looks a little bit uncomfortable about that last statement. Then the gears start turning in your head. "It all makes sense now," You say to yourself.

"Sorry," Gabby says, "What was that?"

"Oh," You say, "Did I say that aloud?"

Gabby nods. You remember what Princess Celestia said. She'd been taking your help for granted without considering how it affected you. You've been doing the same with Spike. In your dream, you had grown distant form Pinkie Pie because you had been to busy with your responsibilities to reach out to Pinkie. Spike must be experience in something similar. You have been so dependent on him helping you with every little thing that he has no free time to spend time with his friends. Seeing how Gabby started looking at the ground when you mentioned her being one of Spike's closest friends, their friendship is growing distant. No wonder Spike fled Ponyville. It wasn't because of shippers, they aren't even a problem. They're just people. But Spike must have seen Gabby and been too embarrassed to confront his feelings, so he rationalize his discomfort by blaming it upon the shippers as fans. Instead, he was worried about his relationship with Gabby dwindling. You need to fix this.

"Hey, Gabby," You say, "You're a shipper, right?"

Gabby looks up at you, "Yeah," She says.

You nod. "I like shipping, too," You say, "But I'm not interested in pairing creatures into romantic relationships. That is more of my sister-in-law's domain. Instead, I like to pair creatures into friendships."

Gabby nods.

"I think I would like to ship you with someone," You say, "I'm thinking of shipping you with Spike as friends."

Gabby looks embarrassed.

You don't know if you're going about this the right way, but you need to do something. You can't let your nightmare become Spike's reality.

You lead Gabby and the shippers to the clearing where all the ponies are gathered. Spike is trying to hide behind some trees. You walk up to him.

"You brought the shippers here!" Spike exclaims.

"Spike," You say, "I told you not worry about them. Besides, you were never really worried about the shippers, were you?"

"Um, well..." Spike begins to say.

"Gabby!" You say, "Get over here!"

Gabby walks over to you, but she seems reluctant. She seems as uncomfortable as Spike looks.

"Now, I know that the both of you have been awkward because your relationship has been strained. It's my fault that you're relationship has been dwindling. Long distance relationships are hard, but if you both give eachother enough of your time you can make it work. Unfortunately, I haven't really been giving Spike enough time to spend with his friends. So I want you to become better friends again.

"WOW," Gabbys says, "You take friendship very seriously, princess."

"Haha!" You say, "I haven't been taking it seriously enough!"

Spike and Gabby just stand there.

"Well?" You ask, "Go on! Have some fun!"

"Um, okay," Spike says, "Come one, Gabby."

Gabby and Spike leave you and join the crowd. You smile at a job well done. You'll have to talk to Spike about the dream you had. And you want to talk to your friends about your dream as well. But for, you are just going to enjoy yourself. You've had a hard day.