I nearly wept as I watched the moon rise above the horizon, my magic not assisting its ascent for the second week since the rift opened. The sky to the west was already dark purple, the burning disk of the sun almost entirely gone. “What is this, Celestia?” I asked without turning around.

She sighed as she joined me on the balcony, a wing draping itself over my back. For an instant I wanted to push it away, but then leaned into the gesture appreciatively. “I don’t know, Luna. The brightest minds the School has are working to try and understand the world we find ourselves in, and why we cannot link to their sun and moon. Twilight’s current theory is that this world’s sun is fixed, while the earth revolves around it and the moon around the earth.”

I couldn’t help the snort of dismissal. “I still find it impossible to believe. An entire world, an entire cosmos, existing without magic? What governs their night sky? Their seasons? Even the Everfree still relies on magic.”

“True, though I suppose the possibility isn’t as farfetched as one would think. ‘Possibility is endless, the only fixed point is change’, after all.” Celestia replied with a wink, though I could see the strain around her mouth.

“I’d never have expected to hear you quote him, sister.”

“Evil he might have been, but he did occasionally have a point,” she replied, glancing briefly toward the garden. “But, I’m sure you’re aware of why I’ve come, Luna.”

My ears flattened slightly. “I do, though my answer remains unchanged. Not even you can sway me, Celly.” I frowned as I turned away from the sight of the heretical moon.

“I wouldn’t try to, Lulu,” she responded with her foalish nickname for me, and my tail flicked in irritation. “But they still need their Princess of the Night.” Her hoof pointed out over the railing. “Now more than ever, their dreams will need guidance.” She smiled, in that same aggravating fashion she always did. “Besides, you could learn more about the humans from their dreams than I ever could talking to them. If I were less magnanimous, I might be jealous.”

“I know… and truthfully, that is what worries me the most,” I muttered, ignoring her little barb for now. “With as many non-magical minds as humanity possesses, what will become of the Dream? Will I even be able to find my way in it anymore?”

Celestia returned again to lend me her support, resting her head over my neck. “I have faith in your abilities, Luna. The Dream is your realm still, it’s not like it will no longer recognize you.” She yawned. “Now, I think I will retire. If you don’t feel up to it, then another night will not hurt things. Just give it some thought, alright?” She nodded respectfully to my guard, her own following as she walked toward her chambers.

I closed my door halfheartedly, before realizing I’d not dismissed the guard. “I thank you for remaining, Eclipse. Though I would request privacy for the remainder of the night.”

She rose to her hooves, and started to trot for the door. As she raised her hoof to open it she stopped, tail flicking nervously. “Permission to speak freely, my Lady?”

I nodded. “You may.”

She hesitated again, then turned to face me, head lowered respectfully. “Just… remember that our duty as your protectors is not simply physical. Should you desire somepony to listen to you, you need only ask us.”

“I will consider your words. For now, I will request my privacy until dawn.”

She saluted. “By your leave, my Lady.” She withdrew from the room and shut the door silently.

I turned back toward the balcony, eyes half-closed as I watched the moon continue to rise. “A thousand years spent wishing to be gone from you, and now I’d trade my crown to have that bond back.” I extended my senses toward it again, scowling as the expected connection failed to form. “The irony is palpable,” I muttered as I closed the window.

My magic swept around the room as I settled onto the cushion, extinguishing the candles and gem lanterns until the only illumination came from the moon. That was at least some comfort, even if it was an alien moonlight. Once I felt prepared I drew my power into me, the shadows beginning to move in time with my heartbeat. I closed my eyes, and opened myself to the Dream.

Ponies had always wondered at their dreams, claiming them to be anything from windows to the soul to separate dimensions their minds entered. In truth, none of them were correct, and yet they all were. The Dream is simply a tapestry in which each mind guides a single thread. Or at least that is how I have always perceived it. Perhaps unobserved it is something else entirely, but who can be certain?

I drifted, the calming sensation of Canterlot’s dreamers surrounding me. My wings flapped, and I felt my consciousness expand, encompassing more of Equestria with each wingbeat. Millions of sleeping minds whirled around me, until the entirety of my world’s dreamscape was visible. Though as I reached what had been the edge of awareness, I felt a faint tickle against my side, an errant thread in the weave. A pony’s thread.

I followed the thread, growing more nervous the further I moved from Equestria. Eventually, my only light was the thread, and I almost turned back when I spotted more threads on the horizon. I hurtled toward the threads in relief, only to pause as I realized what they were.

Human minds. Thousands of them, tangled together in a snarled mess. These had to be the inhabitants of the Hawaiian islands, which we’d become new neighbors to. The pony thread I’d followed dove into the pattern and was lost. I wavered, unsure of what to do, and in my hesitation, I felt a human’s thread brush against my awareness.

A mix of fear and desperation crashed against my mental self, nearly swatting me aside with its energy. As I fought to maintain my balance, I felt the thread continue to bleed its dream into me.

“Where is everyone? Please, I don’t want to be alone.” The words grated on my consciousness, but their meaning rang clearly in my head.

I shook my head as my vision swam, the thread’s world replacing the Dream. The tapestry was ripped asunder as dark, gnarled trees rose around me. On instinct I faded to mist, mingling with the cold fog that had begun to crawl around their trunks.

Once I had my bearings and the trees stopped growing, I wove silently between them, seeking some clue of where I was. The dark forest loomed in the further I pressed on, twisted faces appearing in the corners of my vision. Branches reached closer as I passed under them, only to retreat when I looked at them. As I moved deeper into the forest, the pervading sense of dread only grew heavier.

As I passed a gap in the trees, a faint, hiccuping cry stopped me. I spotted a small figure hunched in the center of the clearing. I cautiously drifted through, emerging into the light of a full moon. The figure resolved into that of a human, smaller than the ones Celestia had described. Obviously a child then, or an adult dreaming themselves such.

The human’s shoulders shook as I drifted closer, and I hesitated as it became apparent that the hiccuping cry was in fact sobbing. Tears trailed down its face as it hunched further, and the trees surrounding us leaned over in unison, leering faces almost laughing.

With a start I realized that they were. Faint but harsh giggles emerged from their mouths, but soon became words.

“She’s such a weirdo, reading during recess like that…”

“With hair that ugly, no wonder she doesn’t have friends…”

“She likes who? What a little flirt! There’s no way he’d ever like someone like her…”

The insults slithered through the fog, becoming more and more solid until they coiled around her, repeating themselves over and over. She cried out more, trying to push them away, but they only constricted tighter, almost obscuring her from sight.

I scowled and rose up, the wind beginning to gust as my anger grew. Even if they were not one of my subjects, she was now a denizen of the Dream, and my duty was clear. “Get away from her.”

The insults, now even more like serpents, ignored me and continued to squeeze, crushing her in despair. I drew myself back together, horn lit as I snorted. “Get thee hence, vile nightmares! Begone from my sight!” I shouted, my voice infused with a touch of power. The wind blew harder alongside my command, catching the serpents up and dashing them against the trees. They resisted, but howled in agony as another gust forced them back to normal.

The girl screamed, and I released my power, fading back into mist as the wind died down. Before I’d vanished completely her eyes met mine, tear-streaked face framed by the light of her moon. She opened her mouth to say something, but with a jerk I tore free of the dream and crashed to my floor in a clatter of hooves.

A second later the door slammed open and Eclipse entered, eyes narrowed as she swept the room. “My Lady! Are you alright?” She rushed to my side as I gathered my senses, the shadows writhing in reflection of my state of mind.

“I… am fine now,” I said quietly, glancing to the door as another guard appeared. “Truly. Return to your posts.”

The stallion saluted and vanished, though Eclipse remained stubbornly by my side. “With respect, my Lady, you should at least have one of us by your side.”

I nearly ordered her to go, but found myself unable to do so. The door swung shut as I turned and walked onto the balcony. “Very well, you may remain.”

Something of my inner turmoil must have lingered in my voice, for Eclipse trotted after me. “My Lady? Are you sure that everything is alright? You don’t sound like it.” I heard her sit at the customary position by the door

“What am I to you, Eclipse?” I asked, staring up at the moon.

“You are my Princess, the Lady of the Night—” came the expected response, and I cut her off with a wave of my wing.

“But can I truly be called that, with my connection to the moon severed?” I wondered. “I cannot touch the stars, nor guide my namesake. What does that leave me?”

Eclipse was silent, and I lowered my gaze, wings slumped.

“You are still our Princess, and we are your Dreamers,” she whispered.

I turned my head slightly, ear tilted in curiosity.

“Forgive me for my insolence, but you are not defined by the moon. The moon was defined by you.” She paused, weighing her words. “When I was a filly, before I found my cutie mark, my father had a saying: ‘You are who you are, and nothing more.’ I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it’s always stuck with me.” She looked up at the moon. “If you can’t touch the moon, then focus on what you still have.”

I closed my eyes, thinking back to the dream, the look in that little human’s eyes. “While in the Dream, I found a human’s dream. A little filly, a ‘girl’, I think they call them. She was alone, and afraid.” I paused, a growing realization forming in my chest.

“What did you do, Lady?” Eclipse pressed.

“I helped her,” I replied as I rose to my hooves. “What else could I do?” The feeling continued to grow, until a small smile forced its way onto my muzzle. “I may no longer be the shepherd of the moon, but I retain my duty as shepherd of dreams. Even the non-magic ones,” I mused. “And if that is all I can do, then so be it.”

Eclipse bowed her head. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, my Lady. Do you still wish for your privacy?”

I nodded. “Yes, please. Inform my sister’s guard that I shall speak with her at dawn. I suspect she might have need of some wisdom as well.”

Eclipse rolled her eyes as she shut the door, and I smiled again as I closed my eyes. The Dream unfolded around me, though this time I didn’t choose a thread. Instead, I drew back, the weave increasing in complexity until I could finally behold the entire thing.

It was tangled beyond all comprehension, a riot of sensations so jumbled I doubted even Discord could make heads or tails of it. Although, I suspected that he’d be perfectly at home here. I smiled as I saw Equestria’s bright glow, and the Hawaiian islands beside it. It seemed as good a starting point as any.

At least I wouldn’t get bored.