Luna’s eyes slowly flickered open and she froze for a moment before she remembered where she was. It was the sound of birds that had confused her, she had not heard them since she’d left Equestria. She looked down beside her and saw that Sarah was still lying there naked, her face pressed against Nim’s dark side, her arms around the other alicorn’s neck. Luna smiled as she remembered the night before... so many feelings.

Her gaze turned to Nim and a soft smile appeared on her muzzle. She leaned over and gave the other mare a nuzzle and she responded by muttering softly in her sleep.

“What fun is there in making...” the other alicorn muttered as she leaned back slightly and Sarah leaned closer against her.

“Luna...” Sarah murmured quietly, one of her hands leaving Nim’s neck and settling across the blue alicorn’s side.

Luna smiled at the pair... it was a truly remarkable feeling to be so very loved. She basked in the quiet serenity of the moment as long as she could but Nim’s form stirred before her. The other alicorn let out a large yawn and shook her starry mane out of her eyes before looking at Luna. She hesitated for a moment before leaning over to kiss the blue mare. Luna accepted the kiss, though it felt a small bit awkward.

“Good morning,” Nim said softly with a smile. “How did your sleep fare?”

“Very well,” Luna replied, keeping her voice down as well.

A long silence fell between the two alicorns before Nim finally broke it.

“We-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” she said softly.

“Done what?” Luna asked, confusion layered in her voice.

“Kissed you... I shouldn’t have done that,” Nim said, looking away. “Last night... it probably shouldn’t have happened.”

“And whyever would that be?” Luna inquired, truly unsure of what the other alicorn was talking about.

“Well... has it not made it awkward?” Nim asked in return. “We... are one and yet now we have done things that should only be done between those who are two.”

Luna frowned for a moment before shrugging and leaning forwards to give her darker ego a nuzzle. “In my opinion... you are no longer within my head and... well let us be honest with each other. You are have grown past what you were within me. I... we are no longer the same being as we were before,” she said slowly, looking for each word as she spoke them while she kept her eyes locked on Nim’s.

Nim stared into her eyes for a moment before slowly nodding. “We... I see your point,” she said softly. “And... I agree... we were never narcissistic enough to love ourselves this much were we?”

“I don’t believe so,” Luna replied with a chuckle before pausing for a moment. “Okay... maybe a little.”

Nim exchanged a glance with her and the two burst into uproarious laughter, startling Sarah awake.

“AH!” the woman exclaimed, not expecting to be the center of an alicorn sandwich. She took a moment to recover from her slight shock and then looked between the two amused alicorns. “...morning.”

“Good morning,” the pair echoed before they simultaneously leaned down and gave the woman a kiss on the cheek. Sarah blushed and it went all the way down.

“I... didn’t expect to wake up here,” Sarah said as she looked between the two, her gaze falling on Nim.

“You would not have if there was any reason for you not to,” Nim stated with a small shrug. “As it is, I believed that the three of us could do with a good cuddle before we left for the Vault. Especially if it is anything like the last one we visited.”

Sarah grimaced at the thought but nodded as she stretched and leaned back against Luna’s fur as she ran a hand down Nim’s neck. “I can’t say I disagree with that,” the woman acknowledged. “What time is it anyways?”

“Just after 7 if your Pip-Boy is correct,” Nim replied with a small shrug. “And the children are still nowhere near us so we may as well make the most of our time, no?”

"Sounds fine to me,” Sarah said as she leaned her head up to give Luna a kiss on the lips. “You know... I kind of wish we could just stay here forever like this... not bother going back to the Wasteland... just the three of us here together forever.”

Luna let out a sigh as she brought a wing down to play over the woman’s soft skin, causing Sarah to giggle a little as the feathers danced across her. “As much as we all wish we could Sarah... none of this is real and your body would die from lack of water before too long,” she said before giving the woman’s neck a nuzzle. “But I will not fault you for the desire to stay here.”

“Indeed, tis a wonderful thought if I do say so myself,” Nim agreed with a merry grin as she too added her wings to the hug. “So... did we ever teach you how to preen wings Sarah?”

“I... think we skipped it actually,” Sarah replied with a small frown. “Is now really the best time?”

“Actually, it is,” Luna said, smiling as the thought struck her. “Here you cannot do any real damage to my wings and the two of us can correct you whenever you make a mistake.”

“Indeed, that is why I suggested it,” Nim said with a smug expression.

"Then remove your wing so that she may begin learning,” Luna said with a roll of her eyes. Nim did so and Sarah was left looking at Luna’s wing. “Now then, the idea behind this is that you are trying to align all the feathers in a precise order and remove any old feathers which look as if they’re about to fall out.”

Sarah nodded and then frowned. “So... I use my fingers for this right?”

“Or your mouth, though I’m not sure if you’d like that,” Nim answered for Luna as Sarah began to examine the feathers beneath her fingers, tracing them and working out the right patterns. “Your mouth would quickly become rather fluffy.”

“Right,” Sarah agreed as she tried her hand at straightening the feathers into the ‘right’ position. The woman stared silently and intently at all of the feathers on the wing before perceptively snatching up a feather that looked like it was about to fall out.

“Very good,” Luna complemented as Sarah noticed another out of place feather and straightened it. “Now, you must be careful not to tug out anything that does not need to come out. I do not feel like experiencing that... it is a rather bloody process.”

“I’ll do my best,” Sarah replied, her voice sounding a bit detached as she scoured the wing and went about her work.

It was miraculous how fast Sarah picked up on simple tasks; within the next ten minutes she was preening like a pro even applying her mouth in places where it seemed necessary. When she was finished with the one wing Luna was panting with pleasure and the alicorn let out a sigh as she brought the other wing over for Sarah to examine.

“Enjoying yourself?” Nim asked Luna with a raised eyebrow. To Luna’s surprise, Nim was casually drinking a glass of chocolate milk through a straw. The alicorn supposed that considering where they were, that was not exactly a large feat of grandeur, but she hadn’t realized Nim had done so.

“Why yes I am,” Luna answered before letting out another sigh of pleasure as Sarah used her mouth to pluck out a particularly bad feather. “You are very talented Sarah.”

“Thanks,” Sarah replied after spitting out said bad feather. “It’s not that hard really... once you know the pattern it’s easy to spot the irregularities and correct them as needed.”

“Careful Sarah; that sounded dangerously close to something mathematical,” Nim joked. “Knowing your mind, if you say anything closer to it, then this entire dreamscape will crumble.”

“Har, har, har,” Sarah laughed dryly. “Keep it up Nim and you won’t get a turn.”

“Then I’m sure dear Luna would provide me with some of her attentions,” Nim replied with a smirk. “After all; she did more then enough last night.”

Luna blushed a little but couldn’t withstrain her smile. “It seemed the Queenly thing to do. After all, why should you not receive the same attention that I did?”

“I don’t see any reason,” Sarah agreed, spitting out another feather before glancing up at Luna. “I’m done I think.”

“Excellent,” Luna replied before she leaned down and gave Sarah a long kiss on the lips.

When they broke Sarah smiled and threw her arms around Luna’s neck and snuggled her head close to the alicorn’s neck. No words were really needed between them, nor were they when Nim joined in the hug, nestling her neck across Sarah’s back and intertwining it with Luna’s.

They spent what felt like an hour like that until Sarah’s stomach grumbled, as did Luna’s. The two exchanged a look and chuckled.

“It looks like it’s time to ‘wake up’ now,” Luna commented.

“Yeah,” Sarah agreed, closing her eyes.

She opened them and found herself leaning against Luna, this time in the real world. The woman and the mare exchanged another look and Sarah slowly eased herself off of Luna stretching as she did so. Luna did likewise and before long the two exited the building.

“So... what’s our plan?” Luna asked.

“Find food, find MacCready, find a way into the Vault,” Sarah answered simply as she cracked her neck. “Then we kill our way to the G.E.C.K., kick the Enclave's ass... and then we spend a lot of time sprucing up our house in Megaton and trying to find you a way home... and hopefully me a way with you.”

Oh, and we must remember to help Harkness as well, Nim added.

“Right, and that,” Sarah agreed with a swift nod before she turned to Luna. “Think you’re up to it Luna?”

“Sarah; I have fought wars, I believe I can manage this,” Luna replied with a snicker before she gave the side of the woman’s head a nuzzle. “And both Nim and I shall make sure that you survive the experience as well.”

“We’re all agreed then,” Sarah agreed with a small smirk.

It was the last smirk she was likely to have for quite a while.

Author's Notes:

This is the last chapter before they dive into hell so I thought I'd give them a nice morning.