Luna’s eyes scanned the immediate area in a blurry daze, desperately trying to get her bearings. After a few moments of sulking under the sheets and panning her head left and right, she finally recognized the Golden Oaks Library’s guest room. No wonder the walls didn't have any stars magically splattered all over just the way she liked it. She shook off the remnants of heavy sleep, dismissing that nagging feeling of unease it always left her with.

She paused at the strange feeling in her mane and lifted a hoof to move a few of the glittering blue strands in front of her eyes.

“Wet?” she whispered aloud to herself. “Why is it…?”

Luna glanced back at her pillow, and frowned as she noticed the damp patch where her head had been. Had the otherworldly experience within her own mind been so distracting that she’d actually ‘sweated buckets’, as some of her subjects were apt to say these days?

“Surely not…”

Her eyes widened briefly as she noticed the level of light surrounding her. She’d always had perfect vision in darkness, as befitted her role as the Princess of the Night. Over time, she’d also learned how to tell the time by the amount of light around her.

As it happened, it was just getting past the time for her to leave the comforts of her bed, if only to rejoin her sister. She bucked off her covers, struggling with one hoof for a minute while trying to disentangle herself from them. A few seconds of stretching would leave her feeling positively beaming and ready for the day, save for the condition her mane and upper coat was. A refreshing spell would fix her right up though. Her growling stomach, on the other hoof, told her she should really get going.

Luna had only taken a few steps when her hoof banged into something. Her eyes latched onto the offending object—a bucket, sitting in the middle of the room. Her mind quickly put two and two together as she glanced from the bucket back to her soaked pillow, and following the addition, she proceeded to roll her eyes the way she’d seen Twilight Sparkle do to her friends every once in a while.

Clearly, even a princess wasn’t immune from the pink one’s pranks. She smirked as she resumed her trot, giving some thought as to how she could get her revenge. After all, she couldn’t let this challenge go unanswered, now could she?

“Old pranks are probably forgotten,” Luna said as she opened the bathroom door. “Slip a toad in her hoof shoe, and… Wait, no, ponies in this city are nudist. That’s right, so that might not work…”

While she thought on it, her highness did her usual morning routine. Upon making sure her mane was presentable, she faced her muzzle towards the ceiling, though kept looking at herself in the mirror, making sure everything was in order. “You look like you could use another hour’s worth of rest.” She rubbed her eyes with a hoof before sighing. “As good looking as I’m ever going to get today, it’d seem…”

Luna would never admit it to anyone, but she would gladly forgo sleep if it meant she could spend more time awake. There was something about being up and about down on Equestria rather than the moon, or even the brief time she got to spend with Celestia, that just felt right. A thousand years of solitude meant she had much to catch up on, and sleep only slowed that down.

It had become something of a chore, and she only did it to hurry along and get to the next journey-filled day. Or, in her case, the next journey-filled evening. That was precisely what  she saw her awake time as, an adventure. She just did a good job at hiding it.

She made her way out of the guest room and into the lobby. Checking the time, she grumbled at just missing her breakfast, or for everyone else, dinner. It was becoming a bit of a problem for Luna, sleeping in so late, sometimes only just stumbling out of bed at around eight to lift the moon for her sister.

There was no time for even a quick bite from an apple. She was already late to the celebration meeting that was taking place over at Sugar Cube Corner, where all her new friends and her sister would be by now.

“They’ll be missing me if I don’t hurry up.”

With that attitude seemingly set in stone, Luna wandered out and into the unsettling light her sister’s sun made for the day’s nearing end. With one hoof raised to the right, she leaned in on the left. Then, she looked down the right at an alley way.

Everything, for her at least, looked completely different. She had only been to Ponyville once before, and that was during the night, her time. Being in the shining glory of a concluding afternoon made the whole surrounding area look different, and highly unrecognizable to her.

“Uh,” she said in a panic, eyes darting around the decorated town. “Maybe this way?”

She chose to take the long shot and headed right, the completely wrong way. Of course, had she thought to fly up and simply look around, she might have spared herself some trouble. The thought simply never crossed her mind, not that she needed to go through that sort of trouble to achieve her bearings.

Off to the side of some quaint lunch shack sat Spike with a notepad in one claw and a ruby-centered, carrot cut sub sandwich in the other. He seemed to be having a tough time with the owner who refused to have a scarlet bow wrapped around his banana yellow beach umbrella. “Look, pal, this side needs more glitter!”

His head shook while he denied Spike out right. “That’s nice, kid, but it’s too frilly.”

Luna took it upon herself to reveal her thoughts on the matter. “Actually,” she said while trotting up socially, “I think it’d be a nice addition to your umbrella.”

When the Princess of the Night says something looks good, even if it’s all around completely ridiculous, everypony knows good and well to agree and let it be. That included the pesky shack owner. With wide eyes at who he was addressing, he immediately changed his attitude.

“Yep! Best bow I could’ve ever gotten for my umbrella! Thanks, little dragon… kid? I’ll put it up right now!”

Spike rolled his eyes. “It’s already up.”

The keeper glanced up, smiled sheepishly, and offered, “Uh, complimentary subs for all the trouble?”

Spike grabbed another while Luna started walking away, headed for the city limits. “Uh, your highness?” Spike asked while timidly following her. “All due respect, Princess Luna, but we really should be headed for Sugar Cube Corner.”

She scoffed, “Well, aren’t I going in the right direction?”

He wasn’t about to try and say anything remotely offending, but he couldn’t let her go the wrong way entirely. “No…”

She stopped. “I’m not?”

Before grabbing her hoof and leading Luna in the right path, Spike said, “One of the tasks I got assigned to was following up on others and making sure they did their parts right. I guess that also means escorting you to the meeting as well.”

Luna nodded. “Yes, well, speaking of, the pink one did her job admirably...” Her eyebrow twitched as she said the last word.

While she walked with him, Spike giggled, “Yeah, I helped, actually!”

She gave him an angered look. “Really? I shall keep that in mind.”

In little time at all, Spike was able to lead them straight to where they needed to be. Were it not for him taking her down several dark alleys, she could’ve honestly said the walk did her good.

They were greeted by Pinkie’s usual decorations blocking the door like a curtain, but Spike merely shuffled the assortment of hanging ribbons, streamers and party favors aside and entered the establishment the way he usually did. Luna rose a hoof before pressing her head through, feeling as if she were stepping through some strange portal.

The inside, however, could’ve been considered another world. The counter was coated in moss-like sheets of varying, tacky colors that screamed, “Birthday!” Pinkie’s odd love for spontaneously lathering everything with color was foreign, at best. Hardly anything like what they did up at Canterlot. Still, after a good set of days had gone by spending time with everypony else including Twilight, Luna was mostly used to their differing qualities.

Upon seeing her sister sitting at a round table with the others, she took note of everypony else that was there. Pinkie’s name sometimes slipped her mind for reasons she couldn’t explain, especially during the morning. Rarity sat next to Fluttershy, showing her the fabric she planned to use for the guards, and Twilight was talking with her mentor.

“Huh…” She glanced at the three empty seats, figured Applejack and Rainbow Dash were off goofing around somewhere, and took her own seat next to her sister. “Sorry we are late.”

“Sorry I’m late, Luna,” her sister said teasingly.

“You know what I meant!”

She, her sister and Twilight laughed together, keeping to themselves as opposed with getting mixed up in Rarity showing off. Luna caught Pinkie recommending a splash of hot red, and Fluttershy listened to the fashionesta’s banter, too kind to confess she really didn’t care. “So, Luna?” Celestia asked.

“Hmm?”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Oh, fine… just fine.” She tried to avoid much more conversation on that particular subject. “How were the arrangements?”

“Tell me about your dreams,” Celestia said coyly, not even hearing Luna’s question.

“The arrangements first,” Luna said with a more serious tone.

“Luna, are you sure?

“I’m alright, sister...” Luna looked from Celestia’s concerned face to Twilight’s more confused expression. “I will tell you everything in our room back at the library, okay?”

“Are… you two alright?” Twilight asked. “You’ve been like this since we all met up. Is everything okay?”

Luna spoke up just before Celestia could assure Twilight everything was fine herself. “Things like this are private, Twilight. It’s nothing against you or your friends, but I prefer to keep things like this between me and my sister.”

Laying her cheek on her hooves, Twilight remarked, “Well, now I feel like the odd mare out.”

Celestia placed her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “It’s nothing big, Twilight. Not like the celebration will be. What have you planned out thus far?”

Twilight skimmed her notes briefly, her tongue poking out while she thought, and said, “At the beginning, you and Luna will make your welcoming speech, bow to everypony, and proceed to the left of the stand.”

Rarity spoke up, “And that’s when the guards will play their classic trumpet theme for everypony.”

Fluttershy quietly added in, “Around that time, I’ll have all the birdies and pigeons well settled down enough to chime in with the music.”

Twilight resumed. “Right, and the clouds will need to be crystal clear for tomorrow. Don’t get me started on the food, either!” Her eyes landed on the still empty seats next to Princess Luna. “Speaking of which, where is Applejack? And Rainbow Dash?”

Luna, whose personal opinion on those two was still being developed, thought they would show up to the group meeting for sure. By what she’d seen, those two could both rival Pinkie when it came to eating, though the party pony would’ve won in a competition hooves down no matter what, and there was plenty for them to eat sitting right before everypony but them.

Along with good friends and royalty waiting for them, there was hardly any reason for them not to come. “Maybe they’re just running late,” Rarity offered, though shortly returning to her fabric.

Pinkie voiced with a mouth full of chocolate cake, “They could be out pranking somepony! That’s what I’d be doing if I wasn’t here!”

Luna’s ears perked up at that. “Undoubtedly.”

Pinkie smiled at Luna. “Undoubtedly, what? Undoubtedly I’d be pulling pranks? Or, undoubtedly Applejack and Rainbow dash are pulling pranks?”

Luna sighed, “Both.” She smiled with a glint in her eyes. “In fact, I’ll be repaying you for the prank you pulled on me when I got up.”

The whole table fell amazingly silent. Everypony there heard Luna quite clearly, but was unable to put two and two together. Twilight’s worried eyes looked at Luna as she said, “Pinkie’s been with us the whole time.”

Luna blinked twice. “What?” She glanced from Twilight to Pinkie with her mouth ajar. “But, somepony dumped water on me not half an hour ago to get me up… Pinkie, you mean to tell us it wasn’t you?”

Pinkie shook her head with a frown. “Sorry, but that sounds fun!”

Twilight’s raising eyebrow told everypony else she was thinking. Once she looked up and back at Luna, she said, “Applejack and Rainbow volunteered to go wake you up… You mean, you were woken up by a prank?”

Luna explained, “It was a bucket filled with water, and it laid at my hooves empty and dripping wet, much like my mane, coat and pillow were… It must have been them.”

Twilight gave one last glance at the empty chairs, and asked aloud, “Then… Where’d they go?”

Rainbow Dash could honestly say she’d experienced waking up feeling not her best plenty of times in her life. In fact, most of the time, that feeling had followed some of her bigger crashes. She’d been through mishaps most would never even wish to think of going through, some of them being her very own fault. Waking up dizzy was nothing new to her.

This, however, was something else entirely. She’d barely twitched a feather by the time she felt her gut twist, and only barely managed to twist herself onto her stomach when she couldn’t hold it in, and let it empty itself. She coughed, trying to calm her body, only meeting success after a few dry heaves wracked her.

It felt like weightlessness, floating in the sea, only there were no waves. The waters were completely still. Of course, there was no water around them, but she certainly did sense an odd funk in the air. If one’s head were stuck inside a small, multicolored vase, he or she might feel much like Rainbow did.

She collapsed back onto the ground, exhaustion having sapped her energy, but she remained awake just enough to try and open her eyes. However, she didn’t understand what we saw… No, she couldn’t understand what she saw. Instead of the library, she saw trees. Lots of trees. Lots and lots of trees.

Her pained head turned sharply to look upon the vines, flowers, and all kinds of plants all around her. So densely packed was the beauty that she couldn’t see much else, and barely a few patches of sky as she glanced upwards. Though, what she could see through the small, blurry gaps in the leaves almost looked like a single cloud…

And then, it disappeared, bringing her to say, “Wuh…?”

As she tried to spread her wings, an odd sensation ran through her back. Maybe trying to fly immediately after barely looking around was a bad idea. She’d take note of that cloud, though, and try her best to find a clearing so she might find it. Other than that, Rainbow was able to deduce the obvious with little difficulty: She had no idea where she was.

She couldn’t even remember how she’d gotten there. Maybe Applejack knew?

“Applejack!” Her breath got caught in her throat as she remembered she hadn’t been alone, and choked out the name while collapsing yet again, holding tight to her throat.

“The… hea…” She tried to curse her voice free from the tough, muting spot clogging up her lung pipes. Instead, it came out scratchy, and that hurt, too.

She took a deep breath to the best of her abilities, was able to take in a tremulous amount of oxygen, pushed herself to her hooves to look around and wheezed all that air right back out with a shadowy, cringing expression almost hidden by her brightly hued mane.

Applejack had been right next to her—she remembered that much—and couldn’t be that far.

“Appl-” she coughed again, her throat sore from her heaving, but she pressed on. “Applejack?” The word sounded raspy as it left her lips. Whatever happened to them was torturous at best.

With the lack of any kind of response worrying her, Rainbow pressed on, taking a step on… whatever it was she was trotting upon. All she could feel was a numb pressure on her hooftips, and all she could hear was… noise. Lots of it, actually. Birds, insects, all sorts of animals making a racket all around her. “Applejack?!” She cried out again, louder. Her brow pinched in worry as her eyes flicked back and forth.

There.

A hint of lighter brown between all the confusing trees. Applejack’s hat. Rainbow shambled towards it, her legs shaky, and her stomach still queasy, but she was slowly feeling better. However, that wasn’t important—she had to find Applejack.

Sure enough, a small distance away from the stetson, Applejack was lying on the ground, out cold and motionless. Rainbow breathed a sigh of relief. With the plants this dense, she’d probably never have found Applejack if they’d been separated much farther from each other.

She quickly shuffled over to her friend, shaking her with a hoof. “Hey, A.J.” She glanced away to cough sickly for a moment, but quickly returned to what she was doing. “Wake up. A.J! Applejack!” Her eyes widened in horror as the earth pony remained motionless. Rainbow quickly bent down and placed her ear next to Applejack’s mouth, but the noise surrounding her drowned out any sound she tried to hear.

She lifted her head, growling. “Shut up already!” She yelled that as loud as she could, and squealed a little at the end thanks to her still burning throat. To her surprise, it worked, if only for a few moments. Then, the noise came back, but subdued. With a satisfied nod, she leaned back down, only to jump in fright.

“I tol’ ya you could wake th’dead, Dash, but I ain’t dead yet!”

“Applejack!” Rainbow cried out, dropping next to her friend.

“Owch... Now, simmer down, girl. My head hurts!” Applejack grumbled as she attempted to lift herself up.

“Careful, you might-”

“Hurk!” With wide eyes, the farm mare galloped behind some bushes.

“-puke... Yeah.” Rainbow held her nose with both hooves as she heard Applejack empty her stomach. Once they were able to quiet things down, she stroked her friend’s back upon her return. “You okay?”

“Been better…” The farmer muttered. “Can barely see a thing… What the hay happened, Dash?”

“No clue,” the pegasus admitted while grunting after every blink. She was trying to get a better view, but much like her friend, Rainbow felt near blind. “I think we’re in the Everfree F-Forest, or something.”

Applejack squinted as she took in her surroundings. “Th’Everfree? What in tarnation are we doin’ all the way out here?”

Rainbow shrugged in response. “Don’t look at me. Maybe we got drunk?” She rolled her squinting eyes in an attempt to look cool as Applejack stared at her in disbelief. One thing that brought about that disbelief was the eye roll looking more like a horrid imitation of Derpy after being wasted. “I’m just saying! We wake up puking, no idea how we got here…”

“Whaddya mean, y’don’t remember?”

“What, you do?” Rainbow said, gesturing her hooves forth, but cringing slowly as her left shoulder cracked. “Ouch…”

Applejack nodded as she wiped her mouth off with a hoof. Her mouth curled in distaste as she flicked away what she could. “We were tryin’ to wake up... Princess Luna?”

“Oh, right.” Rainbow scratched the back of her head, the memories slowly leaking back. She also remembered a bucket had been involved. “Think she’s angry?”

“Considerin’ it looks like she sent us here, I’d say that’s a yes.” Applejack groaned as she lifted herself off from the ground. “We gotta get back then!”

Rainbow kept a hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. “Don’t rush it. Take it easy.”

Applejack couldn’t stop herself from giving a smug snort, grinning at the mare beside her. “You of all ponies are tellin’ me to slow down?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes and shook her head. “‘Cause I know how you feel, Applebutt. I just woke up too, you know.”

“That still don’t help us get home, though.” Applejack glanced around. “We gotta figure out where we are.”

Rainbow nodded. “Maybe we’re near Zecora’s?” She stood slowly, turned around, and got a sudden shock from Applejack gasping out of nowhere. “R-R-Rainbow… Your wings!”

“What?” Rainbow turned her head, her body turning with her in a circle as she tried to get a better look at her back. “Wh- How? It’s…”

“Crossed!” Applejack stared open mouthed, Rainbow doing the same.

“No way! My feathers... No wonder it stung worse than a hornet bite!” Rainbow leaned her head to check the other wing. “Is it just that one?”

The other wing was fine, but right after they inspected Rainbow’s other side, she felt a sudden jolt through her back and neck. Looking around at the deformed wing, she shook her head, her mouth much more open now. “What the…”

“What? What now?” Applejack asked quickly, circling around her.

“Look!” Her wings opened wide, perfectly fine without a single feather out of place. They even seemed preened, too.

“Ah… Now, Dash, y’know I’m not crazy. You saw that voodoo, too.” Applejack lifted a doubting hoof and pointed it at her friend’s wings. “Yer feather was pretty much mushed up with its partner. Either we need glasses; and I know I don’t, or you and me were just-”

“What?” Rainbow asked, her eyelids lowered and a brow raised. “Chopped up and then mutated back to normal? I still can’t make out your hat! And it’s right next to me.”

“My hat’s next to…” Applejack looked down and finally caught up with what Rainbow was saying. “Oh… you got a point there. Maybe our eyes weren’t doing too well. Uh, the sun musta been playin’ tricks on us!”

Rainbow smiled brightly. “That’s what I’m saying! Now, let’s stop wasting time, and get to work on that canopy!”

With a mighty flap of her wings, she tore past branches and leaves, ignoring the startled cry she left behind. She briefly wondered why she felt so good. In fact, realizing that she felt great, as if she’d never been sick at all, she wondered even more how that was remotely possible.

Not a few minutes before, both she and Applejack were feeling worse than they ever had in their entire lives. Despite that, she dismissed the thought and flapped a few more times, slowing herself down to a hover. With a bead of sweat falling from her forehead, she looked around.

She saw green everywhere.

No sign of Zecora’s hut, or even the old castle. Just featureless green. Maybe Luna had sent them deeper into the forest than they thought possible? Her wings buzzed as she gained some more height, but the more she looked around, the more worried she became.

Green.

More green.

She didn’t know the Everfree by heart, but she’d flown in and above it often enough to get a good idea of its size. She knew the Everfree wasn’t this big. She flew higher and higher, her breaths coming in huge gasps now as she felt the air grow thinner and colder all around her frame.

She could even see the horizon curve.

And still, all she saw was green.

“This just can’t be the Everfree…”