Luna felt her mind wander as she searched for ponies in need of comfort. There were so many now. The population had grown ten times over since her banishment. Once, long ago, her duty had been easy.

She reached towards a filly having a nightmare and stood by his side.

You have no need to fear these monsters. They are not real.

She held a hoof out to a pony who was being crushed under the weight of her responisbility.

Believe in yourself. You must rest and let your mind dwell on happier things. Leave your duties for the day.

Every night was different. Different dreams, different ponies.

But there was one constant in her routine..

Grey Glider.

She felt her entire mind shift to focus on the pony. He was a young pegasus who she found to be a kindred spirit. He had dealt with so much in his life so far.

She found Grey's mind dwelling on his past experiences. It seemed to be the prevailing theme in every dream. Images flashed past her as she moved further in.

"Grounder!"

She watched a face float past. A bully from Grey's fillyhood.

"Grounder! Grounder! Grounder!"

An entire class of fillies cornering poor Grey.

"I'm never going back!"

Grey arguing with his mother about the taunting.

"Grey.. Please come out."

"No!"

"You've been in there for days."

""It's better in here!"

He hardly spent time with anypony after that.

"Why do I have to be like this? I'm so useless!"

He'd beaten down his self-worth to nothing.

"All I wanted was a friend.."

A friend.

Luna emerged from the forest of memories to find Grey sitting in a corner. He had turned his one side away from the images. If she hadn't known better she would have mistaken him for a normal pegasus.

But that wasn't the case...

Grey turned, exposing his hidden side. The side without a wing. Tears rolled down his face as the memories continued to roll past.

"Grey."

The pegasus looked up and wiped away his tears.

"Luna. Thank you for coming to see me."

"I always will. Why do you let the past hurt you?"

"It's hard to forget a life of ridicule and isolation."

"Tell me about it."

He glanced at her, his eyes tearing up again.

"Sorry"

"Don't! It's not your fault."

"Could you help me with these?"

He motioned to the images in the air. Luna nodded in response and lit her horn. The images faded, along with the voices. Grey let out a sigh as the last one disappeared.

"Thank you."

"You really must learn to do that on your own. If you can face your fears and memories, you can recover."

"I can only recover so much..."

"You know how I meant that."

"I know."

"Perhaps when you wake you should go be with somepony."

"My brother invited me to watch him race.."

"Good. You should go. Perhaps some interaction would be best for you."

"You know how I am around other ponies."

"Please try Grey."

"...Alright."

"Now that your head is clear, you should really get some rest."

"Okay."

Luna began to walk away, the dreamscape fading around her.

"Luna?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you again."

------------------------------------

Luna opened her eyes. She was back in her tower, the sun beginning to peak above the mountains. She had taken too long!!

"Oh Tartarus!"

"It's okay Luna."

Luna turned to find Celestia behind her. Her elder sister stepped forward, a small smile visible on her face.

"You seemed busy so I took care of the moon for you."

"You could have told me.."

"You seemed..distant at the time. I didn't want to disturb you. Or the pony you were with."

"That was very kind of you."

"Why don't you go and get some rest now."

"I'll do that. Have a good day Celestia."

"Goodnight Luna."

Luna exited the tower and descended to the castle below. Guards saluted as she passed by. SHe nodded in return, never speaking a word to anypony. She finally arrived at her room and shut the door behind her. Her horn lit up to reveal her surroundings. She had had black curtains placed over the windows so she could have proper sleep during the day. The only disadvantage to this was the darkeness. But she was more than able to cope.

"Goodnight Equestria."

------------------------------------

"LUNA!!!"

Luna sat upright in bed. Was there somepony in her chambers? How dare they enter without announcing themselves first!

The princess lit her horn to discover nopony was inside the room. Then who had called out her name?

Emerging from her bed, and trotting outside, Luna made her way to the throne room. Upon entering she discovered Celestia going over some paperwork with her assisstants. Celestia looked up as her sister entered.

"Luna? What are you doing up? You're usually dead to the world by now."

"Did you call for me?"

"No. Why would I call for you during the day?"

"I heard somepony call for me."

"Perhaps it was a dream."

"You know very well that it wouldn't be that. I don't dream."

"But how else could you hear a voice if nopony was there?"

"I don't know..."

The doors burst open and a guard came galloping in.

"Your majesty- Oh! Your majesties. There's been an incident at the racetrack in Cloudsdale."

Celestia stood up.

"What sort of accident?"

"A pegasus fell from the clouds."

"I don't understand."

Luna jumped forward.

"Wait! Was this a one-winged pegasus?"

The guard's jaw dropped.

"How- How did you know?"

"Grey!"

Luna took off from the ground and flew towards the main doors. She could hear Celestia flapping right behind her.

Please be okay. Please be okay.

------------------------------------

The princesses were escorted to the Cloudsdale Hospital. Luna could feel herself growing more anxious with the passing moments. When she heard the room number Grey was in, she took off down the halls. Celestia followed behind, walking alongside the doctor.

Luna burst into Grey's room to find him unconcious in bed.

"Grey!"

She looked him over and didn't see anything wrong. Had he just hit his head?

"You're frined was lucky to survive that fall."

She turned to see Celestia and the doctor walking in. The doctor picked up a clipboard and approached the bed.

"He's suffered some pretty serious trauma though. The scare from the fall alone would be enough to do that. But hitting the ground too? I don't know how he lived, but we're all glad he did."

"So he's just sleeping?"

"Unfortunately it's not that simple. We've tried to get a response out of him to no avail. And according to the charts, he has little brain activity."

Luna felt a single tear roll down her cheek.

"What does that mean?!"

"He's in a coma princess. And I'm not entirely sure he'll wake up."

Luna felt her knees buckle. She told Grey to watch the race. It was her fault he was here..

"Luna?"

She looked up to find her sister right in front of her.

"Can we talk?"

Luna slowly nodded and stood. The doctor exited the room, leaving the princesses alone. Celestia walked over to Grey.

"A friend of yours?"

"Yes."

"From his dreams?"

"Yes. Every night."

"Every night?"

"He deals with more nightmares and ill-favored dreams than anypony I've ever met. Just like I do."

"So you feel a bond becuase of your similar experiences."

"How could I not?"

"I'm sorry this has happened to him."

"I feel so useless! I want to help him!"

"Do you know what you're saying? You know you can't."

"Why not?"

"Exposure to a pony's mind for too long could result in any number of bad outcomes."

"Including my own demise."

"Exactly."

"I don't care."

"Luna!"

"I know I can do this. If I go in now perhaps I can save him."

"Or I could lose you again!"

Luna pasued, noting the tears forming in Celestia's eyes. In those tears were the love and protective feelings Celestia held for her sister.

"I have to help my friend."

Celestia ran a hoof across her eyes.

"Please let me find out what I can about this before making any rash decisions."

"That might take too long!"

"I promise you i'll know by the morning. At least give me that Luna."

Luna wanted to argue more, but she could feel the energy draining from her body. She finally lowered her head.

"Very well."

------------------------------------

The thoughts of dozens of ponies flew through Luna's head as the night began. But she couldn't focus on any of them. Her own mind was processing the days events.

Fillies with nightmares, mares with doubts, stallions in trouble-

"ENOUGH!!"

Luna felt a surge of magic leave her body. The voices and thoughts stopped dead. The fear and grief had been too much for her. And now every pony that had been having a nightmare was experiencing a dreamless sleep.

"Forgive me my subjects. I do not have the strength tonight.."

She looked out the tower window, taking in the night sky. Her domain.

And yet she felt powerless..