Silver reclined on her bed. Luna peered over the edge at her. Silver perked an ear, "Is this a dream?"

Luna nodded quietly.

"Are you here to play?" asked Silver, sitting up.

Luna shook her head, "Nay. We have considered things. Where we did well, and where we did not. I will share these thoughts with you." She flashed her teeth, "If you allow."

Silver gave a slow nod, "Please, go ahead."

Luna joined Silver on the bed, sitting on her haunches and looming over Silver a bit, "We shall start before the beginning." When Silver arched a brow, Luna continued, "I shall place the 'beginning' as your arrival in our world. When you were but a youth, you argued at your father's urgings to not return to your mother. This was your choice, coerced as it may have been. You later earned a full scholarship, payment for your education ceased to be an issue, but you threw it away. You didn't seek help. You didn't try to change. You folded and ran. 'College is not for me', you decided, and that has been your mantra, even through several feeble attempts to return."

Silver looked distinctly uncomfortable as Luna recounted her early life, but this did not stop Luna's oration. "You fled your father and school, choosing to join a 'friend' elsewhere. There you got your first sip of self-sufficiency, and your first bitter gulp of others leaning on your achievements. You ran, again. Your mother opened her arms, and you fled into them. You shut down for a time, but you stirred yourself. You began to make more decisions. You found a job, then another, and another. Some you moved on to better, others you fled away from." She paused, looking over Silver, "Have I gotten my facts correct so far?"

Silver nodded stiffly and Luna smiled, continuing, "Excellent. You began to get 'real' positions, with responsibility, hm, let's skip ahead a little. You are presented another chance to escape life. You do not like where you are. Your relation regularly requests your earnings, and you give it. They cannot force you, you force yourself. It is your choice. You also choose to run. You choose to run to Equestria. You choose to greet your 'OC', you choose to go with him to Manehattan. You choose to socialize with Lyra, even after she displays dangerous behavior. You choose to try romance with them. You did not choose to be captured. You meet me. You choose to run, again. Now you are a colt. Your friend is now your parent. Good for you, a chore for him, but one he accepts stoically. He is much like you. He does not say no well."

Luna rose, spreading her wings, "You choose me. I give Celine. You choose to enjoy the moment. Choose to forget what is ahead. Choose to accept Tumble as your mare. Choose to struggle against Tirek."

Silver frowned, "What are you getting at, Luna?"

Luna pointed a wing at Silver, "You choose to take your wives with you to the changelings. You choose to reach for a fireball. You choose to lunge for the neck of a pegasi. You choose to run away, again..."

Silver stomped a hoof ineffectively on the mattress. "What is your point?!" she cried, breathing heavily, chest heavy with a growing tension.

Luna clucked her tongue, "You choose to attack Tumble with Trixie's help... You choose many things." She raised a hoof to point at Silver, "You are the main source of your own woes. Your cries of helplessness, of being a victim of fate, are in your mind. You have taken a very intricate path to get here, but it was your hooves, your will, that brought you here. Very few things were done... randomly to you, without provocation." She flapped her wings once, "You even choose to expose your ability to see changelings, thinking it would not cause issue. It did. You are the fate that works against you. You are to blame. Why are you a pony? Why are you here? Why did we ever meet? All you. You. You. you." She brought down her hooves, somehow making a thunderous clap against the bed.

Luna leaned closer, "I have decided that you are broken, as I decided long ago. I am no longer angry at you. I pity you." She let out a light sigh, watching Silver. Silver was quietly falling apart, crying motionlessly. Luna moved a hoof under Silver's chin, "I do not hate you. I wish you best of fortune, and will even look forward to speaking to you, you infuriating creature. I will treasure our time."

Silver gave a stiff little nod, "So..." She wiped her face with her fetlocks, "What'd you do to Celestia?"

Luna raised an ear, "I made her write a 'friendship letter' about her behavior regarding you. It was delightful. She will not bother you, unless you give her reason to."

Silver gave a soft smile, "We've been helping out in the Crystal Empire."

Luna nodded with her eyes closed, "We have had no doubt to your willingness to help." She opened an eye, "You wish to be accepted, and will work for it."

Silver slipped to the floor and paced around, "I never did get to say thank you."

"For?" asked Luna.

Silver flashed a fanged smile, "You brought Night to me. That has been an enduring gift. Was that Celine, or you?"

Luna snorted softly, "That was I. It pleases me to know at least one plan we shared came to fruition." She reached with a wing, nudging Silver, "Do you seek to have our gift removed?"

Silver tilted her head, "I'm tired of changing, and running. I'll be a lunar unicorn." She sat and moved a hoof to her belly, "Can you tell if I am with foal or not?"

Luna's eyes widen, "Tia was right?!"

Silver sank, "Yes... I, uh, accepted the advances of a pony. Can you tell?"

Luna advanced on Silver, rolling her over onto her back. "Close your eyes and clear your thoughts, try to be as blank as possible."

Silver tried to obey, though her thoughts whirled curiously. "Quieter," ordered Luna, "There is nothing. You are in a void." A peek showed that this was true, floating in nothing at all. Even Luna was gone. She let out a slow breath and started to make progress, concentrating on that nothing, the emptiness. A sudden flowing rush filled Silver and she came back to waking, sitting up in her bed. It was still night. Night Watch was sleeping peacefully beside her.

Silver frowned. Did it work? Did she mess it up? She walked quietly out onto the balcony, looking out over the dim lights of a sleeping city. It was nothing like the cities she had left behind on Earth. Her ears swiveled, trying to pick up some sound, but it was so quiet.

"Silver?" came Night Watch's voice. Silver returned to her and they became warm under the covers.

Silver nuzzled Night gently, "I'm tired of running." She nibbled along Night's chin slowly, "Don't let me. If I turn tail, shout, then bite. Hold me down if you have to."

Night perked an ear, "What brought all this on?" She pushed Silver over, soon on top of Silver and hugging him, "Are you alright?"

Silver nodded her head, "I'm fine... Luna just kind of... Luna'd me? She did her job, and she did it well, and I feel scared straight. She took all my... past and threw it in my face."

Night frowned, "That sounds harsh... but good. It's over now, let's sleep." She squeezed Silver gently, lulling Silver to sleep with affectionate hugs and stroking hooves.

Luna did not return, and Silver forgot most other dreams she had that night. Silver and Night descended to the dining halls to find Shining Armor and Flash Sentry discussing something.

"They will arrive in two days," said Shining Armor, "We don't have much time to prepare."

Silver wondered how they had arrived at just the right time, but quickly decided Equestrian harmony allowed for such things. "What's coming?" she asked, "Sounds like trouble."

Flash nodded, turning to look at Night and Silver, "No good at all. The frozen north is home to many ancient foes of ponykind. You two would be better off staying inside. We'll keep you safe."

Night wing took a fighting posture, "I am a former member of the guard! I will not hide inside while there's a fight." She nudged Silver, "And neither will she."

Silver glanced sideways at Night before nodding, "We want to help. You don't have flyers, right?"

Flash spread a wing, "Besides me? We have four crystal pegasi in the guard."

Silver tilted her head, "There are crystal pegasi?"

Shining nodded his head, "Totally, but not many. Most are earth ponies. There are some crazy thoughts about why, but let's focus."

Night wobbled a wingtip, "Yes, what's coming? What do we know about it?"

Flash pulled out a book with a wing and set it on the table. He folded it open to show a shaggy beast of shadows. "Sombra used to use them as enforcers. They would attack a pony that wasn't working hard enough." Flash trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

Silver approached and read over the page, "They would go for the kill, murdering in the most painful way possible, so their friends and family would learn a lesson in disobeying." Silver looked up and saw most of the ponies had become withdrawn and a little terrified. Silver frowned a little, "Well, this is what we're up against. They're, uh, obviously melee specialized, so we want to take them down from as far away as possible."

Shining sighed, "We didn't place very well in the archery competition, and two of the three unicorns in the kingdom are in this room."

Night nudged Silver, "Good thing one of them loves messing with spells. Come on, whatever you make, Cadance will cast it. All the power you could want, if you make the spell."

Silver smiled brightly, "That actually does sound... fun. I'm going to visit the library and cook up something, but before I do, where are all the citizens going to be?"

Flash tapped the ground, "We're bringing them into the castle and barring the doors. There's still hope they'll give up and leave if they can't gain access to the castle."

Night nodded her head, "Alright, that's at least a single defensible point. We can work with that. Go on, Silver, I'll work with these guys."

Silver started to trot off, then paused, looking over her shoulder, "Are you trying to be alone with the stallions?"

Night snorted, "If I am, I deserve one time to myself. You have no leg to stand on."

Silver flushed dark, and fled with no argument to Night's words. Though she felt jealousy welling, she knew it was petty and undeserved, and shoved the feelings aside. Night was probably busy with defense, and if she wasn't, she did deserve any fun she had.

Thoughts cleared, Silver dashed into the library. The librarian was already gone. She paced around, finding the magic section and starting to pull down books. Any book with combat magic had been removed, likely by Sombra long time ago. This was fine... She found what she wanted and began her splicing work. This would require stupid amounts of energy... "Good thing I won't be casting it," she sang to herself as she scribbled manically in the book.

Author's Notes:

Luna tells it how it is a bit, but danger looms!

I'm pretty sure the danger is Typos.