The astronomy lesson was brief, both feeling tired after an entire day of walking around town. That wasn’t to say it was bad though, Luna thoroughly enjoying learning about something that she knew so well, yet knew so little about, and Twilight was enjoying her role as teacher, glad that somepony was taking an interest in her knowledge. Halfway through their discussion into the change of course from Sirius, in conjunction with Betelgeuse’s movements, Twilight let out a massive yawn, cutting the conversation short. Luna couldn’t help but giggle at Twilight as she stood with her mouth open for several seconds. However, Twilight’s yawn had elicited a duplicate from Luna, which finished at the same time as Twilight’s, allowing them both to burst out laughing together. They struggled to keep their voices down as the sight of the other attempting to stifle their giggles made them laugh harder.

Eventually, after they had calmed down, they both decided it was time to get some sleep. As they walked back to Twilight’s bedroom Luna let out an involuntary shudder, memories of the previous night’s nightmare haunting her, even in her awake state. Once they entered the room, they unconsciously agreed that they should probably sleep in the same bed, not that it would do anything for them in the dream realm, but it would provide some small comfort. Twilight clambered into the bed and lay down facing her bookcase before curling up. Luna smiled and got in behind her, neatly wrapping herself around Twilight, so close that she could smell her hair; it was a familiar scent. ‘She uses the same shampoo as me.’ Luna mused with another smile, before leaning in close to Twilight’s ear and whispering, “Goodnight Twilight, and remember: Blink.” Twilight gave a nod in return and closed her eyes, Luna quickly following suit. In time they hesitantly surrendered themselves to the realm of sleep.

Instantly, Twilight knew something was wrong, the dream was not the ultra-vivid scenes of before, but instead it felt as though she was disconnected from the sights, like she was looking through the eyes of another pony. It was like the dreams she had had prior to changing her frequency, the ones you can’t control. Experimentally, Twilight tried to swivel her head to the side and failed, not even able to move her eyes. The only thing she still had control over was her thoughts. Slowly, Nightmare Moon faded into view, shadows clinging to her as she stepped from the darkness, and looked her straight in the eyes before looking at something to the right of Twilight.
“Nightmare Moon!” She would have shouted, were she in control of her body, but she couldn’t even glare at her. Twilight’s thoughts must have shown in her eyes though as Nightmare Moon proceeded to laugh her haughty laugh.
“Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Luna.” Nightmare Moon stated with venom, making the word ‘Princess’ sound like an insult. Twilight’s dream self’s head moved of its own accord, turning to the right to show her Luna, who seemed to be in a similar state of inactivity.

“Congratulations on that little blinking trick of yours, I had forgotten about that one.” Nightmare Moon continued, “However, you both know as well as I that it only works if you have control over your body, something I fully intend to keep from you!” Another laugh. ‘Twilight!’ A voice called out, from the back of Twilight’s mind, ‘Luna!’ She called back. ‘I don’t think she knows about our mental link, but there is no way I know of to escape this dream, we must wait for it to run its course, but unless Nightmare Moon elicits pain, we have no way to shock ourselves out from this realm. We’ll have to endure.’ Luna explained. ‘That’s what I was afraid of...’ Twilight said. Whilst they had been conferring the scene in front of them had changed from pitch-black to the barren land from the previous dream, sans the moon.
“And now I present to you, revenge.” Nightmare Moon said, relishing the moment before fading away with a laugh.

Throughout the dream, Nightmare Moon exposed their deepest fears, and twisted them in ways no sane pony could have imagined, before forcing them upon the pair. All they way through, Luna kept up a constant stream of comforting, encouraging words through their mental link, despite them both being in a state of near pure terror. Nightmare Moon obviously had the intention of keeping them in their mental torture for as long as possible, and never once resorted to using violence of any kind. Finally dawn came, and both Twilight and Luna could feel the world tugging at them to awake. Nightmare Moon scowled and whispered, the words coming clear into their heads and resounding longer than normal.
“Farewell... for now...” Nightmare Moon faded away with the nightmare and the various objects of terror.

They awoke as if from a normal dream, shaking off the shackles of sleep, and stretching various limbs with their accompanying groans. However, the nightmare could not be held at bay for long, and soon the memories of the dream reinstated themselves with a vengeance, paralysing them for an indeterminable amount of time. Once they were released from its grasp, Twilight wiped her head, wiping off the cold sweat and the tears she hadn’t known she had cried, Luna following a similar routine. Twilight grabbed Luna, and pulled her in tight for a hug, as she tried to stop the tears with some success. The warmth of their embrace slowly got them out of their terror-stricken state enough so that they could leave the bedroom. Though they no longer were holding each other, the two mares still walked side by side, close enough that their sides rubbed against the other’s comfortingly.
“We need something to distract us.” Luna stated, calm voice betraying little of the fear inside. Nightmare Moon’s mental torture was more powerful than any normal torture could be, fears overpowering pain any time.
“I agree.” Twilight replied, her voice cracked slightly as she spoke, and she gave out a small gulp to clear her throat.

The answer was an obvious one, the elemental artefact. Twilight collected the metal shard from the table between the two beds, and brought it with her as the pair made their way to the main living area. Luna sat down and picked up the artefact, inspecting the surface, the rough edges and the inscription, whilst Twilight busied herself collecting various magical apparatus. When all the necessary (and a few unnecessary) pieces of equipment were together on the table, they began. As they performed various tests, checking the age, testing the strength of the magic etc. Luna thought about the nightmare. She knew that they needed to find out how to stop Nightmare Moon and her nightmares, and that examining the artefact was just procrastination, but a look at Twilight’s face and inside her emotions told her that she should leave it for a while, and let Twilight relax in their study of the ancient magic.

Spike awoke about an hour later and saw Twilight and Luna in full science mode. He gave a sigh, knowing after years of working with Twilight, that when she got like this is was best to keep out of her way, so he went to go prepare them some breakfast. It seemed to him like Luna shared this work ethic with Twilight as she too was working away on various tests, and neither even noticed him waking. He fried a couple of eggs and set them on a small table next to their workspace, making sure he made a clink sound so that they would actually take notice of the food. Twilight glanced towards the eggs, and lifted them with a spare hoof before placing it down on a small space at the edge of their impromptu work table, at the same time giving Spike a small, distracted nod of thanks and greeting. Luna also gave a slight nod, and they gradually ate the eggs, all the while absorbed in their work. And eventually, at around 2pm, they finished the tests and collected the data they wanted. Results seemed positive.

Luna sat with the pages of notes in front of her, the apparatus now sitting unused on the makeshift work bench and Twilight sat beside her. The princess flicked through the pages, skimming over the rough, hastily scribbled results, until she reached the neatly laid out tables of data with conclusions written underneath. This was the third time she had read through, but she wanted to make sure that there was as few errors as possible, especially when dealing with a magical artefact so old. Satisfied that all was in order, Luna placed the notebook down on the table, and finally they allowed themselves to relax, letting out matching sighs of relief that the work was over.
“Nice work Twilight, now let’s sum up some results shall we?” Luna said, slipping into her newfound teacher role.
“Sure,” Twilight agreed, her brain sifting through the masses of data she remembered in order to get the most relevant pieces, “The magical artefact is made of plain iron, polished to a sheen and coated with a magical layer that keeps it in good condition and protects it from any harm. It dates back over two and a half thousand years ago, long before the reign of Discord. The magic contained within is not only the most powerful I have ever seen, but it seems to be a completely different type of magic, which explains why we weren’t able to detect the intense magic inside just by being near it. This is in accordance with the book’s description of the elemental magic being a completely different brand of magic from the other four branches.” Twilight said in her dictation voice, almost as if she were giving a lecture.
“Excellent.” Luna replied with a smile, Twilight smiled back, the feeling she got whenever Princess Celestia had told her she had done well resurfacing, but this time it was Celestia’s sister evoking the emotions, and she realised just how much she missed her old mentor.

The thought must have shown on her face, or she was just very predictable, because Luna immediately knew what was wrong.
“I know you miss Celestia, but remember she did what she did with your best interests at heart.” Luna said, stroking Twilight’s mane softly with a hoof. Twilight nodded, she knew this, but she still missed the old days. Luna had an idea of how to cheer Twilight up.
“Listen, we’ve just rediscovered the ancient elemental magic, don’t you think that warrants an audience with Princess Celestia? How about we send her a letter asking for a meet up?” Twilight perked up, it had only been about a week or so since she arrived back in Ponyville but in that time so much had happened that it felt like a year, she would most definitely like meeting up with Princess Celestia again. A grin broke out on Twilight’s face.
“We’ve just rediscovered elemental magic,” Twilight affirmed with herself, “we’ve got a letter to write.” Luna gave a small laugh at Twilight’s enthusiasm, and pulled the quill and paper towards them.
“Spike?” Twilight called out, there was no reply, “I guess he’s gone out.” She didn’t give it much thought though, the idea of meeting up with her old mentor playing on her mind. Twilight resigned herself to writing her own letter, she usually didn’t mind writing letters by herself since she had good control over the telekinetic spell used to hold the quill, but she was extremely reluctant to use magic as of late and so picked up the quill in her hoof.
“This is going to be messy...” Twilight muttered.

‘Dear Princess Celestia,

Princess Luna and I have made an important discovery and wish to be granted an audience with you in order to discuss it, as well as other matters which we wish to talk to you about.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle’

“Horsefeathers...” Twilight muttered in a low voice to herself as she crossed out that last line. Considering the letter in front of her, she crumpled up the entire scroll and re-wrote it, this time with the words ‘Yours faithfully, Twilight Sparkle’ at the bottom. Luna pretended not to take notice. When Twilight was finished she handed the paper to Luna, she watched as the familiar, yet unfamiliar, violet aura engulfed the paper and sent it on its way. Even this small teleportation spell which she must have used hundreds of times seemed to exhaust her, though she tried to hide it.

The reply came whilst they were just finishing packing away equipment, appearing in front of Twilight in a burst of light that almost caused her to drop the microscope she was carrying, but luckily she held on tight. Twilight put the microscope into its box and carried the scroll back to the main library area, where Luna was wiping down the table. Luna turned and saw Twilight walking towards her with the scroll in her mouth, and put the cloth she was holding down, turning fully to face her.
“Have you read it yet?” Luna asked, Twilight shook her head.
“I wanted to read it together.” Twilight replied, Luna nodded her head. Twilight unrolled the scroll and held it in front of her so that they could both see it.

‘My Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I would be delighted to meet with you. I have cleared some time for tomorrow around noon and I will send a chariot for you to come and meet me at the Castle. I would offer to come down to meet you in Ponyville, but I suspect having both princesses there will cause quite a stir. I look forward to our meeting.

Your friend, Celestia.
N.B. Hello sister’

Initially, Twilight was surprised by the informal tone of the letter, but it was quickly replaced with pride when she read ‘Your friend,’. Luna gave a smile at her sister’s last line.
“Nice, but I think we should prepare a proper report, before showing our results to Celestia, I doubt she would want to read some scrappy notebook.” Luna said, after they had re-read the letter. This snapped Twilight out of her reverie, of course they needed to write a report!
“I forgot the report!” Twilight exclaimed, embarrassed at herself. The report was one of the most important parts of any discovery, or rediscovery in this case, without a well written report there was no hope of it being considered by the scientific community as a valid result.
“Then let’s get to it.” Luna agreed, collecting some more paper from a cabinet. As they got writing Luna turned to Twilight.
“You know that when we meet with my sister we’re going to have to tell her about us?” Luna asked.
Twilight nodded slowly, “Yeah, I was just thinking about that, I have no idea how she’ll react.” Twilight admitted.
“Me neither, I’ve never known of a royal that went with... somepony of the same gender, however Tia constantly informs me that times have changed, and different things are perceived different ways now, I just hope this is one of them.” Luna replied. They sat in silence for a few moments, both of them pondering Princess Celestia’s reaction, but work called to them and they quickly got back to writing. Though they knew they had to tell ponies about their relationship, they both silently agreed that they should keep the nightmares to themselves, it was a battle they had to face together.