Twilight opened her eyes, groaned at the intense light and splitting headache she had woken up with, and almost immediately closed them again. The nurse standing at the other end of the room noticed the groan and came over.
"How are you feeling, dearie?" She asked, taking note of her temperature and heart rate before opening one of her eyelids and shining a light on her eye, sighing in relief over her natural pupil dilation. After she had finished her tests Twilight finally responded to the nurse’s initial question.
"I’m fine... I think, aside from this headache." The nurse nodded in response.
"That’s understandable, you hit your head pretty hard, it’s a wonder why you didn’t get a concussion." The nurse replied. Twilight would have nodded but her headache prevented her moving her head more than about 5 degrees either way. The nurse quickly piled together some leaves from various jars on the medical table next to her bed. After pouring in some water she had just boiled with her horn she handed the cup over to Twilight who took it hesitantly, trying not to spill it.
"It’s a herbal drink that will help with your headache, dearie." The nurse said, "I’ll get someone to fetch the princess, she asked me to inform her when you woke up." The nurse walked to the door of the infirmary and spoke for moment with the Royal Guard posted outside the door before returning to another patient. Twilight took the time to look around the infirmary.

The main thing she noticed was the white, everything was a sterilised, clean white that burned her eyes. She looked out for Luna, hoping that she was okay. She wasn’t visible and Twilight gave a sigh of relief, settling back. She soon realised though that as a princess, Luna would likely have her own personal bedside doctor, and wouldn’t be brought to the infirmary if there was anything wrong with her. Twilight sat up again in worry, thinking paranoid thoughts. What if Luna was hurt? What if it was because of her? What if it was to do with her changing her magical frequency to Luna’s? This last thought stopped Twilight’s paranoid thoughts before they got out of control as it had in the past, her rational side once more taking command. If they had merged frequencies then technically Twilight should be able to feel whether Princess Luna was okay. Twilight closed her eyes and envisioned Luna, the dark blue alicorn with a flowing mane made out of the night itself. And nothing happened. What was going on? Why wasn’t it working? And then her questions were answered.

The Princess walked in, and went straight to Twilight.
"Twilight Sparkle, I came as soon I received word that you were awake." She said. Twilight looked up at her in surprise.
"Princess Luna?" Twilight asked, she looked different, she was no longer the height of Celestia, in fact she seemed to be even smaller than Twilight, and her coat was no longer dark blue, it was lighter than that. The biggest difference though was her mane, it was no longer the ever flowing construct of night, it was short and pale blue. She was still instantly recognizable as Luna though. Twilight thought back, she could swear she had seen Luna in this form before, and she realised she had, when the Elements of Harmony had defeated Nightmare Moon, Princess Luna was there in this form that stood before her now, she had always wondered why she looked like that back then but had never thought to ask.
"Were you expecting someone different?" Luna asked with a slight smile, coupled with a wince.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked in concern, looking closer at the mare in front of her she could see that she favoured her right side, leaning slightly, she also supported herself against Twilight’s bedposts.
"I came... to thank you." Luna said, swaying slightly on her hooves.
"I think you need medical attention, Luna." Twilight said firmly, the nurse in the room was still attending another patient and had not even noticed that a princess was in the room.
"No," Luna replied, equally as firm, "I’ll be fine." She then collapsed to the floor. The thud of her body on the floor finally alerted the nurse to her presence. The nurse gave a gasp and ran over, just as Luna’s personal doctor ran through the infirmary door.
"Princess!" he exclaimed and ran to join the nurse who was sitting next to Luna and taking her pulse.

The nurse moved out of the way of the more experienced and skilled doctor and stood anxiously beside him, ready to oblige any orders. The doctor sat and looked down at the princess, who was breathing heavily, he too took her pulse. As he began to take more tests and note things down on a pad he kept beside him, the nurse moved in front of Twilight’s field of vision and Twilight sighed, too tired to ask her to move, the herbal drink must have been taking effect. She lay facing the ceiling as the doctor and the nurse conferred, they must have decided that the best thing to do was to move her to her own room and let her recuperate and sleep in comfort. As they loaded the princess onto a stretcher and wheeled her away, Twilight gave a huge yawn and closed her eyes, letting sleep heal her. She thought in her sleep and worked out why visualizing Princess Luna didn’t work, it was because she was thinking about old Luna, this was the new Luna. Or since she had been in the form before, she was the oldnew Luna. As she slept dreamlessly she heard a voice in the back of her head call her.
"Twilight Sparkle...." It called in a quiet and familiar voice.
"Yes?" She thought, wondering if the communication worked both ways.
"Join me please..." It replied, she felt its presence disappear and thought about who it could be, she didn’t have to think hard, it must have been Luna calling for her.

When she awoke it was in the afternoon, the setting sun giving of a gentle glow that rebounded around the polished room. Twilight smiled at the simple beauty of it and tried to remember what it was that she was meant to be doing. Oh, that’s right, she thought to herself, she was meant to join Luna. Twilight looked over at the nurse, certain that she wouldn’t let Twilight leave until she was feeling better. Luckily the nurse was occupied with a patient at the far end of the infirmary and had her back to Twilight. The purple mare quietly slid out her sheets and landed as softly as she could on the floor, she swayed slightly at having to stand up after about three days in bed. When she got her balance back, she slowly made her way towards the door, all the time looking over at the nurse, hoping she wouldn’t turn around. The Royal Guards at the door did nothing to stop her, not knowing that she probably shouldn’t be leaving the infirmary. As Twilight walked, more quickly than usual for her, over to Luna’s bedroom, she gave a sigh of relief at having gotten out of the infirmary without confrontation. The walk took about three minutes, and the whole time Twilight glanced each way to look out for anyone that would challenge her presence here. She was met with none, and made it to Luna’s bedroom where two more Royal Guards were posted outside. She gulped and desperately tried to think up a reason as to why she was here, she didn’t need to though as, upon spotting the mare, the guards stood to one side and opened the doors for her.
"Thanks." Twilight said gratefully and walked into the room. It was exactly how it had looked every day before now, the blue wallpaper matching the deep blue of the bed sheets with Luna’s moon cutie mark sown into the fabric. The only difference was the mare sleeping in the bed, her head was buried in a pillow and the only thing visible was the pale azure of her mane. Twilight could see the rhythmic rise and fall of the sheets and smiled to herself, content that Luna was okay.

Twilight stood for a few moments longer, just staring at the pony and wondering what she was supposed to do that she had joined Luna, sighing as her brain came up with nothing she trotted over to Luna’s well stocked bookcase and pulled out a long, slender leather-bound book. You see, one of the many spells that Twilight had placed on her book over the years, her personal favourite and one of the most useful was a difficult modification to a simple teleportation spell. It would search out the nearest bookcase or bookshelf to Twilight, make sure there was room for the book and teleport the book there. However, anything that the book held inside it that wasn’t on the book’s papers wouldn’t appear with it unless the book was in Twilight’s personal bookcase. This made it equally useful as a place to hide pictures she drew that she didn’t want people to see when she was away from home. Twilight set the book down on Luna’s desk, grabbed the nearest quill with her magic and began the spell to unlock the book. She held her breath, hoping her new magic would still work, she sighed in relief as the soft click heralded the unlocking of the book, along with the soft violet glow of her new magic. ‘The infinity spell I had on must have converted the magic on the book to my new magic as I changed’ She reasoned aloud, she then realised however that Luna had the same magic as her and so would be able to disable the books spells too. She blushed at the thought, thinking about the page she wrote about Luna and Nightmare Night. Calming herself down, she wrote about the feelings she had when she and Luna had fought Nightmare Moon together the other day.

‘My common sense told me to fear, I felt this fear but was not consumed by it. For beside me stood resolution and determination, and not a little hope. Together they overcame the fear, replacing it with the acceptance I felt, and the relief that was shared between me and Luna. I felt other feelings too, these feelings confused me, I wasn’t used to feelings like this. Feelings of being together, not of friends but of something... more.’ As Twilight pondered what to write next, she heard Luna roll over behind her and slammed the book shut, simultaneously locking it. She swivelled her head around and saw Luna still firmly asleep, but her head now poked out, looking as peaceful and as serene as the night sky itself. Twilight sighed, confused with what she felt within her, was it a side effect of the magic resonance? Twilight thought back to Starswirl the Bearded’s scroll entitled ‘A Beginner’s guide to Magical Theory’ and remembered how he had never seen a pony change their magical frequency first hand but had found out from the princesses that it often led to problems later on. Unfortunately it they didn’t expand on that and Twilight frowned, still unsure despite what the scroll told her. To clear her head she went and put her book away in the bookshelf and sat on the floor, pondering what to do next, after a few moments of silence, save for the steady breathing from both mares, she metaphorically slapped herself.

Of course Luna meant to join her in her dreams, not in her bedroom, after collapsing like that she would obviously still be sleeping. Mentally reprimanding herself for the mistake, she opened her mind wide to Luna and almost instantly got sucked into the dream realm they both shared. It was a strange experience, one moment you’re sitting quietly and the next you’re thrown into a world where the rules of real life don’t mean a thing. The weirdest thing is that while Twilight knew it to be a dream, it felt as real as the floor her body was on back in the waking world. Her dream self on the other hand was on a stone path that led to the Canterlot town square. While Twilight didn’t really know what Canterlot looked like very well, she could tell that this dream rendition was near-perfect, if not an exact replica of the real one. What struck her as strange was that it was night time, yet there were several ponies out and about, acting like this was the normal thing to do, even all of the shops were open. She walked into the town square, looking around and trying to find out where Luna was. As she looked closer at the ponies in the square she noticed how they all looked at the ground, even when greeting each other, they would never raise their heads. She wondered if it had something to do with the sky, she looked up and was instantly mesmerised. It was filled with all manner of stellar formations, the nebulae and quasars spinning across the universe in a spectacular intergalactic dance of god-like proportions. Her mind went blank with pure amazement at the sky, she wondered why no one was looking up, how could they not want to see something as breathtaking as this?

A soft voice pulled Twilight from her thoughts.
"Twilight Sparkle, how nice to finally get some time to talk." Twilight span round to the source of the voice, who was sitting calmly on her right, sipping tea in a cup which she held aloft with her violet magic.
"Princess!" Twilight exclaimed, walking over and taking a seat next to Luna on the bench she was on.
"Twilight Sparkle, please call me Luna, I have said there is no need for formalities, especially as we are now connected via our magic." Luna reprimanded.
"Okay Luna, but only if you call me Twilight, it’s only fair." Twilight replied looking over at the mare.
"Deal." Luna stated. They both sat there awkwardly in silence for a few moments, neither sure as to what to say or do. Eventually though, Luna broke the silence.
"I felt you perform magic just before you got here, what were you doing?" She asked. Twilight blushed, she had forgotten that Luna could feel when she used magic.
"Oh, it was nothing." Twilight replied, deciding she should change the subject, "How come nobody is looking up?" Luna sighed and turned to face Twilight, who was still staring at her.
"This is a personification of the idea that people fear me after what I have done previously as Nightmare Moon, even though we defeated her she affects me." Luna didn’t seem sad as much as she was resigned to the fact that this was inescapable. Twilight put her front leg around Luna’s shoulders hesitantly in an attempt to comfort her. She was reassured when Luna didn’t pull away.

The two mares looked up at the sky, enjoying the tranquillity and chaos of the night sky as it stretched across their field of vision. The other ponies in the square seemed to pay no heed to the two mares sitting together staring at the sky, they just continued about their business with their heads facing the ground. Some time later, Twilight realised she still had her front leg around Luna and slowly removed it, Luna looked over to Twilight and tilted her head. Twilight gave a slight blush, masking this action with a question.
"Luna, how come you don’t make the real night sky look as amazing as this?" Luna contemplated her answer for a moment before coming up with the satisfactory response in her brain and said it out loud.
"Well, the night sky you see above Equestria has too much meaning to me to have it like this, this is just my creative mind without control." Luna replied.
"What meaning does it have?" Twilight asked, trying to find the link between the night sky and Luna. Luna looked back at the sky and blinked, the view instantly changing to the night sky they were used to. Twilight gasped in amazement, she had felt the power that Luna controlled when she changed the sky. Even though in the dream realm she didn’t use magic, to change the entire night sky to something so specific is just stunning. Luna turned back to Twilight who was now staring at the sky, picking out certain constellations.
"You see Twilight, each constellation, each nebula holds a different meaning for me, almost all of these were made before my imprisonment and each one tells a different story." Luna said, gesturing with her front leg the entire sky. Twilight’s eyes opened wide and her mouth hung slightly open.
"Can... can you tell me about some of them." She asked quietly, obviously in awe at the power over the sky that Luna had.
"Of course!" Luna said happily, settling comfortably into her role as a teacher.

She zoomed in, through the stars, and arrived at a galaxy in the shape of a ring, an intense glow originating from the center.
"This is one of the first stellar creations I made, back when I was just a filly." Luna said, smiling at the memory, "There was a court jester we had, named Sombrero. Though he was there for the entire court he would always put on a special performance, just for me and it would always make me smile. One night, when I was still learning to control my powers, I attempted to create a constellation that would be in the shape of him in his costume he always wore. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that good at the time and the best I could do was a ring galaxy that had a super-bright star in the center. I still called it the Sombrero Galaxy after him." Twilight nodded, surprised that such a simple backstory could be the reason behind such a huge celestial body. This lesson of sorts carried on for hours, the two mares gradually settling down on the bench, getting more comfortable with each other's presence. Eventually though, Luna sat up straight, Twilight falling over as the shoulder she was leaning on moved away. Getting back up, Twilight looked at Luna, she seemed melancholy,
"And now Twilight, I’m sorry to say that it is time to wake up." Luna said, turning to Twilight. Twilight sighed and nodded her head, not wanting to leave this realm, but knowing that it couldn’t last forever.

The two mares woke up simultaneously, and Luna yawned and turned to the side. When she saw Twilight her eyes opened wide.
"You came into my room?" Luna asked, head tilted up to look at Twilight. Twilight blushed and lowered her head slightly.
"Yes..." She replied. Luna stared for a few moments longer before giggling slightly, covering her mouth with a hoof. Twilight looked back up quizzically.
"Well, you’re always welcome here." Luna said after her giggles subsided. Twilight smiled back, still blushing slightly, she noticed how different Luna’s voice was from her normal voice, it was a lot younger and lighter and made Twilight smile at the sound. Her thoughts were interrupted however, by a knock on the door.
"Enter." Luna said, now looking at the ceiling, unable to turn her head around far enough to face the door. The double doors were opened by the Royal Guards and in walked Princess Celestia.
"Oh good, you’re both here and awake." Princess Celestia said, the doors now shut behind her, the glow from the princess making Twilight lower her eyes which were still used to the night sky she was staring at just a few minutes ago. "I think some explanations are in order from all of us." Luna sat up slowly in her bed and turned to her sister,
"I agree."