Chapter 4:

Princess Celestia pulled the sofa at the side of the room with her magic and placed it carefully behind her before sitting down on it. Luna and Twilight stayed where they were, Twilight sitting on the floor and Luna sitting on her bed. Celestia looked at both of them in turn before speaking.
"Events have taken place that each of us only know part of. I think that if we each tell our stories then we each should be able to understand what has taken place here." Twilight and Luna nodded in unison, still silent.
"I think we should do this in chronological order, meaning that you," Celestia continued, gesturing with a hoof at Luna, "should go first." Luna nodded at Twilight turned to her, ready to hear what Luna had to say, even though she knew most of it already. Luna cleared her throat and began, eyes looking into the distance as she recounted what had happened.
"Well, you know sister that I can tell when Nightmare Moon is starting to overcome me and act accordingly, after my previous failed attempt to fight it within the confines of my mind, this time I sought a backup plan, in case I failed once more, I trapped myself within the highest level defence bubble I could manage and brought myself into my mind’s battlefield." Luna said this mostly to her sister as she knew Twilight had already heard this. "I thought that since it was weakened from my imprisonment on the moon I could defeat it, I was sorely mistaken." Luna hung her head slightly, ashamed at her mistake, she continued, "We fought against each other for, I don’t know how long, but the outcome was the same as last time, I was beaten and knocked into unconsciousness as the Nightmare took over. Luckily my bubble held, after all, it can only be broken via my own magic, which the Nightmare did not control. I’m not sure how long I was out for but I was awoken by the call of my name, I soon found out that the pony who had called me was Twilight."

Celestia put up her hoof for Luna to stop, she obliged and Celestia looked now at Twilight.
"Before Luna continues to tell us, or mainly me, what happened after she awoke in her mind I think you should tell her what happened beforehand, I would also like to know how you overcame her bubble." Twilight nodded at the Princess before turning back to Luna and speaking.
"Umm... I received the letter from Princess Celestia while I was in my Library, I can’t remember what I was doing at the time, but the letter told me that something had occurred at the castle that required my immediate attention, and that a chariot would arrive soon." Twilight skipped ahead a bit, missing out the packing and the chariot ride, "When I arrived at the castle Princess Celestia met me and showed me to your room where the bubble was. I let her leave and began to try and work out how to disable the bubble." Celestia leaned forward almost imperceptibly, eager to find out how her prized student managed to overcome a princess’s most powerful defense spell. "First I just sat down in front of it and sent out probes to try and find out if there was an easy way to shut the bubble down, I found none and had to push the probes deeper, as I sunk them into the bubble I found out that the spell was an extremely powerful one that could only be disabled by Luna’s own magic, I soon worked out though that Luna was otherwise incapable of doing this herself and I had to think up a more... unorthodox way of getting past the bubble." Twilight paused.
‘Yes?’ Princess Celestia asked patiently after the silence stretched on.
"I... I thought back to a scroll I had read, 'A Beginner’s guide to Magical Theory.'" Twilight said hesitantly, Celestia’s eyes opened wide, cracking the calm façade Celestia always had on. Twilight visibly winced from the reaction.
"Don’t tell me you..." Celestia said, Twilight nodded guiltily, "I trust you understand the implications of what you have done?" Celestia asked, echoing her sister's words from back when they were in Luna’s mind. Twilight nodded and Celestia gestured for her to continue, to say what she believed the implications to be. Twilight looked guilty and continued speaking.
"Well, I know that when you change your frequency to someone else’s it merges both ponies magic, and it is irreversible because you can’t touch your old magic to complete the process of changing your frequency. This magical link forever ties the two ponies to one another via their magic." Celestia nodded; slightly assuaged at Twilight’s knowledge, however there was something else that Twilight failed to mention.

"Twilight Sparkle, while you are correct in saying that your two magics will be merged, you must remember that it will also connect your emotions and feelings, as well as your dreams. This means that you will have a stronger link with my sister than even I have." Twilight nodded, but didn't mention how she and Luna had already shared a dream, thinking that it would be best to move away from this subject. Luna also blushed slightly, but Celestia didn't seem to notice. Celestia took a breath and continued.
"Ok, my faithful student, I will trust your judgement on this, I know you had my sister’s best interests at heart and if anyone had changed their frequency to Luna’s I would prefer it to be someone like you." Celestia said, Twilight sighed in relief, "And now, I wish for you to explain how you changing your frequency helped my sister and then I would like it if you," She looked over at Luna, "would go on to explain what happened after Twilight arrived in your mind." The two other mares nodded in reply, Luna slumping slightly, tired at having to sit up for any period of time. Twilight glance over at Luna, feeling the exhaustion that Luna felt, but knew that Celestia deserved to know what happened. She looked back to Celestia and began.
"I went through the three steps to altering your magical frequency, the touch, the thoughts and the spark and when I did I felt... something, and I got flung straight into Luna’s mind, everything was dark I had to sort of feel around with my hooves. I felt something soft and warm and jumped back, when I moved forward at felt further along the object, I felt something hard and conical. After I touched it, a glow spread from it and showed that it was actually Luna lying on the floor." Luna blushed at the thought of Twilight stroking her, "I called her name and she sort of rose up onto her hooves and her eyes opened, but they were the Nightmare’s eyes." Twilight finished, Luna frowned slightly, not aware of that fact, and continued where Twilight left off. Celestia and Twilight turned to her.

"I didn’t realise my eyes were those of the Nightmare, that’s why I was confused why Twilight thought I might be the Nightmare. After I proved to her that I was indeed Princess Luna, I explained to her what had happened, Twilight asked me how we might overcome the Nightmare together. I told her that it could be possible, but it would mean merging frequencies, I didn’t want her to do something that would change her life forever, and was surprised to find out that she had already done so. I had, of course, felt different when I woke up but put it down to having just been beaten by the Nightmare. I asked whether she understood the consequences of her actions, much like you just have. After being convinced she did we poured our magic together to draw the Nightmare out to fight. She arrived and I told her that together Twilight and I would defeat her. She scorned me, saying how she could never truly be removed from my psyche and Twilight stepped forward, ready to defend me." Celestia nodded approvingly and Twilight smiled, "Together we powered a magical beam at the Nightmare, defeating her, disabling my bubble and throwing us out of my mind all at once. I was unconscious before I landed." Luna finished and Celestia nodded once more, now looking at both of them.

"And now it is time for you to find out what happened whilst you were busy." Celestia began. "I was performing my regular duties around the castle when there was a massive explosion, everyone stopped and looked at each other, I immediately knew what was going on and rushed towards this room, I found Twilight lying on the floor, about to black out and you, Luna on your bed, safe, apart from you being in your current condition. I had Twilight moved to the infirmary to recover and I brought your personal doctor here to tend to you. Thankfully, I was told that neither of you had suffered from anything serious." Celestia finished, but Twilight still seemed slightly confused. Celestia noticed this and looked down to her student.
"You have a question Twilight?" Celestia asked, Twilight nodded slowly and turned her head to Luna, who was slumping still further.
"What is this form Luna is in?" Twilight asked, referring to the smaller, lighter coloured body. Celestia glanced over at her sister before replying.
"I was wondering whether you would ask about that, I trust you remember this form from when you defeated Nightmare Moon for the first time?" Twilight nodded in reply, "This form is a sort of fail-safe spell for monarchy. It draws power from their particular power, for instance with Luna it is the moon. The power will automatically transform Luna to this form to conserve power and to make it easier to recuperate. It activates when the monarch in question has spent almost all of their magic. However, from what I understand of what happened, Luna spent all of her magic in the battle against Nightmare Moon, and would have lost control of her power over the night sky to the Nightmare had you not have supported her. And so, before I continue I wish to thank you." Twilight blushed, hiding a smile. Luna also smiled graciously but could do no more as she was almost bent double now, exhaustion clear on her face. Celestia continued, glancing over at her sister and noticing her struggle, "I think we shall have to speed this up a bit and let Luna sleep, she needs her rest. The rest of this speech does not require an input from you sister so you may sleep, Twilight and I shall take this outside." Luna didn’t reply, she just slumped back onto her bed, neglecting the covers and almost instantly fell asleep. Twilight and Celestia stood simultaneously and moved towards the door as quietly as possible.

Once they were outside and the doors were closed Celestia continued with their talk,
"Now then, where were we? Oh yes, Luna’s form, I regret to say that this fail-safe is just that, a fail-safe. It is only to be used in an emergency when all else fails, and for good reason. This form conserves the left over energy that remains inside the monarch. However, since so little is left, it can take decades for them to be able to have enough power back to once more command their domain. This means that Luna cannot perform her celestial duties and I will have to cover for her." Twilight looked horrified at the thought of Luna having to spend decades in her weakened state. Celestia cut off these thoughts, "Do not fear my student, you see, I believe that because you and Luna have your magic linked then you can support Luna with your own magic and this process of her regaining her magic can be shortened to a few years at most." Twilight looked relieved that she could do something to help Luna. "This means however, that you and Luna must stay close for the duration of these few years, and since I can’t force you to leave your home in Ponyville, and since Luna has no obligation to stay in Canterlot now that I have to perform her celestial duties, she will have to stay with you in the library. I hope this won’t cause problems?" Celestia asked, Twilight was momentarily stunned, Princess Luna was going to live with her for a few years? It took her a while to realise that Princess Celestia had asked her a question.
"Oh! No, don’t worry there is no problem with Luna living with me!" Twilight replied hastily. Celestia nodded,
"I see, however at the moment though it seems Luna is too weak to even move out of her bed for long periods of time so moving her to Ponyville is out of the question for now. You will have to stay in Canterlot for a few days longer, at least until Luna is ready to move." Twilight nodded in reply, expecting this answer and replied.
"Ok, but can we teleport a bed into Luna’s room for me to sleep it in? I would feel better if we were in the same room." Twilight asked quickly, Celestia gave her an odd look before giving a quick nod.
"Follow me, we can teleport the bed that you were going to sleep in before you got knocked out." Celestia replied, turning around and heading along the corridor, Twilight in tow.

Three doors down from Luna’s room Celestia opened the door to reveal a smaller, but still huge, bedroom. Celestia took position on one side of the bed, Twilight took the other,
"Do you want to do it or shall I?" Celestia asked.
"I think it would be best if you did it, I don’t want to disturb Luna in her sleep." Twilight reasoned, Celestia nodded, approving this response, her horn glowed briefly and a golden glow enveloped the bed before it blinked out of the room.
"I’m going to go raise the moon and then retire to my bed. I think you should too." Celestia said, stifling a yawn. Twilight agreed, she was feeling tired too, despite being asleep twice today. They went their different ways at the door, Celestia turning left and Twilight going right. When Twilight got back to Luna’s bedroom and snuck quietly inside she saw that Luna was sleeping fitfully, shivering slightly. Twilight moved to the bed and pulled the covers that Luna had neglected to get under over the sleeping mare. Luna settled down quickly after that, making Twilight smile. She went over to her bed which was now in the opposite corner to Luna’s. Twilight got into her bed and sleep came quickly. With sleep came the dreams.

The dream was different from before, they were no longer in Ponyville, they were in Luna’s bedroom, yet there were no furnishing aside from a dark blue sofa which Luna was situated on.
"Twilight!" Luna said, smiling at the mare, "Join me please, this meeting will be shorter than normal, I’m feeling too tired. However, we still need to talk." Twilight obliged, sitting on the sofa, it was large enough for both to fit on the sofa but it meant that they were shoulder to shoulder, Twilight didn't mind though.
"What do you want to talk about Luna?" Twilight asked.
"Just about what happened after I fell asleep, I felt that you were shocked by something, can I ask what it was?" Luna asked, turning her head to the mare beside her.
"Oh, Celestia told me about the form you were in and that she thought that if you stuck with me for a few years then you would be able to regain your power. She told me that you were going to live with me for a few years, starting from when you were well enough to move about properly." Twilight replied. Luna nodded slowly, taking this in. Twilight could feel that Luna had some intense emotions but she hid them too well to distinguish what they were.
"Tell me Twilight, what is it like in Ponyville?" Luna asked after a pause. Twilight considered this for a bit before responding enthusiastically.
"You’ll love it there, there’s so much to do and it’s so much fun." Twilight said, smiling broadly at the thought of her friends. Luna gave a small smile in reply. Twilight settled into her role as teacher, talking about the various things to do in Ponyville and about each of her friends, Luna occasionally asked questions, usually asking for an elaboration on a concept she didn't understand, such as a sleepover, or to ask about a certain thing, such as the modern fashion. This conversation carried on for much less time than Luna’s star show and ended much too soon for either of their likings.
"I see..." Luna said after Twilight had explained the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness, the silence stretched on until they realised that they were both sitting there staring at each other. They simultaneously blushed and looked away.
"Well, I think we shall have to end it there," Luna said "Goodnight Twilight."
"Goodnight Luna" Twilight replied as Luna’s dream form slipped into some sort of sleep. Twilight sat there, Luna resting on her shoulder, snoring lightly for a few minutes before sighing as she too slipped from this shared dream realm.