It had been three full days since Shining had told Celestia about his encounter with Nightmare Moon, but in that time she'd worked on a solution to the problem regarding his nightmares.

Shining Armor, much to both his and Celestia's relief, hadn't had anymore run-ins with the dark alicorn—at least, not that he could remember.

During those three days, Celestia worked tirelessly to finish... something. When Shining asked what she'd been up to, she had merely responded that it was a surprise, and that was that, leaving Shining somewhat annoyed.

She had to push back a few things in her busy schedule to work on it, but when she came to Shining on the morning of that fourth day, she came with a gift.

"So this is what you've been working on, then?" Shining had asked as Celestia placed a small, glowing golden crystal within a rectangular glass case on his desk, "I'm guessing this is supposed to help with my nightmares?"

"Indeed," Celestia replied with a nod, "it's something of my own creation, though I don't really have a name for it," she paused and furrowed her brow before giving a small shrug and smiling at the curious colt, "I suppose you could think of it as a far more potent dreamcatcher of sorts."

Shining raised an eyebrow at the Princess before looking back at the gently glowing crystal. He remembered his sister coming home with a dreamcatcher once a long time ago.

She'd said something about how they were originally created by the buffalo to ward against nightmares, but Shining himself had been somewhat skeptical of its power. To him, it was just some exotic art piece made of yarn, beads, and feathers and nothing more.

He idly wondered if the buffalo had been trying to fight back against Nightmare Moon all those years ago.

"So how does it work?" Shining asked, turning back to Celestia, "how'd you even make it?"

At that, Celestia looked a bit uncomfortable and oddly hesitant to say. Shining furrowed his brow in confusion at her reaction, but didn't say anything, waiting instead for her to answer. After a moment, she did, though reluctantly and with a sigh of resignation.

"Nopony other than my sister knows this, Shining Armor," Celestia began, looking away, "but long ago, even before I took up the throne, I discovered I had... an affinity for Mind Magic."

Shining's eyebrows shot up at the news.

"Wait, seriously?" he responded with an incredulous look, "Mind Magic? You of all ponies? I thought your affinity would be something like... I dunno, Elemental Magic. Pyrokinesis or something, not... Mind Magic! That's..."

"Believe me, Shining Armor, nopony found this more surprising than I," Celestia replied with a somewhat bitter chuckle, "but we can't help what affinity we're born with, not even me..."

Celestia's face remained fixed on Shining Armor, but the colt could see that the alicorn wasn't really looking at him. Her eyes were distant, her mind gone to a completely different time and place.

Shining had gotten the feeling there was something left unsaid, but he didn't push the issue. His own thoughts were preoccupied with the implications of a leader of an entire nation having Mind Magic as a magical affinity.

"I see you realize the problems I would face if my subjects were to ever know of my affinity," Celestia said suddenly, snapping Shining out of his thoughts. He looked back up at the Princess and saw that she was looking back with a sad smile, "I know full well what's going through your mind, Shining Armor, and I don't blame you in the slightest."

"Well, I mean... I..." Shining fumbled for the words he wanted to say for a moment, "how am I supposed to take something like that? Why did you tell me that? Now I'll always have to wonder if I'm being manipulated or—or if you're controlling somepony else's mind or—"

He paused as he realized what he was saying and sucked in a breath at the look on Celestia's face. The sad smile hadn't changed, but the look in Celestia's eyes...

The hurt was plain enough for even Shining to see.

"Shining," Celestia replied after a long, awkward moment. She leaned down so that she was eye to eye with the colt, "I told you this because I want you to trust me. I know how this must sound to you right now, and I realize how unsettling the implications are, but I've placed heavy regulations on Mind Magic for a reason, and I myself am not above those regulations."

"Sure, that's easy for you to say," Shining replied, unable to look Celestia in the eye, "but the fact that you're the almighty ruler of Equestria completely invalidates that statement. Even if you've written up some kind of law against the criminal use of Mind Magic, who's really gonna be able to stop you if you yourself decide to break that law?"

Celestia couldn't argue against that and she knew it. She had known it ever since she took the throne, and even though she'd vowed never to abuse her gift for the practice, there had been instances in the early years of her reign where she felt she'd had no other choice.

She knew all manner of powerful and dangerous Mind Magic, and were she so inclined, she could very well become the unstoppable tyrant Shining had most likely been picturing in his head, and the truth of it hurt her more than anything.

She thought back to the hypnosis she'd used on Shining only a couple of days ago. It hadn't been any sort of actual Mind Magic, but did that really matter in the end?

She had still tried to manipulate Shining through mental trickery to get what she wanted. At the time, she thought it harmless since she hadn't used Mind Magic, but standing here before Shining, having revealed one of her deepest secrets, hearing the harsh truth of his words... she wasn't so sure anymore.

She began to wonder if she should've said anything at all.

"So what does your affinity have to do with this crystal anyway?"

Celestia blinked and refocused her attention back on Shining Armor, who had turned away to stare at the crystal. She couldn't see his face, but it was clear he was trying to change the subject, and for that, Celestia was actually somewhat grateful, though his words still lingered in her mind, and no doubt would for quite some time.

Nevertheless, she pushed past her sorrow, straightened up, and took the glass case in her magic.

"It's a widely known fact, at least among unicorns, that raw mana can be stored in crystals," Celestia explained, "the purer the crystal, the easier the process. We use this method as an energy source to power things like the lights in the city or the engines of our airships."

"Right, I get that," Shining replied somewhat impatiently, "like you said, it's common knowledge."

"Indeed," Celestia agreed with a nod, "less common outside of the thaumatologist and magi community however, is the knowledge that entire spells can be stored within crystals to prolong their effects."

Shining did, in fact know this much as well thanks in part to his studious sister and her almost compulsive need to explain things to those that never asked for an explanation. Most had found it annoying, but Shining and their parents had always found it rather adorable.

It was another one of those things he tried and failed not to dwell on during the quieter moments of his day.

He gave an inward sigh, but didn't outwardly reply to Celestia's words. When Celestia heard no response from Shining, she opted to continue her explanation.

"It doesn't work with every spell," Celestia began, "in fact, the only real spells that are compatible with the process are spells that already have a passive effect.

"This is why we don't have things like teleport crystals or crystals that can shoot lightning out of them like you'd read about in fiction. Greater minds than I have attempted to remedy this in the past, but none have yet succeeded, but with the advancements we've made in magical research, maybe soon..."

She trailed off and eyed the glass case hovering in her golden aura with a thoughtful frown. Shining said nothing, already trying to piece together what the Princess was getting at. Before he could make any further progress, Celestia shook her head and continued.

"If you're simply pumping raw mana into a crystal, that's one thing," she said, placing the case back down on the table, "but you need a very specific type of crystal if you're trying to store a spell—one with a particularly high level of purity and mana absorption capacity.

"Such crystals are rare, and even with a crystal of that quality, storing a spell can still be a difficult, time consuming, and frustrating task," she tapped the glass case on the table, "if you lose focus for even a moment or if the transfer is suddenly interrupted in any way, the spell could become unstable and the crystal could shatter..."

Her expression turned dark and Shining found himself shivering slightly.

"...and depending on the spell you tried to cast, the amount of mana pumped into said spell, and the size and purity of the crystal itself, the consequences of a failed spell transfer could be quite... catastrophic."

Shining didn't know exactly what would happen, but if Celestia's tone was anything to go by, it wouldn't be good. An image of the explosion of mana he'd seen from one of the castle windows during his sister's exam came to him unbidden and he shivered again.

Celestia, having just noticed the effect her words were having on the colt, cleared her throat and smiled apologetically.

"It seems my explanation has... ah... run a bit longer and gotten a bit more detailed than I had intended," she turned to the crystal, then to the dark sky beyond the window and frowned, "I believe I've taken up enough of your time and I have duties I must attend to as well, so I'll get to the point."

She returned her attention to Shining Armor and nodded towards the crystal.

"In short, I've infused the crystal with a passive Mind Magic spell," Celestia explained, "the crystal emits an aura that will suppress your ability to dream while you sleep. It's not exactly like a dreamcatcher, but it will stop the nightmares."

"Okay," Shining replied slowly as he took the case in his own magic and studied it, "so that's good, I guess, but won't that affect everypony else nearby?"

"Not so much," Celestia answered with a single shake of her head, "the aura only extends as far as the walls of this room, so it won't affect anypony else unless they decide to sleep in here. Believe me, Shining, I knew what I was doing when I made this."

"Fair enough," Shining responded after a moment. He set the case back down and turned back to Celestia. He opened his mouth, closed it, frowned, then opened it again, "thanks, and... I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

Celestia furrowed her brow in confusion before a look of realization crossed her face. The sad smile returned and Shining grimaced as the guilt set in.

"It's fine, Shining Armor," Celestia replied softly, "you've only spoken the truth. I can't fault you for that, nor can I do anything to change the facts. It's simply another burden I must bear, but all the same, your apology means a lot."

"W-Well," Shining began, looking down at his hooves as his grimace deepened, "I realized that if you had wanted to, you could've just cast that spell on me directly... but you didn't," he looked up, but instead of facing Celestia, he turned to the crystal, "you didn't even suggest it, you just... made this instead."

When he finally looked at the Solar Princess, he shrugged and gave a small half smile.

"I guess that has to count for something, right?"

Celestia's mouth opened, but no words came out for several seconds. Eventually she closed it and nodded with another grateful smile.

"I suppose it does," she finally replied, "thank you, Shining Armor."

Shining just shrugged again before looking away. He frowned thoughtfully and spoke again just as Celestia had decided to leave him be and return to her own morning tasks.

"Hey... Celestia?"

Celestia, who'd been about to turn and leave with one final goodbye, stopped and looked down at Shining expectantly. Shining was silent for another second before turning to face Celestia, a serious look on his face.

"Can you... tell me more about Nightmare Moon when you get a chance?" he asked, catching Celestia off guard. He straightened up and took a step towards the Princess, "you said she was your sister, right? Well, I was thinking... if I knew more about her—about who she was before, then maybe... maybe... um..."

Shining trailed off and wore that same grimace he seemed to wear whenever he didn't want to admit something. Celestia wanted to be surprised, but somehow she wasn't. The look in Shining's eyes told her everything she needed to know about his motivations and intentions.

"Maybe you won't be so scared of her if she ever returns?" Celestia guessed with a small smirk, "is that it?"

Shining said nothing, but his grimace sharpened, causing Celestia to chuckle. She turned and began trotting towards the bedroom door, speaking as she made her way over.

"I'd be happy to tell you about my sister, Shining," Celestia replied, stopping just before the door and looking back at Shining Armor. Her smile slipped slightly as she spoke her next words, "though you... may not like everything you hear."

"Doesn't matter," Shining replied, his voice full of conviction, "I still wanna know."

Celestia sighed quietly and gave the colt her signature warm smile.

"Very well," she replied, "then I shall tell you everything tomorrow morning. How does that sound?"

"Perfect," Shining answered, already taking a seat at his desk and flipping open one of the books he'd been reading, "I'll hold you to it then, Princess."

Celestia chuckled again before pulling the bedroom door open and stepping outside. She looked back at Shining one last time, a small frown of worry crossing her face. Shining paid her no mind as he continued reading and the Princess smiled again before quietly closing the door behind her.

Next Chapter: What Remains in the Dark Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 49 Minutes