I have to apologize again, I am in the midst of my finals and we had to get to a point in which we both were content with the chapter. I hope you enjoy it and that we don't need that long for the next one. :)

Having to keep a phoenix still and plucking a couple of her feathers was a terrible experience, and a hot one at that, but Celestia, with the help of her doctor, was finishing the syringe now as she slowly poured the yellow glowing liquid out of the vial into it.

Looking once more over each step and checking them mentally, Celestia nodded once more in satisfaction and turned to the white coated pony next to her desk.

“Miss Heart Petal, I think I am ready. I have extracted as much essence from Philomena as I could without harming her,” Celestia explained.

“Thank you, Princess, I hope she is not taking it too hard on you for doing so, but I fear this is the only option we have if we want to improve Princess Twilight’s condition.”

“Don’t worry about that thickheaded bird of mine,” Celestia said, looking over at where Philomena was sitting on her pole and glaring at her, “she should molt in a couple of days anyway.”

“Well, if you say so, Princess,” Heart Petal stated, glancing wearily at her Princess’s house phoenix. “I feel as if she’s been glaring at me the whole time since we took some of her feathers.”

“Oh, well, you see, Philomena is very intelligent and I am sure she will eventually understand, but right now, I fear, she may have a grudge against the two of us,” Celestia said, shrugging, “I expect her to find some sort of way to get back at us for that,” she added with a smile, ”but I think she will be fine.”

Gulping once, the young mare tore her gaze away from the still glaring phoenix and looked instead at the vial hovering in her magic. Checking for the correct dosage and looking it over herself once more, she turned around.

Walking through the ornate room, filled with many valuable pieces of art, collected from all over Equestria and spanning hundreds of years, Heart Petal looked at the peaceful seeming pony set on Princess Celestia’s bed.

Celestia’s bed was huge, after all, it had been built with a much larger pony in mind and so created a rather comical picture with only Twilight on top of it. The satin lavender sheets, with their gold trimmed rim and a copious number of pillows all stacked up neatly at the head and foot of the bed, appeared to be completely empty. Twilight had been placed in the middle of Celestia’s gigantic bed, which could surely hold up to ten or twelve more ponies of her size, or two, maybe three Celestias, before eventually becoming uncomfortable.

Before Heart Petal could step closer and administer the vial which was prepared by the bed’s usual owner, a questioning knock could be heard in the otherwise quiet room.

Looking up from where she was sitting and cleaning her usual worktable of every alchemical device she had been using, Celestia gently spoke, “Come in, please.”

As the door opened, Princess Luna slowly stepped in, looking around the room for any pony except her sister, and upon only seeing miss Heart Petal, straightened visibly. “Where are the doctors? We’d expected more than just one mere unicorn tending to our friend’s needs.”

Sighing and motioning her sister to not fret too much, Celestia looked over to where Twilight was laying, a couple of medical devices still attached to her former student. “Well, she appears to be fine, from what our medical staff could tell, just as Miss Heart had said before. The only explanation why she still hasn’t woken up by now is that she has likely used too much magic at once and is now suffering from magical withdraw, but even that is not certain,” she sighed.

“Then, when will this phoenix essence be ready for her?” Luna asked, walking over to where Twilight was laying on the bed and only briefly glancing at the doctor next to her.

“It already is, Princess Luna, I was about to administer it to her,” she said, carefully tapping the syringe with her hoof to shake the contents into the needle.

“Then please, by all intents, let thou not be disturbed by us,” Luna said, looking at the syringe and remembering how much she hated those things.

Having come back from the moon only a couple of years ago meant she had never received a vaccination before in her life, because such medicinal advances had simply not been made in her time. But the careful nature of her sister had made sure of, even though alicorns could not come to harm by any known illness, that she would receive a proper vaccination and medical overhaul after her return.

The memory at being stung multiple times in her flank made her still think of bloody retaliation to any inventor of such infernal medical torture devices.

But still, she looked on, in discomfort, as the slim unicorn leaned over Twilights still unconscious form and carefully administered the syringe with its brightly yellow glowing contents directly beneath her friends’ horn.

“That’s it, now we simply have to wait,” she said upon leaning back.

Stepping next to her sister and looking at her former students’ body, Celestia asked, “Miss Petal, would you be so kind as to tell us when we can expect an effect taking place.”

Carefully dabbing at the now slightly bleeding place where she had pierced Twilight's forehead, the mare didn’t look up from her work as she answered. “Well, it’ll depend on how much magic Princess Twilight used, if she’s used too much and exhausted herself too much, it could take one or two minutes before her condition improves, otherwise we should already see an effect.”

Opening one eyelid of Twilight, she carefully looked at it with a small lamp. “But seeing as though nothing is happening, I think Princess Twilight opted for the former.”

“What will happen if neither option occurs and there is no reaction at all?” Luna asked, concern palpable in her voice.

“Well, seeing that Princess Twilight seems otherwise healthy, we will simply have to wait for her to wake up on her own.”

Suddenly, a faint grown could be heard from the pony in front of them.

“See, she is…” Heart Petal stopped mid-sentence as she touched her horn to Twilights, “but I don’t understand… t-there is no reaction? I am still nearly unable to detect her magical presence, it is as if her mana level hasn’t risen at all from the injection.”

“But wasn’t that enough magical energy to raise up half of an army from magical deprivation?” Celestia asked.

“Yes, Princess, I have no explanation for that, she reacted, but her state hasn’t bettered at all.”

“Then, what art thou planning to do next?” Luna asked.

Shaking her head, Heart Petal looked to the two royals next to her, “I fear we don’t know enough about alicorns to do anything else, I suggest we simply have to wait and see what happens, I-I would have to go to the archives and research before I could tell you anything more,” the unicorn said, bowing.

“Then please, do so,” Celestia said, climbing up onto her bed and nuzzling Twilight carefully. “If you find anything, you are free to come in, even if it is in the middle of the night.”

“Of course, Princess,” the unicorn said, packing her things and walking to the door. “Please send one of your guards after me if she shows any signs of waking up.”

“That speaks for itself, Doctor,” Celestia said carefully settling down behind Twilight.

As soon as the door clicked in place, Luna turned from Twilight to her sister. “What now, sister? We can’t do nothing and just wait, what if-“ Luna asked, before being interrupted by her sister.

“She will not, Twilight will be fine, I am certain of that,” Celestia said, her tone filled with authority as if commanding the universe itself to heed her words.

“We hope thou art right, sister. Twilight is much too important to us then to see her pass this way.” Luna said, a quiver in her voice.

“She will be fine, she has to be…” Celestia convinced herself, carefully resting a wing over her unconscious former student.

After a couple of minutes of watching the steady rise and fall of Twilight’s chest, Luna looked up. “Sister?”

“Yes, Luna?”

“How is it that Twilight is here, but her chariot is not?” Luna asked, driven by impulse.

“What?”

“When we came back from the press room, we saw that the royal chariot thou sent was still missing.”

“Hmmm, that is strange, usually the guards are very efficient when it comes to packing such things away.”

“Maybe she didn’t come with the chariot at all? Does thou remember the loud noise we heard at her arrival?”

“Uhm… yes?” Celestia asked, quizzically.

“Then thou have also seen the amount of magic she shot at the barrier, easily eclipsing the amount of magic provided by all our attempts combined.”

“Hmm, you are right,” Celestia said, looking at her sister questioning.

“What if she didn’t come with the chariot at all? What if she teleported all the way from Ponyville to Canterlot?”

“But that would be impossible,” Celestia said, shaking her head.

"Hasn't Twilight done many things considered out of reach? Today already being no exception," Luna said, looking down at the unconscious body on her sisters’ bed. “she has surprised us with many things we thought of as impossible.”

“Hmmm, you are right, but still, the amount of magical energy needed to fulfill such an act would totally exceed every scale we have of magic.”

“But she brought down the barrier, also without anyponies help,” Luna countered.

“I was also wondering about that; do you remember her size and stature before she fell unconscious?”

“She seemed to be roughly the size of you, if not bigger.”

“Yes… what if-“ a firm knock at the door alerted the two Princesses that somepony wanted something from them.

Glancing at each other, Celestia looked to the door and spoke with a firm voice. “Enter!”

As the door creaked open, a guardsman stepped in, bowing deeply before his three rulers. “Princesses, I am here to inform you that there are six ponies and one dragon waiting in the throne room, all demanding to speak to Princess Twilight and claiming to be her friends.”

“Are the bearers among them?” Celestia asked, her tone warm and motherly, calming the distressed guard.

“Uhm… yes, my Princess,” he said.

“Then bring them in, please.”

“Of course, your highnesses,” he said, before turning around and closing the door behind him.

“The bearers are here?” Luna asked, an eyebrow raised.

“It appears so, yes. I was wondering if or when they might show up, but I didn’t expect them to be here so early.”

“We also expected Twilight to arrive later, maybe they ought to know more about it?”

Stretching her wing and nuzzling Twilight once more, Celestia stood up, careful not to disturb Twilight as she jumped over her and landed next to her sister. “Well, we’ll simply have to ask them, don’t you think?”

“Thou art as graceful as a fat cat, sister,” Luna said, mocking her sister's antics.

“Oh, and you think you are better, dear sister?” Celestia said, swatting at her with one of her wings.

“We are certain of it, after all, more and more ponies are trying to opt after our figure instead of thine,” Luna said, snickering.

“And I know perfectly on how to change their mind, Luna, trust me, I have already set things in motion.” Celestia shot back, winking. “But, back to the matter at hoof, Lulu, what do you think should we tell Twilight’s friends?” she asked, bringing the conversation back to safer waters.

“The truth, we presume?” Luna asked, sitting down and watching her sister open one of her many cupboards in her room. “After all, they are not only her friends but the bearers as well. We think they have a right to know what is happening to dear Twilight.”

“And her student?” Celestia asked, still not trusting the former villain completely.

“Well, she has a right to know as well, doesn’t she?”

Sighing and nodding, Celestia glanced at the small object now in her hoof, it was a moderately sized gem she had laid back for when Spike would visit the next time. Having watched over Twilight and Spike as they both grew up, she had always acted a bit more like an over caring grandmother to him. When Twilight acted as his mother, Celestia always snuck a couple of treats to him, knowing of her own weakness for sweet goods.

Having been caught by Twilight once, as she wanted to give Spike a gem while she was busy reading, Celestia remembered quite a funny confrontation between herself and her student, where Twilight attempted to explain to her that she should stop doing that without overstepping her boundaries as a student. Even though, thinking back, Twilight never had any boundaries that were not self-imposed, well, only with the exception of those which were trying to get the young mare to eat and sleep. In her years as her student, Twilight always tried to behave herself, of course she did silly things a normal filly would do, like running around in the castle or jumping into a fountain on a hot day to cool down, after which Celestia showed her where the young mare could go bathing in a near pool, but Celestia never had to truly scold her.

What she had to do though, was try and keep the young mare from over exhausting herself. Twilight tended to skip meals, forget to sleep or fall into a panic while studying, and so Celestia remembered ordering her staff to keep an extra eye on her.

So, while some maids snuck a couple of sweets or even meals near her, the guards always tried to accidentally walk past her when she was forgetting the time in the library to inform her that she should be in bed right now. The number of nights where Twilight collapsed on top of her chosen book in the library and had to be carried back into her chambers were uncounted, but Celestia knew full well that some guards had a bet going each and every night on whether Twilight would stay up too long.

Remembering the good times when Twilight’s small and inquisitive hooves clopped through the castle, Celestia smiled to herself before looking back over her shoulder to her now unconscious former student, hoping that she would be all right.

As another firm knock sounded through the room, Luna was the first trying to opening the door to welcome their new guests. Before she could reach the door though, said door broke open and six ponies and one dragon rushed in and quickly scanned the room, stopping mid-step to bow as they spotted Celestia and Luna’s inquisitive looks.

“Well, hello, my little ponies,” Celestia greeted, closing the cupboard and hiding the gem under her wing, “It is good to see you, but might I ask, what brings you here?” she asked, trying to find out the obvious.

Having a clear goal in mind, Applejack was the first one to speak up, “It’s mighty good to see you too, your majesties, but we came to see Twilight, we heard that something had happened to her parents so we came as fast as we could, and the guards said she would be here.”

Smiling sadly, Celestia nodded and pointed to her large bed.

As the group turned to see what Celestia was pointing at, they all gasped upon seeing their friend lying motionless on the large bed. They would have rushed towards her, but a transparent light blue bubble of magic kept them all at least one foot away from her.

“What in tarnation happened to her?” Applejack demanded, turning around and staring questioningly at the two princesses.

“Yeah! What is she doing here and why is she… sleeping?” Rainbow asked, her wings beating in impatience and keeping her at least one head over her friends in annoyance at being unable to go to her friend.

“Darlings, please, watch your words,” Rarity chided, “they are the princesses after all, besides, rough words will not get us anywhere any quicker. “

“It is all right, my little ponies,” Celestia said, walking over to their new guests, “but I am afraid I have to inform you that Twilight is currently… well, not in the condition to-”

“What our sister is trying to say,” Luna cut in, not wanting to waste time on politically correct articulation, “is that Twilight is currently unconscious.”

Another gasp rang through the room as all six ponies heard what Luna said. Flinching inwardly at the sudden way of putting it, Celestia glared at her traitorous sister. “Well, yes, what my dear sister is saying is true, but there is more to it,” she said, motioning for the group to sit down.

Following their ruler's bidding, the group silently sat down in front of her. Spike, who considered himself family to Twilight tried to settle down as close as possible to her. Rarity, who could sense her friend's distress sat down right next to him, gently ruffling him over his head while doing so. Starlight, who lived with along Spike in Twilights castle gently settled down next to the young drake, trying to comfort him as well.

Fluttershy, still feeling uncomfortable in Celestia and Luna’s presence, gently laid down next to Rainbow who had settled herself next to Applejack. Pinkie, who had stopped bouncing once hearing of Twilight’s condition, eyed her one more time wearily and flopped down between the two groups, seemingly lost in thought.

“Well, before I start to explain what happened, I would like to ask you on how much you know already,” Celestia began gently, her motherly aura slowly calming everypony down.

“Well, Rarity came to us and informed us that you sent Twilight a letter, Princess,” Starlight said, gulping once, “And she said that um, that Twilights parents have apparently been ponynapped.”

Raising an eyebrow to Spike, the young dragon shrunk away under Celestia’s disapproving gaze. “Yes, I did, and how, if I might ask, did you receive this information, Miss Rarity?”

Gulping once, Rarity cleared her voice neatly, “Well, today is my spa day with Fluttershy, and well… I managed to get Twilight to come along and then dear Spiky came in later with that horrid letter for her.”

“So, I assume Twilight shared this information with you?” Celestia asked, not at all interested that they knew, and more interested in how or what happened after.

“Well, no, not directly,” Rarity said, shrinking sheepishly into herself, “I… um… picked it up after she vanished to read what had unsettled her so much.”

“Vanished?” Luna asked, understanding what Celestia intended to find out without asking directly.

“Well, yeah… after I gave her the letter, Twilight was all locked up and strange, then uh… the air around her seemed to um… change and she vanished with a loud crack and a strange tear of many colors hanging in the air.” Spike said, trying to explain what happened. “Though it didn’t seem to last for very long, and afterward was when Rarity picked up the letter.”

“I was just trying to figure out on what had made her so... distressed,” the fashionista finished, having gotten her composure back.

“Um… she… didn’t mean any harm in that,” Fluttershy said, her weak voice barely audible while she tried to defend her friends’ actions, “but we… she… I um…”

“It is all right, my little ponies, I cannot be mad, nor can any other be, not for caring for Twilight’s well-being,” Celestia reassured, releasing her frown and letting a gentle smile play over her lips, “But I fear I have to ask you to explain to me what happened in a bit more detail than that.”

Glancing at her friends, Rarity gulped and looked ahead, “B-but, Princess, we came here to help Twilight,” she said, pausing and glancing at her unconscious friend on the bed.

“And you shall, but we are afraid there isn’t much we can do right now,” Luna said, her eyes following Rarity’s, “She has already taken care of everything, but afterward she collapsed and we were unable to raise her since then.”

“She collapsed?” Starlight asked, being Twilight’s personal student meant she had trained with her multiple times. In her training, Starlight had learned of Twilight’s magical prowess and even though being exceptionally powerful herself, she was never able to even hold a candle to what her mentor could throw at her. “I have never seen her tire out from magic usage before,” she stated.

“Oh, there have been times,” Celestia said, thinking back to when she had Twilight levitate obsidian marbles enchanted with a magical draining spell, “but you are right, it is exceptionally difficult to tire her out the way she apparently did,” Celestia continued, her tone filled with worry for her former student.

“If thou hath read the letter my sister has sent her, we presume thou all know of the magical barrier we were unable to break, right?” Luna asked, her gaze sweeping over the assemblage of ponies in front of her. “Well, the fact is, we were still unable when she arrived, and with her arrival, she nearly destroyed the barrier in a single attempt,” Luna continued, watching Starlight and Rarity’s eyes go wide. “After that, Twilight let herself be taken hostage but before we could even attempt to rescue her, she did all but destroy the barrier and nearly her captors as well.”

“WHAT?” a collected shout was uttered from all the assembled, “But how?”, “Alone?” and “She did what?” questions toppled all over themselves as all the assembled ponies and dragon tried to process what they just heard.

Raising a hoof and effectively calming everyone down, Celestia's eyes wondered over to Twilight while she continued, “That is one thing we aim to figure out, but we are currently having a bit of an issue with it,” sighing and hanging her head slightly, Celestia glanced at the group of ponies in front of her, “In short, we don’t know what happened, not even half of it,” she said, “What we know though, is that she is currently suffering from some sort of magical withdrawal, and therefore refusing to wake up.”

“But Princess, excuse me my boldness, how is that possible?” Starlight stated, thoughtful, “I've trained with her multiple times, and while she had me run down, she wasn’t even sweating, I’ve never seen her use anything close to too much magic, and if so, I’d imagine she would know her limits very well,” Starlight said, gesturing with her hoof to herself, “I didn’t even know she could reach any limits and I guessed it would be connected with her being an alicorn, no offense, but… how, why?”

Chuckling softly, Celestia shook her head, “No, it is all right, and yes, we alicorns do have a limit to our magic, even though it is quite possibly much higher than any unicorn could ever accomplish,” she said, “But Twilight was always exceptional in that, and that is what is worrying me, I cannot imagine Twilight to overstrain herself… at least not intentionally.”

“Another question is,” Luna butted in, “why did she only collapse once the barrier was down, and not earlier, she seemed fine the first seconds we saw her, even more so, she seemed to not have run out of magic at all.”

Following Luna's explanation, the room fell silent while Starlight and Rarity glanced back at her friend on the bed, unable to think of anything that could unsettle Twilight that much.

Being an earthpony, Applejack was unable to understand anything of the speech from Celestia or Luna about magic, but she understood how gravid this revelation seemed to be and so kept her mouth shut. Though as the minutes dragged by and the questioning air grew without anyone contributing anything to the conversation, she cleared her voice to get back to the matter at hoof. “Well, that sounds all truly important, but for my part I came here to help her,” she stated, raising a hoof to forestall any interruption as she continued, “so I ask this and I hope anyone can explain it in a way so I can understand: Is there anything we can do for her, right now?”

Sighing once more, Celestia shook her head, “I am afraid not, Applejack,” she said. Thinking for a moment and turning back to Spike, she voiced an idea, “but you said something about a strange… tear… hanging in the air for a moment when she left, right?” Celestia asked Spike, who nodded vigorously. “Could you, describe what happened, maybe in more detail?” she asked, her gaze wandering from Spike to Rarity and Fluttershy.

Clearing her voice, Rarity spoke up, “I am not one-hundred percent certain, Princess, but as Twilight got the letter, I could practically feel her getting angry. She locked up and as I tried to approach her and comfort her, I was not even able to move. She didn’t use any magic on me, not that I saw, at least, but then the air around her began to shimmer and… curve… yes, it curved inwards and broke the light as if you would look through a pair of glasses,” Rarity explained. “And then she just vanished, I am not certain what happened exactly, but it seemed like she teleported. I had no idea to where, but when she was gone, there was something like a rip of… fabric… in the air for just a moment.”

“A rip of fabric?” Luna asked, her eyes wandering to her sister who seemed deep in thought.

“What you are saying is that Twilight teleported from Ponyville all the way up to Canterlot,” Celestia said, turning thoughtful.

“But that’s impossible!” Starlight threw in.

“It is,” Celestia said, “or it would be, normally. But speaking of it, we heard a loud crack too,” she stated, waiting until Luna nodded in confirmation, “and then she attacked the shield with raw power which outclassed all the attempts from the High Circle of Magi combined,” she mused, “there is more to it than we know,” Celestia sighed, tucking her hooves thoughtfully under herself.

“Ok, let me get this straight,” Applejack said, a hoof held in front of her to order her thoughts, “what the two of you are basically saying is, that Twilight, not only moved to Tartarus and back to protect her parents, but also kicked more behind than when she fought against Tirek in the process?”

“Thou art right, dear Applejack,” Luna said, nodding, “Twilight probably used more magic in the last couple of hours, than we all here combined in the last year.”

“And she did this to free her parents, from… um… some idiots trying to get to her?” Applejack continued.

“Yes,” the sister answered.

“And now that she has done so, she fell into some sort of hibernation to refill her magic?” Applejack concludes.

“You could say so, but the problem is, we don’t know it for certain,” Celestia said, “it also could be something else.”

“And all we can do is sit idly by and watch until she recovers?” Rainbow asked, pointing at Twilight.

“We are afraid so, yes,” Luna said.

Pinkie, who had been oddly quiet until now, was muttering to herself, bringing the others attention to her.

“Uh shucks, Pinkie, what were you saying?” Applejack asked the normally chipper party pony.

“Nothing!” she quickly said, her eyes darting left and right as if she had been caught, “what should I know? There’s no secret here, nuh uh.”

“What are you saying, dear?” Rarity asked, confused.

“Nothing…” Pinkie said, oddly trailing off.

The group gave her a worried glance before continuing. “So, until she wakes up, Twilight is going to stay here?” Applejack asked Celestia.

Not having spent any thoughts on the matter, Celestia nodded her head. “Well, of course, we have doctors and other medical staff here to attend to her, if anything gets worse we’ll be prepared. Otherwise, I presume we’ll just have to wait.”

“And where will you sleep then? Your Highness?” Rarity asked, catching on on what Applejack was asking.

“I presume that my bed shall be sufficient,” Celestia said, instantly catching on what the others were trying to ask, “or, um, I could just move to a couch for a while."

“So, Twilight will not be moved to some sort of hospital?” Applejack continued.

“There is no need for that, I am afraid, no hospital in Equestria will be able to help her,” Celestia said in earnest.

Meekly nudging Applejack once they fell silent, Fluttershy tried to get the earth pony’s attention.

“What is it, Shy?” Applejack asked softly.

“Uhm… do you remember when Twilight got her wings and how she complained that she couldn’t sleep?” Fluttershy asked, drawing a slow nod from Applejack, “Well… we found a solution and, so could you maybe-“

Catching on that Fluttershy and Applejack were whispering to each other, Luna cleared her voice, “Wouldst thou be so kind to speak up please, if it is of any concern for Twilight we’re sure we’d want to know as well.”

Eeeping and blushing, Fluttershy tried to hide her face behind her mane. After realizing that now everyponies attention was on her, she tried to hide even further in embarrassment, but before she could do so though, Applejack nudged her softly and gave her a reassuring smile.

Mustering all her courage, Fluttershy meekly glanced to Celestia, “I, um, just remembered something, something that came up when Twilight became an alicorn,” she stated, her blush on her face glowing bright red, “m-may I do something, princess?”

“And what might that be, if I might ask,” Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, ever since Twilight got her wings, she… um… didn’t sleep normally. She complained to us that they made it almost impossible for her to lay still and… well… after a couple of tries, we found a solution.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… um… we…”

“Twilight prefers nesting,” Rainbow said, supporting her shy friend.

Also raising an eyebrow now, Luna looked puzzled at her. “She prefers what?”

“Well, you see, Twilight couldn’t sleep very well after she got her wings and asked us for advice,” Rainbow said, motioning to Fluttershy and herself, “and Flutters here came up with an idea that would remove some of her discomfort,” Rainbow stated, gesturing to Fluttershy, “and we found out later that she began to nest because of it.”

“Nest, as in building a nest like a bird?” Luna asked, not getting the point.

Upon seeing a confirming nod from all of Twilights friends and dragon, Celestia raised a hoof, “And, pray tell, what are you trying to imply by that?”

“Well, you see, I thought that it would be, possibly, more comfortable for her if she would… um… sleep like she is doing at home,” Fluttershy continued.

“So, you want to build a nest inside my chambers?” Celestia asked, wondering what her former student was doing in her sleeping chambers.

“Yes, well… no… but yes,” Fluttershy said, blushing.

Confused and unable to picture it, Celestia looked over to Twilight and shrugged, “Well, then by all means, please do so, I honestly doubt it would do much good, but maybe you have a point.”

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said, standing up and walking over to Twilight on Celestia's bed. Grabbing multiple large pillows and blankets the Princess had laying on her bed, Fluttershy arranged them neatly around Twilight and awkwardly curled her up a bit to fit into the newly arranged nest of blankets and pillows for her.

As if she was proven right, Twilight instinctively curled up more on the spot and draped one of her wings over herself. The mare still looked slack and uncomfortable, but Fluttershy could swear she saw her mood brighten a little as she prepared everything for her friend.

Watching as Twilight moved once more since she fell unconscious, Celestia and Luna glanced at each other before continuing to observe as Fluttershy carefully propped Twilight against the array of blankets and comforters.

Nodding to herself, the pegasus turned around and settled back down when her job was done, a slight blush on her face from getting all the attention in the room.

As the silence stretched to uncomfortableness, Celestia cleared her voice, “Well, thank you,” she said, looking at the sleeping lump on her bed. “It seems like you were right after all.”

Looking to each other, Twilight’s friends shuffled awkwardly. Realizing that they couldn’t do anything to help their friend right now, they waited for something that would give them a clue for what they should do next.

“Shall we prepare rooms for thee so thou can stay here and wait for our friend’s recovery?” Luna asked, reading the mood.

Looking at her friends and at Twilight once more, Applejack hung her head, “As much as I would love to, your highnesses, I am afraid I have work to do on the farm, but,” pawing at the ground anxiously, “Could I be contacted when she is getting better?” Applejack asked.

“Of course,” Celestia said, nodding to Applejack, “and what about the rest of you?”

“I'll stay!” Spike chipped in.

“Well, um, if it isn’t too much to ask, I'd like to stay as well,” Starlight said.

“I, um, I have some critters to feed, so… I don’t think I can stay in Canterlot, I haven’t had time to set someone up to look after my little friends,” Fluttershy said meekly.

“I can simply stay over at my boutique in Canterlot for a while, I think Sassy would be happy to see me anyway,” Rarity said, politely declining Celestia’s offer.

Her head drooping, Pinkie’s mane deflated slightly, “I have to go back to Ponyville as well, the Cakes have asked me to bake tonight.”

“Nothing will stop me from being there for Twilight when she might need me,” Rainbow declared firmly.

“So, the two of you need a room then?” Celestia asked, nodding to Rainbow and Starlight, “I am certain the castle staff will have them ready in the hour.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Rainbow and Starlight said, bowing slightly.

“And what about me?” Spike asked, worry in his eyes.

“Don’t you have a place in Twilight’s tower already? It is always prepared, in case either of you drops by,” Celestia said, smiling to the young dragon and slipping the gem from under her wing to him.

Realization dawning on Spike, as he nodded and picked up the gem, “Thank you, Princess.”

Smiling once more, Celestia glanced out of the window, “I think my sister and I need some time to discuss some things,” she said, Luna nodded and stood up.

“But before we do that, we will make certain your accommodations are cared for,” Luna said, stepping to the door and opening it. “Guards, we need your attention, please…”

While Luna was speaking to the guards, Celestia turned back to Twilights friends, “I am sure Twilight will be happy to hear you have been here,” she said to Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie, “I will send for you immediately if Twilight’s condition changes,” Celestia said, standing up.

Following her rulers’ example, the gathered ponies stood up, bowed deeply once more and turned to leave. Before any of them could go far though, Pinkie stopped mid-step, her gaze fixed on where Twilight was laying.

Not moving an inch, Fluttershy almost bumped into Pinkie as she stood stock still, not moving a muscle as she regarded Twilight.

Glancing at each other, everyone looked at Pinkie as her eyes grew by the second until they were as large as dinner plates.

Watching her friend for a short moment, Rainbow nudged Pinkie to try to get her attention, “Uh, everything ok Pinks?” she asked, slowly getting worried over the strange behavior from her friend.

Waving a hoof in front of her face, Rainbow Dash was unable to even get a glance out of Pinkie as she all but stared at Twilight as if no one else was even there.

Before anyone could do anything more though, a resolute “Yes, Princess!” could be heard from outside and Luna stepped back in.

Seeing everyone standing around Pinkie and trying to get her attention, she raised an eyebrow, but before she could ask anything, Pinkies mouth fell open and she mouthed a silent, “Oh no.”

Whipping her head around and staring at Luna, the Princess almost felt as if her soul itself was judged from Pinkies piercings gaze.

Silently mouthing words and staring back at Twilight, Pinkie muttered under her breath, all the while shaking her head frantically and recoiling from where she was standing.

Regarding Twilight once more, the pink party-pony stopped again, regarding her with the same stare she just gave Luna, “that is odd…” she said aloud, her ears falling flat again, “they would never…” she said, her gaze turning back to Luna.

Before anypony could utter anything else, Pinkie lowered her head once more, “but she thinks…” whipping her head once more to Twilight, she gulped, “what if when…” staring at her friend for almost a minute, Pinkie turned her head to Celestia, her gaze as hard as it could be, judging the Sun Princess.

Realizing the questioning stare from Pinkie on her, Celestia was about to ask what she was talking about as her head whipped back to her sister, who now recoiled in shock and slight fear.

As Luna saw Pinkies gaze once more, she felt like if someone was invading the privacy of her own mind, judging her, searching for her worth. But this should be impossible, she thought, before she could do anything more through, Pinkie spoke up, “She is hurt…,” she said, turning her head back to Twilight.

“She can’t get out of there…” she said, shaking her head and turning to Luna, “why not?” Stepping once more closer to the moon princess, Pinkies tail twitched, “you have to help her…” she said, shaking her head, “no… she can’t… why not… what if…” she muttered to herself, “but she has to.”

Turning back to Twilight, Pinkie stopped once more, staring at the sleeping lump on the bed. “She has to…” she said once more, turning to Luna and starting to walk towards her, her gaze never wavering from Luna's own, staring her directly into her eyes, “you have to help her. You are the only one that can do it, no… no… not the only one, but you have to do it, she is hurting, for a long time now, she is hurting. Help her, you have to, she can’t get out…”

Having successfully been frightened by that pink pony, for every step Pinkie did towards Luna, she did one back, frantically trying to get distance between herself and her. “What are thou talking about?” she asked, bumping into one of Celestia’s cabinets while Pinkie was still advancing on her.

“You have to help her, she can’t get out of there, she needs you!” Pinkie continued.

“Help her how, what are thee talking about?” Luna asked, trying to back up even further.

“You know what I am talking about, you have seen it, every night you have seen it, and you didn’t do anything, now she needs you, she is hurt, and alone.” Pinkie pleaded, reaching Luna, tapping a hoof onto her chest.

Everyone in the room looked on in shock as Pinkie rounded upon Luna more and more, not doing anything as the Princess was cornered further into the furniture while Pinkie stepped closer and closer.

As Luna was finally cornered, Applejack was the first one who came back from their collective shock of what Pinkie was doing. Shaking her head, she rushed forward, clamped down on Pinkies tail and yanked her away from the Night Princess, who at that point had almost a white muzzle from all the blood that had been drained from her face.

Yanking her away from Luna and pinning her to the ground, Applejack held Pinkie in place, “What in tarnation, Pinkie, what is wrong?” she asked, trying to calm the almost mad sounding pony down.

As Pinkie was yanked away, and pinned to the ground, her eyes went wide, and she stared at Applejack. “Huh? What is wrong, silly? Nothing is wrong, you are just standing on me, that’s all,” Pinkie said, chipper.

“What?” Applejack exclaimed, recoiling slightly.

“Well, these are your hooves standing on me, duh!” Pinkie said, reaching up and licking Applejacks nose.

Recoiling from the sudden wet organ dragging over her nose, Applejack stepped away from Pinkie, releasing her in the process.

Suddenly free again, Pinkie mushed into the ground and snapped back up, jumping into the air and turning around in the process. Looking around at all the wide-eyed looks directed at her, Pinkie sat down and cocked her head, “What? Do I have something on my face?” she asked, rubbing her nose.

Blinking once, Luna tried to digest what she was asked about. Her mental gears slowly but steadily worked through the sentences Pinkie had exclaimed, but not coming to anything coherent.

“You all look like you have seen a ghost, or some sort of nightmare thing floating around,” Pinkie said, giggling.

Upon the word nightmare, Lunas eyes widened.

Once she was certain her brain had caught up with the situation, she opened her mouth, but no words came out as she attempted to find any kind of response to what just happened. The shock that Pinkie somehow knew about whatever mystery ailed Twilight was frightening, but that it involved her sent an ice-cold sensation down her back.

Attempting another try at communication, Luna looked over to where Twilight was laying, “How does thou know about…” Luna tried to ask but stopped mid-sentence as she lost her train of thought again.

Watching her sister fumble for words, Celestia stepped forward, a reassuring smile on her lips, “Be sure my little pony, we’re trying everything we can do to help her,” she said sincerely, feeling that Luna had been pushed out of her comfort zone, she gently opened the door of her chambers and motioned to them.

“As I said before, we are grateful for you trying to help Twilight, but I fear we have to wait before we'll see any actual improvements,” she said, the worry in her voice coming through, despite her naturally refined skill of speech, “But I am afraid that Luna and I have some things to discuss,” she said, glancing at the still blank-faced and almost white-headed Luna, ”but I can assure you that Twilight will be well looked after.”

Glancing confused at Pinkie and at each other, the dazed group seemed content with leaving for the moment, even if for the simple fact of mulling over their enigma of a friend.

“I think that might be for the best, yes,” Rarity said, nodding. Motioning to her friends and turning around they began to walk towards the door, “Have a nice evening, Princesses,” she said.

Turning around Applejack bowed one more, “We are mighty sorry about that, your highness,” she said to Luna, trying to shove the still oblivious Pinkie out of the room.

As all of Twilights friends finally left, Luna turned to Celestia, her gaze still appearing haunted, “What was that? How does she…? Why does she…?” she tried.

Celestia patiently waiting for her sister to come back to her senses tried her best to not topple over Luna with questions about what Pinkie was talking about. Apparently, Luna knew very well what Pinkie was talking about, but she understood quite well that her little sister had just gotten the shock of the century.

“This is impossible!” Luna exclaimed finally, appearing to have gotten back to her senses.

“And what might that be, dear sister?” Celestia asked, her motherly tone from before vanished completely as she felt Luna had kept something from her, something that might help to get Twilight back onto her feet.

“How does this pony know of our journeys through the dream world?” Luna clarified, clearly scared.

Blinking in confusion as Celestia had not expected the conversation to go in this direction. Thinking for a moment, Celestia pointed at a neat little stack of scrolls on the top corner of one of her shelves. “It appears you have become a victim of what Twilight has called ‘The Pinkie Effect’”, she clarified.

“The what?” Luna asked, the momentum finally stolen completely from her as she stared at her sister, lost.

Chuckling at Luna's expression, Celestia explained, “Well, you see, it was shortly after Twilight arrived in Ponyville when she became victim to the same effect you just suffered from.”

“What didst she do?”

“She studied it of course,” Celestia stated, smiling as if that would be the most obvious answer in the world.

Waiting for her sister to continue, Luna leaned back, “And what didst she find out?”

Shrugging, Celestia’s smile only widened, “It appears that Twilights attempts had led to some rather, unhealthy escapades and she decided to let it be, for the good of her own sanity.”

“So, thou art trying to say that this pony is dangerous?” Luna asked, confused.

“As far as I know, it would be the wisest idea to not question her. Even I cannot comprehend this strange pony,” Celestia said, her brow furrowing, “there are some like her from time to time in each generation, and overthinking their actions is only going to cause headaches,” she explained.

Glancing out of the window for a moment, Luna returned her gaze to the sleeping lump on the bed, “But what if she is right?”

“Then, pray tell, sister, would you elaborate on what she might be right about?” Celestia gently questioned, finally getting to the root of the problem.

Gazing sadly at the low hanging sun over the horizon, Luna lost herself in her thoughts for a moment before a gentle hoof touched her on the shoulder. “What is wrong, Luna?”

“We are… we were… we… I was just thinking, sister,” Luna said, her gaze not wavering from the low hanging sun.

Patiently drawing back her hoof and glancing to her sun too, Celestia waited.

As the minutes drew by and the sun slowly came closer to the horizon, Luna managed to rearrange her bearings. “Thou remember what we were talking about the night prior?” she asked, her voice barely resembling her normally proud and strong nature.

Thinking for just a second, Celestia nodded, her memory of the night quite fresh in her mind.

“Then thou remember that we already explained what thine former student has accomplished, and what we vowed to do?” Luna half asked, half said to remind her sister anyway, “but what we didst not talk about was what we truly feel about it,” she finished, her voice now slowly cracking again.

Gently opening her wing and laying it over her sisters back, Celestia looked back at the smaller alicorn, “You mentioned something about how sad you are that you cannot fulfill your duties and your vow to someone who is important to you,” Celestia answered.

Nodding once, Luna's gaze fell to the ground, “But this is not the extent of it. The problem is not that we feel we may lose her as a friend, but the problem is that we feel we may have scared her.” Luna explained, “Every time we lay eyes upon her dream, however shielded, we are reminded of her question, we are reminded of what we once did, of what we are capable of and of what ponies could see in us.”

Pausing and looking back up to her sister, Luna looked her into her eyes. “I have done horrible things, sister, and it could have been even more horrible if she would have won, but she didn’t. I didn’t. Twilight saved us. She was the one who helped a stranger in a time where she was in greater danger than the both of us are willing to admit, and she helped us when we were in Ponyville for the first Nightmare Night. She helped us when our own dreams got the best of us and she helped us when we were sitting lost in our chambers, unable to come into touch with anyone in these modern times,” Luna explained.

“Twilight is the one who brought us back to the right path, even before she ascended, and she hath saved the two of us and Equestria more often than any other being in their whole life,” she continued, “and then, when we visit the dreamscape and we see her dreams, shielded from everything, we cannot help but think of what we have done to scare her of us that much.”

Inhaling once more, Lunas gaze hardened and some of her determination came back, “She hath proven to us that she is strong, that she doesn’t need our help, but then, when we see her dream, we can even see from the outside that she is hurt,” Luna said, sniffling once before continuing, “she is not only having nightmares more often than any other pony we know of, but she is also the only one which we are unable to help. Twilight Sparkle, the very pony who hath presented us with the world is the one pony which we canst not help when she is in dire need of it.”

“Every time we lay eyes upon her dream, we are reminded of how generous, kind and strong this pony hath been for us, and every time we have to realize that we are neither for her,” Luna sobbed, “we are standing by, watching the one pony most deserving of our attention suffer. And that hurts, sister. Thou canst not comprehend how horrible we feel, every time, nearly every night when we see Twilight’s dream and we are unable to help her, we are not even knowing of why she hurts so much.” Luna sobbed, her determination gone and leaning into her sister’s coat.

Celestia, who had been quiet the whole time and who also had specks of moisture running down her cheeks, looked ahead, her gaze fixated upon her own sun, “No, sister, here you are wrong,” she finally answered, “for one thousand years, I had to watch you every night in your prison, I had to watch the one who should have been destined to stay by my side being shoved away by myself. I had to watch you, reminded of just how unable I was to see the signs of your true feelings, of how much you were truly hurt,” she explained.

Meaningful silence settled between the sisters as they watched the sun hanging low in the sky. Feeling the gentle touch of the moon, Luna lit her horn, leveling the white disk of light over the horizon. The usual black and star dotted expanse that normally accompanied her celestial duties failed to appear though. In its place was a gentle sheen of lavender coating the world.

Both of the sisters stared ahead, into the sun and moon both hanging low over the horizon, watching as one slowly made its way into the sky.

Feeling the time has come, Celestia lit her horn, gently and gracefully lowering her sun and giving the sky over to her sister completely.

The lingering silence only was broken as Luna's gaze turned from her moon to her sister, “What if Pinkie is right?” Luna asked, “what if Twilight is truly needing us… me… our help?”

“Then we will try our best to help her, of course,” Celestia answered, looking down and into the eyes of her sister.