Princess Luna looked out over Canterlot from her high perch in the castle. The night was almost over and Celestia would arrive soon to raise the sun. She had a few more moments of moonlit quiet to enjoy first, though.
She wasn't sure why, but the end of the night was always the quietest part. Even the dreams were quiet. She liked it this way. It meant her nights usually ended peacefully, even if they were sometimes filled with the chaos and fear of pony nightmares early on.
A thousand years ago, before Nightmare Moon, Luna hadn't realized how much her gifts could make a difference in the lives of her subjects. She had thought that dreams didn't really matter. She had resented how everypony celebrated the sun and Celestia, but barely noticed her and her moon. Ponies often entirely forgot their dreams, so she wondered how dreams could matter.
Luna understood now that she had been very wrong. Trapped in the moon all those years had kept her from being able to use most of her powers, but she had still been able to watch ponies both as they lived their waking lives and as they moved through their dreams. What she had come to realize was that dreams mattered a lot. A pony was greatly affected by their dreams. By helping ponies through their bad dreams as they slept under her moon, Luna was helping them become happier and healthier when they were awake.
Tonight there had been relatively few bad dreams. Luna had mostly been able to spend the night enjoying the ponies' dream visions as they wished for wonderful things and anticipated the fun they would have the next day. There were always a few nightmares, but Luna had been able to deftly help the ponies with them work through their fears and concerns.
When Luna saw Celestia come out of the tower doorway to raise the sun and take over the sky for the day, she smiled and gently let her moon set. It had been a good night and she was now ready for some sleep and dreams herself.