Friends With The Night

Luna floated in the expanse of consciousness that made up her dreams, being the princess of the night one of her duties was to watch over all of her little pony’s dreams, tonight was a particularly calm night in that she only had to deal with three ponies having nightmares, which left her with a lot of free time.  Maybe I can check on starry? If he isn’t having too good of a dream maybe he wouldn’t mind if we talked or something. Luna cast out her mind, searching for starry. After a few minutes of sifting through dreams she came across one that felt familiar, the edges were more hard defined and Luna could feel starry behind the sphere. Luna pushed past the sphere and made herself invisible so she wouldn’t disturb a good dream if starry was having one. Slowly sounds began to fad in around her, followed by walls a floor and a room, when Luna opened her eyes she was standing in the middle of a classroom, foals, probably eight or so were filling the desks, Luna walked to the edge of the room and looked for starry, then she saw him, or rather thought she saw him, he was sitting in the back away from every other pony, but he was a foal, which was off because dreams didn’t usually alter your appearance to fit you in a scene, you just fit in because the dream willed it so. The teacher at the front of the room cleared her voice, drawing Luna’s attention; she stayed because typically dreams of schools became nightmares.

“okay class it’s time for you to show us what you learned over the past week, first up is… sparkling brook!” a unicorn filly slipped out of her desk and walked to the front of the class.

“today I’m going to make water from this rock,” she announced happily producing a rock from her saddlebag, and setting it on the floor, before pointing her horn at it and after a few seconds the top of the rock burst with water like a geyser and the room was filled with the hoof stomps of applause.

This went on for a while with various students going up and preforming small feats of magic, when Luna suddenly noticed another older pony in the room with her, looking over she noticed starry skies standing off to the side at his correct age. The night princess looked over and saw the foal starry still at his desk, then it hit her. He’s lucid! This is a memory... I should really leave… Luna turned to walk out of the lucid dream memory when suddenly the teacher called out.

“Let’s see who is next, ugh... starry skies,” she said with some hint of irritation. “Get up here and show us what you learned. Luna was shocked at the sudden angry tone the teacher had when talking to starry. Luna’s curiosity got the better of her and she turned to face starry on the raised area at the front of the classroom looking very uncomfortable.

“Okay, so, today I’m going to infuse this ball with magic and make it glow.” Starry said and sat a ball on the ground, pointing his horn at it and making strained sounds. After a few minutes he was practically banging his head against the ball, and the class was growing restless.

“Come on starry! Get off the stage!”

“Quit trying you blank flank and let someone else go.”

“Yes starry I think it’s time that you gave up,” the teacher said and stood up from her desk.

“N-no! I can do this,” starry grunted and squeezed his eyes shut tight, when Luna noticed another student wadding up some paper than threw it at the poor unicorn. Soon the rest of the class started throwing things, and the teacher just sat there. Luna then noticed sparkling brook pick her rock up then throw it and gasped. Time seemed to slow as the rock impacted Starry’s head, eyes going wide and in a flash his horn lit up like the sun, a bright beam shooting from his horn and into the ball, causing it to glow brightly before exploding. Luna looked around and the class was quickly exiting their desks and being herded to the back wall by the teacher, Luna looked back to foal starry and he was up in the air, bolts of light began sweeping out of his horn, then suddenly the memory skipped ahead as if the dreamer didn’t want to watch the whole thing.

Starry was standing in a black crater when the memory resumed, a good portion of the class was charred and some of it was on fire, Starry’s head was bleeding from the rock and the area around his horn was badly burned and scorched. The foal climbed out of his crater and looked at the destruction around the classroom.

“I- I’m sor-“he began but was interrupted as the teacher yelled at him.

“GET OUT NOW!” starry was taken aback and attempted to apologize again but the teacher just screamed at him again, with tears in his eyes he quickly ran out of the classroom, only Luna noticing the new mark on his flank, Luna looked at the teacher’s face, making sure to commit it to memory as the scene faded away to blackness, with starry sitting in the middle with tears in his eyes, not noticing Luna because of her invisibility. Luna was about to walk to him when another scene populated the dreamscape.

Foal starry was standing in a very sparsely furnished living room, it was clearly the same day noting by the injuries the foal had.  An earth pony and a Pegasus were looking down at him, a male and a female.

“What in tartrus is wrong with you boy,” the male said, there was a slur in his voice and Luna could practically taste the alcohol on his breath. The female looked to her husband with a look of disapproval and fear.

“Now dear I’m sure he didn’t mean t-“she was cut off as the brown earth pony turned and back hoofed her into the nearby wall.

“SHUT. UP! This is my son and I will talk to him however I damn well please!”

“P-please don’t hit mom,” starry pleaded, and suddenly the stallion rounded on him and pinned him against the wall with a hoof.

“YOU WILL NOT TELL ME HOW TO TREAT MY WIFE YOU INSIGNIFICANT PILE OF TRASH!” Luna watched with horror as starry was thrown across the room, landing in wooden chair and splintering it to pieces, his horn letting out little sparks of energy in stress, as he stood up he ran to his mom and checked to see if she was okay. Starry’s mom had a bruise on her cheek and tears in her eyes, Starry’s coat was matted with blood as parts of the chair had cut him pretty badly. Starry’s father turned back to him.

“I bet you didn’t know your little school is making ME pay for the damages you caused with your little stunt today.” Starry’s horn flared with power as he stood up.

“You aren’t paying anything! Mom is the only one who has a job!” starry yelled, his father immediately narrowing his eyes and advancing on his son. Starry’s mom’s eyes widened  and starry stood in front of her, with a bright blue flash and a muted boom, his horn let out a concussive blast, throwing his father into a wall. The brown stallion quickly stood up and glared at the foal. Starry’s mom gasped loudly.

“I’m going to kill you boy...” he said in a too even tone, grabbing one of his alchol bottles and smashing it over the counter.

“starry run!” Starry’s mother yelled and the foal quickly turned and ran out the front door, his dad quickly following behind him and stopping at the door. “Yeah you better run! If I even see you again I’ll kill you and your mother!” he finished and stalked back inside, the scene fading to black again, to be replaced by another scene, of foal starry, laying in a field under the night sky crying, slowly the foal began to grow up until it was present starry under the night sky crying in his dreams. Luna looked around and noticed he was the only starry in the scene so he must be the original and decided she couldn’t let him go on like this, but since this was a lucid dream she didn’t have enough control to turn the scene to something happier, so she did the only other thing she could think to do.

Luna dropped her invisibility and walked over to starry skies, lying next to him and draping her wing over his shivering frame. Starry looked up shocked and rubbed his nose on his forearm, then waived his hoof in front of her as if he was trying to dispel a memory, then looked shocked when she persisted in the scene.

“W-what,” he asked confused as to why there was an element of his dream he couldn’t control.

“it’s really me starry, as princess of the night I can enter other ponies dreams, and I very much apologize for intruding on your privacy.” Starry was going to say something when another wave of sobs wracked his body, Luna just pulled him closer and he hid his face in her neck.

“Shhhh, don’t say anything. Just let it out…” Luna said as starry cried into her mane.

“I just I don’t- I didn’t mean... “ starry cried as Luna listened.

“It wasn’t your fault” Luna consoled as starry shook, noting how well constructed this dream was in that it hadn’t broken yet from the dreamers emotions. He must be lucid a lot to hold one together this well.

“I-I know I wasn’t the m-most liked unicorn... b-but everyone hated me and  I just…I didn’t mean to.”  Luna nodded as starry continued sobbing for a few more minutes before starry said something that gave her an idea.

“I- I just  ... I miss my mom…” starry whined to Luna and she looked down at him, getting an idea that might make him feel better.

“Do you want to tell me about her?” Luna asked and starry skies looked up.

“Sure okay,” he said trying to force his sobs down as the scene around them began to warp, to foal stary and his mother standing on a hill in front of him, what looked like modified saddle with a basket attached was resting in front of them, as Starry’s mom leaned down to nuzzle the side of his neck, eliciting a giggle from the foal.

“My mom’s name is spectral cloud, and she worked at the weather factory, this memory is my best memory…” starry said as he whipped tears from his eyes and spectral pulled the basket on her back before securing it tightly with straps. “This is about four months before my incident, and this was the day my mom took me flying for the first time, and took me to the weather factory. The section of ground Luna and starry were on separated from the rest of the field and floated gently into the air. Spectral then picked up starry with her hooves and sat him in the basket with a smile.

“Now hold on tight,” she said as she beat her wings powerfully, slowly taking off from the ground and starting to fly to the distant city of Cloudsdale, Luna and Starry’s platform following behind. Luna looked at spectral cloud, her coat was a powdery blue, her mane and tail were a lighter shade of blue, with a sliver streak through them, and she had pink eyes and a rainbow cloud for a cutie mark. Then Luna noticed a bracelet on her left fore hoof, the same one that starry was wearing.

Finally spectral and starry landed on a street of Cloudsdale, many ponies rushing over to see her and waive and fawning over foal starry in the basket.

“Oh is this your foal? Awwwww” a pink pony said staring at the smiling colt in the basket.

“Yes, this is my pride and joy starry skies!” spectral announced beaming. “Today I am going to give him a tour of the weather factory.” Luna smiled at the happiness from this memory as compared with the previous and looked over to see starry smiling also.

“Yeah, everypony loved my mom, she was the kindest pony I have ever met, and would always stop to help those less fortunate.” To show a point starry had the scene advance to deeper in Cloudsdale, where a pony was attempting to buy something.

“Please I’m just twenty bits short, I need this ring, I’m planning on proposing to her tonight and I’ve been saving for months for this particular ring,” the stallion pleaded to the vendor and Spectral’s ear perked slightly, altering her course to approach the fretting stallion.

“I’m sorry I can’t, business has been bad lately and I can’t afford to give that big of a deduction on one of my best pieces,” the merchant said with a heavy heart. Spectral cloud approached the stallion and gave a warm smile and reached into her bag to pull out twenty bits, depositing them on the cloud counter, designed to not let objects fall through.

“there, that should cover it!” spectral said happily with a warm smile, the other stallion gasped as the merchant took all the bits and brought out a little black box.

“Wha- I- really,” he asked shocked and happily at the blue Pegasus who just nodded. The stallion grabbed the box happily and stuffed it into his saddle bag, turning back to spectral cloud.

“I don’t know how I can ever thank you,” he said and thrust his hooves around her neck in a big hug, after the hug spectral just smiled at him.

“Go get her,” she said and he nodded, flying off.

Luna watched the scene change again to spectral touring the cloud factory.

“Wow that was very kind, especially with how much a weather pony gets paid.”

“Yeah, my mom was like that, she couldn’t stand to see others unhappy.”

Luna watched the tour for a bit longer then looked to starry.

“Did you ever go back?”

Starry looked down.

“yeah,  but she wasn’t there,  my dad had died from alcohol poisoning and my mom had moved away, without telling anybody where, she just told them the town had too many bad memories.  Starry stood up and the dreamscape shimmered, everything falling to blackness before being populated by a cozy library, lit by floating blue spheres. “thanks Luna, I feel a lot better, I’ve never told anypony about what happened to me, and I got to show you, so don’t feel bad about breaking into my mind, if there is one pony I would be okay with doing that it’s you.” Starry stopped and looked down. “Luna,” he asked.

“Yes,” Luna answered.

“are you my friend,” starry asked.  The question took Luna back, she hadnt really made a friend since returning, unless you counted the elements of harmony at last nightmare night, which I suppose she did, and she came to her conclusion.

“Starry, you are my best friend.”  Starry smiled happily at Luna and sat down on a couch that appeared in the library.

“You are my best friend too Luna” starry said and Luna smiled. After a few minutes starry looked around the library. “Hey, Luna, how long till morning?” Luna closed her eyes for a second.

“About five hours,” she responded and starry nodded, summoning the spell book from earlier and leafing through its pages, his subconscious holding a perfect memory of the book, so he could study it and learn it with his conscious mind.

“Okay I don’t want to hold you up from doing your other jobs “starry said and got more comfortable, then Luna rubbed a hoof behind her head.

“Starry, how are you this lucid,” she asked, marveling at the extreme detail in the room around them, starry looked up from his book and around the room.

“After I was forced out of home, I used to have terrible nightmares, so it was either learn how to control my dreams or don’t sleep.” Luna nodded then slipped to her second point.

“Starry, would you like to... accompany me in watching other ponies dreams?” starry dropped his book and looked up at the princess with a smile.

“You can do that?” he asked and Luna nodded. “That sounds great!” Luna nodded and  pointer her horn to starry, thick blue tendrils of light touching him and wrapped around his body, he became vaguely aware of being pulled from something then his vision was filled with an uncountable number of spheres with little worlds suspended in them.