I wish, I hope, I dream, I pray

by TNBi

Rating: teen
Tags: Sad, Other, Princess Luna, Tragedy, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 28476

When Princess Luna heard of Snowdrop's wish that she wanted to see the world, she determined that she'd somehow help her realize it. She walked into her dream, and granted her dream vision -- not knowing what the consequences would be.

This fanfic is a tribute to Silly Filly Studios' fan work Snowdrop.
Original author: Sung (Read the Foreword chapter for details)
Cover art is courtesy of Haruliina
Translation Proofreading by Zackfig

Date of First Publication: Jun 24, 2013
Completion of Translation: Aug 16, 2014

==PLOT SUMMARY==

After Snowdrop had created the first winter snowflake, other pegasi learned to carve on the snow as well. With their vision as an advantage, they were able to create much more beautiful carvings on their snowflakes. Snowdrop was very frustrated at this, because she couldn't improve her own work with blind eyes.

One day by chance, she had a small talk with Princess Luna, and told her that she had always wanted to wish upon the stars that she could see the world. Luna, who cared so much about her little friend, promised that she would do whatever she could to realize Snowdrop's wish.

Surely, she couldn't cure her blindness. But being the Princess of the Night, she had her own way to open that little filly's eyes to a wide and colorful world, even though she wasn't fully prepared for such arcane magic that manipulates the dreamscape.

Nopony could have foreseen what that promise would eventually cause...

Published 2013-10-10 00:10:03 UTC
Last updated 2014-08-15 17:50:06 UTC

Prologue

“Your eyes are so strange!”

Snowdrop lifted her head slightly. Even it had been so many years since she last heard such a remark, her heart still tightened a bit — although it was not said to her, but came from outside her house.

She slowly came to her hooves from the chair, reached for her walking stick by her side, and tottered towards the door.

The time was winter. It was snowing everywhere in Equestria, with all the tiny white sprites covering all the land. Even for the city of Cloudsdale, which always floated in midair, there was a thin layer of snow covering its buildings as well. The floor formed by clouds also became stiff, as a result of the water freezing into ice.

She pushed the door open, and saw a number of foals before her house surrounding a gray pegasus mare, making fun of her. The mare was wearing a cloak with hood, and she was hiding her head inside.

“Look! The eyes of this pegasus are so funny!” One of the kids shouted to the others.

The gray mare did not speak, and hid her face in the hood. The foals demanded that she put away that hood and show them her face, but she only responded by shaking her head.

She was much bigger than those kids in size; she could either spread her wings and fly away, or just scold them angrily in defense. Still, the mare only sat there silently, right by the gate to Snowdrop’s house.

“Ow!”

One of the foals caught her off guard, and threw a snowball at her. It directly hit her face, and she shrieked in surprise. Seeing this, Snowdrop knew she should not stand and watch any longer.

“Holly!”

“Uh-oh! It’s granny Snowdrop!” On hearing her voice full of discontent, the foal named Holly froze for a brief moment. The others stopped their actions as well. All of them live in her neighboring homes; that’s why Snowdrop knew every one of them so well.

“It’s definitely wrong to make fun of another pony’s appearance. All of you — you too, Lily, Badger, Gulver and Pepper — now apologize to her; or I’ll tell your parents about this,” said Snowdrop with a stern look on her face.

The kids became uneasy at her remarks. In their eyes, granny Snowdrop was gentle and kind all the time; they realized that they must have done something very wrong that she became so angry like this.

“We’re sorry…” They apologized to the gray mare.

“…it’s okay,” said the mare with a shake of her head.

After the apology, the kids looked back at Snowdrop. She gave them a nod, and they scattered, running away.

“Are you all right? Did you get hurt?” Snowdrop walked slowly to the side of the gray pegasus, who still sat on the ground, covering her face in the hood.

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

“There, let me have a look…”

“No really, I’m really all —”

Snowdrop reached out a hoof and lifted her head from below her chin. Then their eyes met.

“Oooh. You have such beautiful eyes! You really should be proud of them.” A warm smile came to Snowdrop’s face.

“Well… that was the first time ever somepony told me something like that,” the gray mare blushed a little, embarrassed.

“I’ve never seen you before; are you from another place?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing here then?”

“I’m waiting for my friend. He went off urgently to deal with some business, and couldn't bring me along, so we agreed that I’ll meet him up here. It’s just I don’t know for sure when he’ll be here; sometimes he would arrive too late, and sometimes too early,” said the mare.

Too early? Snowdrop was a little confused at that.

“I see…” Snowdrop looked at the gray pegasus, whose cloak was already covered in a thin layer of snow. The mare was trembling a bit; she could have been waiting outside for quite a while.

“It’s getting chilly today — would you like to wait inside my house? I’ll make you some hot tea,” she asked generously.

“Huh? May I?”

The pegasus mare did not refuse; apparently she couldn’t stand the freezing weather outside any longer. As soon as she heard Snowdrop’s invitation, she couldn’t help but beam happily.

Snowdrop chuckled. “Be my guest.”

She led the gray mare into her house. It was not a big one, but it gave a warm feeling to her guest. There were only a small table, two chairs and a brightly burning fireplace in her living room. What made it special was that the walls were decorated with many, many patterns of snowflake.

“Snowflake patterns! Do all of these belong to you? Are you a snowlogist?” The mare asked, recognizing the decors on the walls.

“Snowlogist? What an interesting name for a job. Is that how you young pegasi address snow makers today? Well yes, I was one snowlogist, but long retired…” a smile lightened Snowdrop’s features as she picked up the small teapot from the table, walked to the kitchen, and lifted her head towards the cabinet above.

“Let me see… Where did I put the tea leaves? Alas, I am indeed aging; I remember having made some tea this morning…”

“Can I help?” asked her guest.

“No… no thanks, I have my own way of finding it.” Snowdrop said, closing her eyes gently, and started to grope about. At first the guest was very puzzled at her behavior, but then something even more astonishing came along —

Even with her eyes closed, Snowdrop’s actions were by no means hindered; in fact, she became even more agile and swift. Before long she put her hoof on one of the cabinets, smiled and said, “Bingo — I can smell the pleasant scent inside.”

She opened the cabinet, and the tea leaves were indeed right lying there. She did not open her eyes right away after finding them; instead, she went on blindfolded and put them inside the teapot accurately, then reached for the boiling kettle on the stove, and poured some hot water inside with same accuracy. She waited a few seconds until the dry leaves became soaked and rinsed, then poured the water out of the pot before filling it again with fresh hot water for cooking tea.

The intoxicating herbal fragrance filled the house inch by inch from the kitchen. She then carefully took the teapot back to the living room, and put it on the mat with extra caution.

“How… did you do that?!” The mare asked, her eyes widely open. She had secretly worried several times that Snowdrop could get hurt for doing these without even looking, and thus had dared not to breathe too hard. It was not until Snowdrop had finished doing all these without a hitch that she dared to ask.

“Huh?” Snowdrop opened her eyes, looking at the mare for a couple of seconds in confusion before realizing what the guest had asked about, and she chuckled.

“Oh… That was one of my old habits. I used to be blind in my childhood; that’s how I learned the habit of doing things without looking.”

She poured a cup of tea for her guest, and another cup for herself. The gray mare looked at the steaming drink, and sipped at it carefully, before letting a relaxed expression appear on her face.

“Well…” said Snowdrop, “you remind me of the story of my youth again, one I haven’t told another pony for quite a long time… Would you like to hear it?”

“Sure!” Her gray guest nodded eagerly.

“Okay, let’s see, where should I begin…”

Chapter 1: A Wholehearted Wish

Once upon a time, there was a little pegasus filly named Snowdrop. Her life was a little “different” than all the other ponies: not long after her mother had given birth to her, a serious illness struck her, taking away her eyesight. Years passed, and she lived in a world of sole darkness.

With her blind eyes, Snowdrop often felt herself inferior: there were just too many things that she was unable to do, and she always needed special care from other ponies in her daily life. At school, her classmates would usually regard her as a big hindrance whenever they were assigned to work with her.

She became depressed; she wouldn’t want to be the burden on other ponies, instead, she’d rather be one that may contribute something of her own to the world. Her mother had always told her that doing her best would be quite enough; still, she hoped that someday, she would win the respect and favor of all the others. Her attempts however had hardly succeeded, and had usually caused an aftermath that must be coped with.

It had always been this way, until the end of winter that year.

The year was special: it was the centennial of the rulers of Equestria, Princess Celestia and Luna’s reign. The school in Cloudsdale, which Snowdrop attended, had planned to offer a present of commemoration to them on the very first day of spring. Back in winter, the teacher had asked her students to work in groups and come up with something to present to the princesses, and as always, Snowdrop found no one to partner her. It was not until the remaining few days of winter that her teacher discovered that, and she was offered to get placed in one group and get credit for the project. Still, she politely turned down her teacher’s offer, saying that she had already prepared a very special gift, so special that it must be done all by herself.

In fact, she had told a lie — for being a blind filly, she just did not want to bother her classmates that could have been assigned to work with her. She had prepared nothing. She had not even the slightest clue of what to prepare.

That night, she curled on a cloud outside her house and wept alone, for she could neither go to the spring sunrise, nor present her gift to the princesses, all because she was a useless foal that couldn’t see or even do anything.

In her sorrow, all of a sudden, a story her mother had told her came to her mind — a long time ago, the night stars were quite rare and seldom to be caught a glimpse of, so the ponies back then would wish upon the star they saw, because rumor said it would make that wish come true. It was not until Princess Celestia and Luna had brought forth the Sun and the Moon that the stars would come out more often, and decorate the night skies.

She had wanted to wish upon a star that she could regain her sight, however her mother had told her that she should save her wishes for something she really needed — because she was a special little filly, one like no other, for some wish like that.

Back to reality at this moment, Snowdrop stood up from the cloud. She inhaled deeply, and started to make her wish to the stars:

“I wish, I hope, I dream, I pray… that by the Princesses’ rule, light my way. Please…? I I just want to show… I can do something for once.”

The next moment after she finished her prayers, she heard the snow — back then, snow was still little droplets of ice, not holding such pretty appearances as the snowflakes today; when the snow fell upon her leg, it chimed just like the sound of a star’s twinkle she had heard before. She was surprised, and became very excited, as an inspiration suddenly struck her mind; she pulled a feather off her wing, and started engraving on the snow, carefully digging little holes to form patterns. Hour after hour, she kept on doing it in the cold snowy night, until finally her mother called her to come home.

Several days later, at the Spring Sunrise Celebration, Snowdrop came to the Princesses and presented her gift: The Snow-made Star for Winter. She explained that she made it in hope of changing winter into a favorable season just like the other three to all the ponies: despite she hadn't been able to see the shape of a star, when she heard the snow chiming just like one, she tried her best to carve it into its shape, so that when snow falls, the ponies on the ground could have something to relish and to make a wish upon.

Her gift was well accepted by the Princesses, especially Princess Luna: it was the first time that she had ever come across somepony who could truly understand the wonder of her night. She thus became very close friends with Snowdrop.

When the next winter came, the pegasi spread the carved snow into the air to let it fall upon the land. Ponies cheered for seeing such beautiful thing, and that was when Snowdrop earned her cutie mark.

It wasn't the end of story though — and in fact, it was only the beginning. After Snowdrop's graduation ceremony, a snow factory was specifically established in Cloudsdale by the two Princesses, in order to produce enough beautiful snowflakes to cover all of Equestria. Inside it, the temperature was kept cold enough for the ponies to work on the snowflakes.

Naturally, Snowdrop became one of the workers there, as well as the instructor who taught other ponies the tricks to engrave patterns on the fragile crystalized snow. For the first few months, when most ponies weren't able to keep the snow from cracking into bits, she was highly respected by them. It was a time when Snowdrop was cheerful, knowing that she could really do something for this world even with eyes that couldn't see.

And yet the sweet months passed all too soon; by then, those who had followed Snowdrop's instructions had mastered the techniques and started carving snowflakes artistically, while Snowdrop herself could still only make some ugly and bizarre shapes.

It was not her fault — she had no way of telling beauty from ugliness, for ever since the day that she could remember things, her world was in pitch black, — of which she was not sure either, for she had not any knowledge of colors. Even she could dig holes four times as many as anypony else could do on one single snowflake, the results would not inspire any sense of beauty. Day by day, she slowly fell back to those times when she was regarded as a useless pony, all because of her blind eyes.

Then one day, when the snow she produced was mistakenly judged as waste product and disposed of, she wept bitterly, and run out of the factory. Princess Luna, who happened to be visiting the factory, saw her flew away in tears. She flew after her, wanting to know what had happened.

They rested on a piece of cloud hanging over Cloudsdale, and Snowdrop told Luna that she wanted to quit her position, as she couldn't bring happiness to the ponies who'd see the ugly snowflakes she had made.

"No, it's not like that..." Princess Luna soothed her, "You've brought me happiness. I don't find your snow ugly at all. They're all very special — each of them are one of a kind. Last winter, whenever I noticed the snow you carved covering the pathway, I couldn't help smiling. Your effort was not wasted." She spread her wings, and held Snowdrop close to her gently, wiping away her tears with her feathers and giving her comfort.

Luna's care made Snowdrop feel better, and she worked up her nerves to ask the princess more about wishing upon a star. For there was still one wish in her heart that she dared not say, in fear that her selfish and unrealizable wish would trouble the stars too much. They've granted her one wish after all, and she felt she should appreciate it instead of demanding even more. Nevertheless, it was still her heart's desire to make it come true.

"You have underestimated the powers the stars own... But it's all right, since you don't know how large their quantity is. In the night sky, they glimmer, even though it's not so bright and dazzling as the sun, it's enough to lighten all the land. The scene when they appear in the sky, is even more mind-refreshing than anything I've witnessed on this earth. Thus in my opinion, there will be a star that may help you realize that wish. Maybe making a wholehearted wish upon them, and they'll make it come true."

"Really? But I don't know how to do it the wholehearted way. Well... could I do it just like when I wished upon them for the first time?" Snowdrop said, hanging her head in thought.

"You may pretend that I were a star, and practice speaking your wish to me."

"Huh? May I?" Snowdrop asked, astonished.

"Yes. I'll exert myself in acting like one."

"Okay.... I'll try." Snowdrop inhaled deeply, before she began:

"Oh the stars above in the sky... It's me again, the humble filly that had wished upon you last time. My name is Snowdrop, and I'd like to thank you for granting me my last wish, and also... I'm sorry for thanking you so late. Now I call upon you, because I have another wish... My mom thinks that I don't need to say it, and I don't want to be a wayward pony either, but..."

Snowdrop looked very solemn, as if really wishing upon a star.

"I wish, I hope, I dream, I pray... that my eyes could see... even if it's only for a day. I really want to see the world, and see you... and also, see Princess Luna, who has been caring for me all the time."

Princess Luna couldn't help but slightly opened her mouth, nearly forgetting about the practicing and almost broke her silence. It was after a while that Snowdrop spoke again: "Thank you for listening to my wish, Princess Luna."

"That was all of it?"

"Yes." Snowdrop nodded, a wry smile came to her face. "What an extravagant wish I have, don't I? I've heard the doctor telling my mother, that unless a miracle should happen, I won't be able to see anything for all my life. I know mom doesn't want me to make such a wish because I could get disappointed, so... I just can't keep being wayward and demand the stars realize this wish of mine, right?"

"...Snowdrop, little pegasus filly of Cloudsdale," after a period of silence, Princess Luna said, "I'll bear your wish in a star's stead. And I hereby vow to you, that whatever method I try, I'll certainly make your wish come true."

"Um... Huh?" Snowdrop was surprised, not knowing what was going on.

"Wait for my good news!" Princess Luna spread her wings, and flew away. Snowdrop stood there stupefied for a while, before finally coming to herself.

Chapter 2: Light and Shadow

“Snowdrop… Snowdrop.”

Snowdrop heard someone calling her name among the darkness. It wasn’t Mom, but it sounded so familiar. As soon as she recognized that voice from her memories, she went lucid at once.

“Princess Luna?”

Luna chuckled. “Yes, it’s me.”

“How come? Oh, did I fall asleep in the workshop again?” Snowdrop said, panicked. She reached out one hoof, but couldn’t touch anything. And it felt vey odd beneath her other hooves as well, as if she wasn’t standing on any substance. It was like… like…

“No, you’re at home, sleeping sound on your own bed.”

“You mean… I’m dreaming now?” Snowdrop asked in confusion.

“Yes, you are indeed dreaming.”

“So… I’m dreaming of you?”

“No, it was I who came into your dream.”

“Huh?” This time Snowdrop was really puzzled.

“As the master of the Moon, I’m in charge of everything that relates to the night, and can even travel into dreams. This is my first time trying this, and I never expected that I could succeed.”

“Whoa, that’s really amazing… So why are you coming for me, Princess?”

“Do you remember your wish upon the stars? You wished that you could see me.”

“Oh, that… Actually I didn’t make that wish later, because I don’t want to give them such burden. And I’m sorry… I still can’t see you even in my dream.” Snowdrop hung her head in depression. She actually had had dreams before; in those dreams, she could hear various sounds and even have touching senses, but… no visuals at all, not ever.

“That’s because you haven’t opened your eyes in your dreams yet. Nopony is blind when they’re in their dreamscape.”

“I-is that true?” Luna’s words surprised Snowdrop.

“YOUR ROYAL PRINCESS AM I, THUS NEVER DO I DECEIVE OR LIE!” Luna said in an apparently louder manner than her usual speaking. Terrified, Snowdrop shrinked. “I’m sorry for asking,” she apologized.

“Oh… I’m not angry at all! Please don’t fear me,” Luna said anxiously in response. From her tone, Snowdrop could sense somehow that she sort of feared to be disliked by others.

“Princess Luna?”

“Come on, try to open your eyes, and look at me.”

Snowdrop was a bit nervous. For the first time ever, she knew that she was in her dream, yet could act by her own will. She inhaled deeply, and thought of the feel of opening her eyes.

And then, for the first time since she could remember things, there was light breaking through the darkness before her. It was so dazzling, but it made she felt a jolt of joy running up from her hooves.

“I’ve implanted the image of me and you inside your mind. How do I look?”

“I see… Oh! I can see! This is, this is, so… oh I don’t know what to say!”

Slowly, when Snowdrop became used to the light, she could see the figure of a pony, who was much bigger than herself. She had a pair of wings and a horn, and there were glimmering dots hidden in her mane, and she looked so… beautiful?

Snowdrop shrieked amazedly and excitedly. She looked at her hooves, then her mane, and then her own cutie mark, before she said in a little frustration:

“These are colors, right? I know there are things called ‘colors’, they have many names and they are what this world consists of; but I don’t know any of them…”

“Don’t worry; take your time and let me teach you what colors they are.” Luna smiled to her. It was the first smile Snowdrop had seen, which gave her a feeling just like when she had tasted candy for the first time, so warm and so sweet.

“This color ---- what’s its name?”

“It’s ‘light cyan’. The darker one is called ‘light sky blue’, and the even darker one is called ‘sky blue’. It’s the color of the sky in daytime, and it’s your color too…”

And so Luna and Snowdrop settled themselves in the dreamscape, with Snowdrop pointing at and asking of each color she saw around, and Luna answering all her questions in patience.

“And what’s this color surrounding us called?” Snowdrop looked around.

“It’s called ‘Light’. It’s the color when all colors mix together. When it shines upon an object, its corresponding color will be reflected into your eyes to form the color you see, and make that object visible to you. Light also represents the day, and it’s the color that stands for my sister. And in contrast…” Luna pointed at the black regions beneath their hooves. “This is called ‘Shadow’, formed when something blocks away the light. Where there is no light, it’s called ‘Darkness’, and the things inside it won’t be visible. It also represents the night just as I do, and it’s the color that stands for me.”

Snowdrop noticed the expression on Luna’s face changed when she spoke the last part; it made her feel awful inside. This must be a sad expression, she thought to herself.

“...But I think, I still prefer the darkness, not the light,” Snowdrop said after a short silence, and she lowered her body to study their shadows. “It makes me feel secure just like when I can’t see things, and it is fun to watch ---- look, it’s imitating me!” She swung her hoof, and the shadow on the ground did the same thing, amusing her into a string of giggles.

“That’s only because you haven’t witnessed how beautiful things can be when light shines upon them. And when you do, you’ll no longer like whatever’s covered in shadow. Nopony… nopony loves the night, or me.” Luna didn’t feel relieved at Snowdrop’s words, and that sad expression didn’t leave her face. But then, she received a sudden hug.

“Snowdrop?” said Luna in surprise.

“You may be right ---- I might not like the shadow or darkness anymore someday, but there’s still one thing that I’m certain of: I will always, always love Princess Luna, for always! Because, it was you who made me able to see, and I will cherish such great favor for all my life,” said Snowdrop.

“But my abilities can only allow you see things in dreams for now,” said Luna sorrowfully.

“That’s okay,” Snowdrop answered cheerfully, burying her face into Luna’s beautiful mane. “Besides, I love to see Princess Luna’s smiling face, and I’ll try to make you feel happy. So please don’t be so sad, would you?”

On hearing this, Luna’s eyes sparkled a bit, and her heart moved.

“Okay… and I’ll try my best as well… to bring colors to your dreams, and bring you happiness.”

After that, they carried on their little talk from the daytime: Snowdrop told Luna of the interesting things happened in her life, and Luna in return told her about the scenery she had seen all across Equestria, and promised that she’d show all of them to her when she could better manipulate the dreamscape.

They talked on until the dream was about to end, when Snowdrop should wake up and Luna should lower the moon for Celestia to raise the sun. They bid each other farewell somewhat reluctantly, and soon afterwards, Snowdrop woke up from her bed.

Finding that pitch black had once again dominated the world before her, Snowdrop felt a little frustrated. Yet when she remembered that Luna had promised that she’d visit her again when she dreamed, she felt utterly excited and expectant.

Chapter 3: The Sky, the Earth and the Sea

“You dreamed of Princess Luna? Bwahahaha! So what? It’s not real anyway.”

Snowdrop came to the factory and told her workmates about her dream she had the night before excitedly, only to be greeted by Cumulo Nimbus’s cynical remarks.

“But it was real! Princess Luna did enter my dream, and she made me able to see, taught me of so many colors, and she promised me… she promised that she’d let me see even more when I dream again.”

Snowdrop defended herself hurriedly, when Cirrus, who was standing aside interrupted her, saying, “Last time in my dream, my dad promised me to take me to the ground for a tour, and I took it for real. It was not until I eagerly spent a whole week for preparations that I discovered it was just a dream, and shucks, it was a real turn-off.”

Cumulo Nimbus and Cirrus were Snowdrop’s classmates: one was a tart-speaking girl, the other was a boy with simple and playful nature. Snowdrop was surprised at start that they actually would like to join in the snow workers, and to surprise her even more, they three were assigned to the very same production group.

“Dream are just dreams; they are not, and will never be real!” Cumulo insisted.

“But…”

“No buts! Dreams are called ‘dreams’ because they just won’t happen! Enough talk; now you two move it and get back to work! One making hideous snowflakes, another being a slowpoke — thanks to you, I have to double my workload to keep us on schedule! How the heck could I be so unlucky as to work with you? If it weren’t for those petty bits they pay, I’d have quit working at this darn freezing dump!” complained Cumulo in discontent.

Hearing her mention the “hideous snowflakes”, Snowdrop’s heart winced again with pain — she still couldn’t get past the memory, when the snowflakes she had made were treated as waste product. It made her helplessly feel that she herself was so useless.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. Cumulo Nimbus only made a cold grunt, before returning to her workbench to continue her work.

“Cirrus, what about you? Do you not believe my words either?” Snowdrop asked, discouraged.

“Uh… I’m sorry, but Cumulo was right. Even though dreams may seem so real at times, and you hope that it could be real… they are still usually just…” Cirrus finished his words with a shrug, then he realized that Snowdrop couldn’t see at all, and so returned to his workbench as well.

It really saddened Snowdrop that nopony believed her. Still, she was very certain that she must have seen the real Princess Luna, as there had been no real vision in her dreams ever before. She was sure that she could dream of her again that night.

It turned out that it didn’t go as she had expected. That night, Snowdrop went to bed early in hope of seeing the moon princess once more; when she opened her eyes again, there was only darkness, and the time was already next morning. She had slept through the night without dreaming at all — which was sort of frustrating for her; still, she convinced herself that Princess Luna probably hadn’t come only because she hadn’t had any dream.

And then the second day passed in the same way. Then the third day followed as well. Snowdrop became worried, in fear that it really just had been a dream, for Princess Luna hadn’t come to see her even when she was awake. Again, she managed to convince herself that both princesses were too busy dealing with political affairs to pay her a visit.

And then on the fourth day, things turned — but for the worse: Snowdrop had a dream, and inside it she could hear all the sounds, feel the wind on her face which brought the scent of the flowers in the fields; but she could see nothing but darkness. Everything was only the same as in the dreams she had had before. When she realized that she was already dreaming, she panicked so much that she awoke from her sleep, and started sobbing quietly.

The fifth day came, and depression had once again returned to Snowdrop’s face. She was about to give up any hope, for she herself couldn’t tell, whether it was real, or that she had a pretty dream merely because she wanted to see things so much… And she even doubted that Princess Luna’s promise, that she would grant her her wish, was also part of that dream.

One week passed, during which Snowdrop had a few more disappointing blind dreams. That night, when she was going to bed as usual, she couldn’t help but pray to the stars that she could dream of Princess Luna again: be it real or not, she still longed for seeing that beautiful figure of hers she saw in that very dream, even though she wasn’t sure whether that was how Princess Luna would look in reality.

With that, Snowdrop closed her eyes, and drifted into a sound sleep…

…

…

“...Snowdrop! Oh, I finally did it again! Snowdrop!”

When Snowdrop opened her eyes, she almost leapt with joy: her eyes could once more see the light, the shadow, and the moon princess before her.

“I’m so sorry that I failed time and time again when I tried to enter your dream; I’ve been trying and practicing it every night, trying so hard that I had hardly any energy left to visit you in the daytime. You must have waited for too long, haven’t you?’

“No,” Snowdrop shook her head, “I’m just so happy that I could see you again.” She nearly wept at the moment when she saw the princess. Then she noticed the look of fatigue on Luna’s face, knowing that the princess really had been exerting herself. Thinking of how she had almost given up her own hope, Snowdrop secretly blamed herself for having thought so.

“So, are you ready?” asked Luna.

“Ready for what?” asked the puzzled little filly.

“For seeing more of those fascinating things,” Luna answered, and closed her own eyes; the next moment, her horn glowed a pale light. Snowdrop knew what the princess was doing, for she had learned from her that a unicorn or alicorn could use magic with the help of that horn on the head. She was somewhat envious — oh, if only she could use magic herself!

In the meantime, she felt wind flowing by her face. The once empty dreamscape now miraculously had wind blowing in it, which seemed to be swirling right from the spot where Princess Luna was standing. Following that, a dazzling beam emitted from the princess’s horn, shooting straight upwards, and caused one ripple after another on the open space above them; then a lump of some mass appeared there, gray, without an exact shape. It grew larger and larger above, hovering above their heads; the space around them, which was still bright just moments ago, slowly dimmed down.

ZAP!

A white flash suddenly pierced out of that gray volume, accompanied by an enormous booming sound that caught Snowdrop completely off guard and startled her.

That must have been a thunder! She realized that right away by its sound. There had been times that she heard such sounds, loud like a roaring monster, and she had disliked it ever since. But this moment, she had just witnessed how such enormous energy struck from the clouds down to the depths, and she was shocked and amazed by such scene, unable to speak a word, until droplets of something cold fell on her. Knowing that the gray volume was a cloud, she could guess what these were.

It was her first time seeing raindrops — they seemed to be colorful and colorless at the same time, while their rims glistened with shiny light; she could easily see Luna’s figure through the rain while distinguishing the shape of raindrops. To her, all these seemed so amazing.

Just as she was admiring the wonder of the rain, another thunder boomed loudly from inside the clouds. Despite she had just witnessed one thunder a moment ago, she still huddled up out of fear. “Princess Luna…” she turned to look at the alicorn princess, and saw her eyes and horn were still glowing, showing that the magic she cast was still halfway from done.

The winds blew stronger, and the rain poured on, with thunders clapping every now and then. All reminded Snowdrop of a weather she had encountered before: a tempest!

“Princess Luna?” she called out to her once more; she was scared, and she had not the slightest clue why her princess would show her such terrifying scenes. She found out that the rain fell from the clouds didn’t just disappear; it was accumulating into pools right beside their hooves, in the blustering wind, water flew up and splashed on her and Princess Luna’s bodies. When the pooling water could almost submerge her, Snowdrop beat her wings in fear, and flew all the way up against the harsh gale.

“Princess Luna!!” She shouted and turned her head, only to find that the princess was still standing there, taking no heed of the water that had already gone up neck-high. Snowdrop wanted to fly over to her, but was blown into a wrong direction; when she looked again, there were no more signs of Luna that could be seen above the raging surface. In desperation, Snowdrop nervously flew above the clouds, and stayed at a less windier spot.

Soon after she flew up there however, the wind, the rain and the thunder all abruptly stopped — leaving only tranquility. Snowdrop saw that the cloud under her hooves slowly turned to white from gray and scattered about, and the waters that had been raging in the gale became still as well.

“Princess Luna! Where are you?” Snowdrop called anxiously from above a little mass of cloud. There was no reply from below but the silently running waters. She became even more agitated and started crying. “Princess Luna… where are you? Don’t leave me alone…” Her tears fell onto the surface and stirred some ripples.

RUMBLE…

All of a sudden, the still surface became thoroughly stirred, and some thunder-like but not-thunder sound boomed from the depths of the water. Bubbles started floating above, and Snowdrop was expecting with all her heart that Princess Luna would be breaking the surface pretty soon — however, what came out was something gigantic and completely unexpected.

SIZZLE! Something red-hot grew out from below and instantly vaporized the water into gas on contact — Snowdrop could feel its searing hotness even when standing high above on the cloud. It was her first time seeing something so brightly red and scorching at the same time; it felt like the sun at summer, only hotter, and it oozed around, but not being water.

More and more of that stuff grew out — Snowdrop was getting so nervous that her heart almost jumped out her mouth, for she thought she’d get vaporized as well. However, that was when it stopped its ooze. The brightly red became darker and darker, while the heat it contained cooled down bit by bit. In the end, it turned into something grayish black, not hot anymore.

Before she could realize what had been going on, the mass let out another odd “Pop!” sound, and a crack appeared, spreading across it in amazing speed; with another “Pop!” sound, Princess Luna jumped out from of that giant crack.

“It’s done! How does it look, Sno… Whoa!” Before Luna could finish, Snowdrop rushed to her embrace, so fast that she almost knocked her over.

“Princess!” she was weeping, “I was so worried about you! I’m so happy to see you all right!”

“Oh my little filly... Did I scare you? I thought you might find all these very fun to watch.”

“It wasn’t fun at all! You just disappeared there, and there were those horrifying things, and I was so scared!” Snowdrop was almost wailing while hugging Luna’s neck tightly — she was indeed panicked about the moon princess’s safety.

“Take it easy, my little friend… It’s already over. Now come on and see this place,” soothed Luna. The little filly let loose of her embrace, and scaned everything around them.

The mass below her hooves felt very firm, and although it felt a little soft too, it wasn’t a cloud. The breeze had already returned as well, gently, leaving waves over the water surface, which then splashed on the mass she stood upon. She lifted her head, and saw that beyond the clouds, there was an awesome color of clear blue above, just like her fur color.

“These are the three bases of the world we are living in: the sky, the land and the sea.” Luna told her.

“The sea? But isn’t it just water?” Snowdrop asked, after examining the flowing masses before her.

“Well, indeed; but it’s the ingredients dissolved inside that makes it the sea. You can smell it in the air.”

The sky blue filly closed her eyes, and sniffed the scents brought by the breeze. It was something different from the wet smell of rainy days, as if there were salt added to the scent. She walked to the water, bent down and took a sip.

“Yuck! It’s salty, like teardrops!” She grimaced. Seeing that, Luna couldn’t help but laugh a little.

The night princess settled down again, and started telling her little friend everything about the sky, the earth and the sea, about what colors they are and how much meaning they have to all the ponies. It didn’t last long however, when Snowdrop noticed something not right about the princess: she looked exausted, yawning on and on, and she could barely keep her eyes open.

And so the little filly asked, “Princess Luna, are you getting tired?”

“Only a little, but it doesn’t matter… I can still — yawn — go on with telling…” Luna’s head was nodding as she answered her.

“...Should we call it a night, Princess Luna?” seeing the princess had become so weary, Snowdrop said considerately, “having experienced so much just now, I’m too getting tired. Um… could we sleep together?”

“If that’s your wish…” Luna nodded at her as approval, and she came and cuddled by the princess’s side. Luna spread one wing, and gently placed it on her body as a quilt. The two of them rested comfortably in the sea wind, and soon fell into a deep sleep on this new born land. Until Snowdrop opened her eyes once again, and discovered there was only darkness, did she realize that she had already awaken.

“Snowdrop! It’s time for breakfast! Are you up yet?” Her mother called from outside her room.

“Coming!” She answered aloud.

“Until next time, Princess Luna,” she then murmured to herself, and came off her bed; just then, a sudden dizziness came out of nowhere and struck her, making her legs felt so feeble that she almost fell to the floor. Fortunately, it was only temporary, and she managed to regain her standing in an instant.

What she didn’t know was that it was only the beginning of a series of problems…

Chapter 4: Deception

Another month passed, and the season of Cloudsdale shifted to autumn. Everypony at the snow factory were diligently working, for they’d prepare more than enough snowflakes to spread over all Equestria before winter came.

The time of day passed minute by minute, and the sun slowly lowered towards the west; in another couple of hours, the day would end and the moon would be about to rise. Being the skillful pony she was, Snowdrop finished her daily quota quite early as usual, and she turned toward the direction of those two workmates of hers and asked, “I’ve just finished… Would you like me to help out?”

“Oh yeah! Certainly — ouch!” Cirrus’s answer was interrupted, as if somepony hit him behind his head. Then Cumulo’s voice came along, “No thanks, you’d better go home. We’ll deal it by ourselves.”

“But… Well, what if I prepare some more for tomorrow?”

“Don’t. Our raw snow reserve is already used up because Cirrus crushed a pile of them today. Just go home, will you?” answered Cumulo emotionlessly.

“No I didn’t! It was — ouch!” Cirrus protested, but it sounded like he received another punch.

Snowdrop’s heart sank. Although the three of them shared the same way back home, Cumulo Nimbus had started to linger longer at the factory with Cirrus recently, leaving her alone on the way back, as if she would intentionally avoid walking with her. “Fine,” she said, and left reluctantly.

The autumn weather outside was not so cold as in the low-temperature rooms of the factory, but it was not very agreeable either. She stepped into the dressing room, took off her heat-preserving suit for work, then put on her scarf, which her mother gave her to keep herself warm, before leaving the factory.

“Excuse me,” Just as she went out of the factory, somepony called to her. It was a strange voice that Snowdrop wasn’t familiar with; she guessed it could be a pony from another place.

“What’s the matter, sir?” she turned around.

“May I know if you are a worker at this… Oh, your eyes…”

She sensed the other pony was surprised to discover her blindness, and it was one common behaviour when any pony met her for the first time.

“Yes, I work here, and I can make snowflakes even though I can’t see,” she answered him. Her mother and her teacher had both warned her not to speak to strange ponies, but his voice was really kind, and she let her guard down a bit.

“Please allow me to introduce myself. My name’s Victor, and I’m from Manehattan. I came here to — oh, how should I say this — could I possibly ask for a piece of hoof-made snow from you, young lady?”

“A piece of snow? I’m truly sorry, but it’s prohibited to bring snow out of the factory before winter…”

”I already know that,” Victor interrupted, “I’ve asked a lot of other workers and all of them turned me down for the same reason. But I have to try… because I’m doing this for my dear aged mother,” he said, starting to sob. “Last winter… I happened to pass by here and saw those beautiful snowflakes; when I returned home and told my mother about how beautiful they were, she’s been hoping to come over and see them for herself at this winter. But not long after that… she turned ill this spring, seriously ill, and now even the doctors say that her days are numbered. I had to come here on my own to beg for a little snowflake… to bring it back to her and fulfill her wish… because she is my only family.”

“Your only family...” knowing this, Snowdrop’s heart moved. Ever since her father had left, her mother was the only family she had. She loved her mother deeply, and she’d surely do the same for her if she’d fell ill someday.

“Please… I just want to bring her a snowflake to see. Just a little piece of snow, I beg of you… I don’t mind the cost; whatever price you offer, I’d gladly accept!”

“Price? No, no, no, snowflakes are for free — they are made because they should bring happiness to all ponies. I’ll try to get a piece for you, but please keep this just between us.”

“Oh, thank you so much! You’re such a kind girl,” Victor said gratefully, “and I have another question I’d like to ask — I heard snowflakes were made like the shape of stars, so can they realize a pony’s wish?”

“Well, I really hope they could…” the blue filly blushed a little, embarassed of her childish thoughts, “but if you put all your heart into your wish you want to make, I believe your mother could get well soon.”

“That’s what I’ve been wishing for.”

“Okay, I’m going back to find some snow for you. Please wait here,” Snowdrop said and turned around to enter the factory.

“Thank you again, dear little filly.”

I’ll just take a piece from those I’ve made today, she thought. I can make another piece in just a moment, and make up for the one I took. Thinking of how that snowflake could cheer up another pony, her heart bloomed with so much joy.

But when she was near her workshop, she heard something completely unexpected —

“Oh. Are we doing that again? Snowdrop won’t be too happy if she knows about this…”

It was Cirrus’s voice. Snowdrop knew better than to eavesdrop on another pony’s conversation, but knowing this concerned her, she quietly hid beside the door, and perked up her ears.

“Shut up. Stop complaining and help me pour her snowflakes out.” It was Cumulo Nimbus giving the other one imperative orders again. But why does she want to do that?

“But I think the ones she made looked already very good! Why modify them?” Cirrus sounded confused.

— Wait, modify??

“Good?? Have you lost your mind, slacker?? Those ones she made were terrible, nopony would want to look at them, and they won’t bring happiness either! If we don’t help her refine their shapes, they could get mistaken for wasted material again!”

Each word she said pricked Snowdrop’s heart like a sharp knife — she felt she was bleeding from the inside. Remembering that she just received praises from the forepony that her crafting had improved than before, it dawned on her that it was only because her snowflakes were secretly being touched.

“Watch it, it’s falling out! Go pick it… up…”

A snowflake fell to the side of Snowdrop’s hoof. Cumulo Nimbus, who was ordering Cirrus to pick it up, stammered when she noticed the other filly by the door, who picked up that snowflake without saying a word.

“Snowdrop…? Why are you coming back? How long have you been here? Did you see… I mean, hear everything?” asked Cirrus very nervously.

“...So that’s why you want me to go home ahead of you.”

“Snowdrop... l-let me explain… It was…” Cumulo said hurriedly, walking towards her.

“STAY AWAY FROM ME!” Snowdrop snapped. Her reaction intimidated the other two — they had never seen her being so furious before. She usually would be vulnerable and burst into tears when she encountered a setback, but this time, she was enraged.

“You’ve been lying to me all the time! I don’t need your help!! I’d rather let them trash my ugly snowflakes than let you take care of them! I HATE YOU!!” She yelled, turned around and run away. Cirrus wanted to chase her, but was blocked by Cumulo Nimbus, “Hold on.”

“Cumulo Nimbus! What are you talking about?! You should tell her you didn’t mean to be that harsh! You were merely trying to…”

“Didn’t you hear what she just said? She doesn’t need our help. Put them away… and let’s go home,” answered Cumulo Nimbus emotionlessly, and turned away from Cirrus to conceal her expression.

“Cumulo Nimbus…”

Snowdrop left the factory in a bad mood, but she still remembered to keep her snowflake inside a container made by the unicorns to keep it from thawing. Victor, who saw her coming, trotted towards her.

“Any luck? Do you have it?”

“Here it is,” she took out the container to him.

“...What is that thing?!”

The “thank you” she expected didn’t occur at all. Instead, Victor fell silent for a moment before asking her in disgust.

“Huh? It’s a snowflake, isn’t it?” Snowdrop didn’t realize why he asked that.

“You tell me this is a snowflake? Are you kidding me?! It doesn’t even look like the snow I saw last year!” Victor’s attitude suddenly took a sharp turn.

“But-but it’s indeed a snowflake… because I made it myself,” Snowdrop said in a low voice.

“Oh, I’ve been such a fool to let a blind one help me! I can’t even sell this pathetic thing!”

“What?! Didn’t you say you were for your sick mother—”

“My mother? Phooey! I made that up!” Victor said grumpily. Finally learning the hard truth, Snowdrop felt as if an earthquake was rocking inside her. “How can you do this to me?!” she shouted angrily.

“For money of course! There are several aristocrats placing high bids over these novel snowlakes to get them before winter! I’ve tricked a bunch of foals like you to get snow for me, but you, are the worst of them all! Your awful snowflake will never realize a wish of any sort!”

“Why…” She couldn’t control her tears from streaming down.

“I should never have asked a useless blind foal for help — now get lost before my patience runs out! And don’t you dare tell this to anypony else!”

For the second time in the same day, she was deceived, and her heart was already shattered to pieces. She flew back home, locked herself in her room and wept bitterly, before her mother had any chance to ask what had happened.

Author's Note

Suggestions regarding the use of English are welcome, as I'm still improving my lingual abilities.

Chapter 5: Plants

“Snowdrop? Snowdrop! Open the door, please! Was somepony bullying you again?” Primrose asked anxiously, knocking at her daughter’s door.

“Leave me alone! Just leave me alone!” Snowdrop screamed towards her door before burying her face in her pillow, which was already soaking wet because of all her uncontrollable crying. She couldn’t help but feel so much hatred: she hated those companions who had been dishonest to her, and that liar who had cheated on her; yet the one whom she hated most was nopony other than herself, a filly that cannot see.

They all bullied me, because I’m blind; and I cannot make snow beautiful, because I’m blind…
I’m so useless… I can’t do anything…

She wept and wept, until she fell asleep before she even realized it. This time, she fell into a really bad dream: again, nothing was visible to her, and to make it even worse, voices of Cumulo Nimbus and Victor came out of nowhere, taunting her, making fun of her, looping around her without stopping.

“Leave me alone!” She shrieked in terror. She wanted to escape this terrible dream, she wanted to wake up from it so bad — until everything was exorcized with an agitated call:

“Snowdrop!”

She opened her eyes, and found herself resting on a land. Waves brushed at her hooves, and a gentle wind was fondling her face. Up above, pieces of white cloud were floating in the azure sky.

“Snowdrop, are you all right?”

She heard it and turned around — Princess Luna was right by her side, looking at her with anxiety written all over her face.

“Princess Luna… It’s really been a long while since we last met,” said Snowdrop. Ever since her last dream in which the sky, the land and the sea were created, the moon princess had not entered any of her dreams for quite some time. She never lost heart though, because she had learned that Luna could only occasionally succeed in this particular magic, and that she had been practicing it all the while. To her, all the wait was worthwhile.

“I felt a strong emotional surge from you, and I managed to enter here again thanks to it. The moment I was inside, I saw nightmares haunting you. What happened?”

“Well…” The younger filly hung her head and fell silent, for she feared that if she told the truth, Princess Luna would punish Cumulo Nimbus and Cirrus angrily. What they had done did hurt her, but she wouldn’t want to see them getting punished.

“Alright, let’s skip it if you dont’ want to talk about it,” said Luna, noticing her reluctance. “Now that I’m here, let us continue from where we left off last time.”

“What are you creating this time? I hope it’s nothing too scary…” Snowdrop lookup up at her and asked in anticipation.

“You’ll love them,” the night princess gave her a confident smile. She lowered her head, and touched the ground with her horn. In the next moment, just like how she broke off from the ground last time, large amounts of water gushed from below, and gathered into streaks and rivers. Where there the water flowed, little green things started to emerge. Soon, more and more of them started to break the ground and grew longer and longer, covering almost every last piece of the land.

As some of those green things grew, their tips started to develop a different color, and swell into small round lumps, which in time opened to let out a mild pleasant scent. Some grew significantly taller and thicker while their bodies turned to brown, with green pieces growing out of their tips. Later, those small round lumps appeared on them as well, and opened to let out their fragrance inside. Some of the greens grew even longer, and started to wind around other things.

“These —” Princess Luna started to introduce, “are the plants of the earth. Those long ones are grass, the colorful ones are flowers, those that crawl onto others are called vines, and the taller ones are…”

“They’re trees!” said Snowdrop with her eyes wide open in wonder. She lift a hoof, and stroked a leaf’s surface for a brief moment. Although she always lived on the clouds and hadn’t any chance to touch the plants on the earth below, her mother had told her of how the plants were like when she was still little. Now, she could witness how the plants grow with her own eyes — such thrill and excitement filled her heart, and she almost forgot about what had happened earlier.

“Correct. There are many more plants to be seen, but I’m going to show you something better.” Princess Luna said, and let her horn glow again. A gust of wind swept by, and stirred the tree leaves into rustling sounds. Snowdrop watched as the plants of the earth started to take on different new looks.

Some of the plants’ appearances didn’t change very much, but their flowers withered to make way for bearing firm, round balls that has different colors and sweet scents. She guessed that these were called “fruit“ — and inside them lived little seeds, the children of plants. Her mother Primrose had once told her a story, that plants wanted to let their children travel to places far, far away, but they didn’t have legs, so they asked other animals for help to take the seeds with them, and in return they would grow these tasty fruit to repay the favor.

Some other plants started to turn yellow, with all their flowers and fruit fallen. Meanwhile, their once green leaves turned to an amazing burning red, and fell slowly to the ground. As for the grass, they turned into an especially beautiful golden color, with little ears of firm seeds growing above their tips.

But what happened to the remaining plants frightened Snowdrop somehow: all the leaves, flowers and fruit had fallen off the trees, leaving only a bare trunk; all the grass and vines had withered away as well. Then little dots of white stuff started to fall from the clouds above, and they soon covered up that very region.

“What you just saw were the four seasons. What I showed you first was Spring, then the fruit-laden Summer, then the colorful leaves-filled Autumn, and finally it’s…”

“It’s Winter…” Snowdrop murmured, and walked into that white domain. Unlike the other regions, the ground felt rather stiff under the snow. Looking at all these, she suddenly felt an ache in her heart. “Now I understand why… Why everypony doesn’t like winter at all. Unlike other seasons, everything here seems so deadly silent, and its color looks so monotonic…”

She picked up a snowflake from the ground, when suddenly something sparked inside her mind. “Snow!” she exclaimed, “I wanna see the snow made by me and… others!”

“As you wish,” nodded the moon princess. Her horn emitted another faint glow, and those snowflakes made in the factory started falling from the clouds above the winter region.

Snowdrop picked some of them up, and before long she distinguished the ones made by her from those made by others — the snowflakes made by them looked neat, with carefully arranged even patterns carved in the center, while those made by herself had uneven shapes and randomly engraved holes, which made them rather messy-looking as a result, and gave her an unsatisfactory feeling.

“Now I see… So they are the snowflakes I made, and they really look awful… Too awful to bring happiness to anypony who sees them,” she said, and couldn’t help her tears falling as she felt something inside her shattering.

“Don’t say that,” seeing that Snowdrop wept again, Princess Luna tried to soothe her, “Didn’t I tell you before, that the snowflakes you made had brought me ha—”

“But you never said they were beautiful either! Did you? Please tell me the truth!”

The moon princess never expected to be snapped back at, and the two of them fell into a moment of awkward silence.

“I...I’m so sorry for being so disrespectful,” as Snowdrop calmed down a bit, she realized that she had shown a terrible attitude towards a royal princess, so she hung her head and apologized to Luna, and told her details of the injustice she had just suffered today.

“I’ll forgive you of your outburst,” the moon princess walked beside her and continued, “and I have my apology to you as well, for helping you see in dreams is the best I can do for now. Should you be able to see in reality, you could probably produce beautiful snowflakes, and rid yourself of such unjust sufferings forever.”

“Wait — that’s it!” Snowdrop’s ears twitched a little at Luna’s remarks, then her eyes glinted as if something had finally dawned on her. “I can see in dreams! And everything here seemed so real too! So if I can make some beautiful snowflakes here and remember the steps, I can reproduce them in reality just the same! My memory won’t fail me, and I’ll try to — no, I must remember them!”

“That’s an amazing idea! You— “ before Luna could finish her admiration, she stopped halfway with a twitch of her ear.”Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“There’s somepony calling me… It’s my sister!”

Hearing this, Snowdrop listened carefully, but her sensitive ears didn’t distinguish anything other than the blowing wind and the flowing rivers. “No, I can’t hear it,” she answered, before she heard an agitated exclaim from the moon princess.

“This is bad! I was too anxious entering your dream that I forgot to raise the moon!”

It was the first time for the little blue filly ever saw her princess panic, and what she heard astonished her even more, for raising and setting those two celestial orbs were the most important thing for the two princess and all Equestria. She never expected that she could be the cause of such a grave delay. “Oh my, what shall we do now?” she asked.

“You wait right here; I’ll be back in a minute!” Luna reached out a hoof, and the air around it rippled as if she had touched something. Then from where she touched, a black hole appeared, big enough for her to go through. She didn’t hesitate to jump into it, which then closed and disappeared, leaving Snowdrop alone staying in the dreamscape.

She had thought that the dream would immediately end on Luna’s leave. However, it didn’t end at all, and everything remained intact. She decided that she’d attempt to created some new winter snow before the princess’s return.

Chapter 6: Snowflakes

“Snowdrop?”

On hearing Luna’s voice from behind, Snowdrop drew her attention from the work she had been busy working on, and turned around with an excited expression.

“You’re back, Princess… Oh my!”

The Luna before her eyes was in a total mess: one of her eyes was black and bruised, her body was covered in multiple grazing wounds, and her smooth feathers were also ruffled and twisted.

“What happened?! How did you get hurt like that?” Forgetting about the snow she was working on, the little filly rushed to Luna’s side and asked anxiously — although she knew there was little she could do.

“I… had a quarrel with my sister,” answered Luna simply.

“Oh dear! Was it because of me that I delayed you from raising the moon? I’m so sorry… All of this was because of me!” Snowdrop said remorsefully and was about to break into tears again, but the moon princess interrupted her.

“It wasn’t your fault. I’ve been suppressing my bitterness for way too long already. My overbearing sister never bothered to care for my feelings, and such a fight was bound to happen even if you were not involved at all. As for my wounds, there’s no need to worry — I am the Princess of the Night, and Night will grant rest and cure for everything.”

As Luna said this, her horn started to glow. Before long, the bruise on her eye started to fade, and her wounds vaporized into a black fog before dissolving into thin air. Then she started to groom her ruffled feathers smooth again.

“Although we were tied in the fight, my sister will need more time to recover. It’s still my victory for once,” said Luna bitterly, pouching her lips.

Snowdrop fell silent at this for a while. Then, she remembered something. “Princess Luna!” she said happily and pulled one of her hooves, “I’ve made it! I’ve created beautiful snowflakes of my own!”

“Really? Show me!”

She followed the young filly to the winter zone, where there already sat a workbench with an engraving tool on it. She had told Snowdrop before, that she could also create objects in this dreamscape by thinking alone; but what she didn’t expect was that the colors were quite unique and interesting, for Snowdrop could not see those stuff in reality.

Green workbench, yellow chair, black engraving tool. All looked like the masterpiece of a child who had just learned to draw. Everything was full of a monotonic solid color, without shading or outlines, only sheer shape and color.

“Very interesting. Is that how you portray them in your head?” asked Luna. The younger one blushed a little, knowing that she must have made mistakes on the colors, or even shapes.

“Um… Let’s put it aside for now, shall we?” She picked up a finished work from the workbench, and handed it to the night princess, “How does it look?” She waited nervously for the remarks.

“Wow… This is… “ Luna was astonished at what she saw.

“It’s so beautiful!”
“I created it in the shape of a flower. After I studied the things of the four seasons, I found that the patterns of flowers are the most regular of them all. I wanted to bring the things of other seasons to winter as well, so I referred to the shapes of a plant, and carved the snowflakes in the pattern of flower petals.”

After Snowdrop said that, she picked up another piece of snow.

“And this… I carved the patterns from a leaf on it. And here’s more…”

“These are… just amazing. They’re so beautiful!” exclaimed Luna, “I’ve never seen such delicate and exquisite carvings.”

She eagerly lifted other snowflakes from the workbench, and held them floating in midair, as if it were snowing.

“Are you sure you can make them all in reality?” asked Luna.

“Yes, I’ve remembered the tricks to making them: actually I just need to repeat a shape in the pattern of flowers, and I’ll get a beautiful snowflake. Though at times, I might fail… for example, this one.

“It’s not perfect, but somehow I still wanted to keep it.”

“It looks like…” Luna studied this snowflake for a moment and said, “like the moment when a star twinkles.”

“Really?!” Snowdrop’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“Yes, a little.”

“Twinkle… how I wish I could see a star’s twinkle.” Snowdrop looked at that snowflake intently, a gleam shimmered in her eyes.

“So be it. Next time when I tread upon your dream, I’ll show you the twinkling stars.”

“Really?! Let’s make it a deal!” Snowdrop reached out a hoof to Luna happily. But to her surprise, Luna just stared at her hoof with a confused look on her face.

“You don’t know, Princess? It’s called a ‘hoof bump’ — all you need is reach out your hoof and bump it with mine,” Snowdrop explained and chuckled.

“Is this some kind of oath keeping ritual?”

“Well… not exactly. We often do this when we’re happy. We don’t need any reason, just for fun.”

“For fun…” the night princess fell silent for a while, then reached out her hoof, and bumped it with Snowdrop’s.

“That was not bad,” she said and grinned. Seeing this, the little filly smiled gladly.

And thus, Princess Luna stood beside Snowdrop, chatting with her while watching her making more beautiful snowflakes with her eyes closed.

“By the way… If we keep using the name ‘snowflakes’, we could get them confused for the old ones,” said Luna. “Have you considered a new name for them?”

“I did think of that problem… Do you have a better name in mind, Princess?”

“Well, seeing that they were based upon a flower’s petal pattern, what about calling them snow flowers? Winter is a season for everything to rest, and flowers can rarely be seen then. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some ‘flowers’ that bloom in winter?” answered Luna after some consideration.

“Snow flowers… That’s indeed a beautiful name. Snow flower it is!” Snowdrop chuckled happily, gazing upon the “snow flowers” she just crafted. Somehow, the question that Victor had asked her popped into her mind.

“Princess Luna, may I ask you a question?”

“Go ahead; I’ll answer you if I could.”

“Have you ever… wished upon a star?”

“Wished upon a star? Yes, I have, when I was still young.”

“Oh. Did that wish... Well… Did it come true at last?” Snowdrop asked nervously.

“Not quite, as it’s still being realized.”

“What kind of wish is it?”

“A world at peace and harmony.”

That was a serious wish, thought Snowdrop secretly.

“Um, if we can wish upon a star, do you think we can wish upon the snow flowers too? Can they bear a pony’s wish and make it come true?”

“Well… You could always try,” Luna answered her with a warm smile on her face.

“All right, here I go.” Snowdrop closed her eyes, and started to speak her wish.

“Snow flowers, O snow flowers… It’s my first time wishing upon you. And I wish… that Princess Luna could make peace with Princess Celestia.”

Luna’s ears perked up — she didn’t expect that the young filly should make such a wish.

“I don’t know what happened between them, or why they quarreled, but I can see that Princess Luna’s expression looked so sad. I’m sure Princess Celestia felt very sad all the same. Even though I don’t have siblings, and haven’t experienced anything like that, I have a mother that cared for me the most. The other day, we had a quarrel, and it really broke my heart. I thought I was the most unfortunate pony in the world, because my only parent couldn’t understand me at all.”

Hearing this, Luna’s eyes widened a bit.

“Until I heard her sobbing… She was sobbing silently in her room, because we couldn’t understand each other. She was so sad, because she didn’t know how she could cheer me up; as for me, I didn’t know how to let her feel relieved as well.

“After considering for a long time, I finally worked up my nerves to entered her room, and apologized to her. And when we made peace again, I heard her laughter, and the burden on my heart was finally lifted. She forgave me, and I forgave her, and we talked so so much about what had been on our minds. From then on, we never had another quarrel because of not understanding each other.”

The little filly opened her brightly shimmering eyes, and looked at Princess Luna.

“So Princess Luna… Could you try to apologize to Princess Celestia, and tell her of your true feelings inside?”

“…Well, I got it,” Luna sighed, “I’ll heal my sister’s wounds soon afterwards, and um, apologize to her. Still, I don’t think she’ll understand me — she’s been like this all the time.”

“Well, we all have to try, don’t we?” Snowdrop smiled. “And I’m going to apologize… to those two as well.”

They carried on their conversations for another while, during which Snowdrop asked Luna about the names of different plants. Finally, the dreamscape started to waver, indicating the end of her dream was near. At this, the two of them waved each other goodbyes.

“Next time I’ll show you the night stars; until then, keep up the good work!” The moon princess said to the little filly before the dream had completely faded away.

…

“…Eh?”

When Snowdrop woke up from her bed, she smelled something rusty in her nostrils. She wiped her nose with a hoof, and it felt a little bit wet. As she came off her bed, she felt dizziness struck again, and she had to crouch on the ground for some time before she could finally get to her hooves.

She felt very tired, as if her body had received no rest from the sleep at all. Could it be the work she did in dream that used up her stamina? She couldn’t help but wonder.

“Snowdrop? Are you still sleeping? … Oh my gosh!”

She heard her mother Primrose walk into her room, who then exclaimed in agitation, “Your nose is bleeding!”

That explains the rusty smell, she thought to herself.

Primrose walked to her daughter’s side, wiped the blood stains on her nose with a tissue, then put a hoof on her forehead to feel the temperature.

“You could be on a fever. I think you’d better have a day off and get some rest.”

“What? No! I still have important things to get done, and I gotta be there!!” Snowdrop shook her head in protest, in fear that she’d forget about how to make those beautiful snowflakes she had created.

“But you really should see a doctor, Snowdrop.”

“I’m feeling better now! Really! It’s nothing serious at all, and I could go to the doctor’s later.”

“Snowdrop—”

“Please! It’s really important for me! Pleeeeeease!!” She pleaded.

Primrose watched her in silence for a long while, and finally gave in with a sigh. “Silly child… I’ve seldom seen you being so stubborn. You may go to work, but should you feel anything wrong, you must tell your workmates immediately. You hear me?”

“I will! Thank you so much, mom!”

Chapter 7: The Sun, the Moon and the Stars

It didn't take too long for Snowdrop's newly made snowflakes — snow flowers, in her words — to draw everypony’s attention and curiosity inside the factory. All of them marveled at her delicate and exquisite hoofwork, and they gathered to her side, eager to know how she crafted such beautiful snowflakes. Once again, she could find self-confidence from the work she had always loved.

She taught others about her trick — one that was even easier than any method they have been trained to do: all they need to do was repeat a pattern in the manner of flower petals, and they would get a very adorable snowflake. With her effective method applied, the production of snowflakes became even less difficult and time-consuming. Everypony was feeling joyful for themselves, for all of them were able to craft beautiful snowflakes of their own with ease.

But not Cumulo Nimbus.

When Snowdrop apologized to her and Cirrus for what she said and behaved the day before, Cirrus smiled and answered “It’s okay”. But Cumulo only replied with a chilly “Oh”.

In the following next days, Snowdrop couldn’t find a chance to get her to talk; she kept working on her snowflakes as if she cared about nothing else, and she didn’t come to Snowdrop for the new method either. Even when Cirrus talked to her, she would respond rather shortly, unlike the dominating and tart-speaking girl she had always been.

Snowdrop didn’t know how to turn such situation, and she felt rather distressed. She knew at heart that even though Cumulo Nimbus had been talking harsh, she had given her all kinds of help: despite her complaints, Cumulo still helped a lot with her work that required eyesight, and whenever they walked on a road that was unfamiliar, Cumulo would walk in front of her and point out the obstacles on the road — though in a griping manner — so that she could avoid them safely.

The thought of such moments only reminded her of how much she owed Cumulo Nimbus, the more she thought, the guiltier she felt.

Another day had come to its end, and again little did Cumulo Nimbus talk to Snowdrop. She packed up her things silently and walked out of the workshop. Behind her, Snowdrop wanted to call to her, that she wanted to go home together. But when it was on the tip of her tongue, her voice only failed her.

“Hey, don’t worry. She was angry at me for once too, and she’d forget about it in a week.” Cirrus said to Snowdrop as he walked to her side, and patted on her back to give her some relief.

“But it’s all my fault… What if she never talks to me ever again? I don’t want to lose her as a friend.”

“No it’s not. She’s been like this for a while. Maybe she was having terrible dreams in her sleep again,” said Cirrus. He lived at Cumulo Nimbus’s neighborhood ever since they were colt and filly, and he knew quite a lot about her.

“Terrible dreams?” Snowdrop’s ears stood up at this.

“Yeah. There were times when her parents quarreled badly, and when they do, anyone in the neighborhood could hear it. I heard it again just two days ago. She had told me that whenever her parents quarreled, she’d have bad dreams for a couple of nights nonstop.”

“Bad dreams it is…” murmured Snowdrop.

In the evening, Snowdrop took some medicine given by the doctor as usual. Despite her nosebleed and dizziness, all her medical check seemed fine; still, the doctor gave her some medicine for a good rest, in case her symptoms were the results of lack of sleep. Slowly, the medicine took its effect, and she slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

As she opened her eyes again, the scenery of seasonal plants from last time first came into view. Princess Luna was standing there too, looking at her with a smile on her face.

“Good evening, Princess Luna. You’re really quick this time,” Snowdrop said and bowed before her.

“I have indeed discovered some tricks to dreamwalking, but this time, it was your yearning to see me that showed me the path. Are you having something on your mind?”

“Yes, well… Before we talk about that, may I know if it’s going on well between you and Princess Celestia?” asked Snowdrop with concern — when the rumor of the Princesses’ fight finally reached her ears, she was so shocked that her jaw almost fell to the ground: the fight not only left both of them covered in wounds, but also damaged their castle severely, leaving a giant hole on its walls. There was just no way for some normal pony to cause such a consequence.

“It’s been fine, as usual. We did our jobs of raising the sun and the moon, and we didn’t interfere each other.” Luna said with a slight tilt of her head to the side.

“I see…” Snowdrop folded her wing. Somehow, the moon princess’s indifferent attitude reminded her of Cumulo Nimbus again. She then lifted her head and asked, “Princess Luna, can you walk into other ponies’ dreams too?”

“Yes, what’s the matter?”

“It’s Cumulo Nimbus. She’s been having bad dreams, and couldn’t rest well… I remember that last time when I had one, you were able to drive it away from me. Could you help her too?”

“Well… Dreamwalking is not something to be taken lightly. Tell me, what is it that makes you think that I should help her?”

The princess’s question flustered the little filly at some extent; she wouldn’t want to put their friendship at risk for asking something too much from her.

“It’s, well… It’s because you’re the Princess of the Night, just as Princess Celestia is the Princess of the Day. I heard that you both had vowed to protect all the ponies that lived under the Sun and the Moon, so I, um, I think, that, since rest and cure are what your night provides, then… is it also a part of… of your job... to protect the ponies from getting disturbed by nightmares?”

Hearing what she said, Luna fell silent in consideration. At last, she nodded. “It makes sense. I’ll visit her dream soon enough.”

“Thank you for you generous help, Princess,” Snowdrop beamed happily. Seeing that sincere smile on the little one’s face, Luna found herself smiling too. “All right, are you ready for tonight’s surprises?”

“I’m all ready,” Snowdrop lifted her head with full expectation, so Luna lighted up her horn.

“First, it’s Celestia’s Sun. It shines upon the land, and brings warmth to everything.”

Just as Luna finished her words, a gigantic ball of burning fire suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the sky. But at the sight of this, Snowdrop was dumbstruck — she couldn’t help but remember the moments when Luna created the Land, along with all terrible scenes and the searing heat. She never expected that the sun could be a giant ball of fire, and even if it was the thing that brought light and warmth to the world, she would still panic at the thought of this burning mass passing over her head every day — what if it ever fell down?? She guessed that this was the reason why Princess Celestia took charge of raising it every day — so that it would not fall down and cause a tragedy.

“It’s… dreadful,” she said, and hid behind Princess Luna’s side.

“Dreadful? I’ve never heard somepony say something like that before — how about this?”

Her horn glowed again, and the Sun started to move slowly toward the west sky, lowering itself bit by bit. The tones of everything changed along with it: all was covered in a golden color, just like how the Sun was moments ago; meanwhile, the Sun itself turned to a fiery red, as if it had shared its color to the rest of the world.

“Whoa…” Looking at such an incredibly beautiful scene, Snowdrop couldn’t help but exclaim in awe. But then she noticed something: the Sun was about to touch the sea’s surface! “L-look out!!” she cried. She thought the Sun would vaporize the sea’s water on contact, and then turn into a pitch-black stone just like the land.

But to her surprise, it didn’t happen at all — the Sun and the sea seemed to be melting into each other perfectly. As it dipped deeper into the sea, its colors dissolved into the waves, which shimmered glamorously from far, far away.

“That was so fantastic… Why was it so peaceful when the Sun sank into the water?” she asked, wondering the answer.

“Because the Sun actually didn’t make any contact with the sea as you may have imagined — it’s somewhere farther, farther away. You need more knowledge on celestial bodies to understand that — and my night will provide a perfect environment to show you how it works.”

As the Sun sank deeper into the sea, Snowdrop noticed the world was getting dark, as if a giant shadow was gradually devouring all the colors from everything.

Watching the darkness loom over the once colorful world, she was surprised to find that fear was secretly creeping inside her — but still, she remembered her word that she would prefer the darkness to the light. She tried her best to cover that nagging fear inside, hoping that the night princess would not notice.

“Now — look to the other side of the darkness,” called out Luna as the remaining sunlight had finally gone under. She gestured to the east, the place where all the darkness began. There, a rim of silver rose up slowly from the other side of the sea — its light was very pale compared to the sun, but it reassured Snowdrop of her fears to the darkness. She could recognize it — it was the Moon, the other celestial orb Princess Luna was in charge of.

“Now look at the sky above you.”

Snowdrop raised her head to Luna’s words, and looked toward the dark sky as the Moon illuminated it little by little.

Ding!

All of a sudden, she heard something — it was a chime, one that was too familiar to her. As it reached her ears, she noticed a little but shiny dot had peeked out from the once blank sky. It was so tiny — but the light it emitted was already moving the little filly’s heart.

Ding! Ding! Ding! …

One after another, countless dots started to emerge in the sky, coming in so many amazing colors: blue, white, red, orange… Just like all the colors of the land had somehow escaped to the heavens.

Snowdrop watched intently; even her pupils were widened out of thrill.

More and more of the dots popped up with their beautiful chimes; some were scattered, some were dense, and then when all the dots were so close to one another, they formed a glowing long band, stretching all the way toward the sky’s boundary.

“This is the Night that belongs to me, as well as my Moon and the stars. Now what do you think of — hey, what’s wrong?”

When Luna turned around, she didn’t expect to see Snowdrop in tears. The little blue filly just stared at the sky, and streams of tears run across her face.

“It’s so wonderful… It really is! It’s the most glamorous thing I’ve ever seen, it’s beyond compare!”

It finally dawned on her, that one may cry not only out of sorrow, but also extreme happiness. Seeing this awesome scene of the Milky Way and countless stars, she couldn’t control her tears from flowing anymore.

“Oh!” she suddenly shrieked a little.

“What’s the matter?”

“The stars… they’re not hollow at all! But my snow flowers…” she fell silent, feeling depressed. Her snow flowers, the ones she created after a star in her imagination, were still far from the looks of a real star… Let alone she had already witnessed how brilliant the real stars are, she couldn’t convince herself that she might create snowflakes that were equally beautiful.

“Don’t worry,” Princess Luna walked over to the little blue filly, spread her wing, and wrapped her inside.

“The snow flowers you carved, they’re stars, too — the stars that represents the Land. They are, in every way, just like the stars in the sky, and they each are one of a kind. You really should be proud of them — and proud of yourself.”

“...Thank you, Princess Luna!” after thinking for a while, Snowdrop happily returned her princess a grateful hug. Luna, taken by surprise, blushed a little at first, then she smiled too.

The two of them then settled down like before, and Luna started to lecture on the celestial bodies, constellations and their stories for the young filly. For little Snowdrop, it was the best of all her dreams she had ever had in life.

***

Yet… as she woke up from her dream again, the pleasant experiences only emphasized the uncomfortable feeling of her body.

“Cough! Cough!” As she coughed, something fell out her mouth: it felt like some liquid, but had a taste of rusty iron, and that smell and taste kept lingering in her mouth and nose. Then she discovered her quilt felt also strangely wet. She lifted it and wanted to get off her bed, but ended up sprawling on the floor — her limbs didn’t have the strength to hold her weight.

It’s so hot… I feel awful, really awful… What’s wrong with my body?

She wanted to know what was going on, but without her eyesight, she couldn’t even get close. Helpless and frightened, all she could do was crying at the top of her lungs, “Mom!! Help!!”

“Snowdrop?”

In a few moments, Primrose’s hurried hoofsteps approached her daughter’s room. When she pushed open the door, she nearly fainted at the scary scene before her eyes.

Chapter 8: Nightmare

One night, as Cumulo Nimbus lay in her bed sleeping, her forehead frowned, with her nervous sweating soaking her bed sheet — it’s the dream, coming to get her again.

In her dreamscape, she was still home — only with everything around her looking all too enormous: enormous chairs, enormous table, enormous dresser, enormous kitchen… and lastly, enormous parents.

“THAT’S IT! I’VE HAD ENOUGH!” Her father roared, his booming voice was loud enough to shake the sky above. She felt her eardrums would break at any time.

“ME TOO!! I’VE LONG HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR SELF-RIGHTEOUS ATTITUDE!” Her mother snapped shrilly, her high-pitched voice was so powerful that everything made from glass and porcelain, including windows and teacups, shattered into pieces, and rained down below to the poor little filly. Cumulo Nimbus had no choice but put all her effort into escaping from those giant debris. She wanted to fly and evade, but only discovered her wings somehow turned into stone — which broke into smithereens right before her eyes at the next second.

“Mom! Dad! Please stop this madness now! I’m over here! Help me! My wings are broken!” Cumulo started to cry, but to her gigantic parents, her cry for help was no louder than that of a tiny ladybug. Neither of them noticed her.

“I’LL GET MY DIVORCE! I’M NOT GONNA STAY AT THIS FORSAKEN PLACE!” A giant leather trunk suddenly landed from above Cumulo Nimbus. She was caught under it, pinned to the ground, making her hard to breathe.

“OH YEAH?? SUIT YOURSELF! I DON’T CARE IF YOU’RE MOVING TO YOUR MOTHER’S OR YOUR SISTER’S — I’M NOT STAYING AT THIS CRAPPY DUMP EITHER!” Her father bellowed, and his nostrils breathed out burning flames and black smoke like a dragon.

“No… Dad!!”

“GAHH!! … GAWWWWK!! …” Her mother cursed and swore furiously, but Cumulo could not understand a word she said. All she saw was that her mom’s face began morphing, the feathers on her wing falling down in clusters. Before long, mother had turned into an ugly Pterosaur, just like the ones seen in books. She spat out rumbling lightning out of her mouth, then grabbed her heavy trunk, crashed through the glass-less windows frames and flew away.

“GROWLLLL!” Cumulo’s father snarled at the sky, and turned into a flame-breathing dragon too. He rushed out of the broken window to fly after her, and the two of them started a gruesome battle of fire and lightning in midair.

“Wait… Where are you going?! Don’t leave me! I don’t wanna stay here! They are here, they are coming for me!!” Cumulo Nimbus was in a total panic. She had had such a dream countless times, and she knew what was about to happen.

Squeak! Squeak! CREAAAAAARGHHHK!

Out of the dark corners of the house came an unnatural and horrifying scream. It was coming from everywhere, from the seams under the dresser, from the ceiling, from the grooves on the floor, and from inside every single piece of shadow.

Cumulo had no idea what those were — her heart was pounding fast, and the only thought in her head was to escape as fast as she could. She dashed toward the door for all was worth, but on the halfway, her hooves suddenly turned to stone. She lost her balance and fell down, then noticed her stony hooves broke into pieces. Before she could start panicking, darkness came out of nowhere and dominated everything in her view — then she felt something fell out of her eye sockets: her eyeballs! They turned to stone just like everything else, and broke into two piles of dust.

“No!! Don’t come any closer!! Stay away!! Help!! Mom!! Dad!!” Cumulo Nimbus screamed helplessly. She could hear it so clear — those squeaking monsters were jumping out from the shadows, dancing and cackling around her, ready to feast on their lone victim.

She knew the inevitable end was drawing near — the moment they started feasting on her, she would suddenly wake up from her bed, horrified, heart pounding, gasping for breath.

But this time, it was different.

CREAAAAARGHK!! CREAAAAARGHK!!

Abruptly, the monsters let out a painful cry. Everything then quieted down, without a sound in the air. The sudden turn of events confused her, but soon, she heard a familiar voice which made her heart skip a beat.

“Worry not, my child. I have vanquished the monster that kept haunting you.”

“Prin… Princess Luna, is that you?” without her sight, Cumulo groped in the darkness.

“I came here on Snowdrop’s request, to put an end to your nightmares.”

“Really?! So what she told me was true…”

CREAAAAAARGHHHK!!

Another one of those sharp screams suddenly interrupted her. The terrified little filly crept behind Princess Luna’s body for shelter.

“Oh no! There they are again! Help!! There are still too many of them, Princess!” she whined, her voice shuddering.

Luna saw countless shadowy figures darting out of all the gloomy corners, and they gathered before the two of them, forming a massive, seething lump of darkness — it had no eye, no ears, no mouth nor nose, and it had no limbs, wings or horn either. It was a chaotic, disturbing mass, oozing and moving towards them, making all kinds of horrifying sounds.

“Please, Princess Luna! Kill that monster!” Cumulo pleaded.

“It’s not a monster; it’s the representation of your fear inside.” With that, Luna walked towards that giant mass — with every step she took forward, that thing would retreat a little and wiggle about, as if being intimidated.

“Tell me: what is it that you truly fear? What is the thing that took away your composure, and put you to such restlessness… Cumulo Nimbus?”

As Luna finished speaking, Cumulo Nimbus disappeared — along with that eerie mass and her dragon-like parents; all was gone. Then before the night princess, the real Cumulo Nimbus appeared at where that monster was just now. Though she was weeping, her body was intact.

“I’m so scared, Princess…” she sobbed, “My mom and dad were quarreling, it was too intense… I don’t want them to break up, and I fear that I’ll lose them… I fear that they’ll desert me someday, just like how it happened in this dream.”

The moon princess gently held the young filly in her embrace, and stroked her head. She whispered, “There, there, it’s okay. Now you’ve seen where your fear truly lies, this nightmare could not hurt you anymore.”

“But it’s still possible, right? My parents could get divorced at any time in reality, and leave me behind… What should I do?” Cumulo sobbed in Luna’s embrace.

“The way I see it is that you shall speak your fears to your parents, like what you did to me just now. You must let them hear your thoughts.”

“But… that won’t work. They won’t listen to me, and they may break into another quarrel at any time,” answered Cumulo dispiritedly.

“Rest assured; I’ll handle it.”

***

“Cumulo Nimbus!!!”

Both her parents awoke wide-eyed in the middle of the night, and sat up from their bed. Then they exchanged a horrified gaze.

“You… you couldn’t be dreaming of that… that…” father spoke first.

“So you dreamed of it too?” mother nodded and answered.

“This is too strange for a dream — I’ll go check…” before father could finish, someone pushed their room’s door open. Then they saw their Cumulo’s head peeking sheepishly inside, with a weary look on her face.

“Hey, mom… Hey, dad…”

Hearing their daughter’s voice, the parents’ tensed up hearts could finally feel relieved.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” her mother asked.

“Uh… I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you?”

Her parents shuddered a little at the very mentioning of “bad dream” — they hadn’t gotten over the dream they had just had.

“You… you did? Sure… come over,” answered her father in a wavering tone.

Cumulo walked to their bed, and crept to the room between her parents. Her mother reached out her hoof at once, to give her daughter a warm hug, as if making sure that she was alive after some grave disaster.

“My poor child… You look terrified. What kind of … dream… did you have?” Asked her mother, intentionally avoiding the word “bad”. Her father drew close as well, and his ears perked up.

Cumulo started to describe the dream she had — without a doubt, what her parents just saw in their dreams was exactly what had happened in their daughter’s dream.

It was Luna who wrapped her dream up and secretly implanted it to her parents’ minds — they found themselves blocked behind an invisible wall, and saw the other two giant selves of them arguing bitterly in that enormous house. They were puzzled at first, but then they heard Cumulo Nimbus crying on the other side. They wanted to come to her to give her comfort, only to be stopped by that invisible barrier — all they could do was watch as the other “they” turned into dragons and flew up, and left their most beloved, now injured daughter behind. Then out of the darkness, thousands of pieces of black shadow whipped out, and took the form of a giant monster, which then ferociously pounced towards Cumulo Nimbus — and then they awoke, in sweat and in panic.

Knowing that their arguments had become their daughter’s worst nightmares, her parents felt very ashamed and guilty.

“Then… my eyes became blind… and then you deserted me, just like what Snowdrop’s father did. It’s dreadful… I don’t want to end up like her! Every time I saw her, I couldn’t help but think of it, so I could never speak to her without an attitude…” Speaking of Snowdrop, Cumulo couldn’t hold back her tears any more. She curled up in her mother’s embrace, and wept as if she were a baby foal.

“No, darling… We’ll never desert you even if you were blind. We never will.”

“But Snowdrop has told me, that before her father left them, he had quarreled with her mother bitterly just like what you did. Then one day he left, and never came home again...” said Cumulo worriedly. Hearing this, her parents stared at each other silently for a while.

“I’m sorry,” her father suddenly broke the silence, “It was all because of my temper, and not being thoughtful. I really shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“No, I should be regretful for having said such harsh words and piercing your heart. I should have known that you cared about that matter all the time… and I’m truly sorry,” answered her mother.

“I love you — you’re the most beautiful, most special pony I’ve ever met in my life,” a smile appeared on her father’s face.

“I love you too,” her mother returned him a smile like a blooming flower.

“And we apologize to you too, Cumulo Nimbus, for having made you feel so awful with our quarreling,” her father said as he turned to his daughter.

“We’ll be watching our behavior and temper from now on. But we want you to know, that you are our dearest child no matter what, and we’ll never leave you behind in any case.” Her mother said and kissed her forehead.

After a little more of the small talks, Cumulo’s parents held her close to their hearts and lay down. It was a little hot, but for her, it was a warm and safe spot that made her feel so happy. Soon, without knowing, the three of them fell sound asleep.

Cumulo found herself in the dreamscape again. This time, it was foggy, and everything in view was a little blurry. Out there in the center of the land lay Princess Luna, who turned up a big smile when she saw Cumulo’s excited expression.

“It worked well, I guess?”

“Oh thank you Princess Luna! Thank you, thank you! My parents just promised me they won’t argue so ferociously again! Although they said there could be little quarrels at times, I believe they’re going to get better and better!”

“Excellent. My work here is done, and may you be free from nightmares again.” Luna said and stood up, and was ready to turn around and leave, when Cumulo called to her again.

“Well um… Princess Luna… If you ever come across Snowdrop, please help me deliver my message to her, that I’m sorry for being so cold to her, and… I thank her very much.

“But you should be apologizing to her on your own, not asking me to do that.”

“Yes, I know… but I don’t know when I’ll be allowed to see her. Please, princess, please tell her to have enough rest and get well soon, and that I will be visiting her when I’m free.”

Luna froze for a moment and turned her head. “What do you mean by that? Did something happen to Snowdrop?”

“Oh, you don’t know yet, Princess? Snowdrop was sent to the hospital last week for some serious illness. They placed her in the Isolation ward where nopony may see her. I don’t know the details of it; when I asked her mother, she wouldn’t answer, but she looked quite concerned.”

“Last week…” Luna’s eyes grew wide, then she turned and said hurriedly, “I must be going, thank you for informing me of it.”

“Oh, okay. Please take care…” Before Cumulo Nimbus could finish, she saw Luna’s figure disappeared from the dreamscape.

Chapter 9: Animals

Snowdrop’s ears lifted: she heard somepony’s hoofsteps approaching — something particularly familiar to her. She opened her eyes, but there were only darkness like before. She then heard that pony pushed open the door, so she tried to sit up, and only to fall back to her pillow with her swimming head.

“Whoa, hang in there! Don’t get up yet; you still need more rest.”

What she heard confirmed her speculation. “Cirrus? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see you, of course! The doctors finally allowed us to visit you, and gosh, we were so worried when we heard you were in the hospital!” Cirrus answered as he put something to her side. It smelled like the scent of flowers and fruit.

“I’m sorry for making you feel worried,” apologized Snowdrop. Truth be told, she wasn’t sure what had happened to her either — all she could remember was that she had fallen unconscious, and when she awoke, she was already in the hospital. Her mother Primrose told her that she had bled a lot from her nose and mouth, and the blood had stained her bedsheet in patches of scarlet. Even now, the doctors couldn’t determine what the cause could be, but there was one thing sure: her status had turned stable and she was recovering from it, despite the dizziness caused by anemia.

“Snowdrop? I… I have something to tell you,” Cirrus said a little nervously. The little cerulean one turned her head towards him to listen.

“You do remember that incident when your snowflakes were mistaken for waste product and discarded, don’t you? Actually, it was an accident caused by Cumulo Nimbus, who put your bucket too near the recycling area when she didn’t notice. She felt very guilty when she saw you running away heartbroken. That was why we stayed after working hours; we were trying to compensate you by secretly refining the snowflakes you made. But it only made you upset… and we’re truly sorry.”

Snowdrop didn’t answer right away. After a while, she turned toward the door, and said, “Did Cumulo Nimbus asked you to tell me this… who happens to be standing outside?”

“What?? How did you know she—“

“I could tell it was you two from afar — even before you enter my room, thanks to your hoofsteps. And I don’t blame you for that accident, Cumulo Nimbus, for if my snowflakes were indeed so perfect, even if you had put them there, other ponies would be able tell them from the trash.” As Snowdrop answered, she heard Cumulo walking out from behind the door.

“Snowdrop…” her voice was shaky, “I’m really sorry…”

“It’s okay. Besides, I’ve also troubled you two very much… Still friends, are we?”

Snowdrop showed them a smile. Though she couldn’t see their faces, she heard their anxious breathing turned easier.

“Yeah! Best of friends!” Cumulo smiled broadly through her tears.

“Me too!” Cirrus said happily.

Snowdrop laughed and raised a hoof, and the other two bumped theirs with her.

“Oh, by the way, Snowdrop, she was there! Princess Luna was in my dream!” Cumulo excitedly mentioned the dream she had had, and told them of how Luna helped her conquer her nightmare. The other two listened intently with smiles on their faces.

“Oh, that was awesome! I wanna meet Princess Luna in my dreams too!” said Cirrus enviously, “Could you invite her to my dreams, Snowdrop? Pleeeease — I’ll prepare lots of games for her to play!”

“Don’t be silly — Princess Luna is too busy for your games! She still has lots of ponies to help and lots of nightmares to kick,” Cumulo said sarcastically — finally, the Cumulo Nimbus everypony knew had returned.

The three of them went on talking for a while until the end of visiting hours, and they bid each other goodbye somewhat reluctantly. Cumulo promised that she’d come to visit again, and Snowdrop promised she would get well soon, and then work with them together to make the world’s most beautiful snowflake, to bring joy to anypony who sees it.

As the night fell, Snowdrop felt sleepy. Even though having talked a lot with her friends again cheered her up very much, her body was still recovering, and she found it hard to keep her eyes open with the feeling of exhaustion. After taking her dose following supper, she soon fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw Princess Luna standing right before her.

“Are you all right??” The Night Princess asked before the little filly could say a proper greeting — obviously she tried to stay calm and collected, but Snowdrop still felt the anxiety she concealed inside.

“Yes, I’m fine right now. The doctors say I’m steadily recovering, and I can move out in a couple of days. I was often ill since I was small, and it’s not my first time to be in here. I’ll get well soon, so please take it easy.”

“Okay, I get it.” Luna’s tone sounded a little relieved.

“So… what are you showing me today, Princess Luna?”

“What to show you? Alas, I totally forgot about it! After I learned you were in hospital, I couldn’t get my mind off it for the whole day… Sorry about that.” Luna seemed a little awkward at the question, and she scratched her head.

“Oh, it’s okay!” Snowdrop answered and blushed a little — that a Princess engaged in national affairs would care for her so much, it made her feel both honored and overwhelmed.

“Then what would you like to see today?” asked Luna, “Although I had no preparation, I can still manage if it’s not too complicated.”

“What I want to see? Hmm… I’ve already seen Light and Shadow, the Sky, the Earth and the Sea, the changing seasons and the plants, the Sun, the Moon and the Stars…” Snowdrop hung her head in consideration. Finally, she raised her head to say her decision —

“I want to see the animals.”

“Animals?” repeated Luna.

“Yes. I heard from Cirrus that besides ponies, there also live many many animals on the ground: there are butterflies as beautiful as flowers, rabbits as white as snow, dangerous wolves and lions, and giant bears as big as several ponies added together. There are dragons too… but no, no dragons for the moment, ‘cause Cirrus said they are dreadful and dangerous.”

“Okay,” Princess Luna nodded. “It’s true that besides the beautiful scenery, the animals are an essential part that makes the world so brilliant too. It’ll be tonight’s subject.”

“Thank you, Princess Luna!” Snowdrop beamed.

Luna raised her head, and a faint glow surrounded her horn. Snowdrop first heard some little rustling sounds below her hoof, then she saw many little living things moving out of the soil beneath her: some of them looked just like thick strings, some had hard shells on their body which made them look like moving pebbles, and some had color patches making them hard to distinguish from the plants beside them, as if they were some newgrown plants that just sprouted out of nowhere.

“These are called ‘insects’, and they are the most common living things in nature,” explained Luna to the little filly, who was watching some worms moving up tree trunks or other plants. After they settled, they spit out white threads out of their mouth, and started to spin a shell that covered their bodies entirely inside, making them look like a part grown out of those plants.

“They’re making cocoons — it’s how a caterpillar morphs into a butterfly.”

“Morph?” the word puzzled the little filly at first, until cracks suddenly appeared on those cocoons, and some winged insects crept out from inside. Their wings seemed still wet, so they hung themselves on the cocoons to wait for drying. Those dull yellow wings slowly developed all kinds of beautiful colors as Snowdrop watched, and when they finally flapped their wings, she couldn’t help but say “wow” at the amazingly beautiful patterns on them.

One after another, the butterflies left their cocoons and flew into the air; as if they were many flowers that had taken flight.

As she adored these beautiful creatures, something suddenly dived from high above — they had feathered wings like hers, only brighter; they had no limbs but two claws. They opened their long and pointy beaks, caught some of those insects she just saw inside and swallowed. The little filly was frightened for a moment, until Princess Luna explained to her that this was called the Food Chain, that all living things are connected in this cycle of eating and being eaten. It sounded sort of intimidating to her — could she herself be seen as food by some other predator? She wondered and swallowed.

Then she saw Luna inhaled deeply. The Night Princess seemed to be in a weary condition, possibly from having worried about her for all day long; still, her horn kept on to glow.

Some little critters appeared by Snowdrop’s hooves when she didn’t notice: their fur was white like snow, and they all had long ears and red eyes. These must be the “rabbits” Cirrus had talked about before! She couldn’t help but reached out her hoof to fondle them, and the softness of their skin returned her a feeling even softer than snow, only second to touching a piece of cloud.

“Woof! Woof!”

“Growl! Growl!”

Some other noises caught her attention. When she turned away from the rabbits, she saw a long-haired creature smaller than her size barking upwards from under the tree with its tongue sticking out, the noise it made sounded rather fierce. She looked at the treetop; there was a flat-faced creature with a long tail jumping agilely between branches, and baring its teeth and claws once in a while toward that barking animal from below. Dog and Cat, it must be them! She had read about them in her books —

Bang!!

She was intently watching the animals when she suddenly felt something exploded inside her head, bringing a storm of unbearable, burning pain!

“AAAAAGH!” she couldn’t help screaming, and fell to the ground in a loud thud. The sudden turn of events startled Luna, who instantly stopped her casting and rushed to the squirming child.

“What’s wrong?! What happened?!”

“It hurts!! My head… it’s gonna explode!! Aaaaagh!!”

Snowdrop was rolling on the ground, with her forehooves holding her head tightly. As her rolling became intense, the whole dreamscape rocked and twisted with her — the dream had come to its inevitable end.

“Snowdrop?! Snowdrop!!”

The last images of her dream were Princess Luna’s anxiety-written face and her flustered calling.

Chapter 11: Havoc

Star Swirl had gone away, and Princess Celestia had gone along with him. In the empty dreamscape, only light and shadow remained. Princess Luna and Snowdrop stood there; they were the only ponies left. Neither of them spoke anything for a long period. Finally, it was Luna who worked up her nerves to speak first.

“It was all my fault… I ruined everything. I didn’t have the power to realize your wishes, and I only fabricated an illusion for you… then it all broke down right here, right when you thought your life could be happier than before… I have totally failed you. I’m… so useless. If only I had more power to —”

Before she could say anything more, the little filly had rushed to her to hold her tightly.

“No, princess, you haven’t failed me! You did make my wish come true! It was you who opened up my eyes, and allowed me experience the joy to be able to see! It doesn’t matter if it’s in real life or in a dream, the joy is all the same…” Snowdrop said as she uncontrollably sobbed, “Even if I couldn’t see ever again, I’ll always be grateful for what you’ve done for me! All I wish is that… you could come to visit me sometime… if you’re free… So that we could have small talks in reality… just like in dreams.” Her voice was wavering; she wasn’t prepared for such a sudden parting at all.

“I promise it shall be done. This time for sure, I promise…” Luna answered her little friend’s wish, but then stopped in mid-sentence. She froze for a moment, as if she lost herself. “No… wait, there may be another way for us.” she said.

Her words puzzled Snowdrop, who let loose and looked up. The young filly was surprised to discover her Princess was staring into the distance disorientedly, with a somehow very grim expression on her face.

“Princess Luna?” she asked.

“I remember there’s another way to enhance my powers. As long as I’m strong enough to sustain all the burdens a dream brings upon you, I can keep this dreamscape going without risking your life.”

“But Princess Luna — what are you going to do?”

Just as she asked, everything she saw started to waver again — the dream was ending.

“I haven’t lost yet!” Luna called out as the dream started to fade away, her voice was determined, as if making a promise. “There is another way! I won’t let it end like this!!”

“Princess Luna!!”

Snowdrop sat up from her bed — she couldn’t see a thing again, and she realized that she had already woken up into reality. She felt her stomach twisting, her mind racing, and she was scared.

She couldn’t forget that last scene she saw from the dream — it was the expression of Princess Luna. It looked terribly grave… as if she had the determination to try something desperate.

What did the Moon Princess plan to do? Snowdrop hadn’t the slightest idea. All she could do was pray with all her heart, that nothing bad would come along before she could meet Princess Luna one last time in her dream.

Life, however, always go against one’s wishes. Soon afterwards, Equestria was meeting one of its most grim situations.

She couldn’t see, but from the agitated chatter of other ponies, Snowdrop learned what had happened: there was a strange change in the sky, that the bright day turned suddenly into night, and the Sun high above was gone, replaced by a pale Moon glowing. What was even more peculiar, the Moon didn’t move one single bit after long hours, without a sign of breaking dawn and the Sun rising.

Just as everypony in Cloudsdale was puzzled and worried at the situation, an urgent message from the ground reached their ears:

The castle in Everfree Forest had fallen!

That breaking news brought a shock to all of Cloudsdale. Who did it? Who could have conquered the castle where both princesses live in, and most importantly, why? The castle itself as well as the two princesses were the sign of the three races' unity; could there be some conspiracy behind this vile happening, aiming to break the bonds between the pony races? Or, could it be the demon named Discord, who once ruined the peaceful world by bringing chaos upon it — had he broken free from the seal?

Soon enough, all their questions were answered — for that very night, that night that lasted all day long, every pony still had to sleep. When they did, all of them, including Snowdrop, had one same dream…

The little blue filly opened her eyes to find she was in a forest unknown to her. The moon and the stars were high in the sky, and far in the dark woods stood the silhouette of a magnificent castle. Even though it was her first time seeing it, she could absolutely tell that it was the fallen castle ponies were talking about -- it's the castle in the Everfree Forest, the very castle where the Princesses live in.

Please, Princess Luna, please be all right…

She thought as she walked along the path to the castle, wanting to confirm her concerns. But then, up on one of the balconies in the towers walked out a pony. Her coat was deep black. There was a horn on her head, and wings on her sides, and a set of cold armor clutched tightly to her head and body. Under the purple eyelids were her turquoise colored eyes that looked exactly like a dragon's. Yet to Snowdrop's biggest surprise, the cutie mark on that pony was too familiar — wasn't that… How come she had that cutie mark?!

"All my loyal subjects, heed my call!" the black pony announced in a loud tone, "I, am, Luna! From now on, I will be the one and only ruler and queen of all of Equestria! And I order you to address me by my new name — Nightmare Moon!"

Snowdrop couldn't believe either her ears or eyes. She really was... Princess Luna?! But how did she become like this? Why would she declare that she was the one and only ruler and queen of Equestria? What happened to Princess Celestia?

The answers reached her ears in the next moment.

"I hereby order all the ponies accept my dominance willingly, for from now on, there will be no sun shining in the sky! The night of Equestria will last forever! Anyone who dares to defy me will be imprisoned along with Celestia and Starswirl, and soon meet their ultimate doom! Now, prepare your most loyal welcome to your new queen's grand opening! Mwahahaha!!"

Her cackling laughter pierced Snowdrop's heart like a cold and shrilly knife. The dream had once again started to waver again; it wouldn’t last long.

"No! Wait… Princess Luna!" Snowdrop jumped up from her bed, only to find she was having her unseeing eyes again. She was so depressed… what in the name of Equestria had happened to The Princess of the Night?

From that day onward, Cloudsdale had started to prepare for war. The councils here refused to obey Nightmare Moon's orders, for none of the ponies would accept to live in a night that lasts without an end. All across the land, resistance forces were uprising; they formed volunteer armies and declared war on Nightmare Moon.

It was only the beginning, for Nightmare Moon's powers were far beyond their imagination — ever since the ponies started to rebel against her reign, when they’d close their eyes to fall asleep, there was a nightmare ahead, awaiting in their most dreaded form — none of them were quite the same, yet they all represented the worst possible experiences for each of those dreaming. The nightmares seemed so real, striking at the ponies’ weaknesses deep inside, dealing the fatal blow to their minds, scaring them awake from their restless slumber screaming, terrified and panting, not daring to close their eyes again. The resulting lack of sleep soon took tolls on them, making them easily weary and unable to fight.

Somehow, Snowdrop was the only one spared. She wasn't affected by the nightmare magic, and her dreams were at peace, although without any visual at all. It seemed as if Nightmare Moon was intentionally keeping her from the curse, but she didn't feel any better for it, only more confused, heartbroken and guilty.

Why are you doing this? Princess Luna, why would you put so many ponies in such agony? Was it for my sake? I don't want any of it! Make it stop, please, I beg you!

Snowdrop was screaming inside. She had so much to tell the Princess, but she couldn't deliver them -- Princess Luna had never come to her dreams again.

Then, there returned a Pegasus soldier from the front, intact, but apparently terrified. The ponies soon learned what had happened on the battlefield through his hysterical, broken sentences —

In order to effectively assault the Pegasi race who rebelled against her reign, Nightmare Moon had created her own air forces: the Nightlings — the horrible creatures converted from ponies, with bat-like wings and reptile-like golden eyes and narrow pupils. Their strength was unmeasurable; so were their speed. But the real disadvantage was their toxic body fluids, imbued by the curse Nightmare Moon cast upon them — for any other winged creature, getting bitten by a Nightling only meant an inevitable, painful death.

His entire battalion had fallen in the encounter with the Nightlings; all but him. It wasn’t luck that he had escaped the bloody bath in one piece — they let him go on purpose, to let him carry the shocking news back home to everyone.

The situation turned grim day by day: all the soldiers were exausted from the haunting nightmares, the climate became colder in the eternal night, and the Nightlings never ceased to advance toward the Pegasi’s homeland. Tidings of defeat kept coming from the front, and all the grown stallions were drafted to fill in the empty positions in the army.

All of these things made Snowdrop feel that the world she knew and love was falling apart — all she could hear was the ponies in the once peaceful community bidding goodbye to each other and weeping at their possible eternal parting. Earlier that day, Cumulo Nimbus went to her blind friend wailing, saying that her father would soon go to the frontlines to stall the enemy. She also told her that even Cirrus had been taken to the army involuntarily right in the early morning, to fill in the increasing gaps.

Even Snowdrop was the one that didn’t have bad dreams at all, she felt as if she was living one — fighting a losing war, separated from family and friends — why must all come to this? Such a life is a living nightmare, the worst dream she had ever had, one that lasts even when awake.

Will it ever end?

She wondered, but didn’t know.

Then, she felt some unnamable power incoming from far away… It felt strange at first, but somehow very familiar. Then there’s warmth, warmth thawing her freezing coat from the everlasting night, it felt just like the sunshine she used to know… And then she heard cheering and praising rise from all around.

Could it be the end of the night?

The answer came shortly afterwards, in the news brought from the ground:

Leading the imprisoned soldiers along with them, Princess Celestia and Star Swirl the Bearded broke free from within the dungeons below the Everfree Castle, and took it back from its nocturnal guards. She defeated Nightmare Moon, and banished her permanetly to the moon. When the Sun finally rose, the Nightlings’ wings vaporized into thin air, and their strengths drastically waned. It was the turnabout of the war — they were no match for the Pegasi any longer, and were driven back into the dark shadows.

… That was their victory, as sudden and unexpected as it came.

Amongst the excitedly cheering crowds, Snowdrop fell to the floor in a heap, dumbstruck at the news. Her living nightmare had ended, but she didn’t have any mood for celebration. Now all she could think of was that Nightmare Moon had been banished permanently to the moon.

Banished. To the Moon. Permanently.

She could never have a chance to see Princess Luna again — could she?

Author's Note

Translator's Note:
"Nightlings" are the author (Sung) 's depiction of the Bat Ponies. They have a common setting in his works. It's not in accordance with the canon setting for Bat Ponies, which was confirmed after Season 3.

Chapter 12: One Last Gift

One month after peace once again returned to Equestria, the Sun Princess planned to hold a grand tour in all of her main cities, to reassure her citizens from the wounds of war. When the marching parade accompanying the Princess appeared on the main streets of Cloudsdale, all its residents rushed to the road to welcome and pay their tribute to their heroine, the solar mare that saved them from the eternal night.

Primrose took her blind daughter into the celebrating crowds, telling her of what was going on despite the cheers and chants: 4 pegasi stallions were pulling the gold chariot on the street, on which Princess Celestia sat upon; beside her sat Star Swirl the Bearded and her royal guard captain. They three were the heroes of leading that battle to defeating Nightmare Moon.

Primrose excitedly explained to her daughter, but Snowdrop paid little attention to her. All she could think of was still Princess Luna. She longed so much, that she could ask Princess Celestia of the truth of Nightmare Moon in person — ever since Luna’s transformation, everypony had heaped the crimes, hatred and abuse upon her, cursing her betrayal in public, as if she had never been a kind and benevolent ruler of Equestria at all.

Snowdrop would never believe that the moon princess, the one who treated her with tenderness and care, and wanted to realize her wish at whatever cost, would suddenly turn into an evil villain beyond compare. There must be some reason behind this — there must be.

She called out the sun princess’s name at the top of her lungs, in hope that she might notice her at all. Yet, her voice only drowned in thousands of voices that was chanting the princess’s name. She kept calling, but with each call unanswered, her heart grew more impatient.

Now her mother was telling her that the Princess would soon be leaving the street and start advancing to her next city. There was not much time left.

“Princess Celestia!” shouted somepony, “Please take this bunch of flowers as a sign of my gratitude! Thank you for leading our heroes to vanquish the evil Nightmare Moon!”

That was a voice too familiar to Snowdrop — it was the flower shop owner here in Cloudsdale.

“Thank you, my loyal subject.”

She heard it.

It was the answer of Princess Celestia — she could finally confirm her position! Afraid to lose her last chance, she spread her wings and dashed toward that voice, before her mother could take a hold of her.

“Who are you?! Halt! That’s an order!”

She heard somepony beside the sun goddess shouted at her. She didn’t know who that was, and she didn’t care — she wanted to know why, she just wanted to ask Princess Celestia what had really happened.

“Put it down!!” the princess hurriedly called out, “Put it down, Bolt!! She’s—”

PLUNGE.

Before she realized anything, Snowdrop’s throat met something cold and sharp. It mercilessly pierced her through. Blood rushed inside her mouth, dumbed her attempt to call the princess’s name.

“Gah?! Wh-why didn’t you avoid my spear?!” the other pony yelled in disbelief, clearly startled by what she had just done. The filly finally realized that he didn’t know she was blind, and that she didn’t know she was dashing toward a sharp weapon pointing at her.

Her body fell limp helplessly on the ground. She felt the spear pulled out from her body, but she couldn’t move. She lay there, blood gushed out of her wound like a crimson stream.

It’s getting cold…

She thought, and fell unconscious.

In the endless darkness, she felt as if she was dreaming. Everything here was just like her other dreams, completely dark and void. Then suddenly, Princess Luna showed up before her.

“Princess Luna!” shouted Snowdrop surprised and thrilled. It had been such a long time since their last meet! She looked up expectantly, expecting to see the same giddy grin on the other pony’s face — instead, her gaze only met the Moon Princess’s guilt-ridden features.

“Princess Luna, where have you been for so long time? I missed you so much!” Though puzzled, Snowdrop called out again.

Luna only shook her head in silence as a response. Then, she turned around, and started walking away.

“No! Wait! Please! Please don’t go away!” Snowdrop shouted, running after her. Strangely, even Luna seemed walking slowly, she couldn’t catch up and was falling behind. Her dark blue figure went farther and farther, and finally, despite all the pleading and calling, her form disappeared at the end of her sight. From the spot where her form faded, a piercing white light suddenly struck out and wrapped up everything. It was so dazzling, that Snowdrop had to close her eyes before it.

When she finally was able to open them again, Princess Celestia’s agitated face came into view.

“Snowdrop! Are you awake? Are you all right? Can you talk now?”

“I’m… I’m fine,” Snowdrop opened her mouth and answered. Despite a little dryness in her throat, she felt herself fine as ever. She found herself in a room, lying on her back on a bed with white sheets. A familiar scent filled her nose.

“Where am I?” she asked.

“You’re home. Thank goodness you’re awake! You’ve been unconscious for half a day.”

“Home? But Princess… didn’t you and Star Swirl the Bearded tell me, that it’s forbidden to create any more illusions in my dream? What is this…”

“What are you talking about?” the Princess was puzzled, “me and Star Swirl didn’t use any…” Then it suddenly dawned on her. “Wait!” she exclaimed.

She ignited her horn with a faint light, then pulled a feather off her wing with her magic.

“Snowdrop, now answer me with full attention: what did I just do?”

“Huh? You pulled a feather off yourself… for some reason?” answered Snowdrop somewhat confused. Hearing the answer, the Sun Princess’s eyes widened in surprise as if startled, the feather she was floating with magic lost its hold and fell to the ground.

“Your eyes!” She held Snowdrop’s head in her own fore hooves, bringing her closer to herself until they were face to face.

“Pwincess Cewestia… what wuh you doing?” asked Snowdrop out of her tightly clenched mouth between the princess’s hooves.

“Snowdrop, you’ll never guess what happened…” explained the Princess, “you are not in a dream anymore. This is reality. The real reality, the one you’ve longed for, full of wonders and colors.”

Snowdrop sat dumbstruck for a brief moment, then her eyes grew wide. She jumped off her bed, and before she balanced herself, she scrambled out of her room, and headed for the living room by memory.

There, she saw the bearded sorcerer sitting by the table, and a mare with red and swollen eyes from crying hard. The scent on her was way too familiar — without further confirmation, Snowdrop rushed toward her, calling loudly, “Mom!”

“Oh — Snowdrop, my dear child! Thank the great spirits; you’re okay!” Primrose was taken by surprise, and held her daughter tightly in her embrace. “You almost scared me to death! You just dashed out like that, and then got pierced by that vermin… I thought I had lost you forever!”

It was then that Snowdrop noticed that another pony was standing in the corner of the room. That pegasus’s face was covered in black and blue bruises. She could tell he was the one responsible for piercing her; apparently, her mother kicked him hard.

“Mom,” she said, “it’s not just that! I can see now! I can see you! I can see our living room, and everything!” she chimed excitedly. All the ponies in the room were staring at her in disbelief.

“Oh, oh, my!” Primrose were too surprised to say anything; all she could do was fondling her daughter’s head.

“How… how is this even possible? Let the old one have a look…” said Star Swirl in utter surprise too. He stood up and came over to the blue filly to perform his check. Seeing that he was standing on clouds, Snowdrop felt rather astonished — back at school, her teachers said that only winged ponies have the ability to do so. She looked down, and discovered that all his four hooves were glowing and wrapped up in magic — this legendary unicorn sorcerer had created a spell to even walk on clouds!

“Unbelievable… Two miracles, in a row!” exclaimed Star Swirl as he finished checking Snowdrop’s body. His voice was wavering, his warm tears flowed out of his eyes, traveling down his wrinkle-ridden face.

“Mr. Star Swirl? What’s wrong? What exactly happened after I fainted?” asked Snowdrop confused. The sorcerer couldn’t speak for a moment, but that pegasus standing in the corner answered her instead.

“After I pierced you — I’m truly sorry for having done that — we thought you wouldn’t survive, because even Princess Celestia and Star Swirl could not stop the heavy bleeding. Then there was the first miracle — in a sudden, a strong flow of Princess Luna’s magic burst out from your body. It not only stopped you from losing more blood, but gathered at your wound… Before our own eyes, your wound healed completely in mere seconds, as if nothing had happened at all.”

“Luna is the Princess of the Night; rest and cure are in her charge,” the Sun Princess carried on, “that’s why her magic power has the ability to heal. When your life was in a pinch, the magic she left in you somehow reacted to it, bursting out to cure your fatal wound… But I didn’t know that her magic was powerful enough to make your see. It’s the second miracle.”

“O young filly… These eyes of yours, are truly the one last gift Luna gave you.” Said the teary old sorcerer, who gently run a hoof on the filly’s head.

“Princess Luna…” the name suddenly rang a bell for little Snowdrop. “Wait a second — was Princess Luna really… really banished to the Moon forever?” She inquired.

The ponies fell into an awkward silence at her question. Snowdrop was agitated.

“Why?! Why did you have to do this to her?! And why did she transform into that Nightmare Moon? That was definitely not her! That was not the Princess Luna I knew and loved!”

Again, only silence replied to her outburst. After a long while of consideration, Princess Celestia finally spoke.

“Do you really wish to know the truth? Are you willing to know it, regardless of how it would make you live the rest days of your life in remorse, just like what it did to me and Star Swirl already?” The Solar mare’s expression was stern and bitter; still, Snowdrop nodded her own head firmly, looking straight at the Princess with her newly recovered eyes.

And Celestia spoke — she told the heart-aching truth, the unknown dark side hidden behind all the victorious glory…

Princess Luna, in search for a way to enhance her own powers, chose a path that she didn’t know there was no turning back — she broke the seal of a long forbidden relic: the enchanted Nightmare armor, and put it on in hope of drawing magic powers from it. It worked — she became many times stronger than she used to be, yet at the same time, her hatred for herself being weak, her jealousy of her sister always in the favor of everypony, all of things like that were enhanced too. Her mind finally give in to the twisting thoughts raging in her head, and finally became the mare known as “Nightmare Moon”.

With her new powers, she bested Celestia and Star Swirl, and imprisoned them in the dungeons. But after several never-ending nights, the servants that she forced to work for her couldn’t stand such miserable life, and turned against her. They secretly opened the prison gates, and Star Swirl managed to find all the Elements. After a fierce fight, Celestia finally had a chance to use the Elements to purge her sister, but when she did, the unexpected happened: Nightmare Moon started to turn into stone, just like when they sealed Discord.

She had to stop, and took a serious hit from Nightmare Moon’s magic fireball. As she saw her sister went for the fragile bearded sorcerer, she had to activate the Elements again… But she didn’t know what to do. She could neither bear to seal her sister in stone, nor let Nightmare Moon destroy everything. Without her sister to assist wielding the Elements, their power were quickly waning, she couldn’t hold on much longer.

In desperation, she saw the Moon through the broken ceiling of the castle…

As she told the story, Celestia wept. She knew at heart that if she had cared more about her younger sister instead of neglecting her, she could have set it all right, and none of this would have happened…

Snowdrop wept too. She didn’t know her favorite princess’s persistence on realizing her wish could have led to such an end — knowing how it all came to be, she blamed herself for having spoken her wish to Luna. She’d rather keep that wish in her heart forever, than seeing Luna banished eternally on the Moon.

They wept bitterly, for the loss of their beloved Moon Princess.

***

A month later, Winter came. The pegasi took the snowflakes they’ve made, and spread them all across Equestria. Using the techniques Snowdrop taught them, these little white flowers of winter they made brought the ponies on the ground extra fun and happiness, healing their wounded hearts from the war with Nightmare Moon.

As others celebrated the end of another hard year, one pony alone wasn’t taking part in any. Snowdrop was sitting on a cloud near her house, the cloud where it all started, where she created her first snowflake for the Spring Sunrise.

In the snowy night, she looked up to see the starry sky and the Moon, on which there was a silhouette of a pony she knew. Thinking of how her princess and best friend couldn’t see what she’d been expecting, she couldn’t hold back her tears any longer.

“Princess Luna… I don’t know if you could hear me up there, but… as the stars could hear my wish, I guess you can too. Now Equestria’s in its winter, the snow flowers you’ve been wanting to see are falling from the sky — can you see it from up there?”

Snowdrop talked — each night, she’d look up at the moon and talk to her princess, telling her own experience for the day, be it fun, sad or exciting — in hope it may get to the moon high above, so that she wouldn’t feel lonely there.

After speaking with Princess Luna on the moon, Snowdrop stood up, and turned her gaze to the stars accompanying the moon, to say her prayer:

“I wish, I hope, I dream, I pray… That you could somehow bring Princess Luna back. I believe she already knew she had done wrong… Please, please forgive her guilt and bring her back. Please? I’d sacrifice my eyes, just to have her back. If I can see anything but Princess Luna, then sight means nothing to me. I’d rather be blind for all my life, than seeing her banished and stuck on the moon. I just want her back.”

Each night, she said the same prayers to the night stars. She wanted to help Princess Celestia and Star Swirl the Bearded, who was persistently seeking a way to bring the lunar princess back, but she could neither use magic, nor fly high enough to reach the celestial bodies. All she could do was repeat the method that had once worked for her — to wish upon the stars.

She kept doing it ever since, day by day, and year by year, without stopping, without missing a day.

Epilogue: The Sabbath

“What happened next? Did Princess Luna finally return?” the gray pegasus asked impatiently. Tears left two lanes of stain on her face — she was touched by the old mare’s story, one saddest story she had ever heard.

Snowdrop shook her head and said, “No… though there was still a piece of hope left for us: Before Star Swirl the Bearded passed away, he had prophesied the return of Nightmare Moon, saying, ‘On the longest day of the 1,000th year, the stars will aid Nightmare Moon escape and return to Equestria once again.’ Back then, his last words caused a lot of panic; but to me and Princess Celestia, it was a glimpse of hope, because the stars seemed to have finally answered my wish… Both of us expected the day of Princess Luna’s return, but meanwhile, we feared the pony returned was still Nightmare Moon… Gasp… Gasp…“

Her breath was getting heavy. That gray mare felt something not right: as Snowdrop told her story, she gasped for breath more and more, each time more violent than the former.

“Granny, are you all right? Is there something wrong?” the guest asked in concern.

“I’m okay, I really am… I’m only a little bit tired — Uh…” her limbs suddenly fell weak. Fortunately the gray mare held her in time, or she could have fallen on the ground.

“Granny!”

“A thousand years…” Snowdrop said, chuckling wryly. “For an immortal Alicorn like Princess Celestia, it seemed possible to wait; but for me, however hard I try, it’s still far from my reach…” She lifted her head to look at her guest.

“Please don’t say that, Granny! I’m sure you’ll live long, long enough to see Princess Luna return!”

“No, I’m afraid I can’t… To tell the truth, I’m already over 150 years old.”

“A hundred and fifty…” the gray mare’s jaw dropped in awe.

“Maybe it was because Luna’s magic in me hadn’t faded, ever since the day I could see, I have never fallen sick again; even if I hurt myself, I recover way faster than other ponies. Her magic allowed me to live much longer than other ponies, and in turn forced me to experience a part of the agony of eternity.”

Snowdrop fell into her guest’s embrace, and spoke on, despite her voice getting weaker with every passing moment:

“Seeing the ponies I treasured pass away from me one by one; I was left alone living on this world, and slowly became numb of the way of living… There was no happiness, nor sorrow, nor anger nor fear… Such a life is what the immortal princesses have to face. I only experienced a fraction of it, and I felt it was too much to bear already. Fortunately, I met you in the last few hours of my life… What a pleasant coincidence it is.”

She reached out her shaking hoof, and wiped away the tear trails on the other pegasus’s face.

“You should be proud of these eyes of yours, because… in my long life, I’ve never seen another pony at your age with such crystal-clear eyes… And I can tell… that you have a crystal-clear heart too… clearer than anypony else. May you keep them forever…”

Snowdrop said and closed her eyes. Seeing this, the gray pegasus rocked her body with her hooves.

“No, Granny! Please hold on! I’ll, I’ll call the Doctor! He’s a friend of mine, and he’s good! I’ve seen him rescue countless lives!”

“Don’t bother… Life and Death are a part of our world’s cycle, and I’m about to walk my last part.” Snowdrop answered, slowly shaking her head. A peaceful smile came to her face. She was getting sleepy, so sleepy, that she didn’t want to wake up ever again…

…

“Doctor!”

***

When Snowdrop opened her eyes again, she found herself inside a strange place. It’s a giant room with all its walls made of metal, all kinds of gizmos and gears were running and whirring everywhere, like a factory. All of a sudden, a strange earth pony entered her view.

“Oh hello! You are already awake, aren’t you?”

“Who… are you?” she inquired.

“Interesting question; does it really matter who I am? But if you seek a proper way to address me, then please call me ‘Doctor’. That is how my friends and acquaintances call me,” answered the earth pony who called himself “Doctor”.

“Doctor, how did I get here?” Snowdrop looked around confused. She stood up, and was surprised to find her limbs flexible again, and her body not stiffy nor aching anymore.

“Oh! Speaking of which, thank you for taking care of Derpy for me.”

“Derpy?”

“Yes! Derpy — didn’t she tell you her name? Gray, with wings, golden mane and two walled eyes that never look the same direction —” Doctor barely finished his sentence when a hoof pushed discontentedly on the back of his head.

“Don’t you laugh at my eyes!” the gray mare pouted unhappily, walking out from behind him.

“Hey, I was only joking. And look, Snowdrop’s awake,” Doctor rubbed the back of his head, and pointed to Snowdrop with his hoof.

“Oh! And, um… hi! Are you all right, Granny?”

Derpy clumsily greeted Snowdrop. Even though Derpy was facing her, the blue mare still couldn’t tell if her eyes were looking at herself or at the Doctor.

“Thank you for your help; my body felt much better,” she said.

“Oh, that…” Doctor’s expression suddenly turned serious, “Sorry… I’m truly sorry. Your body was already at its limits, I tried the best I could, but I could only keep you in such state temporarily… That’s the most I can do.”

“...It’s alright. Besides, I was prepared for my fate. I didn’t know your friend would cause you so much trouble to do this for me… Thank you both for doing this for me, and sorry for all the trouble I brought.”

Snowdrop answered, and smiled. She knew her fate was written, but even so, there was a fleeting moment just now, that she felt thrilled that she could live on… Fate will always catch up with you, she said to herself secretly.

“Don’t mention it. Oh, and by the way, we are almost there.”

“Where?” Snowdrop asked, then she saw Doctor’s somehow mysterious but also thrilled smile.

“A thousand years later.”

“A thousand years? What are you talking ab— “

BOOM!

The giant room suddenly rocked heavily. Had Snowdrop’s limbs not recovered, she would have fallen to the ground.

“Here we are! The Royal Canterlot Garden in winter, just like 1,000 years before!” Doctor walked to a door-like place in the room, opened it, and the snow world outside came into view.

Snowdrop walked out of that door skeptically; she didn't know where she had just arrived, the only thing she knew was that it's wide and open, looking like a blank field, with beautiful snowflakes falling from above. Maybe what Doctor said was true, that it really was a garden; though there was nothing to see besides the white winter snow.

She looked and looked, until she saw a dark purple figure standing away in the snowfield.

That was a pony... She looked somehow different, but Snowdrop knew she was not mistaken. That dark-toned coat, the long horn on her head, the wings on her back, and finally, the crescent moon cutie mark on her flank.

Snowdrop was so stunned from what she saw, that she couldn't move.

That pony was facing away from her, looking intently at a statue. Snowdrop looked at the statue, and was even more surprised to see that the statue was modeled after her own figure.

(via HankOfficer)

After hesitating for a while, Snowdrop called, in both expectation and fear, she called that pony's name —

“Princess Luna?”

The ears of the pony looking at the statue suddenly twitched. She turned around slowly, and as she saw Snowdrop standing there, a complicated expression came to her face, as if saying “unbelievable”.

“Snow… drop?” she said.

The moment the blue mare heard that voice again… she wept.

Princess Luna’s voice was wavering, but it was really that voice, the voice she had been expecting for almost all her life.

“Princess Luna!” Snowdrop sprinted toward the moon princess, leaving not a trail on the snowfield, then pounced into the warm embrace of Luna.

“It’s really you! You’re back! You’re finally back! I thought I’d never seen you again in my life,” Snowdrop covered her face in the princess’s embrace, feeling that warm temperature on her.

“Me too! I thought I’d never have a chance to see you!” Luna was crying her tears of joy, wrapping her forelegs around the blue mare tightly.

“Doctor?” said Derpy, who was looking at the two from a distance to the earth pony beside her.

“Let’s go, Derpy; we’ll have a walk around here. I have a hunch that we might encounter something fun!” Doctor grinned broadly, turned around and started walking away.

“You don’t mean aliens like last time, do you?” Derpy said and followed him.

“Who knows! Ha ha!”

The two of them left, leaving two trails of hoofsteps on the snow.

Beneath the statue, Snowdrop and Luna were still talking.

“Oh, Princess Luna, I had so so many things to… yawn… to tell you,” Snowdrop said in the middle of a yawn, “I had talked to the moon every night back then, were you… yawn… were you able to hear me up there?” She was somehow getting sleepy, her head was nodding and her eyelids were hard to keep open, but she didn’t want to sleep so soon — she had just met Princess Luna after so long time.

“Yes, Snowdrop, I heard you. Thanks to the stars that passed your words, I heard every prayer you made, not missing any one,” answered Luna, who knelt down to let Snowdrop rest by her side.

“Then were you happy that… yawn… that Cumulo Nimbus and Cirrus… yawn… were finally together? I felt… really happy for their union then.”

“Yes, I was very glad that they finally made a family.” Luna said to her smiling, and unfolded a wing to cover on Snowdrop’s back tenderly.

“Yawn… Princess Luna, stop making me feel so cozy… Or I could fall asleep. I still have so much… so much to tell you…”

“Then maybe we could carry on our talk freely in your dream… Now I’m powerful enough, enough to freely walk across ponies dreams, and dispell their nightmares.” Luna kissed the forehead of the blue mare, a tear slided down her face.

“Really? I knew you could do it… I knew Princess Luna could do anything…” Snowdrop rubbed her own eyes, and mumbled, “Could you sing that lullaby… the one you sang for me last time… again?”

“Okay…” Princess Luna lifted her head, and inhaled deeply…

And she started to sing.

Her sweet and beautiful voice echoed in the royal garden, and in the embrace of her singing, Snowdrop finally shut her eyes. Little dots, ones that looked like stars and snowflakes at the same time, started to emerge and fly away from her body; as they flew away, bit by bit, her body turned transparent and immaterial.

This time, she fell into her eternal rest for sure…

As Luna finished her singing, Snowdrop was not beside her anymore. She looked up at the sky, and saw a new constellation up there amongst the stars, one that looked exactly like the shape of a snowflake. Her Snowdrop had joined the shining stars up above, living in peace and carefree up there, blessing the living things that lived beneath the stars, and sometimes… granting them a few wishes.

THE END

Foreword

The original fanfic was written by Sung in Chinese language. >>Click for Original<<
He's the story writer behind P. F. F. and Sung and Ama's Comics.

Translated by TNBi.
Also! I credit Zackfig for helping me with proofreading the translation.

AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

The protagonist of this fiction is Snowdrop, the main figure from a fan-made animation (click here) by Silly Filly Studios.

(Using the EqD banner by Zedrin for explaination.)

The short animation brought about a heart-moving atmosphere and touched the hearts of countless bronies, including me. This led me to writing this fiction in tribute.

Main cast:

Snowdrop: The main figure in this fiction, filly in the center. She's a blind pegasus who felt herself inferior at most times. She had always hoped that she could be of help to other ponies.

Cumulo Nimbus: The filly on Snowdrop's right, her classmate who usually speaks in a mean manner. Most would regard her as a second Diamond Tiara, but in my opinion, she has a warm heart under her cold appearance.

Cirrus: The colt on Snowdrop's left, an absent-minded pupil at school. Although he only appeared once in the original animation, he was among the roles that had their own names and character setting.

Primrose: Mother of Snowdrop.

Chapter 10: Ponies

“AAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!”

It hurts, it hurts!

“Doctor! She’s critical! What shall we do?!”

It hurts... so bad!

“It can’t be! All previous checks indicated she was fine, for heaven’s sake! Need a sedative, stat!” shouted the doctor anxiously. “Snowdrop! Can you hear me? Answer me!” he called.

“It hurts! My head is splitting in two!” she screamed. The rusty taste filled her entire mouth, and her blood burned like boiling water. She couldn’t think anymore in the excruciating pain; all she could do was cry and scream.

“Seize her! Quick!”

A few nurses rushed and held her in place; one of them took a syringe and injected something chilly into her body. It cooled her down for a brief moment, but before long, the burning sensation returned even worse.

“AAAAAAAAAGHH!!”

Such unbearable pain was too much for her. She hoped she could faint from such agony, but was denied — the pain somehow kept her mind from crossing the border into limbo.

“It didn’t work, doctor! Her status remains unstable, her pulse and blood pressure keep raising! Shall we get another shot?”

She wasn’t aware of how long the suffering had lasted; to her, it could be as long as a century — then suddenly, a giant bumping sound came from the windows, followed by sounds of shattered glass pieces falling to the ground. Then all the ponies gasped in disbelief.

“Princess Luna?!”

“Step aside! I’ll handle this!”

On hearing the voice of her princess, Snowdrop felt somewhat relieved inside. She felt herself lifted up, and a wave of refreshing breeze brushed around her body. It was gentle, but it somehow carried the burning sensation away. Her boiling blood slowly calmed down, and all the pains faded away from her.

“Unbelievable! Her pulse and blood pressure has returned to normal!” Exclaimed one of the nurses.

“Princess Luna, you’re wounded!” interrupted the doctor, “those glass cuts must be taken care of at once!”

“Do not worry,” she answered, “my wounds can heal a hundred times faster than yours. Now could you excuse us for a moment? I need a word with Snowdrop.”

“Yes, Your Highness. We’ll take our leave.” The doctor answered, and led the nurses out of the room.

“Snowdrop…” after seeing all other ponies go away, Luna took a deep sigh. “Why did you keep it from me all the time? You must have noticed that the strange illness was related to what I’ve been doing, haven’t you?”

Snowdrop tried to open her unseeing eyes. She was too weary from the hell she just suffered, and she wanted to fall into sleep right away — but she couldn’t. She had questions to answer.

“Because I feared...” she sniffled, “that if I told it to you, you’d never walk into my dreams, or show me the world of so many wonders ever again... and above all, I feared you’d blame yourself.”

“Snowdrop... I’m so sorry.”

The blind filly felt something dripped onto her face. It tasted a little salty — it must be the princess’s tear.

“It was all my fault... I couldn’t fully master the techniques to manipulate a dreamscape, and I brought forth so much suffering to you.”

“Princess Luna? Please don’t cry,” regardless of her weary body, Snowdrop still slowly reached out her hoof, touched the Moon Princess’s face and wiped away her tears.

“I don’t mind that at all... Thank you for everything you did for me. I’m truly grateful and happy, and I don’t have any regrets.”

“However can I compensate you? Please tell me, whatever it may be.”

“Well... Could you sing a lullaby for me, Princess? I’m so tired... and I’ve never heard a princess sing before either. Can I have it as my compensation?” Snowdrop smiled a little. She was sleepy and tired, so tired that her head felt rather heavy.

“A lullaby? I do know one — it was from one of those most ancient, most tranquil places.”

“Could you sing it?”

“Sure...” the moon princess gently put the little filly to her bed, covered her in the quilt before she started to sing.

Her singing voice flew out from Snowdrop’s ward, into the silent night, into every corner of the hospital. The lullaby she sang was one that nopony had heard of, and it was so enchanting that whoever heard it felt relaxed and peaceful inside, as if they all were little infants again, tenderly held in their mother’s arms... Soon, even the doctors and nurses on night shift fell into a deep sleep without knowing.

***

The next day came. When Snowdrop woke up from her bed, she found Princess Luna had already returned to her castle. She left her word to the doctor that Snowdrop had already recovered and was ready to discharge. After a detailed checking, the doctor was relieved to find that all her readings were normal again, so he allowed her to apply for discharging procedures.

What happened in the hospital was even more unbelievable: nearly two thirds of all patients, the hurt, the ill, and the ponies hospitalized just one day before, became healthy again and ready to be discharged. Among the rest patients who were in critical status, two thirds had their condition stabilized, and the rest passed away in peace without any suffer. For the first time ever, the ever so crowded hospital turned a little empty.

For little Snowdrop, she had been wanting to thank Princess Luna properly ever since she returned home. It was nothing easy for her though, for she had little chance meeting her either in dream or reality.

She waited on and on, until finally one night, when she opened her eyes, she saw Princess Luna again — only that she was accompanied by two more ponies she didn’t know: one of them seemed to be an aged unicorn with big white beards, dressed in cloak and hat with constellation patterns and many bells hanging on his hat’s rims; the other looked even bigger than Princess Luna, her coat was white as snow and her mane pink like a peach, and she had both wings and horn too. Snowdrop knew who she was — her cutie mark of the sun was too obvious for an answer.

Seeing other ponies in her dream, Snowdrop was quite surprised. On the other hoof, the expression Luna had on her face looked remorseful, like she was a child that just did something wrong.

“Good evening, Snowdrop the little pegasus.” The old unicorn said and walked forth to introduce himself. “The name’s Star Swirl, but they call me Star Swirl the Bearded for obvious reasons.”

“Star Swirl the Bearded?!” Snowdrop’s eyes widened in awe. She absolutely had heard of the Royal Prime Magician’s name before, and it was a name known to anypony who had ever been to school.

“And I am Princess Celestia. You’ve seen... heard me before.” the white pony said, confirming the guess she just made.

“Good evening, honorable Princess Celestia and Mr. Star Swirl the Bearded,” said Snowdrop and bowed to them politely.

“I’ve already heard of your story... and I’m sorry that such a thing should have happened to you.” Celestia said and walked to Snowdrop, a hint of regret in her eyes, and continued, “And I hereby promise to you, that I’ll never let such a thing happen to you again.”

“Never happen to me again? W-what does it mean?” Snowdrop asked, panicked.

“I think... maybe it’s better to let Luna tell you herself.” Celestia turned to glance over to her sister, but the moon princess only hung her head in silence.

“Luna!” Celestia called out, a little irritated. Still, Luna only bit her lips looking at Snowdrop with grief in her eyes.

“Now, now, let the old one handle it.” Finally, Star Swirl said and stepped out in the embarrassing silence, then walked towards Snowdrop to explain.

“Dreamscape Manipulation, the magic Luna had casted on you, is a forbidden and dangerous technique. It’s forbidden, because it could pry a pony’s privacy; it’s dangerous, because it’ll cause a tremendous burden to both the caster and the target. It amazed me a lot to see Luna had created so many illusions using that very technique, although it’s practically the problem we’re facing — their quantity was far too great for Luna to carry alone, so they took their toll on you as well.”

Star Swirl lifted a forehoof to fondle Snowdrop’s head. She shrunk a little in fear at first, but the old unicorn’s touch was really gentle. Little surges of warm magic flowed from him to her, it felt so good that her body wasn’t as resistant.

“To Luna, the burden could only cause a fatigue; to you, as a normal pony, it could be fatal. Methinks, you have already experienced such pains, have you not?”

“But it wasn’t Princess Luna’s fault! Really!” defended Snowdrop, “It was because of my selfish and wayward wish that it came to this! Please, don’t blame her for it.”

“But Luna was fully aware, that manipulating a dreamscape would cause consequences. It was her fault to continue casting it, and by doing so, she deliberately disobeyed our oath, that we would protect all the ponies from harm.” Celestia said sternly, while Luna flattened her ears at the verdict.

“You’re standing here in one piece without any harm, because we are here to carry the burdens caused by this manipulation in your stead. Still, for me and Luna alike, we have our own duties to fulfill, and Luna had failed hers too many times for the sake of you. That’s why we’re here — we’re here to remove everything, and seal the way to your mind, so that you may live free from any more of this harm.”

“What?! But why...” Snowdrop was wide-eyed and dumbstruck. Knowing all of these wondrous things in life would soon disappear, not even able to see in her dreams forever, she couldn’t control her tears from falling from her eyes.

“Sister... Star Swirl the Bearded... Is there really no other way?” Princess Luna, who had been silent all the time, finally spoke as she saw Snowdrop wept. Her own voice sounded like a hoarse whisper, and she looked so helpless and powerless.

“I regret having to do it as well, but I’ve just checked the remaining amount of magic in Snowdrop’s head. If we don’t do so, she’ll die soon. It would definitely endanger her life.” Star Swirl the Bearded said and shook his head, eliminating any remaining last hope.

“But it’s not fair to her!! All Snowdrop ever wanted was the ability to see! If she could never see anything even in her dreams...” Luna protested agitatedly.

“Yes, I know,” Celestia said and turned to Snowdrop again,“I know that doing so will ruin you wish forever… So I promise that we’ll compensate you for it, in any form you want, is that all right?” She walked over to Snowdrop’s side, unfolded her big wing to cover it on the little one’s back. Snowdrop only hung her head without a word in response. Seeing this, another fleeting look of sorrow came to the Sun Princess’s eyes, lingered for a brief while, then went away. She put on her stern look once again, and walked away.

“We’re running out of time. We have to get it done before sunrise; it’s no easy task.” Star Swirl said as he lit up his horn on the head. Celestia nodded in response, and ignited her own horn as well.

“Unh!” the old magician gave a swish to his horn. The living animals in the dreamscape started to disappear: their forms became transparent bit by bit, until finally there was nothing left.

Princess Celestia looked up at the replicas of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. A piercing beam shot out from her horn straight upwards, and a white light started to expand from where it touched the sky, devouring everything there, first the Sun, then the Moon, then the Stars one by one.

Luna could do nothing but look up and watch as the sky above disappeared, her own heart bleeding inside. Abruptly, she felt someone cuddled in her embrace. She glanced down and saw it was Snowdrop, who wept silently and buried her head in her chest.

“I’m sorry… I’m truly sorry…” The Moon Princess held her tightly, failed to keep her tears from dropping anymore. Her teardrops fell down, and soaked into Snowdrop’s wings.

Snowdrop was heartbroken. She knew too well that they did it for her own good, but why must all such caring protection be so harsh on her? They feared she could hurt herself, so she wasn’t allowed to go too far on her own, or go to the ground to play, or this, or that… To her, the said “protection” served nothing more than reminders of that she was a useless pony.

Star Swirl blew a long breath to the plants on the ground. They soon all withered, darkened, before finally turning to ash and dirt. The once beautiful scenery and the changing seasons were there no more.

Princess Celestia stood on her hindhooves, raised her forelegs high and stomped on the ground with heavy might. With a tremendous “BOOM!”, a shockwave rose up from where she stood, its ripples traveled through all the land, then all the sea, until the end of sight. The lands and seas it swept over disappeared too, along with any remaining sound of wind and water. Once again, the world returned to its origin: a place where only Light and Shadow existed.

“Here’s the final step. As long as we close and seal this space, Snowdrop would return to her normal life, and stay away from the threats of death.” the bearded unicorn spoke, and started to perform his magic spell.

“WAIT!”

Hearing it was Snowdrop’s call, Star Swirl, Celestia and Luna all turned to look at her.

“One more night… Just one more night! Please allow me to have one more night with Princess Luna in my dream! This is all the compensation I’ll ever ask for — I don’t want anything else, not even the beautiful things or colors I’ve ever seen! Just one last night… I want to look at Princess Luna closely, remember what she looked like and keep that in my head… for ever and ever.”

She said, her tears still wet and lingering all over her face.

“I’ll have to turn it down, for I know Luna too well. We have to be swift, or she could put everything we did in jeopardy,” answered the Sun Princess emotionlessly.

“Celestia!! WHY do you have to be so ruthless?!” Luna roared; she couldn’t contain her anger anymore.

“Then answer me: what if those fatal consequences strike her again? Have you not learned your lesson already? If you hadn’t saved her in time, now you’d be scolding yourself before her grave in remorse!”

Each word of Celestia fell like a heavy hammer upon her sister’s heart.

“As a princess and your elder sister, it’s my duty to protect the ponies from harm and protect you from suffering from your own wrong doings. I won’t let you make even more mistakes,” said Celestia, looking directly at Luna in the eyes. Her younger sister turned away from her gaze, and looked at Star Swirl pleadingly as if seeking his help. The aged unicorn didn’t speak for a long while, before finally nodding his head slightly.

“Fine then. Luna, you’ll be left here alone to seal the space on one condition: you must promise that you’ll never enter another pony’s dream again, especially Snowdrop’s; forcing this sealed space to reopen could result in a burst of the magic remained in her head, and kill her instantly.”

“I… promise.” Princess Luna nodded. As she heard she could kill Snowdrop on entering her dream again, her expression turned serious.

“Well, Celestia… Let’s go first.” Star Swirl’s horn started to glow again, this time his and Celestia’s limbs started to turn transparent.

“Are you really sure of this?” Celestia asked in concern.

“Oh Celestia… I know you always strive to prevent the worst things from happening, and protect all the ponies and things you hold dear… But someday you, or Luna, could be confronted with something inevitable, beyond any help, that leaves you in sorrow and regret. Sooner or later, you two will have to learn to face it, accept it, and let go of it… By then, you’ll have to support each other to see it through.”

Before completely vanishing, this bearded magician left these words to both princesses.