After a tiring day of work, sleep is a welcome thing. Sleep not only helps you to regenerate your energy, but also serves to help the brain rid of unnecessary thoughts.
With that in mind, I decide to go to bed early today. I shower quickly to rid myself of exhaustion and tuck myself in, right next to my Luna plush, embracing it for the night.
As I go over ideas for my story, sleep slowly creeps upon me. With no previous warning, it takes hold and I drift off into the dream realm.
I wake up to the sensation of cold. Opening my eyes doesn't help to ease the feeling of wrongness of the dark surrounding me. In front of me, I see a flicker of light, but as I concentrate on it, it vanishes.
Minutes pass as I sit in the darkness, letting my eyes get used to the seemingly utter lack of light. Finally, I start to make out my surroundings. I'm sitting on the floor of a fairly big, round room with black walls decorated with countless dots of stars. There’s a few bookcases filled to the brim with books with titles in a language that eludes my recognition. I take notice of a few other furnishings; something like a writing desk and a dresser with a mirror above it. In it, my reflection looking at me with the same wondrous expression that I'm certain I'm displaying. There’s a few locked ebony doors, that lead to who knows where. In the middle of the room, there’s a giant black silk pillow in the shape of a moon.
What rests on the pillow shuts down my brain for a moment. My brain running on limited power recognizes the creature as a horse. But it also detects additions to the shape that boggle its powers of comprehension. The horse sitting in front of me has wings. And a horn. And a star filled mane. And a dark splotch of the night sky with a crescent moon on its flank.
Finally, my brain reboots and recognition takes hold as I notice all the moon symbolism around the room. I look up to the creature’s face and my eyes meet its expressive eyes, which like mine are full of wonder.
Impossible. This is utter madness. She can’t be here. I can’t be here!
Yet my brain tells me otherwise, as impulses travel along nerves, telling me of the pleasant smell of blackberries that fills the room. It tells me of the feeling of cold, which sweeps from behind a set of closed curtains on one side of the room. It also tells me that my legs have fallen asleep.
I stand up and wobble on my unsteady legs, my eyes still locked with what I can only presume is Princess Luna. I shakily cover the distance between us and fearing of breaking this perceived illusion, stop there, right before her. Sitting like that, her head would reach just under my chin.
Slowly, I raise a hand and wiggle my fingers at her. She giggles and raises her own hoof. I notice the lack of any kind of regalia on her. Finally, the two limbs connect and a jolt jumps between them. I close my fingers around her hoof, feeling how soft and comfy it is. Yet, there’s a firm surface on the underside. I break my observation to look at her face again. She’s as interested in my fingers as I am in her hoof.
On a whim, I decide to bring up my second hand and wiggle its fingers too. She mimics my action but it causes her to lose balance and tumble into my waiting embrace. I slowly hug her around her neck, her head resting under my chin, her horn reaching past my ear and her mane tickling me all over.
I wait long for any kind of reaction but instead I am pleasantly surprised that she returns the hug and seems as reluctant as I am to break the embrace. We sit there for what seems like eternity, until I start to feel our heartbeats sound together. At this moment I don’t care that I’m in the magical land of Equestria. I don’t care for anything else in the world. There’s magic between us and I fear for when it ends.
Finally, I clear my perched throat and utter the first, uncertain words since my arrival.
“I love you, Luna.”
What she does next, shocks me to the core. With a small tremble, she raises her mouth next to my ear and slowly whispers.
“I know.”
My eyes widen comically, my mind once more blown with the idea of Luna understanding my words. Finally, my brain has had enough and I sense the incoming rush of unconsciousness. It comes like a wave, taking away my senses slowly, one after another. The last thing I’m left with is the feel of Luna still within my soft embrace.
[hr[
An unspecified amount of time later, I wake up with a start. I expect to find myself back in Luna’s embrace, yet I'm not given that. Instead, I awake in my own bland bed, in my own bland bedroom. The light shining through the window blinds me for a second as I blink away the remnants of sleep’s embrace.
As I look down, I notice my Luna plush and a weary sigh escapes my mouth. It was just a dream… why did it feel so real, though? I understand imagination can be powerful but that was… too real.
I tuck in my Luna plush for the day as I go around my room, preparing to take a morning shower. I need to get this out of my head as soon as I can. Nobody can live off dreams, as enticing as it would be.
When I come back minutes later to properly dress for the day, I glance upon Luna one last time before heading out.
Unseen by me, a blue feather falls out of the plush, smelling of blueberries.