Chapter 5 ~ Seperate Stories

“Once upon a time,” Book Binder began. The azure pony started all of his stories like that, just like he’d look over his audience after he said that line. He looked at each and every one of them with his wonderful magenta eyes. They were a marvel, the mare found, just like his mane of dark blue, green and yellow streaks. It looked like ice-cream, tasty ice-cream.

After he was satisfied with the look his spectators gave him, he started speaking again. “Two princesses reigned over a land named 'Equestria'. One of them controlled the light of day, the other the light of night. These they called sun and moon and it was said that the days were so bright, you could see from the Crystal Mountains down to Appleloosa and still not see the horizon and even in the darkest hours the world beneath the skies was illuminated.  During the nights, magical beings watched over all the living creatures. They were called stars. Creatures who looked down on the earth for all of eternity in the name of one of the two princesses, called Luna.”

The fillies looked at him in wonder. None but the oldest knew the story and that pleased Daydream to no end. She might have been a bit too old for listening to these old ponytales, but for one she always had liked them and for a second, Book had wanted her here. Still, even though she would’ve been able to tell the story on her own and wasn't here voluntarily, she listened intently. Her own bright blue eyes were fixated on the storyteller. She might've been here against her will but the story was good and it's teller gorgeous.

“Now, you have to know, there were tens of thousands of stars up there in the sky. Each and every one of them a beautiful thing, each and every one of them a wonder to behold, even for a mighty princess like Luna. And each and every one of them older than the princess or the ground she stood upon and in the beginning the skies did not bend to the will of either princess. In the darkness before the first dawn, the stars were scattered throughout the skies, yes, but they were too shy to show themselves in their full light and the mightiest of them all, the sun, was also the shyest of all. The princesses who looked at the land, wanted there to be light, so they talked to the sun and the stars but they did not speak their language.

“The princesses tried to talk to the stars over and over again. They made signs on the ground, they painted in the skies with their magic but the stars would not heed, for they could not understand the ponies so far beneath. Yes, Luna herself gave up at one point, admitting their failure but with a jest, her elder sister, the princess Celestia, lifted her spirits. They decided to split up, while Celestia would still try to find a way to talk to the stars, the younger sister would travel to another world to find someone old enough to teach her their language. So she spread her tiny wings and flew towards the moon.”

His foot stomped on the ground and he then lifted it skywards, symbolizing the way the princess flew.

“The journey was a long and harsh one, for the moon was a black spot amidst a sky that was as black as the one today and there were not yet any Ley-lines to guide the poor princess. Still, brave Luna didn’t stop and her stubbornness paid off. She landed on the moon and there she searched for a beast to teach her the ancient language. After a week's journey, she found someone: The Moondragon. A beast made of rock and sand and flame, only younger than time itself. Still, the beast lay dying of old age and only the light of the sun could give him his old strength back.

“‘I have come to learn to speak to the stars. Teach me, so that I can save you, poor dragon’ the princess said, nuzzling the old beast and the dragon agreed to her generous offer. For three years, three months and three days she stood on the moon and talked to the beast, learning the queer language of the stars and as the dragon's final hours approached she flew towards the sky once more, far away from Equestria and the moon.

“There, on the eternal fields of dreams she looked on all the stars and sang in their language: ‘I am Luna, third daughter of the Heavens and anointed ruler over the skies of night, the moon, the stars and striving comets. I have come to let you know, you beautiful stars, that all your lights are needed now, for our home is dark, my sisters without hope and above all else, the ancient guardian, the dragon of my moon, he is dying. Please shine your lights and aid us.’

“Even though she could’ve ordered them, she begged. Even though she could’ve made them bow, she bowed and thus the stars followed their humble princess. Before the first dawn then came the first night, the longest night, with all the constellations up their glittering, meteors rushing over the countries and the moon shining with magical light.”

Book Binder finished with a smile, “The End.”

With that his voice vanished and in the background, Three Strings could be heard playing the Lullaby of Trottingham as clearly as he could. All the kids had slept in, just as intended and if it weren’t for Book slightly nudging her, Daydream would’ve probably fallen into the land of dreams, too. He wanted to make sure she kept her promise and helped with the younger ones.

Really, she still thought it funny how a caravan of this size had four fillies in it. There was only a total of two guards: Old Shield, an earth pony who always said that he once had a beautiful caramel brown mane, but it was snow white and he had a beard that reached down to his hooves, so he’d often tumble over it; and Ditzy Dares, a brave, albeit clumsy pegasus, whose greatest feature wasn’t her black coat or mustard mane, no, it had to be her golden eyes. Daydream often found herself just looking at them whenever she had the chance and Ditzy stirring nervously at the ground and looking away was cute, too. She didn’t like Ditzy more than Old Shield, Daydream often told herself, she just had a weakness for cute mares.

Aside from them, there were three other caravan members. The pale yellow coated caravan leader whose name was Lemon Tart, he who had an aquamarine mane and the longest face Daydream had ever seen on a pony. Then there was Lemon Cake, Lemon Tart’s sister who had a claret red mane along her dark brown coat. The last one was Streamline, the stallion who had designed and built their wagons. He had made them more ‘aerodynamic’ and ‘stylish’ or so he proclaimed. Daydream had to admit, the muffinesque roofs were wonderuful to look at, although Book Binder always told him that back in the old days, those were the designs for the trainwagons. He had seen the pictures in a book.

Needless to say, Streamline didn’t like Book Binder very much. And, as Daydream had heard, until Diamond Dust had beaten them both up, they always had been at each other's throat. Sometimes, she feared, they were still at it when nopony was looking. She had heard stuff from the fillies and those were exactly the ones she was worried about the most. All the shouting and fighting might actually get to them and set a bad example. They had a chance to grow up in a safe environment like a caravan and still there were such little things to worry about. The pony didn't like that one bit.

She worried because all four of them were lovely girls. Yeah, Storm Cloud could be a bother sometimes and with Bittersweet it wasn’t hard to tell what her name meant, but she liked them all the same. Golden Bit and Whistle were both lovely little things and Golden even was the bravest of the bunch. She saw such things and Diamond often told Daydream how she had a bit of a motherly streak. The mare loved that idea. Someday, she might even settle down at an oasis and just take care of the orphans that were around. There were a lot of orphans around the settlements, she knew. Daydream was an orphan, too.

Carrying the kids into their respective beds wasn’t hard and after the work was well done, they quietly went out to look at the fire. They could sleep better if the only sound they were hearing was from Three String's play. As he closed the door of the wagon behind them, Book Binder smiled at her.

“Thanks. You’re a good helper and make a great addition to my audience,” he told her.

Daydream giggled and said to him, “When there’s a story to be had, I’ll be there.”

Just in that moment Thousand Miles hovered by, the bells on her tail making a melodious sound. She gave Daydream a mocking smile and from beneath her goggles, the unicorn knew the darkblue pegasus’s eyes looked down on her. Thousand Miles was as wild as that purple mane of hers and most ponies they had met didn’t like her. Granted, her attitude wasn’t the best but she was still a bit dependable. A bit, because she was so hard to get through and even though the earth pony knew how little the pegasus cared for her, she returned the smile with one of her own, a friendly one, so welcoming and nice as possible. It was enough to make Thousand Miles turn her head and move away quicker, towards the storage-wagon, one of the three wagons this caravan had.

“Does she ever get off her high horse?” Book asked, dragging her out of her thoughts.

“You know her,” she answered. They had only joined up about three weeks ago, but everypony had quickly established their place within the caravan, “at least she’s not grumpy anymore.”

Book laughed. When they had reached the caravan, the trio had been injured and had lost most of their goods. Of course, the great trader Thousand Miles had not been able to accept that for two weeks straight, yet right after she was done mourning, had gone into full snob-mode again. Diamond and Daydream had told the other ponies that she simply was like that. Still Miles being Miles never helped much.

She and Book sat down by the fireside where they had left their dinner. The caravan was rich and so they could afford food. As a matter of fact they had lots of trading goods like rare spices and a barrel of Zap apple cider, probably the last out there, not to mention all that stuff from the old equestrian mines. There was promise here and even something like dinner, which until now had been some measly oatmeal for the mare called Daydream now was a feast of southern and northern flowers atop fine baked goods.

Traveling in small groups had it’s own merits. The larger a caravan got, the worse the food distribution had to be, Daydream found. Fewer ponies ate less and if they had such competent traders as the Lemons, and now Diamond Dust amongst them then they'd get a lot of good deals in the cities and with the caravans they passed. Such good trading could only result in a large variety of extravagant meals. She dug into her food like every breakfast and every lunch and every dinner. It still felt wonderful to have three meals a day. Other caravans had like one or two meals a day and she was used to one meal every two to four days.

“So, you like stories, huh? How’d that come to be?” Book asked, obviously trying to make small talk. Daydream grinned, she knew that sometimes she could be absent-minded and was often called an airhead but she noticed already that he liked her. Liked her really much.

She turned her grin at him. “Oh, you see, it’s like I told you before. I grew up in the city of good ol’ Manehatten.”

He smiled, although it was an unsure smile. Book always seemed so close to engulfing her in a hug when she started her talks about Manehatten. The elder tales spoke that it had been a bristling metropolis once but nowadays you wouldn’t believe that. The Manehatten Daydream had grown up in was all dust, ruins and little communities fighting over every bit of fertile ground and drinkable water.

He knew about her past because she was open about it. He knew how the fillies and colts without parents gathered up or died in the streets, he knew how they had needed to steal and sometimes would go weeks without food. However, while to him these thoughts appeared to come like the nightmares of old, she was fond of her memories. Daydream had been lucky enough to meet such true companions in Manehatten. Companions that hadn't left her side until this day.

“We would always make up stories when we huddled up by the fire. None of us knew any songs, still we needed sound. We’d tell each other our secrets, what we were afraid of and when we were out of such talk we’d go on about our fantasies,” she told her friend, looking at the fire before them.

She knew Book didn’t follow her gaze. Lemon Cake had told her that she had heard him tell Old Shield that her ice blue coat looked positively dazzling in the light. He liked her, she thought, even though she preferred mares and made no secret of it. His love seemed almost innocent, like the one in a book.

“It must’ve been hard,” he said, like always when she’d talk about her past.

“No, not really. I was shy, but I liked to listen. Got my Cutie Mark that way,” she pointed towards the swirl on her flank, in the seven colors of the rainbow. A mark for her great fantasy. “I’ve always been good at making things up and the others really helped me to learn to get the fantasy into spoken words.”

“That sounds good... uhm... hey,” he said after a moment, “How about we, like settle down when we’ve made enough money with trading. Open a book shop in one of northern settlements, or by a southern oasis.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, then Daydream just turned away and ate her food up. Book Binder just watched her with a blank gaze, probably waiting for an answer that wouldn’t come. Instead she shifted the conversation in an unsubtle manner towards the Pale Tower and Book Binders history.

He talked, although his look told her that he had taken the shift in topic badly. He must have thought that it meant she had just declined him. Probably for the better, too. After that was finished, Daydream decided to go talk to Diamond Dust, who probably was counting bits at the storage wagon again so she went there. She left Book with nothing but a short goodbye, which left him again with a hoping gaze, why, she couldn't figure out. She didn't bother trying to puzzle him out, though, instead she walked. At the end of the short uneventful trip the mare found that, yes, after she reached the wagon the other mare sat there and couted bits.

Diamond Dust was slightly older than Daydream. A cyan unicorn pony with indigo colored stockings, alongside a purple and blue mane and three indigo spots on each side of the face. Daydream had to admit that Dimey was the most unique unicorn she had ever met. Her Cutie Mark was a giant Diamond with glittering dust around it. It spoke true, for the pony had her ways with gems, just as she had with other ponies. Everypony she knew respected her and she had become somewhat of an unofficial leader for the group in the short time they had spent here. Yes, Dimey, as Daydream called her, was the ultimate authority figure.

And so she greeted that figure with a: “Still as many as yesterday?”

The other pony looked up, “Did you pick your humour from Thousand? Because...she’s fast, not funny. Just because the words start with the same letter doesn’t make them the same, tell her that from me,” she said completely deadpan.

Daydream frowned. She knew many unfunny ponies but didn't consider herself among them. “I’m just saying, your hobbies seem to be making money, counting money and spending money. How about you hang out with the rest of us? Would probably do you some good to have some non-wealth related things in your life. Come on Dimey, you know you want some friends, too.”

The unicorn sighed. “Friends? I’ve made two of them, which seems enough to me, “ she said with the slightest hint of smile. That was the best she could muster,  a slight hint. Daydream figured that the day Diamond could smile for real the sun would come out and all the flowers would start blooming. Still, the comment was enough to make Daydream beam, she loved Dimey more than anypony. However the positive atmosphere was ruined when the cyan mare followed up with: “And there isn’t much to do here but counting money. You know I don’t like getting too close to these ponies. If I had friends among them I would feel even worse about what we do.”

Daydream knew what she meant, “Yeah, but it’s necessary, isn’t it?” There was no illusion. Those were long gone. Neither of them would ever truly be able to follow a caravan again. All they needed was each other, the three of them could survive anything. Friends could come through anything.

“Yeah,” Dimey replied dryly. What then followed were a few awkward moments Diamond spent putting bits on top of other bits, all coming from a small chest which had the caravan’s fortunes stashed inside. Daydream just stood by her side and watched her.

“So,” Dimey started after a while, “I noticed you’ve been hanging out with Bookworm.”

“He’s called Book Binder.”

“Same difference. Anything particular about that? I thought you were into mares.”

The dry tone in which Diamond talked about sensitive stuff made it even more off putting than usual.

“I am, he... I just didn’t tell him,” Daydream said defensively.

“Yeah... right," the unicorn said rolling her eyes. "You are aware that playing games isn’t doing him any good?”

The earth pony looked down, quietly answering, “It is,” for some reason. She did not know why exactly she said that, but it certainly got Diamond Dust's attention. The mare turned away from counting bits and looked right at Dream.

“What?” she asked appalled.

Daydream looked around, the strings still played and she heard Old Shield laughing loudly, probably at a joke made at Ditzy’s expense, that appeared to be something of a standard happening as of lately. Then she found that they were safe she gave her full answer.

“I... I just think that, that it’s better to let him go on in hope for a while. I don’t think that shattering his heart twice in a row would be... I just can’t Dimey, I just can’t...”

She felt the other mare’s hoof on her shoulder, then moving onto her head, petting it softly. “You’re a good filly, you know that. Just make sure to not give him any hopes of having a chance with you. Best in a way he can still trust strangers that suddenly join up with the caravan,” she told her friend with that hint of an approving smile that always made Dream long for more. The darkness and the silence could take her if she could only see that mare smile once.

She nodded, with a bright grin on her face. She felt inspired, because unlike Thousand, Diamond only looked mean. The moment one got to know and understand how she worked, she was one of the best friends to have.

“Anyway, d’you know where we are, Dimey?” she then asked.

“It’s still a while, we’re not yet close enough. The Apples are nice ponies so they’re gonna hide a few traders and the Oaktongue’s got some incredible fresh water. It’s like the best in all of Equestria, or, to put it in Thousand's words, all of the world,” she swooned. A few weeks back, when she had told them of the Oaktongue and the orchards she had sounded far more longing but now that they had a decent meal everyday,  her tone was far more matter of fact.

Daydream nodded, “When do you think it’ll be enough?”

There came no answer, obviously. Daydream actually knew better than ask that question but truthfully, she wanted to answer Book’s. She wanted to tell him: “I want to open an orphanage and we could publish our stories by the side.” That way, they could all settle down in a town, amidst the lights and the noise. They wouldn’t need to worry about sleeping too long or not making enough sound. There would be no need to ask questions about who knew any songs and who didn’t, how the guards were doing their job or who was an able trader amidst them. They could just go to a city and live in a way their special talents and dreams could be heeded. That was all she really wanted.

She turned around as Dimey started to count again. Looking over the fire and the camp. Now she saw Old Shield coming back from the wagon of the guard. He shook his head and grumbled. Daydream didn’t wait. More socializing waited for her.

“Hey, oldie,” she said loudly as she stepped towards him. By the side of the wagon where the fillies were sleeping, she could feel Three Strings’ glance.

“I told you not to call me that,” the white stallion grumbled angrily beneath his massive beard, “What is it, Head-In-The-Clouds-Pony.”

She looked at him for a moment, twisting her face in played disgust. “I told you I’d stop if you ever stop with the egregious nicknames,” she said, “You could kill people with that un-talent.”

He took that as a joke. Old Shield took all criticism on his behaviour as a joke and he would laugh with a boom that was the same as a cannon’s.

“Oh, you sure got me for a moment;”  he said.

“Yeah,” she answered with an awkward laugh, “so, what did you do with Ditzy again?”

“Nothing, I just stated that her mother had a problem with her eyes a-”

“As a joke?”

He grumbled, “Why do you sound so accusing, that one would’ve taken that. Good ol' Toodle at least had a sense of humour unlike you lot.”

“Oldie, you know how sensitive she’s about her mom. Can’t you give her a break?” Daydream asked. She knew he couldn’t. It hadn’t taken long to figure out that all the jokes about Toodle Do were his way of keeping her memory alive. He had been her uncle, as far as Daydream had gathered it and never gotten quite over her demise. Even though Toodle had been one of the few ponies who had been granted to sleep after a long and fulfilling life. The earth pony still didn’t blame him. Old Shield was exactly that, an old guard who’d rather live in his glory days than now with all the ponies he had known gone to dream.

However, instead of just marching of grumpily, this time he reacted differently. He understood. “Yeah, you’re right. Always,” he muttered and turned around to go and fix his mistake.

When the trio had arrived Old Shield had constantly pestered the far younger guard, going so far as to accusing her of forgetting her own mothers’ death. Unlike with Book Binder and Streamline however it hadn’t taken some good old flank-kicking to set things right. Over the weeks all Daydream had needed to do was talk to both of them, be a friend to them. She found that friendship was a safer, better way. Sure, in the beginning she had only seen the crying klutz and the grumpy veteran but the earth pony had soon learned to like both of them, each with their own good side and bad side. Through that, she had helped them find each other.

As Old Shield went into the wagon she couldn’t help but smile to herself. Friendship always prevailed, just like in the tales.

Just like in the songs she remembered.

Thinking about that Daydream went to get Three Strings to play a song she could sing to.

The Lemons had been born and raised in the Crystal Mountains. They were what was often called ‘Dog raised’ since their substitute father had been a knight of Crystal Kingdom, which occupied the crystal mountains. It was ruled by diamond dog nobility and they were more civilized than the equestrian tribes. Being raised up there in the north one might expect the Lemons to be grim and stoic but they were clearly ponies. They relished company just like any other and understood the art of making friends. Basically, right now they were the closest thing a pony like Daydream had for a hero figure.

The pony had left Manehatten shortly after she had gotten her Cutie Mark. She herself, Diamond and Thousand Miles alongside another pony called Riverdance had followed the singer and that had marked their beginning. Riverdance had then gone to the frozen land to join the World’s Wake but had promised to always remember them. Then, basically, she and the other two had gone up and down the lands, joining one caravan and then another, 'trading goods' in between. Their days in Manehatten had teached them that they could trust each other but all the other ponies? Yeah, Daydream found herself clinging to the chance of having heroes to herself. She wasn’t that needy actually but the blue pony always felt that it was better to have somepony to worship.

Anyway, the Lemons were good to about anypony and showered them with friendliness, something anypony could accept, anypony but Thousand Miles, who used the time the others spend singing together lying on a wagon’s roof and looking at the skies through her goggles. They were brass and had dark shades on them. Still, Thousand always ran around with them on, claiming they were magical and let her see better in the dark. Of course, Daydream had always claimed it a lie and when she and Diamond had investigated back in their childhood days. They had found that you could see even less if you put the goggles on. Thousand had chased and caught them in but 5 seconds flat. It had been an unsuccessful and short lived theft but also one of the few times they had seen Thousand Miles being seriously wound up on something. Those goggles had always been her most prized possession.

It was one of the moments Daydream felt especially sociable when she climbed the storage-wagon. It had been hours since the fillies had been put to sleep and according to Diamond it was actually morning again.

“What’re you doing here?” Thousand asked, not really putting any thought into it, she looked at the blackness, her mind completely absorbed by her own thoughts.

“Just...checking on you,” Daydream said truthfully. Thousand never liked being in a place for too long.

“Can’t you bask in my awesomeness later? Or if you want I could draw you a picture of myself, so you can look at me every time you want,” the pegasus then said, full of herself as always.

“I don’t think-” Daydream began but was immediately interrupted.

“No need to say anything. Tell you what, you get me a piece of paper and something to write with, then I’ll draw you a picture. Of me. Hugging you. What? Sounds great? Tell you what, because it’s you Dreamy, I shall throw in my autograph for good measure,” she said, going into full smug-mode again. “Just imagine how you can tell everypony that you know me. I mean, I’m the greatest, the fastest and the most awesomenestestest flyer on the whole, wide world. For sure,” she turned her head towards the earth pony, grinning brightly, “you’re already way more radical when you're hanging out with me.”

The truth of the matter was, nopony liked Thousand Miles but she actually was the fastest flyer Daydream knew, so she probably had it correct when she claimed the bragging rights. Still, at one point, Dimey after a month and she herself after three days, most ponies learned to accept Thousand Miles for who she was. That was one of the reasons she wasn't groaning but simply smiling at the narcissim.

“You know, I actually feel cooler just by seeing you,” looking down on us, she added in her thoughts, “so much in fact that I think you can stop telling me that. Really, you’ve been going on how much you’re better than-”

“I’m not just better. I am the best!”

“...yeah, so, what I meant to say is-”

“I heard you talking to Dimey,” one thing was for sure, Thousand liked herself guiding a conversation, “Bookworm really loves you, huh? Good to see you steppin’ up the ladder. Now it’s not just fillies but gentlecolts, too.” Thousand gave her a proud look before she went over to the sky again, leaning her head on her front hooves. “I’m proud of you kiddo.”

“I’m one year older than you...and just because he likes me doesn’t mean I like him,” Daydream retaliated, thinking that the only bad point about friends was how they constantly meddled in stuff they shouldn’t really meddle in.

Thousand Miles just laughed, “Oh come on. Diversity isn’t that bad. I myself had three marefriends and two coltfriends back in Manehatten!”

There was boasting and outright lying. The most romantic Thousand had ever gotten was with her mirror image. Daydream rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure they all loved to hang out with you!”

“Hay yes they did. Not only could they date the one and only Thousand Miles, no, they also got free stickers and a hat with me brohoofing the oatmeal out of those horse apples!” She boasted loudly.

For a moment they were quiet and the wild fiddling and singing and bell-ringing overtook the moment. Then the two started laughing, loud, hard. Daydream found herself rolling around and holding her belly. She always liked it when Thousand turned her own boasting into a joke. It somehow always managed to catch her unexpected. It took them a while until even the remaining giggles left them.

“Yeah... no,” Thousand Miles confessed, “I don’t really need anypony to love me like that. It’s really just getting you into trouble.”

Daydream didn’t really know what to say to that but, “Yeah.” The pony would have liked being loved and caring for somepony else in ‘that’ way seemed attractive to her but somehow she felt it more important to stay true to her friends. Friendship always prevails, that’s what she had been taught and that’s what she wanted to believe.

Thousand took the goggles off her eyes, looking at the sky with her light aquamarine eyes. “We can’t stay much longer. He’ll hurt you in the end, they will all only hurt us. We need to finish things up and leave,” she said in a hushed voice and Daydream knew she was right. They had always learned it the harsh way. The pony didn’t even want to remember and Thousand always seemed so grim when she talked about it.

Daydream didn’t want this to go on like that. She needed a distraction, a change of topics. She sat there for a moment, before thinking of the perfect thing to say.

“Why in Luna’s name are we looking at the blackness?” And in her mind she added: Perfect!

Thousand let her left hoof knock on the glasses and regained her smug grin, “Too sad you can’t see through them,” she said, leaning back again, still keeping them on her forehead. She sighed. “Also, I’m looking because it’s sad.”

Growing up with black as the only worldwide color could be depressing, Daydream figured but it wasn’t a topic explored by too many ponies. Not since the darkness could actually eat you when you were too quiet. Ponies tended to not talk about harmful things. Still, this seemed incredibly odd for Thousand to bring up so Daydream said nothing.

As expected, the wild maned pegasus didn’t even wait for an answer. “I mean... you know that one story about the pegasus pony?” she asked, looking at Daydream who grimaced.

“Which pegasus?”

“Ugh...” Miles seemed to think, “Well, I forgot her name but all the stories about her are awesome. She was the fastest flyer in Equestria, the only pony to ever do an actual Sonic Rainboom, the Element of Loyalty and she had so many great adventures, you know the one:”

Daydream knew indeed, but the name had escaped her, too. She had always found the stories about the rainbooming pegasus way too over the top and hadn’t memorized them but Thousand had as it seemed.

“See, you do. What I’m saying is that in those stories and all the others, there’s always talk of a blue sky and a bright sun, there’s even grass and trees everywhere. I mean, clouds! Have you ever seen clouds, or rain? Have you ever felt wind or seen a storm throw mountains around? I sure didn’t,” the mare grumbled, “All we’ve got is rocks, dirt and more rocks on the ground with the occasional three trees and mud puddle. Back then, a forest spanned as far as the eye could see. Nowadays? Fifteen trees. Back then you needed bridges to cross the rivers. Nowadays? You hardly find a stream you can’t walk through or jump over. Back then, you could stand on the highest spot in Manehatten and see Los Pegasus. Nowadays? Black. All Black. It’s like the whole world is just a prison and it’s not even subtle about it. I mean, I don’t even know why I still have wings! To hover five feet above the ground? I should’ve been born an earth pony, everything’s easier for you. A unicorn has to deal with these freaky Ley-thingies, we Pegasuses don’t have any kind of freedom to actually fly. You’ve got it way too good. That rainbow pony... I bet I could fly faster than her. If you gave me a blue sky and clouds and wind I could be faster than anypony. I could prove them all I’m the best and no one would ever dare to doubt me again.”

Daydream looked at her friend. She had expected a few sentences, yes, but not a full-fledged rant. She looked up at the blackness, thinking about what she had just heard. A pony with wings yearned for freedom, she yearned for steady roots. All earth ponies probably wanted roots in the ground, a place where they could be remembered by, just like the Apple Family who persisted until today, not just on Sweet Apple Acres, but throughout the northern realm. What did unicorns yearn for, then? She looked up at the sky. Probably something that, too, would be solved if the skies were blue and bright and the grounds full of grass and fertile.

Still, the situation called for something positive, not more depressing lines, so after thinking about it, Daydream gave moral support a try.

“You can’t fly the way you want and I can’t stop to build myself a home. So... I guess walking the ruined roads together is our fate then,” she looked at Thousand Miles and smiled, “and it’s not a fate I find so bad.”

Thousand turned her look for a moment towards her before awkwardly asking, “Are you coming on to me?”

Daydream didn’t know what exactly happened but the next moment she was throwing her arms up and went down the roof, cursing Thousand and then as she made her way towards the songs still muttering to herself in the most angry way possible.

II

~Seperate Stories~

~End~