Colors of Sanity

Chapter 8

Star Listener was awakened by a gentle nudge from a small, sandy pegasus. Valiant seemed quite elated, his ears standing upward and a great smile residing on his face. The joy was infectious, and Star Listener instantly felt a lift in his heart.

     "Welcome back, how was your time with Rarity?"

     "Wonderful!" he dove up onto his father, letting his actions speak for him. They sat hugging for a few seconds more, until Rarity spoke up

     "We had a wondrous time! I'd love to do it again, but I absolutely MUST get back to Ponyville. I have dresses to design, and Opal must be absolutely homesick at Fluttershy's! I would love to come back an visit again sometime."

     "We understand. Come back soon!" Rarity trotted out of the small room, on her way back home. Stone Grace was currently asleep, probably bored from the long stay at the hospital. Their long embrace ended, and Valiant Tranquility bounced back to the floor. There was a moment of silence before he returned to his "calm" state. His smile died down, and he straightened  his forelegs and spine.

     "What're we gonna do now?"

     "Do you want to return home? We could go to a restaurant on the way home, or we could just eat something simple at home" Star Listener replied, expecting him to hesitate before replying. He was right. Valiant Tranquility stood wondering for a few moments, and said,

     "Let's go to a westaurant!"

     "Uh, restaurant, honey."

     "That's what I said!"

     "With an -R."

     "Oh... Really?" Star Listener chuckled quietly and nodded to Valiant.

There was nothing but black and white, shining dots. Star Listener took his eye off the large telescope and sighed heavily, mentally exhausted. His mathematics were wrong. They must have been. If they were correct, the moon would have been directly where it was pointed. It was about four degrees off. The thing that confused him the most was that he had never been wrong in his years of adulthood. He had been doing this all his life, and he had only been wrong when he was a child and an adolescent. Proof of his skill was even on his body, a cutie mark depicting an eye in a black triangle with a few white stars.

     "Maybe...uhh...telescope..." he mumbled to himself. Either the telescope was broken, or he... He couldn't think of any other reason. Everypony else had left, on account of it being almost midnight, and his insisted that he stay because he wanted to continue observing the effects Princess Luna has had on the moon. With her raising the moon now, it had to be a little different now, since it was no longer Celestia's task. There was the issue. Problem solved. Luna raised the moon lower than Celestia did. This may have a slight effect on water...

"Finally... Project... Done!" he slammed the folder filled with newly written papers shut, with more force than necessary. He felt immediate relief, and felt the need, the urgency, to lay in his bed. He left the telescope open, the papers out and unprotected, and left. The door clicked as it locked, and that was that. The hospital was on the other side of the city, about double the distance from here to home. There was no use going there tonight, as the ponies he would want to see would most likely be asleep by now. His mind had finally been alerted that he had been galloping at almost full speed. Unconsciously, his body felt the need to get home fast. What could be so important about getting home early? The aches, and the mental and physical exhaustion was great, but not significant enough to make it an unconscious emergency. With much resistance he was able to slow himself down, in the midst of the marketplace bathed in moonlight.  He yawned incessantly, desperately wanting to sleep. Anywhere would do. His thoughts were ignored, his body betrayed, and his determination to beat his subconscious was rising. Only a quarter kilometer to go, his home was barely visible past the blue wall that lay between him and his goal. The streets were clear, except for one filly and her mother walking down the other side of the stalls and booths, both perfectly content with this insignificant situation. But to him, it was a serious physical challenge. Each leg going down was raising his will for unconsciousness spectacularly. House in view, determination flared, he groggily made it to the front door, and blacked out as his unconscious body carried him to the lone bed, and almost instantaneous relief rushed out from his chest as the soothing nothingness healed his mind and tired body. One thought snapped him back to consciousness, and a state of panic. Where is Valiant?

(Author's Note: My story sucks just get out of this page)