Chapter 1: When the Sun (and the moon) comes knocking on my door.
There were few words that describes the daily life of the brown unicorn named “Stead Hoof”. Most of them alluding him being a farmer. The days started with the rising sun and only ended once it hides on the far mountain where Canterlot is. The nights were pacific and calm.
“It’s a simple life, but a good one,” thought Stead. His wife, Daisy Flower was lovely and passionate. She takes care of the crops while he uses his magic and studies to improve the machinery that allows them to keep a farm just well by themselves. They have no foals, his parents were travelers and hers was no longer with them. They were only just them, but never feel alone.
The sun was setting down, meaning that was time to end the day, Stead pack all his tools into a small fabric pocket and put them in a side of the tractor, leaving it ready to retake the work tomorrow morning. Daisy called him to the house with a harmonious call that means that the dinner was just ready. With no further work able to do, Stead decided to go with his wife and spare some time with her before both goes to bed.
Dinner was delicious, the aroma was invigorating as ever. Daisy Flower not only had a talent with the crops that allowed her to make harvests that could endure almost any season, but with the cooking as well. She had always known what to put in the dinner to end a day. Maybe Stead works didn’t go well, then Daisy put some extra species in to make her husband live again. Sometimes was Daisy who was down, Stead was no cooker, but knew how to comfort his mare, in that case Stead would sit right by her side and gently nuzzle Daisy to remember what really matters, telling her old stories of him, and even not his own. They were always for each other, in fact, full in love.
After the dinner Stead was plenty and alive again, like if all the daily worries disappear at the sight of his wife sleeping on his side. Daisy had his peach color mane over her eyes, covering her face just in the way that Stead loved. He always wonders what he has done to deserve such a beautiful and lovely wife, but as always, he couldn’t grab the answer. Stead moved the streak of hair that was covering Daisy’s face and plant her a gently kiss before they both fall asleep.
That night, Stead was uneasy, he didn’t notice, but the blankets were soaked with cold sweat. In his head, two voices were taken over his dream, and utterly, his mind. They were screaming, not in pain, but in panic and sadness. Those voices were barely understandable, as if they were fading, coming on and back from wherever they came.
“We can use him for a time before —“ The voice was interrupted by another one.
“We just can’t do that!” shouted another voice in Stead’s dream, clearly unpleasant with what was happening. “I’ll not bury any of my ponies with such burden… No for my mistakes.”
“But we must sister, It’s the only way I have to protect us”
A moments of silence followed that last sentence.
The pitch dark world where Stead Hoof was stay in full silence for what seems to be an eternity for him. He was unable to speak or move, he was, in the end, a mere spectator in his own mind.
Then. One of the voices speak:
“Will he suffer?”
“Only if we allow it”
Silence once again ruled in Stead Hoof’s mind for a painfully long time.
“Sister we don’t have the time to—“
“Do it then!” the voice crackled in mid-sentence, fully acknowledging what those words means, “Just… Do it…”
The voice acknowledges the command, “We don’t do this just for us, remember that sister. All Equestria need us alive, if this little one could know, he will allow us to do such.
When the last word where pronounced, a joint of electricity struck Stead’s mind. The pain was overwhelming, but he found himself unable to scream or move. His mind was in a barrage of thoughts that was not his own, his eyes moved erratically behind his eyelids whie memories that don’t belong to him were being forced in. Feelings of sorrow and regret invaded his mind and take over him so abruptly that, if he was able, he would scream in agony to make it stop. The grim feelings were slowly overtaken by a one warm and kind sensation. A feel of motherly love and pride was slowly replacing the crippling sorrow and regret he felt a moment ago.
But then.
Everything stops.
All the mental noise of the flurry of emotions and memories suddenly stops and Stead Hoof was again alone with his mind. The moment of silence was greatly appreciated by the afflicted stallion, until a voice whisper in his ear.
“Wake up”
Stead Hoof, in a scream and a sea of sweat jumped out of his bed while his wife was dumbfounded on his side.
“Honey, are you all right?” asked Daisy Flower with deep preoccupation on his face, “You were screaming so loud, so full of… Pain,” her eyes were bloodshot and the fur on his cheeks were damp, “I was afraid something was happening to you…”
“I… I think it was just a dream sweetheart… It… felt so real…” a jolt of pain took over his mind, making him stumble, “My head… This is the worst migraine I have had in years. Even worse that the day after of the festival of friendship” Stead said with a faintly smile just to calm his wife preoccupations.
Daisy relaxed a little after hear his husband calls back of what was an unforgettable night that she let in out a small chuckle that Stead Hoof clearly noticed.
She is always too kind “Don’t worry sweetheart. It was just a bad dream, a little breakfast and this bad one” -Stead Hoof tapped his head with his hoof- “will be fixed”
Daisy Flower give her a comprehensive smile before she gave his husband a gently nuzzle, “Please don’t exploit yourself, I still need you to fix the machinery and nopony will do it for free”
“What a problem isn’t it? Glad I’m at least some kind of free service pony for you,” he gently pushed her away while laughing. “Go ahead, I’ll shake this migraine off and go after you, I have a tractor to fix.”
“Right on iron-stallion,” said Daisy Flower while leaving the room looking back to her afflicted husband with grief in her face.
Very well Stead, we need to focus… Did I say ‘we’? Stead Hoof was watching himself in the mirror on the wooden room. His body was dull, his throat arches and his head was spinning. It took all his will to focus his eyes on the face in the mirror just to notice something was odd.
His face was his own, no doubt of that, yet it felt like seeing another pony in that slightly-foggy mirror. A completely different sensation pulled him out of the mirror while he watched his shaking hooves with a dumbfounded gaze and cold sweat running through his forehead. A sensation of panic and fear.
That was just a dream. Nothing more. Repeated Stead Hoof in his mind like a mantra, with his eyes closed hoping that when he opens them, the pain, along with the anxiety banished as fast as they came. It has to be a dream. It’s not possible that… Whatever was that was real. Stead felt the accumulating fear growing more and more as he thought about that painful dream.
What were those voices? What do they do to me? What they want with me? His thought was interrupted by the sound of his wife calling him down to eat. The smell of the lovely food made by his beloved Daisy quickly calmed his nerves, allowing him to ignore the uneasy feeling enough to stop shaking.
“Going!” shouted the unicorn while he took a grasp of the door knob with his kinesis. His will was to just pull the door, like he has been doing since many years ago, but his own magic has other plans. The wooden plank flew at an enormous speed and crash with the wooden wall at the other side of the room, making a tremendous noise and practically destroying the door completely, leaving Stead confused and frightened in the sight of such a massive force.
What just happened!? Stead Hoof with the door knob still in his kinesis. Did I just rippoff the entire door… That… That’s not possible, I had never had that power! A second later the sound of crackling wood and the sight of the deformed knob awoke him from his astonished state.
“What in Equestria was that!?” screamed his wife from the first floor.
“I-I just fell off the bed, it was nothing, mostly noise than anything sweetie!” yelled back Stead with a weavering voice that he hoped that his wife didn’t notice. She noticed.
“Are… Are you ok? Do you need help? That was a… Tremendous fall”
“I’m ok, don’t worry, I’m already coming down”
The sound of the wooden floor clopping with the hooves of his husband make her sign in relief. Just wanting to see her husband well and whole.
It might be a surge due the stress. That weird dream really messed me up “I just slip with the blankets, I’m ok sweetheart, let’s get eat and get the job done, shall we?” Stead Hoof take a sit at the side of his wife and started eating his breakfast.
Daisy was rather bemused, but relieved that Stead was fine. That night was not only rough to him, but for her. Seeing her husband in such state left her really concerned, she could still be hearing the screaming pain of his husband and thought of her being unable to help him.
The meal passed without any troubles. Without any of them wanting to touch the subject, not for the moment, they move to more common subjects. They talked about the farm, his friends, and anything that could distract them of the morning incident.
Once both finished their meal, they get out the house and contemplate the sun rise. Both were skeptical since the sun rise should be happened an hour ago, but rapidly thought that they might have wake up early.
Maybe Celestia fell asleep again. Thought Stead Hoof, he laughs after his own joke only to feel angry a moment later. That… Was weird... It wasn’t uncommon of him to laugh of his own jokes, but to feel angry about it, that was another mater that he decided to drop for the sake of his own sanity.
He saw the tractor parked on the middle of the field and remembered what he was doing before. Today you will be defeated tractor. This is the day when I, Stead Hoof end your days of malfunction Yesterday he was unable to identify what makes the machine produce a damp noise and to not move at all, but today, today he was ready for a second round. His honor as Daisy’s Fixer was on the line. Her Queen demanded a machine, and a machine she will get.
He took his tools with a careful grasp, remembering what happened to the door, and afraid that he might lose his tools. And, slowly, start the machine´s engine. The same damp noise welcomes him as he smiles back to the metal construct. This is what I love.A moment later he looks back and see his wife preparing a new batch of seeds for the season and imbuing them with her magic and gently put them in another bag. And she is who I love.
Hours later the tractor was ready. He smiles at a job well done and give a call to his wife. They both walk to the house and prepared the dinner together. It was good to see that nothing really changed.
“You know, I’m convinced that that was just a dream,” said Stead, convinced of his statement, “Maybe Luna just decided to play a joke on me, you know what they said.”
A chuckle later and a jolt of pain in the back of his head after, the dinner was ready and served. Both take seat and finish their dinner before go back to bed. Both ponies were exhausted, physically and mentally at the point that both fall asleep at the moment they snuggle together.
“Why are you so upset sister? We all know that you had fallen asleep before” a small and politely chuckle was held by the disembodied voice.
“Well, it’s not like I always fell asleep I must admit. But explain to me, what is what everypony says about you? Little sister” asked the other voice in a more regal and smirked tone.
“It… Was a one-time thing… When I first discover I could enter in the dream realm... I-it was nothing” Said the voice with a faint of regret. “But… Do you think he notice us?” rapidly changing the subject.
“I don’t really know, he seemed affected by our own emotions, but at a small level. We must stay calmed until we discovered who attack us. This pony will not be in danger while we stay in his mind” A faith of regret was clearly perceptible in that words, “yet, I fear that our presence gave him much more magic of what he can manage. I hope those power cause no harm to him or his wife.”
“I agree, we must stay in control of ourselves, for now we shall let him sleep, he deserves a good dream after that last night, I will take care of that.” Said with a proud smirk. “By how the things were unnoticed Twilight and Cadance should be covering us in a good manner, I think.”
“I fear that that could be our lesser problem, sister… We need to contact them and warn them about this threat. Before it’s too late”
“I could try to go to the dream realm and speak to them, but it might put too much stress in this little one.”
“I see… You should try at least. If it seems too much I beg you to stop immediately, this one has no reason to suffer anymore. We will reveal us to him. In time”
“I’ll sister. You shall not worry.”
In the middle of the night, a strong feeling of deep exhaustion and a shock of pain awoke him. Stead rapidly raised his head and turns to both of his sides, looking for the culprit of that painfully sensation. The only thing he found was his wife sleeping in comfort at his side. He left a smile an tranquil smile before making an effort to sleep again.
But then. He heard a faint noise.
Something that was not in the room. No. He verified that.
Were in his ears? No.
Two voices in his head were clearly audible.
That voices were not of his own.
Chapter 2: The Princesses in the room
Stead Hoof eyes erratically moved across the room looking for the source of the voices. I heard them, where are they!? At the moment he realized that the voices rest in silence.
It must be the stress… It has to be the stress. That dream couldn’t be possibly real, thought Stead with cold sweat flowing all over his forehead. How was that dream again? Two voices… Both were arguing about something… Something dangerous, Stead intensively focused on the images in that fateful dream. There was a black room… Or wasn’t? I remember only darkness until that voices start chatting… The more he focused on that black void, the more intense his horn were glowing full of power. Aggh… Why I can’t remember anything else! There was a room, voices… Pain? And then I woke up… His horn slowly became a bright point of light in the middle of the bedroom, emanating more and more green mana, pulsating with black and yellow electricity around it. The only reason for Daisy to not wake up was that the blankets and the pillow were covering her face. I recall a strong jolt of pain in the back of my head, I remember that. I recall one of the voices questioning if that was going to hurt somepony… Was the pony they were talking about… Me? But then it might mean that- A painful sensation shut down his thoughts in one single strike, only then he was able to see what was in front of him.
Lighting bolts were jumping from the point of his horn to random directions in the room like a coil but not causing any visible damage to it, yet the sight of such power going uncontrollable from his own horn was enough to send a shiver through his spine, not for his safety, but hers. His eyes moved, but his head didn’t follow them, in fear of the surge moving with it, his gaze turns to his wife who was still in a deep dream, with her face under the blankets but half of her body out of it Even when she sleeps... He then recalled what happened that morning, the doorframe remained shattered by him pulling it too hard with his kinesis early morning. Pictures him hurting Daisy with a surge of electricity began to filling his mind, only worsening whatever was happening to him.
If this is a surge, I could blow up the entire room, Daisy included… He gazed once more time to his wife before let it out a faint smile. I can’t allow her to be damaged. I need to get out of here! His mind rapidly shifts from fear to determination, blood pumped faster as adrenaline began to flow through his body. Stead was about to run through the door as fast as he could and get out of the house, but something stopped him.
“Stop! Don’t run! Fear not little one. Just relax yourself, free your mind, calm down, she is safe.”
“What the!” Yelled Stead, receiving a groan from his wife indicating him to let her sleep. “Who is there” he whispered instead.
“That’s beside the point. We don’t have the time, if you don’t relax yourself you could hurt your wife” said the voice in a peacefully yet adamant tone.
“Who-“
“There’s no time, Stead!”
“… Ok… I’ll believe in you”
With those words, Stead close his eyes and began to breath, slowly. As he slowed his heartbeat, his horn stop pulsating with energy and began too dimmer. With every exhale, he went deeper into his own mind. It wasn’t easy, meditate in any state is never easy, but he had only one thought in his mind to move forward. Daisy’s safety.
With only the image of his wife he could control the surge of energy and the electricity began to subside inside his body. Soon he was back in the dark room of his dreams.
“Who… Who are you?” spoke Stead in an echoed voice in what seems to be a dark room, “Why do you help me? Is anypony here… Great, I’m talking to myself,” his thought was his own voice, even if he didn’t want to, the room seemed to echoed all of what he was thinking in his inner voice.
For almost a full minute, the only thing that seems to answer his questions was his echo. He seems to be alone with himself, like he always was, I guess that I’m becoming crazy after all. Stead was about to open his eyes in resignation when a faint of regret hits him.
“If… If there is anypony in my mind... Dear Celestia, I can’t believe I’m saying this to myself-” before he could finish his thought, Stead heard a faraway chuckle that was fast hushed. “Ok… I hear that…”.
From a corner in the dark room, two alicorns stepped out of the shadows and showed themselves.
“P-Princess Celestia? Princess Luna? What’s happening?! I mean… I could expect Princess Luna to appear in my mind… Wait… isn’t not supposed that she could only appears in dreams? Is this a dream?!” Stead Hoof breath arose at the sight of the two rulers of Equestria appearing in his mind.
“I’m afraid this is not a dream, little one” said Celestia while sending an ashamed look to Luna, “My sister and I mean no harm to you… Besides of what you have already seen… You should not worry”
Luna coughed before speak “The events that lead us to the inside of your mind shall be revealed soon, but not today I’m afraid. I think my sister will agree with this…-” she turned to see a noticeable nodding in Celestia, “-request of mine… This is a very delicate situation I must say, we need time to think about our next course of actions.”
“…Ok… I get it… So, I’m not becoming a crazy pony?”
“No, you are not, little one” Celestia tried unsuccessfully to cover her laugh with her hoof, “This is just an unfortunate chain of events” Celestia sat on her haunches before speaking again “It’s getting pretty late, you should rest, even here we can feel that you are too tired to stand anymore.”
Luna sat too at the side of her sister, “I will protect your dream, and this room will protect your body… Mostly. With that said, we are at your service. Formalism are not required though.”
“T-thanks Princess-” Stead hesitated a moment before corrected himself “-Luna, thanks Luna and Celestia. I’ll sleep then I hope you two… Emm… Enjoy your stay in my head, there is a lot of room I guess, that’s what my wife always says”
“I can see that,” Celestia smiled at Stead Hoof, “Quite the mare you had there I must say”
“Wait, you know her?”
“Not exactly, we had seen her through your eyes.”
“Well… That is weird… I better go to sleep…”
“Good night Stead… You deserve it.” Luna and Celestia both nod to each other while disappearing into the darkness of the room.
Stead Hoof took that like his signal for the conversation to end and he opened up his eyes. The room was dark and silent, no trace of what happened before, the lightings were gone, his horn was again in his normal state, and Daisy still sleeping. Thanks Celestia, a faint of a smile came to his mind along with the image of Luna chuckling and Celestia giving her an angry but funny gaze.
The night was long, the facts that were revealed to him were hardly easy to digest, but he was already too tired to fight his anxiety and to ask the princesses further. So, without the threat of death he collapsed on his bed at the side of Daisy. Stead’s eyelids were heavy as steel and his head and horn were sore, just a good night of sleep is what he wanted since that dream.
Stead closed his eyes with more happiness that he thought were possible by the simple promise of a good dream.
Life had other plans.
“Wake up you sleepy one,” Daisy affectively nuzzle his not-so-sleep husband, “Hope you rested plenty, because today we had a lot to do. See you down honey, I’ll make the breakfast”
Stead couldn’t believe how the sweetest of words could drill trough his hears so bad, “Yeah… Right on sweetheart… Just *yawn* give me a moment to *yawn* get ready…” With those last words, Stead Hoof just felt into a deep dream and plumped again into the bed, even the princesses thought he would not wake up.
“Well, I’ll let you sleep a bit more, just because the tractor works just fine,” Daisy gently put a sweet kiss on Stead’s lips, “I’ll wake you up in two hours, have a good rest honey,” and with that, she left the room and tried to close the door, she then remembered that there was no door to be closed and turn to his husband and chuckle.
“She is a good mare”
“Indeed sister… She is…”
Both princesses stay silent for the rest of what was left of Stead’s night.
Chapter 3: Hopes and Dreams
A gloomy landscape emerged before Stead’s eyes the moment he fell asleep. Slowly, stars of white and purple began to appear in the otherwise pitch black sky. As the dull landscape formed and reformed itself in front of him, a small island, full of bright pink flowers arose from the middle of a blue lake, then, a huge flower appeared on top as fast as the land was formed. Its pink petals slowly bloomed as the stars slowly became brighter the two growing in tandem. When the gigantic flower ceased its blossom, hundreds of golden sparkles began to fall from the very center of it. The gold dust quickly revealed a bed with lavender colored linen and a light purple pillow. The bed was made, all neat and tidy, but seemed as if no one had slept in it in a long time.
“W-Where am I?” asked Stead to no one in particular as the whole scene slowly halted changing.
Stead, unsure of what to do, decided to walk to the center of the pink colored island where the lavender bed was. He walked over the flowers to the top of the small hill. What he saw at the top was something that he couldn’t see from the small trail he had been standing on. He gasped and stood, mouth agape, at the sight in front of him, there, over the top of that colorful hill.
The world seemed to be constructing itself around him as different landscapes were materialized on the horizon. On the north, pure white mountains towered over smaller dark purple ones. The south was full of golden sand as it was dancing across the land, moved by a phantom wind that touched nothing but the golden dust. On his right, a tremendous forest with trees that looked like if they could reach and stroke the stars saluted him, the forest had nothing but trees and vines all over. Like pillars holding up the starry sky. And, on the left, an unending ocean with nothing more in it than pure and pristine water.
Stead looked behind him, to the path where he came from, and saw nothing. No trail, nor the patch of dirt he was standing before. The world seemed to be changing and reconstructing itself as fast as Stead moved. Every time he focused on something, another place in the world rearranged, as if alive.
“This,” he started “This must be a dream…” Stead said with a nervous laugh as he sat on the lavender bed at the center of the island.
The moment he touched the bed, the flower above the bed reacted. It moved over his head, casting a shadow large enough to cover the stars right above him. Stead walked around watching the flower as it followed him around, always right above him, until he moved off the bed. When he did that it went back to its place above the head of the pillow.
“I have had weirder dreams than this… This is, in fact, a nice one. The skies, the mountains… Even the bed seems so real…” Stead used his hooves to feel all over the lavender blankets on the bed, “maybe I should sleep here, could I sleep in a dream? And if I did could I dream in a dream? That would be interesting.”
As fast as he put his head on the bed, dozens of small and bright bubbles began to float in front of him. The flower’s shadow made it possible for Stead to clearly see the bubbles.
In one of them, he saw a black coated stallion unicorn with a gray and white mane, sitting alone on a hill. Stead slowly tried to get a better look at the familiar pony when he accidentally touched the bubble with his muzzle, causing it to explode in his eyes.
He blinked expecting the soap of the bubble to splash his face and make his eyes burn… It didn’t. He slowly opened his eyes. When his vision refocused on his surroundings he noticed the whole landscape around him had transformed in seconds and became what was inside of that bubble, a green hill over one side of Canterlot on a cold night.
The city shone like a dream. All the houses and buildings were completely decorated with a myriad of colors all over them. The stars and the lights of Canterlot performed an impressive show of lights that Stead thought only Luna could do.
Stead has been in Canterlot a couple of times before. Since it was a three days travel, he only went when the supplies were extremely low and when the harvest had only been just enough. But this city… This city was nothing he has seen before. This didn’t look like the Canterlot he had seen.
The lights shone with an almost magical aura that brightened up the night, the streets were full of life as ponies came and went to the different stores carrying dozens of bags filled with gifts to the brim wherever they went. It didn’t take too much to Stead to realize it was Hearth’s Warming Eve.
He was so absorbed by the beautiful scene. His mind cycled through memories of past celebrations with Daisy, opening gifts, the lights across the farm and the road, Stead was captive in his melancholy. Until a female voice spoke from behind him, bringing him to the present.
“I’m so sorry Midnight. They told us not to fly today because the weather team was working extra hard on those blizzards and they didn’t want any pegasi flying I mean, I’m part of the weather team why can’t I go across? I know the protocol but come on! Anyway so I had to take the train but the train to Canterlot was delayed so I had to speak with a friend of mine and luckily he was on his way here so we got to the station to pick up our bags when–” Midnight put his hoof gently on the mare lips with a warm and genuine smile.
“It’s okay, sweetie–” said Midnight while giving her a nuzzle. “Besides, I just love the view of the city over this hill…” he put his hoof over the mare’s mane. “Remember? The time we met?”
“Midnight? Like Midnight Star?” In that moment Stead’s memory kicked in. That black stallion was no doubt the old pony who lived on the other side of the road. He always did the same thing, he sat in his chair and watched as the days went by. Day after day, he just watched the flowers in his garden. It was a beautiful garden indeed, covered in flowers of all kind, red, blue, purple, almost all of the rainbow was there, and there in the center drawing focus was a pool of white roses. Day after day, he only watched those flowers… Day after day...
Stead then took a glance at the pegasi mare in front of Midnight. She had a pure white coat that seemed to shine under the star’s light. Her mane curled on the tips, blending the bright lilac stripes with her light green mane. Even her feathers were white as the falling snow and seemed carefully preened.
“How can I forget it… You almost killed me!” said the mare to Midnight while taking her hooves over her head. “Why were you flying that thing over here?! Don’t you need permission or something to do that?”
“Well… Yeah, you could say it, but if no one sees it, then isn’t illegal,” Midnight’s hoof was doing small circles on the dirt as he spoke and his eyes were darting side to side in case somepony appeared.
“I saw it, closely, very, very closely,” said the mare with her eyebrow raised.
“Is not my fault! You shouldn’t have been flying here that day! It wasn’t on the schedule!”
“Well, I decided to take a little detour from my regular route. And why did you know my schedule!?” asked the mare with an accusative look.
“I-tha-uh-that’s not the question here! You came to Canterlot for shopping during working hours, I saw the bags!” Midnight stammered as he pointed his hoof to the mare in an attempt to counter her attack .
“No you didn’t.” said the Mare with a stoic face.
“Yes, I did.”
“Then I could say, I don’t know, that you were using prototypes in a populated area, to your boss.” With a smirk, she began to draw circles in the air with her hoof, as if challenging Midnight to continue.
“Then I could say to Rainbow Dash that one of her trainees was shopping instead of doing her duties,” replied Midnight.
“Then we both will lose our jobs.”
“Then we would have to go and live in my mother’s house.”
“What!? No! Your mother hates me!” the pegasi mare yelled while her wings spread.
“Tell me somepony who doesn’t?” said Midnight with an eyebrow raised and a smug face.
“You love me.” She poked Midnight in his chest with her hoof.
“Nah-ah”
“Yes, you do.”
“Hehe… Of course, I do…” Midnight rapidly dropped the act as his face and ears dropped. “I don’t know what would I do if I lose you, Aurora…”
“Neither do I, Midnight…”
Both ponies shared a hug, so strong and full of love that caused a tear to drop from Stead’s face.
He has been fighting with the landlord for the farm, the sales dropped each passing year, he had been working so much that he was unable to recall the last time he hugged his beloved wife in such manner. They had shared many lovely moments, but he never was really present for them. His mind was always trying to solve the next problem, always in the future, and never in the present, never with her. I should have been there… I should been with her...
The moment they released from each other hooves, they both kissed. A slow and warm kiss that ended with them touching the other’s forehead with their own.
Then, with his hooves on her shoulder, he said, “Soon enough, this machine will be complete, and then, we both will buy a farm. Faraway from the city, and will live together with a bunch of foals.”
“That… That will be wonderful… But, a bunch? I’m ok with one or two maybe, but no more!” they released their embrace laughing, while Aurora spoke with a slow and weak voice, “you know? I always wanted to be a gardener. I saw it in my dreams, a garden full of colors, red, blue, purple… And in the center, an array of white roses… All of them in perfect order… In perfect symmetry...”
“I understand your obsession with symmetry, but white roses? Why?” asked Midnight.
“You seriously don’t remember?” replied Aurora dumbfounded.
“Remember what?”
“They said that the smartest ones are the dumbest, I guess they are right,” said the mare with a giggle.
“Who is the dumb one? The dumb stallion or the mare that marries that dumb stallion?”
“Touché…”
They both kissed.
As if it was their first time, but also, their last.
Midnight began to cry as the world slowly lost its color and transformed into a black and white landscape until it faded away into the dark void, carrying Midnight with him.
Stead’s eye began to shed tears as a feeling of emptiness and sadness suddenly overwhelmed him.
His heart pounded loudly in his chest.
He desperately gasped for air, but his lungs rejected all breaths he took.
As the hill became an oppressive endless darkness.
And so...
The landscape of Canterlot was no more.
He was again in the lavender bed on that hill. The bubble containing that vision of Midnight still there, but empty.
“What… What was that? It was like…” Stead’s breath was accelerated as he tried to understand that hurtful feeling that assaulted him seconds ago, “like if my heart was suddenly ripped from my body…”
His eyes focused on the lavender bed as he was trying to recover himself from what had happened. His tears poured down his face dampening his fur, falling downward onto the blanket. Catching his tears and absorbed them leaving damp patches he could feel with his hooves. The sound of tears hitting the blanket echoed in his ears, his sight was clouded by the mist in his eyes as the only thing he could see was the echo of Midnight and Aurora.
“Was that… The same stallion that lives across the road? Was that his memory? I… I had never seen that mare with him… Not in all those years since we moved in…” Stead was trying to remember one time he saw Midnight with somepony else, but no moment came to his mind. Not even on Hearth's Warming Eve. He was always alone ever since he had known him… Yet, he never looked angry or sad… He was just waiting… for something…
Or somepony...
Suddenly, a bubble appeared in front of him. One containing a very recognizable place and a very well-known mare. It was his house and his wife.
Daisy.
Stead didn’t hesitate, and after he dried his tears with his foreleg, he touched the bubble where his wife was.
The landscape quickly transformed into his house at the farm. It was like if that last few days never happened, the door was again in its place, and the room was tidy like his wife always left it. It had only been a couple of days, yet, it felt like he was in the distant future.
Stead was watching his room carefully; it was exactly as he remembered it. The magic books he left to the dust on the shelf, the perfume he hadn’t used since the last time he and Daisy went out to dinner months ago. Even the tool harness he always carried was where he left it the last time: On the floor. Like if all of the incidents with the princesses were just a dream.
Then, a soft and beautiful voice caused his ears to perk up. The unmistakable sound of his wife’s call, but something was different, his wife didn’t call him, but somepony else…
“Orchid, breakfast is ready!”
Stead trotted like lightning down the stairs to see who was she calling.
“Should I wake up daddy?”
“Sure, he must be starving.”
He froze.
There at the end of the stairs, he saw her.
A brown filly unicorn with a green and peach mane quickly ran literally through him as she went up the stairs yelling “Daddy!” again and again filled with excitement.
Stead’s heart sunk into the deepest hole it could be. That little filly has the name of Daisy’s mother, something they both had agreed to use if they had a filly, something that never happened.
“Or-chid Petal…” whispered Stead, with his shaking voice.
The filly quickly came down the stairs, and behind him, Stead Hoof.
“Is… is that… me?” He didn’t see himself as he is now, but what he was a long time ago. A stallion full of life, with a certain light in his eyes, something that he knew he had lost.
“Good morning honey,” said Daisy, “want some breakfast?”
“Hi, sweetie. I’d love to, you know how much I love your food,” he planted a sweet kiss on Daisy’s cheek.
“And you know how much I love you when you take care of Orchid for me when I need to go to the store,” answered Daisy with a smile that could melt anypony heart.
“Well… I guess that is my turn,” Stead move aside to give a warm nuzzle to his wife, and then he turned toward his daughter, “Orchid, do you want daddy to teach you some magic tricks?”
The little filly began to jump from side to side, squealing in a pitch that could easily break all the glass in the house.
“Wow, wow, easy there, young lady. First off, we need to eat our breakfast or your mom will get mad at us.”
And so, the three of them sat at the table to eat their breakfast. Stead stood on the stairs through the whole scene, watching, with his eyes bloodshot, tears freely falling. He noticed how the house was exactly the same, the figurines she collected, all his tools scattered through the floor, even the malfunctioning tractor was the same. Only one thing was different, the only thing she always dreamed of.
Their daughter.
His breath became faster and could feel how his chest tightened, it was not like the last time. His vision was dull and misty. The world seemed to slow its pace as his heart beat louder and louder in his chest. This was nothing like the last time. Now he could feel something breaking inside himself.
The scene continued for many minutes, the three were just smiling and talking about their everyday, they kept smiling and having fun, talking of how Stead almost broke Orchid’s birthday gift months ago, or the time that one of Orchid’s friends crashed against the family tractor and left a dent in it.
Stead's heart was destroyed already, he knew Daisy wanted a child, but never imagined how much, yet, she always had that smile…
That smile was what made his world go around. The only thing that could turn his day into something else, something beautiful, something magical.
She was his reason to work, to wake up… to live… He would give everything he had, everything he is, everything he could be.
Only to protect that smile.
To never watch her cry.
To never watch her suffer.
To see that smile every day, until they both died.
Yet, he felt like he failed.
He cried. His heart had been removed. Also his words. For moments, the only thing he could do was cry.
Time passed like hours as he was telling himself that it was all his fault, that he would never be able to make her dream come true. The reason why she would never be happy.
A spiral of dread began to suck him in until a voice called him.
That voice. That unmistakable voice. Daisy’s voice.
“Wake up,” said that sweet, sweet voice.
It was like if she had come to save him, to be his angel. He extended his hoof, trying to reach that voice as it became louder and louder.
“Come on sleepy head, wake up.”
And so, with his eyes full of tears, Stead woke up.
The moment he opened up his eyes, he saw Daisy’s face. Her mane was messy and all over her tired face. He leapt up into her hooves. The suddenness of the action leaving surprise written on her face..
He hugged her like he hadn’t in a long time. A warm and strong embrace, that had something else, something that was missing. It was him.
For the first time in years. Stead really could feel Daisy’s heart, pounding in chest, he notice her sweet essence once again, the same as the orchids in the garden, a smell he had forgotten, and now was taking him to his sweetest memories. He saw the beautiful colors that her mane had and how her tail had small motes of dust over it and curled perfectly at the end.
With his face planted on the soft green colored fur in her neck, he muttered:
“I don’t deserve you…”
To Daisy it was only a whisper, a sound in the wind, the futile attempt of her husband to speak was heavily clouded by his audible sobbing as he stuttered.
Daisy's chest hurt from to the strong affection her husband was showing, she was about to tell him to stop until she felt the tears dampening her fur and shoulders.
“Stead… What happened? Are you okay?” Daisy was scared that something like yesterday could be happening again.
But Stead remained silent, as he tried to regain his voice and forced himself to swallow the knot on his throat.
Several minutes passed, until he could say just one thing:
“I’m sorry…” His tears fell down his face, and all over Daisy.
“I-I’m sor-ry…” His voice was shaking, almost at the point that his words were no longer understandable.
“Please… Please forgive me…” He could only tighten his grasp on Daisy as he spoke.
“Forgive me…” Stead mustered all the strength he could to produce his next words.
“Forgive me... I can’t give you a daughter, I know you dream of having foals…I… I will never deserve you.”
The room felt in silence. Only the ceaseless sobs of Stead were audible. Daisy was in shock at what he had said. She fought to stay on hoof and not to cry, not for her, but for him. As her eyes got misty, her lips trembled, and she said in a warm and lovely voice:
“I love you, Stead… I have loved you since we first met and I love you now, more than ever… There’s nothing to forgive.”
She wrapped her hooves around him, and for a moment, they both just stood there, crying for a pain they thought had disappeared years ago. That wound, that cursed injury that marked their hearts so profoundly was, in the end, being healing. Fueled by each other’s love, just like the warm and powerful hug they were sharing.
They both released each other.
And with that smile of hers she said, “Do… do you want some breakfast?”
And so, they both crossed the broken door, and took a seat at the table. They chatted, they laughed, and they talked.
About their hopes and dreams.
Author's Note
I can’t thank enough Sejox and Hubristic Lee for their help with… Well… Everything. Not only they cleaned up my mess, but teach me a lot of things in so little time.
Thank you guys. I’m looking forward to work with you further (Sejox can’t escape though) and hopefully you could get something from me too. And thanks to anyone who read my stuff... Thanks to all of you.
