Out in a town called Whineysota, a small unicorn sat put and was studying up on some of the astrological features that the night sky had in store for tonight. This was a petite, yellow unicorn, wearing a purple beanie, and housing a cutie mark of a multicolored moon on her flank. She had a map next to her, a telescope in front of her, and a quill and ink pad nearby to assist her cartography of the night sky and its constellations tonight.
"The belt patterns seems to be consistent," she said aloud to nobody in particular. She pulled herself away from the telescope and started jotting down the patterns on the map, noticing the clear consistency the alignment had maintained over the last few weeks.
Looking back towards the moon, she realized how late it was getting. The moon was starting to set and so she figured that it would be best to pack things in for the night and return home, so she did just that. When she finally returned home, she placed her work neatly along the shelves and went upstairs for the night, laying down in her bed and using her magic on the sheets to cover herself. She fell asleep rather quickly afterwards.
The black void, a staple for those who are nearing a dream of their own. The contents of it were always the same – dark, spooky, and lonely – before a dream ended up forming for whoever was asleep. Normally, the individual would find themselves within the void for a few minutes, never something for an extended period of time.
Tonight was the exception.
The little yellow unicorn stopped and looked around in every direction, wondering why a dream hadn't formed for her as of yet. The only thing keeping her company was the black void. She sighed to herself, beginning to walk in a random direction, hoping that this would spark a dream sequence for her.
She walked for a long while, but nothing ever came to her. She turned sharply and proceeded in a new direction, doing the same thing and hoping for the same thing, but the results were the same – nothing.
Eventually, she just laid down and shut her eyes, trying to force herself to sleep within the void. This was working to an extent, but the images that came to her mind were those from her memories, not from a dream sequence.
Groaning slightly, she opened her eyes and was startled to see someone else inside the void with her. She jumped back, then looked more closely at who was accompanying her inside the void.
"There is no need to be startled, little one," they calmly told the unicorn.
The little unicorn gathered herself, then responded to the new figure, "Princess Luna? Where did you come from?"
Princess Luna simply smiled in response, "I come from the depths of the Dream Realm in an attempt to help those that need it most. From the looks of it," she looked around and took in the surroundings of the dream, "there is something troubling you, little one, isn't there?"
The unicorn's eyes grew wide with intrigue, "How could you tell?"
"Most of my subjects do not dream of nothing," explained Luna, "I sense that something is troubling you. Are we not right? What is on your mind?"
"Nothing too big, honestly," the unicorn answered, "I've just been focusing on my work a lot recently. It's been gaining steam and my cartography of the map is impressing me, expanding each and every night."
"I have noticed," Luna said, "and it is very impressive, to say the least. We are happy that somepony such as yourself is taking such an interest in our night."
The little unicorn blushed a pale pinkish color, "Why, thank you, Princess."
Luna smiled in response, "You're quite welcome, my little pony." She then smirked and came up with an idea. "Tell me, have you heard of somepony by the name of Lunar Nights?"
The unicorn shook her head slowly, "No, Your Highness, that name doesn't ring a bell."
Maybe this can work out then, Luna thought to herself, nodding at the unicorn. "Do you know of the town called Ponyville?"
The unicorn nodded in response, "I have. That is where Princess Twilight Sparkle currently resides, correct?"
"Certainly," confirmed Luna, "and that is also where the pony Lunar Nights resides as well. How many friends have you made during your lifetime, umm..." She tried to remember the name of the unicorn in front of her, but couldn't come up with it. Blushing slightly, Luna politely asked what her name was.
"I'm Astral Flare, Your Highness," the unicorn happily answered, "and to answer your previous question, I haven't really given friendship that much of a thought, to be honest."
"Really?" Luna wondered. "Why's that?"
"Well," continued Astral, "not only does this line of work really leave myself with a lot of time to myself, but it's just something that hasn't really crossed my mind that often. I just don't view making friends as an important thing if I constantly travel across Equestria studying your night sky. I know what it feels like to be left alone or outcasted a lot, Your Highness, and, if I'm being completely honest, I think you know that feeling too. Not too many ponies enjoy spending their nights outside, up and about, when compared to the daytime."
Luna raised an eyebrow and understood Astral completely. She admitted to Astral that she made some very valid points, but reminded her of what is essential in Equestria.
"Friendship isn't necessarily a bad thing, Astral Flare," Luna explained, "and I think Lunar Nights would agree. Let me show you something."
Without missing a beat, Luna used her magic and brought forward a small ball in front of Astral, placing it between them before shooting the ball with some magic and changing the scenery around them. Astral looked around with an immense amount of intrigue and smiled. Luna noticed this and then pointed in one direction for Astral.
"I want you to take a look over there," Luna advised, "I think you'll be pleasantly surprised."
Following Luna's request, Astral shifted her views over in the direction that Luna was pointing in, spotting a lavender colored unicorn with a royal purple colored mane and tale, each having a streak of cyan traveling down them. This unicorn was with a pony that Astral did recognize, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and was watching over the other pony Astral did not know as they were performing magic spells together in an open field.
"Who's that?" Astral wondered.
"That, Astral Flare," Luna began, "is a pony called Starlight Glimmer. You see, Starlight is Princess Twilight's pupil, so to speak, and she learns about friendship directly from her."
Astral shifted her view from Starlight and Twilight back towards Luna, confused, "Why's that?"
Luna looked out towards Starlight and smiled softly, "You see, Starlight Glimmer is a pony who has her own kind of history in Equestria. Without going into extreme detail, Starlight was a pony who did not take too kindly to friendship until she met Princess Twilight and her friends. She has turned her life around and is very lucky to call Princess Twilight's friends her own friends as well." She turned back towards Astral and tilted her head very slightly. "Would you like to see what would have happened if Starlight Glimmer had not given friendship an initial attempt, Astral Flare?"
With nothing really to lose, Astral agreed. "I guess it could be interesting to see what could have happened."
Using her magic once more, Luna changed the scenery around her and withdrew themselves from Starlight's dream. She created a version of Equestria that was overrun with ponies that featured similar cutie marks – an equal sign – and unnatural smiles, giving Astral the feeling of uneasiness. She gulped when she spotted the ponies around her staring happily at her, pulling her beanie down to cover her face a bit.
"Hello there," one pony called out to Astral, "welcome to Our Town."
"Welcome," another pony said aloud.
Astral continued receiving these unusual greetings and almost collapsed to the ground from anxiety until she heard a door open up at the end of the pathway she was on. She looked up and saw Starlight Glimmer step into the frame, exiting through the door and closing it behind her, approaching her slowly. Astral gulped again, feeling her hooves shake a little in their place.
"Hello!" Starlight beamed delightfully. Of all the greetings, her's seemed to be the most genuine. "Welcome, friend!"
Astral took note of a couple of differences that Starlight had compared to when she saw her in her own dream, mainly her mane style being slightly different. Astral squeaked to herself, whispering hello back to Starlight before hiding herself behind her brown-colored mane.
"We here in Our Town are all the same," explained Starlight, "no two ponies have a different cutie mark and nopony is better than anypony else here. We all work together to thrive in our little community and help each other out when we need to since a community that helps each other is a community that stands together and gains strength together. Were you considering joining our little town? If so, you can stay with me until the town completes your new home. We'll be the best of friends, don't you agree?"
Astral gulped again, then cried out for Luna. Seeing how different Starlight was compared to within her own dream was enough to see that something was definitely out of place. Appearing in front of Astral once more, Luna lifted the illusion and returned Astral to the black void she was dreaming about previously. Astral seemed to calm down greatly afterwards, then remembered what Starlight told her. She decided to bring it up with Luna.
"Now you can see why making friends is important, Astral Flare," Luna stated.
"There's just one thing about that, Princess," Astral admitted, "when I was with Starlight, she greeted me as a friend and even mentioned that we would be the best of friends. What was different about that compared to what Princess Twilight teaches her now? Wouldn't friendship unequivocally be the same regardless?"
"An interesting note indeed, Astral Flare," Luna praised, "but there is something different about placing yourself above others and calling them friends than just genuinely working at that kind of friendship with others. When you inevitably meet Starlight Glimmer, I'll let her explain that herself. As for now, all I can tell you is that those friendships and the lessons that Princess Twilight gives to her are two very different types."
"Inevitably meet her?" Astral repeated.
Luna nodded, "I wish for you to travel to Ponyville to meet Lunar Nights. I want you to learn about friendship and its magic from him. I feel that you would benefit from that greatly."
"Lunar Nights?" Astral wondered. "If it's friendship you want me to learn, why not learn from Princess Twilight directly?"
"I'll let him explain that himself as well," Luna winked, "The answers you seek are within the confines of Ponyville. I suggest you leave for it in the morning, understood?"
"Is this a royal order you're giving me?" Astral asked, assuming that the answer would be 'yes.'
Luna nodded again, "It is. You may not be attending either the school my sister has or my own school, but as a pony who's main responsibility is to tend to those across Equestria dealing with problems in the Dream Realm, I could see your own images as well as everypony else's. The more ponies know about friendship and give it a try, the safer Equestria will be in the future. I see much of myself in you, Astral Flare, when it comes to my night sky, however, there is more to being a pony than simply working all night and all day long. Take what you've seen with Starlight Glimmer in her own dream, for example. I think you can be just like that if you give the concept a try. Trust me when I tell you that it is very pleasant."
Groaning to herself a bit, Astral reluctantly agreed to what Princess Luna tasked her with. She promised to make her way towards Ponyville in the morning and search for Lunar Nights as well, though she secretly wished that she didn't have to do this.
"Wonderful," Luna smiled, "I must be going now, Astral Flare, but I will be checking in on you soon. Enjoy the rest of your sleep, my little pony."
Astral smiled sheepishly, waving at Luna as she began to depart from her dream, "You as well, Your Highness."
Left alone now, Astral continued to sleep, finally forming a dream of her own: a future endeavor of her work on the night sky and the constellations she found.
When the morning finally arrived and the sun was risen, Astral woke up and crawled herself out of her bed, making her way over towards a mirror she had. She stepped carefully around a bunch of books she had strewn about along the floor, using her magic to grab a hold of the brush on the dresser in front of her.
"Whoa," Astral giggled to herself, "how'd this happen?"
Her mane was frizzled and a virtual mess. She stroked the hairbrush through it slowly, unraveling any strands that may have tied together and making her mane flow smoothly once more. Once her mane was finished, she turned her attention to her tail and performed similar actions, stopping once it flowed smoothly as well. She placed the brush back on the dresser, grabbed her beanie, and looked at the work she gathered last night, smiling happily at it.
"I'm so happy to know that my work has drawn the attention of Princess Luna herself," she said aloud, remembering what Luna had asked of her within her dream, "I kind of wish I didn't have to go now, but orders are orders, I guess. Wouldn't be wise to anger anypony of royalty, I suppose."
Rolling her eyes slightly, Astral gathered a few things and began her journey towards Ponyville and Lunar Nights, loathing the task that was given to her immensely. Her first stop: the train station and the Friendship Express.
~Meanwhile in Ponyville~
"There you go, Lunar."
"Thanks, Twilight," he turned and gave the object to the mayor, "and this should do the trick, Mayor Mare."
Inside the Castle of Friendship, Lunar and Twilight were hard at work performing their dual royal tasks for the day. There weren't as many tasks given to them today as there usually were, but that didn't stop the two alicorns from performing them together. Presently, the two were assisting the mayor with an issue she was having in the legislature. Mayor Mare thanked the two alicorns for their help and proceeded to leave, heading back to City Hall to try out the object that was given to her – a series of encyclopedias on previous legislatures and laws across other countries and kingdoms within the known world.
When the mayor finally left, Lunar looked towards Twilight and chuckled to himself, "Who would have thought that there were so many different ways of trying to say one particular thing on a piece of paper?"
Twilight rolled her eyes playfully, "Well, when it comes to lawmaking, Lunar, one has to be as specific as possible, otherwise an infinite possibility of loopholes can show themselves, and that would be bad."
"Aren't we glad we live in what's basically a monarchy?" Lunar smirked, winking at Twilight.
"It does have its benefits," agreed Twilight, turning to see Starlight come into the room, "but we also let the towns run in ways that fit them. It's just that our word is final, isn't that right, Starlight?"
Hearing what Twilight said, Starlight nodded, "Yeah, and that is a good thing to have as a safety net. We don't need ponies going around and brainwashing others into giving up their talents or anything like that again."
Starlight had only recently become comfortable with talking about her previous lifestyle in a semi-jokingly way. It still bothered her how she did things prior to meeting Twilight, but Starlight was a pony that understood that the past is in the past and what has happened cannot be changed. She reflected her time traveling experiences to her own personal timeline and that, while she did travel back in time with Twilight, her past was becoming her present and everything she was doing was only resulting in an altered future, but it didn't stop the fact that the events in the past did not happen. If that were the case, then Starlight and Twilight would never have met.
Lunar looked over to Starlight and Twilight and nodded, "That would be something to experience." He secretly wished he was around when Starlight and Twilight traveled through time and fought prior to Twilight taking Starlight under her wing.
"Anyway," Twilight smiled, turning once more to Starlight, "are you ready to go, Starlight?"
"I got the kites all set and Pinkie Pie said that she'll meet us there," answered Starlight, showing Twilight the two kites she had prepared for them.
Twilight beamed delightfully and approached Lunar, nuzzling him slightly, "We'll see you later, Lunar. Don't miss us too much now."
Lunar chuckled, "I'll try not to, Princess." He knew that Twilight didn't like him to call her that, but he was only playing with her.
"We'll see you later," Twilight smirked, nodding towards Starlight.
"Luny!" Both Starlight and Twilight said, giggling afterwards while walking out of the castle together.
Lunar didn't like being called 'Luny' by others since he found that it sounded too girly, but often didn't mind it when Twilight called him that. He thought it sounded cute when she said it.
Turning back inside the castle, Lunar sighed contently. With a whole castle to himself, he wondered if he should go back towards the Study and continue reading his book – Astronomy & Astrophysics: A Pony Guide For The Experienced Astronomer. Lunar began reading this book a little less than a week ago and was amazed by how detail-oriented the research that went into the publishing of it was.
Prior to becoming a Prince, Lunar Nights was a typical unicorn living in Baltimare while under the tutelage of Princess Luna. Lunar spent most of his time in Baltimare working on his thesis of astronomy, but when Luna requested that he learn the magic of friendship from Twilight, he chose to do so, opting not to disappoint the pony he looked up to more than anyone else. This, however, did not stop Lunar from taking an incredible interest in Princess Luna's star-filled night sky and the unknown that lay beyond those stars.
Reaching the stairwell that led to the Study, Lunar stopped once he heard a knock on the castle doors. The knock came suddenly and the sound of it echoed throughout the foyer of the castle. He turned around and rolled his eyes playfully, thinking to himself that it was probably Twilight that forgot something. He started to approach the door when the knock came again.
"On my way," he alerted to whomever was knocking on the door.
Approaching the large doors to the castle, Lunar encased them with his white-colored aura and opened them up, revealing to himself not Twilight, but Princess Luna instead. Lunar was thrilled to see that Princess Luna had paid him a visit and invited her inside. It wasn't often Luna and Lunar saw each other, let alone Luna pay Lunar a visit; usually it was the other way around.
"I've got wonderful news for you, my star pupil," Luna beamed delightfully.
"What is it, Princess?" Lunar quickly asked.
"There is a pony by the name of Astral Flare," Luna explained, "and, like yourself, she has taken a liking to our night."
"That's good to hear, Princess Luna," smiled Lunar, "I'm happy to hear that."
"That's not all," continued Luna, "she resembles a lot like your old personality and focuses solely on her work and not making and establishing friendship."
"This sounds familiar," Lunar smirked, rolling his eyes playfully.
"I thought the same thing myself, Lunar," admitted Luna, "and I visited her dream last night to see why that was the case."
Lunar rubbed the bottom of his chin with his hoof, "That explains why you were absent from the void for a while."
Since he became Prince, one of Lunar's daily duties was to assist Princess Luna in the Dream Realm, since the work was much too large for only one pony to complete. Prior to Lunar's ascension, Luna would only focus those who were having extreme nightmares, as those are the types of dreams that mess with a pony's psyche if they are left unchecked. Now that Lunar was there, anypony that was experiencing a nightmare could expect to see either Lunar or Luna.
"It took some convincing," Luna stated, "but I requested that she travel here to learn about friendship from you, Lunar."
Lunar blinked, "You...I...what?"
"You're going to be the one who assists Astral Flare in finding friendship and the magic that it brings to everypony," reiterated Luna.
Lunar was confused, "I appreciate the offer, Princess Luna, and I'll give it my all, but why learn from me and not Twilight or even Starlight? Twilight is the Princess of Friendship, after all, and Starlight can relay what she learned from Twilight to Astral directly. All I am is just the Prince of the Night, and even that is a stretch since my main royal duty is assisting you in the Dream Realm."
Luna raised a hoof towards Lunar and smiled some more, "I have a feeling that you can do just as good a job as Princess Twilight has with Starlight Glimmer. Besides, she does have her hooves full with Starlight. Adding a second pony to that mix would hinder both Astral Flare's experiences and Starlight Glimmer's as well."
Lunar pondered for a moment, "I suppose you're right, but still, Twilight knows a lot more about friendship than I do. I did get sent by you to learn from her, after all."
"Be that as it may," said Luna, "I have no hesitation that you can do a job that is on par with Princess Twilight's. You did learn from her, after all. You can use what you've learned throughout that time and relay it to Astral Flare."
Lunar blushed slightly, noticing what Luna had just done. She placed him in a hypothetical corner and, indirectly, challenged Lunar to the task. He scratched his chin again, then nodded.
"I'll give it my all, Princess Luna," he declared, "I guess we each have our own ways of doing things, right?"
"Precisely, Lunar," agreed Luna, "remember, I taught you while you attended my school, Princess Twilight learned from my sister, and Princess Cadence, while she has no school of her own yet, will certainly be teaching Flurry Heart herself with Shining Armor when she's a little bit older. Friendship doesn't solely fall onto the back of Princess Twilight, you know. While it is her job to help spread the magic of friendship to others, everypony is reminded to keep it as well and share it. Princess Twilight simply is the face of friendship since her friends are drastically different in personality compared to the average friend, but that difference doesn't have to stop you from trying to connect with others."
"Spoken like a true mentor," Lunar smiled.
Now Luna was blushing slightly, "It's something I've managed to pick up from my sister after all this time."
"Inspiring, though," Lunar told Luna, hugging her as they engaged in conversation for a little while longer.
Later that day, Twilight had entered into the castle alongside both Starlight and Pinkie Pie, laughing together after having an enjoyable kite-flying experience together. Twilight noticed that Lunar was nowhere to be seen and began looking for him throughout the castle, having Starlight and Pinkie join in assisting her search. After a while, Twilight noticed some shuffling of hooves coming from the library and peeked through the doorway, trying not to be seen.
"I wonder if that would be a good– ," she heard, "But then again, what's the perfect first lesson she should learn?"
Joining Twilight, Starlight and Pinkie both peeked through the doorway and were watching Lunar as he paced back and forth as if something were bothering him. Twilight stepped into the doorway and called out to Lunar while Starlight and Pinkie stood behind her. Lunar turned around quickly and blushed a little bit, watching as Twilight walked closer towards him.
"What are you doing, Lunar?" Twilight wondered.
Lunar gulped, then paid attention back to the sheets of paper that were spread across the table in front of him. He tried to answer Twilight's question, but found that finding the right words to use was astronomically harder to do presently. Twilight stepped up next to Lunar and noticed the sheets of paper, glancing quickly between each of them. She noticed that they all appeared familiar to her.
"Are these my friendship lessons for Starlight?" Twilight asked, turning to Lunar. "What do you need them for? You already know a lot about friendship."
Hearing what the papers were, Starlight and Pinkie also entered the library and approached the table, standing on either side of Twilight and Lunar. Lunar, finally finding the right words to explain himself, let them know what he was doing.
"Princess Luna is sending somepony here to learn about friendship from me," he said, looking through some of the lessons once more, "I just have no idea what I should do first since I don't know about friendship nearly as much as you do, Twilight."
Twilight took note of how uptight Lunar was feeling and offered some suggestions to him, "Well, what do you remember about your first lesson?"
Lunar blinked, "My first lesson? Of friendship?"
Twilight nodded, "If I can recall, I had you introduce yourself to our friends on your first day. I had a similar experience, though it just so happened to be that our friends were in charge of different things in the Summer Sun Celebration that year. Plus," she turned to Starlight, "do you remember how I started our lessons?"
Starlight smiled, "You had Sunburst and I rekindle our friendship. That was my first lesson, right around the time the Crystalling was set to happen."
Twilight continued, "Exactly," she turned back towards Lunar, resting a hoof on his side softly, "even Discord's first friendship lesson from Fluttershy was that he felt broken and lonely after having his only friend walk away from him. Once he got a taste of what friendship truly was, he didn't want to give that up."
Lunar thought for a second before speaking out again, "So, the first lesson can be anything, really."
"Right," Starlight agreed, "and I think this would be a good opportunity to see what that pony likes to do."
"Like a party?" Pinkie Pie hopefully asked, reaching over for her party cannon.
Twilight giggled, "Perhaps, Pinkie, but what I think Starlight means is that when you share a common hobby with somepony else, that can snowball into something bigger in the future."
"Our bond was and still is magic," Starlight said, "even if our first lesson had nothing to do with actual magic, Twilight did show me what the magic of friendship can truly do for one another, even after not talking to Sunburst for years, at that time."
Lunar rubbed his chin lightly, "Princess Luna did say that this pony she's sending was very enthusiastic about her night."
"Sounds like a certain somepony I know," Starlight smirked, nudging Twilight playfully while quickly glancing towards Lunar.
"You can use your knowledge and interests of the night to connect with this pony," Twilight suggested, "and then, when you both do connect, lessons will typically show themselves to you rather than you finding them, as I've come to learn with by mentoring Starlight."
"I am pretty good, aren't I?" Starlight giggled lightly.
A round of laughs went around the four ponies shortly thereafter. Feeling a bit better about the situation given to him, Lunar decided to first develop a connection with the pony first before deciding on what to do afterwards.
On board the train, Astral Flare gazed out of the window of the coach, watching the landscape pass her by. She was amazed by it as she began watching the sun set over the hills in the background, casting a large shadow across much of the area in front of them. She had never seen such a thing while living in Whineysota. Typically, the clear night sky was what kept the ponies there company, followed by plenty of clouds during the day. It was very rare for them to see the sunlight directly, let alone like this.
A conductor pony was walking in between the aisle and noticed Astral. He approached her and politely asked for her ticket.
"Here you are, sir," Astral said, giving the ticket over with her magic.
"Ponyville, huh?" The conductor asked, punching a hole in the ticket before giving it back to Astral. "Haven't been there in a long time."
"You know of the place?" Astral wondered, taking control of the ticket again with her magic, putting it away.
The conductor nodded, "I grew up there. I left that place when I started working as a conductor for the railway. It's nice that the Friendship Express travels across Equestria, allowing ponies like me to basically see a lot of what the kingdom has to offer, but this particular train rarely stops in Ponyville; that's usually the station for the branch line train."
"Could you tell me what you know about Ponyville?" Astral inquired. She felt that more knowledge would help her in locating certain places and, hopefully, Lunar Nights.
"It's definitely a very colorful place," he continued, "that's something I don't think will ever change. Plus, it's home to the newest royal couple, Princess Twilight and Prince Lunar. I don't pay too much attention to that kind of stuff to be honest, but I think that they make for an interesting couple."
"Why's that?" Astral asked.
"Well," said the conductor, "Princess Twilight isn't really known as a nocturnal pony and you usually see her mainly during the day. Prince Lunar, on the other hoof, is a nocturnal pony and you see him a lot during the night, whether it's as an astronomer, or while you're dreaming. Seeing those two together is strange since it makes one wonder how much time they spend together."
Astral hung onto a couple phrases the conductor told her, "An astronomer or while you're dreaming?"
"Oh yes," he smiled, "word has it that he helps out Princess Luna in her duties while ponies sleep."
"Is that so?" Astral thought, wondering if she's perhaps run into this pony before.
"It is," the conductor spoke, "but that's just what I've heard. I can't say for certain whether or not I've seen him before, but he does sound like an interesting fellow."
Astral agreed, "He does indeed."
"Well," the conductor chimed, "it was very pleasant chatting with you. I have to attend to the other passengers now. I hope you enjoy yourself until then."
"Wait," called Astral, "just one more question."
"Yes?"
"When exactly is the train supposed to arrive in Ponyville?" Astral asked, wondering where she would sleep if the arrival time were too late.
"In about another hour or so, ma'am," he answered, tipping his cap towards her before leaving to continue his work.
Astral nodded and then looked out of the window once more. She continued to think of Lunar Nights, thinking that she could have run into him at some point while she was dreaming. The only pony that came to mind that she encountered in a dream was Princess Luna, but Astral continued thinking about a possible encounter that could have occurred.
"Prince Lunar Nights," she said aloud, "wonder how he became a prince."
She yawned a bit, enjoying the soft rocking of the coach she was in, letting herself fall asleep for the remainder of the journey.
"Now arriving in Ponyville. Passengers are reminded to gather all of their belongings before departing the train. We here at the Friendship Express understand you have many decisions in how you travel and thank you for choosing us as your primary method for transportation. We hope you enjoy the rest of your day and hope to see you again soon."
Stretching her hooves a bit, Astral yawned and collected her things, waiting for the train to come to a complete stop. When it did, she rose from her seat and approached the door, carefully stepping out of the coach and onto the platform when it opened up for her.
"All aboard!" The conductor called, watching a few straggling ponies scramble either on or off of the train.
Astral neared the station house and found a map of Ponyville. Using the knowledge she gained from talking with the conductor earlier, Astral spotted the Castle of Friendship on the map and figured that, if there were any place Lunar Nights would be, the castle would be a good first spot to check. She put the map away and started to enter into the town, noticing how colorful things were, even as the sun set behind the mountains in the background.
She looked all around her and saw plenty of ponies being friendly with one another, feeling her anxiety start to rise slightly. She wondered what friendships she could craft, if any, and wondered exactly how Lunar Nights would be like if she were to learn from him.
I still wonder why it wasn't Princess Twilight teaching me instead, she thought to herself, I mean, isn't she the Princess of Friendship?
Approaching the main pathway of the town, Astral turned right and saw the gigantic crystallized castle that was the Castle of Friendship in front of her. She was in awe of how beautiful it looked as the sun and the light was reflecting off of the crystallized structure, almost casting an array of colors against it. Continuing forward, Astral began to get even more nervous, wondering if this was going to be worth it in the end.
"Okay, Astral," she told herself quietly, "Luna came to you in a dream and said you could do this. Princesses are supposed to know what they're talking about, right? She seemed confident in me."
Reaching the base of the stairs, Astral looked up towards the large doors and proceeded to approach them, knocking on them when she was positioned in front of them. She folded her ears due to her anxiety when she heard the knocking echo slightly, gulping a little bit more and feeling her hooves shake as well. She waited for a few minutes and prepared herself when she saw the doors become encased in a magenta colored aura. When the doors opened up, Astral saw a purple colored alicorn standing in front of her – Princess Twilight – and bowed to her.
"Hello, Your Highness," Astral formally spoke.
Twilight giggled, raising Astral so that she was standing up straight, "Please, it's quite alright. There's no need to be formal with me; save that for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."
"I-if you say so," Astral replied, sounding a bit nervous in her voice.
"You must be the pony that Lunar mentioned earlier," Twilight assumed, "Astral, correct?"
Astral nodded, "Yes, Astral Flare."
"Well," continued Twilight, "my name is Twilight Sparkle. Please, come in. I'll go fetch Lunar and my pupil as well."
"Y-your pupil?" repeated Astral, forgetting that she was talking about Starlight, as per Luna's visions from her dream last night.
Twilight continued explaining herself, "You see, I also teach and mentor somepony about friendship. If my calculations are correct, you both may end up getting along just nicely. Besides, it's always nice to have somepony else to study with."
"I-I suppose you're right about that, Princess," Astral meekly agreed, stepping inside behind Twilight.
"Twilight will do just fine, Astral," smiled Twilight, "I'll be right back as I go and get the others. It should take no more than five minutes or so."
"Of course," Astral replied, glancing around and taking in the surroundings within the gigantic foyer.
Twilight then left the room for a brief period of time, leaving Astral alone to take in her surroundings. She was amazed at the complexity of the structure from the inside, as she's only heard about this place before arriving here. It definitely felt welcoming, Astral thought, and made her feel slightly more at ease, though meeting new ponies would soon put that easiness to the test. She spotted a tiny dragon walking down some of the stairs and rubbed her eyes to see if she wasn't simply imagining things. The dragon noticed her and began approaching her.
"Hey there," he called, "are you looking for Twilight?"
Astral shook her head slowly, looking down at the dragon, "Um, n-no, not really. S-she just left to bring, um, L-Lunar here a short while ago."
"Oh," he continued, "I overheard what was happening earlier today. You're the pony that Lunar is going to mentor, right?"
Astral nodded, "Y-yeah. I'm Astral Flare."
"My name's Spike," the dragon replied, "I'm Twilight's number one assistant and help her oversee pretty much everything."
"I didn't know the Princess had a baby dragon assistant," Astral commented, "that's fascinating, actually."
Spike blushed slightly, "Well, I owe her my life. She's the pony that helped raise me into what I am today. If it weren't for her, I don't know where I'd be today."
"I'd love to hear more about that if you have a moment," Astral said, unaware of what she really just said.
"I'd be delighted to explain everything," Spike smiled, looking behind Astral and seeing Twilight and the others, "buuut, I think that'll have to wait until another time." He pointed towards them.
Astral turned around and noticed Twilight return with another alicorn on her right and a lavender colored unicorn on her left. She gulped a little bit, preparing herself to meet the other ponies at once.
"Astral Flare," Twilight smiled, watching as Spike left through the castle doors, "allow me to introduce you to my pupil, Starlight Glimmer, and the Prince of the Night, Prince Lunar Nights."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Lunar smiled, "I heard of your arrival from Princess Luna herself."
"Th-the pleasure is mine," Astral responded nervously.
"Hey there, Astral," Starlight beamed, "I can't wait to share some memories with you."
"Me either, S-Starlight," added Astral.
"Lunar here is a nocturnal pony like yourself," Twilight explained, "Princess Luna said that you enjoy her nights more than the day. Was that correct?"
Astral nodded, "Yes, Prin- I mean, uhh, yes, Twilight."
Twilight giggled, then turned to Lunar, "You want to tell her what you did before you earned those wings?"
Lunar smiled a little bit more, paying attention towards Astral, "I used to map out some of the constellations that were above Baltimare before I came here. Studying magic under Princess Luna's wing was an incredible experience, but I think it would be fair to say that I wouldn't be standing here today if it weren't for the hard work, determination, and slight pushing of not only Princess Luna, but Twilight as well. It's their doings that helped me realize my own destiny."
Astral's eyes grew wide with intrigue, "So you like the night sky too? Do you still have your work?"
Lunar chuckled, "I certainly do, though admittedly, it hasn't seen much volume since I became a prince of Equestria. Perhaps that could change tonight."
"I would love to do such a thing with you tonight, Prince," Astral beamed excitedly.
"Please," Lunar smiled, raising his hoof towards Astral, "Lunar will do just fine. I'm gonna go out on a hunch that Twilight already said this, but in case she didn't, you can leave the formality to meeting and engaging with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It feels weird to have others call me by my title."
"Of course," Astral nodded.
Lunar then turned to Twilight and Starlight, "I'll see you both in a little bit. I'm going to go out with Astral and see what we can discover together."
"Enjoy yourselves," Starlight replied.
"We'll see you later," added Twilight, nuzzling Lunar slightly, "when you return, we'll have some coffee together before going to bed."
"Sounds good, Twily," Lunar delightfully responded, turning back towards Astral, "shall we start our cartography together then?"
"I can't wait!" Astral eagerly shouted, walking alongside Lunar out of the Castle of Friendship.
After leaving the Castle of Friendship, Lunar led Astral to a hill located just outside of town and set up a pair of telescopes for both him and Astral to use. Astral seemed very delighted to find another pony that could help assist in her work and was very excited to get started. Taking out a few more items, Lunar positioned a blank map canvas in between them and smiled, using the opportunity to get to know Astral a little bit more. Astral looked through her telescope and began to search for some constellations, while Lunar slowly approached his on purpose.
"So tell me," began Lunar, "what made you want to study astronomy, Astral?"
Astral repositioned her telescope a bit, answering Lunar's question in the process, "I've always been fascinated by the moon, ever since I was a filly. My mom, Aurora Flare, got me my first telescope when I was younger and I used to study the moon for a long time." She rose herself from the telescope and blankly looked towards the grass. "She, umm, she used to tell stories of the infinite possibilities there were in the universe." Looking back towards Lunar, she continued answering him, "I guess I have my mother to thank for sparking my interests in the night sky and astronomy, Lunar."
Lunar nodded slowly, "So if you're so interested in the night sky that Luna creates every day, how come you haven't attended her school yet?"
Astral smirked, "To be fair, not only did I not know she had one of her own, but Canterlot is a far way away from where I come from in Whineysota."
"I see," Lunar pondered, taking note of how Astral was answering his questions.
Astral rubbed underneath her chin lightly, wondering the same thing about Lunar. Flipping the script, she proceeded to ask Lunar the same question.
"My family is nocturnal," he answered, "my father, a unicorn by the name of Eclipse, and my mother, a Pegasus by the name of Lustrous Nights, both worked during the night when we lived in Caneighda. My father was a cartographer himself and my mother worked the Caneighdian weather patrol during the evenings, setting up weather that was supposed to happen in the morning hours when the sun rose. I followed suit with both of them and, being named Lunar Nights, I kept the possibilities of everything nighttime oriented opened for myself."
He pulled out a small figure of the moon, showing it to Astral. Astral noticed and admired how lovely it looked, taking note of its phase – a new moon. Lunar smiled, then explained how he got this figure.
"Mom gifted me this on my fifth birthday," he said, "and she told me that this was special because it contains magic of its own accord."
"How so?" Astral wondered.
"As you can see," continued Lunar, "this is currently a new moon and the actual moon itself is a full moon. In about two weeks time, the actual moon will be a new moon and vice versa; the figure will be a full moon. This figure will always be in the opposite phase as the actual moon is. It's been my good luck charm since I've had it and I always carry it with me wherever I go."
"That's amazing," Astral commented, studying the figure closely, admiring it a bit more.
Lunar put the figure away and thought some more, "Tell me, Astral. Princess Luna explained to me that you hadn't really thought of friendship as anything important, focusing solely on your work instead. Why's that?"
Astral smirked, pulling out some of her completed work and showing it to Lunar, "Like you, I am nocturnal, so this kind of work typically doesn't have a lot of connections with other ponies." She looked down once more and began talking about her mother again. "If I'm being completely honest, my mother was my only friend."
"Was?" Lunar repeated.
Astral nodded, "She unfortunately passed away some time ago."
Lunar felt broken on the inside, approaching Astral and resting a wing on her back softly. "I-I'm so sorry."
Astral wiped a tear from her eye briefly before looking up once more, "This beanie used to be hers and I wear it as my way of reminding myself of her."
"What about your father?" Lunar wondered. "Certainly he is a friend of yours, no?"
Astral shook her head slowly, "I haven't seen my father in years. He left my mother and myself when I was a filly."
Lunar felt even more horrible. He used his magic to spawn a handkerchief and levitated it over towards Astral, who took control of it and wiped her eyes dry. Hitting a metaphorical brick wall, Lunar tried to get around it in his own way.
"So you find solace in the night because of its tranquility mostly?" He asked.
"That," answered Astral, "and the fact that it provides me with a soothing serenity. It's a time where I can really clear my mind and focus on one thing, my work."
"True," agreed Lunar, "but I feel that friendships can do something similar."
"With all due respect, Lunar," Astral said, "but I kind of doubt that. Friendships are nothing more than a relationship with another pony or creature and relationships typically don't last forever."
"Not necessarily," Lunar replied, "take Twilight and myself, for example. We are two completely different types of ponies. She's an early bird and I'm a night owl, but we get along enough to be marefriend and coltfriend. We have our differences, yes, but so does everypony else in Equestria. Friendships are relationships that will always require mending and work and, if those two things were to suddenly stop, the strength of the friendship that was built up will be put to the test to see if it'll survive. Take Starlight as an example. Did you listen to what her first friendship lesson was with Princess Twilight?"
"She reunited with one of her friends," Astral stated, "right?"
Lunar nodded, "Right, and that was a friendship that was built up, according to Starlight, within the first few years of their lives. That friendship was put to the test when Sunburst left to Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns and left Starlight alone, but now it's stronger than ever because they mended it and worked together to make it better than before."
"That's just one instance though, Lunar," Astral said in rebuttal, "I doubt that that kind of thing would work every time."
"You're right," Lunar agreed, "it wouldn't. How about another example then?"
"Okay..."
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Lunar told her, smirking slightly.
Astral cocked an eyebrow doubtfully, "The royal sisters had a similar experience?"
"To an extent," admitted Lunar, "when Celestia was forced to banish Luna to the moon after the events with Nightmare Moon, Celestia was left feeling empty on the inside. She admitted to Luna later on in one of her dreams that every day they were apart from each other, she knew that she needed Luna with her by her side, but because of what she did to her, Celestia had to wait a millennia just to have that kind of experience again. When she did return, Celestia offered Luna her friendship once more and they both agreed that it would be best to mend it and strengthen it together. Their friendship was strong enough to get through a thousand years of events and it continues to this very day." Lunar thought quickly about the old Hearth's Warming tale and brought it up with Astral. "Do you know the legends of the Windigos?"
"I vaguely remember that," Astral said, "why?"
"Well," continued Lunar, "to jog your memory, they're creatures that feed off the hatred and fighting ponies project onto others. As you can clearly see around us," he motioned towards the sky around them both, "they're being held in check by the friendships everypony has created with one another. Friendships are powerful tools, Astral, and I can assure you that the more ponies know about them, the safer Equestria will be in the long run and in future generations."
Princess Luna said something similar to me in my dream last night, Astral thought, rubbing her chin again.
Lunar looked towards the moon's position and smiled, "It's starting to get a little bit late, Astral. Let's pack things in for tonight and return to the castle."
Astral groaned slightly, but obliged to Lunar's request, packing things in their saddlebags before returning to the Castle of Friendship. She held onto the words that Luna originally told her and echoed by Lunar just now.
The more ponies know about friendship, she told herself, the safer Equestria will be. Why would that be?
After arriving back at the castle, Lunar invited Astral inside, setting aside the items he brought with them earlier in the evening. Astral hesitated slightly, but reluctantly accepted the invitation, following Lunar inside the castle carefully. She looked around the castle once again, admiring the atmosphere that the crystal walls provided. Looking towards Lunar, Astral followed him up the staircase and further into the castle.
"Where are we going?" She wondered.
"I want to show you something that's in the library, Astral," he answered, "I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all," Astral replied, "I would be interested to see what kind of collection a royal pony like yourself and Princess Twilight have."
Lunar chuckled, "It is quite a collection, if I do say so myself, but it's mostly Twilight's collection. I only recently started adding to it myself."
Astral nodded and followed Lunar as he led them towards the library. Ever since Twilight's former home of the Golden Oaks Library was destroyed in her battle with Tirek, she's had to obtain copies of all the books she used to hold. She didn't mind it and actually found it to be a fun task to do with Lunar. She managed to obtain copies of nearly every book she had, missing only a few more pieces of her former collection.
Entering into the library, Lunar spotted Twilight and Starlight and smiled. He was looking for both of them and figured that they would be in here at this time. The two ponies were busy reading some books of their own, looking up from them to spot Lunar and Astral. Twilight smiled and rose from her seat, showing Lunar the coffee she had prepared for both Lunar and Astral. Lunar beamed delightfully and took the coffee with his magic, thanking Twilight for preparing a cup for himself and Astral.
"I'm actually happy to see you here as well," Twilight told Astral, levitating her cup of coffee over towards her, "there's something I'd like to talk about with you."
Not wanting to be rude, Astral took the coffee and levitated it with her. She was a pony that actually preferred tea to coffee, but didn't want to disappoint or anger anyone yet, especially since she just met them not too long ago.
"Well," continued Twilight, "not me necessarily, but Starlight definitely does."
"Starlight?" Astral repeated, wondering what it was she wanted to chat about.
"Mhmm," smiled Twilight, sitting back down in her chair, "how did the friendship lesson go?"
Lunar sat down next to Twilight and smirked, "I think it went pretty well. Wouldn't you say so, Astral?"
Astral blushed, "I-I guess so? It didn't feel like one, though."
"And that's the beauty of them," said Twilight, "they usually don't feel like lessons once you get the hang of them."
Astral sat down across from Twilight and adjacent to Starlight. She took a sip of her coffee and smiled, impressed with the flavor the coffee had. Starlight closed her book and smiled.
"So, Starlight," Twilight spoke, "how long have you been studying friendship with myself, would you say?"
"Probably about a year or so now," Starlight answered, "it's impressive, honestly, how fast time flies by."
"What did you do before meeting Twilight?" Astral wondered.
Starlight blushed slightly, twirling a strand of her mane with her hoof, "Well, I guess I can go into details about that; we're all friends here."
"Precisely," smiled Twilight.
"And there's no judging here," added Lunar.
"And that's what I love about being given a second chance by you, Twilight," Starlight mentioned, "it really is nice to see somepony do something like that to another pony."
"It's my pleasure, Starlight," Twilight said, "friendship is something that everypony should fight for."
"And that's something I've had to learn the hard way at first," Starlight stated, turning to Astral.
"What do you mean?" Astral asked.
"Before I met Twilight," Starlight explained, "I ran a town on the far outreaches of Equestria. It was very secluded and nopony really ever bothered us, minus Tirek when he went around and stole magic. In that town, ponies would come and I would discretely convince and manipulate them into giving up their talents and living a life that was devoid of special talents and cutie marks in general."
"Really?" Astral replied, intrigued by Starlight's explanation.
Starlight nodded, "I used my magic to take their cutie marks and replace them with an equal sign. I lived in that town for years and, when I finally met Twilight and her friends, I was reluctant at first, but pressed forward with my mission to show Equestria that cutie marks are nothing but a cause for pain. I thought that if I could take Twilight's cutie mark, I could show Equestria that even a princess like her was willing to give up what made them special."
"What happened next?" Astral asked, taking another sip of her coffee.
"Well," continued Starlight, "Twilight and her friends managed to convince the other ponies of the town to go after their cutie marks and eventually ran me out of the town and into a maze-like cave system that I used to get away."
"Sounds rough," Astral said aloud, thinking that she didn't.
"That's not all," Twilight commented.
"It's not?" Astral responded.
"Nope," Starlight smirked, shaking her head, "you see, after what happened, I followed Twilight and started studying her a little bit in secret, trying to see if I could use something of hers against her. When she was giving a lecture to the ponies in Princess Celestia's school, I came across an old spell from Star Swirl the Bearded that involved time travel. Combining it and rewriting the spell slightly, I managed to go back in time myself and make it so that anypony who used and casted the spell would send me back as well."
"That's incredible," Astral said in awe. She didn't think it was possible for a unicorn to travel back in time and began wondering of the infinite possibilities she could have if she knew that spell.
"So," continued Starlight, "I used the spell to send me back to a specific point in Twilight's history."
"What was that?" Astral wondered.
"A race at a flight school in Cloudsdale," answered Twilight, turning to Astral, "you see, my friends and the friendships we've developed over the years are quite unique."
"How so?"
"During that race," Twilight exclaimed, "our friend Rainbow Dash performed a sonic rainboom. If it weren't for that rainboom, Rainbow Dash might not have been able to defend Fluttershy's honor, Fluttershy might never have discovered her love for animals, Applejack might never have realized that she belonged on her farm, and Pinkie Pie might never have decided to leave hers. Our friend Rarity has an impeccable sense of fabulosity, and that's something that can be traced back to the rainboom. Even more, it might be hard to even fathom what my life might have been like had it not been for the rainboom that occurred. The rainboom allowed me to unleash my full potential and enroll in magic school."
Lunar smiled, then looked towards Astral, "It's not often that a pony and their friends can trace a single event in their past that affected them all in the long run."
"Right," added Starlight, turning back towards Astral as well, "and when I went back in time to change the outcome of the race, I successfully did so and watched as Twilight's future changed as well so that her friends never met."
"You did?" Astral asked.
"A few times actually," Starlight answered, "remember, I wrote the spell to bring myself back as well, and Twilight did that a number of times, but each time, I changed the race's outcome."
"What happened then?" Astral questioned. "I mean, clearly things are normal right now, right?"
"Right," Twilight said, "and since I had never met a pony with such magical capabilities as Starlight, I had to convince her to stop on her own accord. I showed her what would happen to Equestria had the rainboom never happened and," she turned to Starlight, "I think we can both agree that it wasn't great."
"Not one bit," agreed Starlight, turning to Astral, "and that's why I thank Twilight for giving me a chance and teaching me friendship. She could have easily said no and banish or punish me in whatever way she thought fit because of what I did to her and to her friends, but she didn't do anything like that. She knew that my previous experience with friendship was bad, but she was willing to help work with me to make me see the positiveness in making friends. I have her to thank for that."
Astral nodded, then rubbed her chin softly. Lunar smiled, offering his take as well.
"I owe Twilight everything in regards to friendship as well," he told Astral, "like I told you, if it weren't for her," he flared his wings out to show Astral, "then these two wouldn't be here right now. Again, friendship is a powerful thing to have in our lives. It creates lifelong relationships with ponies we care about dearly and they help make Equestria a safer place."
"I suppose so," Astral said, thinking back to what Twilight said earlier about a bad futuristic outcome, "do you mind if I see what exactly you were referring to when you said that the future wasn't great if the rainboom never happened?"
"I suppose that would be okay," Twilight obliged, using her magic to show the image she showed Starlight once.
Surrounded by an interesting color aura, Twilight, Starlight, Lunar, and Astral were all brought to where Twilight and Starlight once stood. Astral looked around and wondered what she was looking at, cocking an eyebrow slightly.
"There's nothing here," she finally stated, turning back towards Twilight.
"That's right," Twilight confirmed, "in the future, Equestria becomes, well, nothing."
"I'm not sure I understand," Astral retorted, "how can that be possible?"
"I asked the same thing myself," Starlight admitted, "when I first saw this, I didn't understand either."
"I let Starlight know that the friendships I created and molded are important to the stability of Equestria," Twilight explained, "and why it is like that, I am not sure myself. It just so happens to be the case."
"But what would make one group of friends so important to Equestria?" Astral asked instinctively. "I don't believe that can possibly be the case."
"Well, Astral," Twilight started, only to be cut off by Lunar.
"Do you mind if I take this one, Twily?" He asked her.
Twilight giggled lightly, "Okay, Lunar."
Lunar smiled, then started answering for Twilight, "Let me ask you this, Astral: Have you ever heard of the Elements of Harmony?"
Astral nodded a bit, "I read about them when I was younger, in a book called Ancient Artifacts of Equestrian History."
"Tell me what you know about them," Lunar said.
"Well," Astral started, "from what I remember from the book, there are six elements in the world, but only five of them are known – kindness, generosity, loyalty, laughter, and honesty. The sixth is a mysterious element that nopony has seen in years."
"Hmm," Lunar pondered, "how long ago did you read that book?"
"Umm, h-had to have been five or ten years ago?" Astral answered, unsure of the exact time since she read it. "I'm not sure when. Why do you ask?"
"Because that's not entirely true anymore," replied Twilight, "the sixth element is my element: Magic."
"The Element of Magic?" Astral repeated.
"Yup," Twilight smiled, "that element appeared to me when I heard my friends coming to my aide when we went up against Nightmare Moon a long time ago. That, however, is a story for another time."
"Okay then," Astral said, looking around again.
Lunar continued explaining the answer to the earlier question, "So, one group of friends is vital in Equestria. In this case, when Starlight altered the timeline, the Elements of Harmony were also affected, meaning that they were never found and Equestria was left defenseless when problems started to show up, like Nightmare Moon and King Sombra."
"Still," thought Astral, "seeing such an extreme case is odd. Seeing this is almost like getting struck by lightning or having your wings clipped; it just seems extremely unlikely."
"While it is true that disrupting a friendship at random wouldn't necessarily lead to this exact moment," admitted Twilight, "it is true that with fewer and fewer friendships in Equestria, it will get weaker and easier to invade, possibly even resulting in the return of the Windigos."
Astral nodded, then took note of this important and powerful image while Twilight reversed the spell, bringing their normal surroundings back to them. Twilight looked to the clock and yawned a bit.
"Wow," she giggled, "it sure is getting late."
"It is," Starlight agreed, "I think it's time I hit the hay."
"Same here, Starlight," Twilight smiled, turning to Astral, "it was great having a chance to talk to you about this sort of thing."
"Likewise, Twilight," Astral replied.
"Goodnight, everypony," Starlight yawned, rising from her seat and heading for her room, "see you all in the morning."
"Sweet dreams, Starlight," Lunar smirked.
Starlight chuckled, "I'll know if you step hoof in my dream, mister." She exited the library and went to her room.
Astral looked towards Lunar, "I guess it's time I get going too."
"You have your own place you're staying in here in Ponyville?" Lunar wondered.
Astral shook her head, "N-not exactly. I was gonna stay in one of the hotels nearby."
Twilight rose from her seat and smiled, "Well, since you are learning from Lunar, we could provide you with a room of your own here in the castle. It's large enough where there is extra space for other ponies. I can show it to you tonight since Lunar has to get ready to perform his nightly royal duties."
Astral blushed slightly, "A-are you sure, T-Twilight?"
Twilight nodded, "Of course I am. Come on, I'll show you to your room."
Astral smiled softly, "Th-thank you, Twilight." She turned back to Lunar and waved to him, "Thank you for tonight, Lunar. I can't wait to see what will happen tomorrow."
"Likewise, Astral," Lunar replied happily, "get some rest and I'll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams now!"
Following Twilight out of the library, Astral was being guided to her room for the night, smiling to herself buoyantly.
Using his magic, Lunar entered into the Dream Realm and sighed contently. He always enjoyed coming into this reality and always found it fascinating to see what other ponies would dream about. He often times snuck a look at Twilight's dream, feeling better about himself in the process. Luna never minded the snooping since she thought it was kind of cute how Lunar wanted to be around Twilight all the time. She may not be Princess Cadence, but even Luna knows how good a couple Twilight and Lunar make.
Tonight, Lunar entered into the realm and waited for Luna to arrive. She never was late and often times arrived first followed by Lunar, but tonight was different. Waiting for Luna, Lunar noticed the balls of dreams rising around his body, spotting a bunch of his friends' dreams – Fluttershy dreaming about Angel, her pet bunny, Rainbow Dash dreaming about leading the Wonderbolts, Starlight dreaming about her and Sunburst again – among others. He wanted to toy with Starlight and enter her dream, but was only stopped when Luna entered into the realm. Luna noticed him and smiled, approaching him happily.
"Lunar Nights," Luna beamed, "how was your first day with Astral Flare?"
"It went pretty well, in my opinion," Lunar answered, "I feel we really connected with the activity I had her do with me tonight."
"And what might that have been?" Luna asked out of curiosity.
"We worked together on mapping out constellations in Ponyville," Lunar replied, "it was nice to finally have somepony else by my side to do that with. I feel like that helped us connect a little bit more. I got to know her pretty well since she opened herself up a bit."
"That's wonderful to hear, Lunar," Luna praised, "and I'm only certain that the lessons can go nowhere but up from here."
"That's what I hope for myself, Princess Luna," Lunar spoke.
The two royal ponies continued to converse with one another for a short while before noticing a pony having troubles inside their own dream. Lunar looked at the dream bubble, then at Luna before deciding to take matters into his own hooves to start the night.
"Are you sure, Lunar?" Luna wondered.
Lunar nodded, "It'll be my pleasure, Princess. Get some rest for now. We don't know how busy tonight will get."
"Thank you, Lunar," Luna told him, watching as he entered into the pony's nightmare.
Left alone for a few moments, Luna began searching for Astral's dream to see how she took her first lesson. She started watching as dream bubbles rose passed her, looking for Astral's dream in particular. When she finally found it, Luna noticed Astral shivering inside her dream and began to enter it, but choosing not to reveal herself just yet, seeing what was happening in Astral's dream.
Inside the dream, Astral was back home in Whineysota and appeared to be slightly younger than she actually was. It was presently snowing in Whineysota and accumulations were gradually rising quickly. Luna noticed Astral heading inside a home and decided to follow after her, keeping her physical form invisible to others. She flew through the doorway and noticed Astral in the living room of her home.
"Mom," Astral called, "I'm home! You were right, the snow is starting to come down harder now."
Luna grew curious since she never saw Astral dream about this particular event. While she did study Astral and her patterns, in her dreams, Astral never really dreamt about anything but her work, though this clearly was something different. Noticing that her mother had yet to respond to her, Astral called out to her again.
"Mom?"
Astral began to enter into the kitchen and saw her mother's body collapsed on the ground. Running over to check on her, Astral first checked to see if she was still breathing. She couldn't tell if she was and used her magic to lift her onto her back, running straight through the invisible Luna and outside of her home, heading straight for the hospital.
Tears running down her face, Astral stopped at nothing until she finally reached the emergency room. When she reached the hospital, doctors took care of Aurora Flare and transferred her onto a gurney. Astral tried following the doctors into the emergency room, but she was held back by some of the security ponies, telling her that only authorized personnel were allowed to enter beyond the point.
"But that's my mother!" Astral cried. "Please, she's all I have..."
"We're sorry, ma'am," the guard told her, "but you have to wait in the waiting area while she's undergoing emergency surgery."
Astral tried pleading her case to let them see her mother, but the security ponies would not budge, eventually escorting her to the waiting area. When she sat down, she looked to her right and saw a filly looking back at her, scared slightly. The parent to the filly held her child close to her, pointing to her back when she spotted Astral looking at her as if to say she had something there. Astral rubbed her back with her hoof and felt blood dripping along her coat. This made her cry even more as she began to think the worst had happened. Luna, meanwhile, was watching the whole event, wondering if this had actually happened in Astral's life not too long ago.
It seems very detailed to be any random nightmare, she thought.
After a while, Astral was approached by a couple of the doctors from before. They were wearing blue scrubs that had been splattered with blood along them. Astral noticed this and felt more tears forming in her eyes. Coupled with the grim looks both doctors had, and this was not sitting well for the little yellow unicorn.
"Astral Flare," one of them spoke, "right?"
Astral nodded slowly, rubbing her left eye dry of tears.
"We are deeply sorry for what happened," the other doctor continued.
"S-sorry?" Astral repeated. "Sh-she'll be alright, r-r-right? Please...please!"
"We're sorry, dear," the first doctor continued, "we tried everything we could do. Her injuries were too severe to save her."
"No..." Astral hid herself behind her mane, crouched in her chair, and hid her face with her hooves, trying her hardest to not start crying uncontrollably.
Oh my, Luna thought, exiting the dream to find Lunar.
In the void of the Dream Realm, there are an abundant of dream bubbles that seemingly line up infinitely throughout the area, when in actuality, there are not. When one is trying to find one specific dream, however, it can gravely feel infinite. Finding Lunar would be hard, Luna thought, but it would be harder if she just randomly started jumping in and out of dreams of other ponies, risking missing him back in the void. Deciding that it would be best, Luna waited in the void for Lunar to return.
Please come back shortly, she told herself, waiting for her former star pupil.
"...and that's why it can be hard, but rest assured, things will get better in the long run."
"How are you so sure of that?"
Lunar smiled, "Better things start with positive attitudes. It's hard, but simply smiling genuinely can be the difference between making someone's day. Positive thinking, as silly as it sounds, can really go a long way."
"I guess so. But how do I begin?"
"Start by waking up and telling yourself that today will be a good day," Lunar advised, "then things will become easier, especially as you do that more often."
"Thank you for helping me, Prince Lunar. I'll do just that!"
"Anytime, my little pony," chuckled Lunar, exiting the dream of a young colt.
Reentering the void of the Dream Realm, Lunar sighed contently, satisfied that he was able to help ease the stress that they were feeling. He looked around for another pony that may be experiencing a nightmare, spotting Luna in the process. He saw that she had a worried look on her face and approached her, wondering what the matter was.
"Everything okay, Princess Luna?" He asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Come with me, Lunar," Luna replied, taking his hoof in the process, "there's something that I wish to show you."
"Whoa!" Lunar exclaimed, surprised with how quickly Luna was taking him. "Where are we going?"
Luna found Astral's dream once more and told Lunar to enter into it. Obliging, Lunar entered into Astral's dream and looked around. He noticed that Astral was inside a home, presumably her old home, and was sobbing to herself. He wanted to go over to check on her, but Luna forbade that with her magic, holding him back for the time being. Lunar looked back and wondered why that was the case, questioning Luna about it.
"Wait and see," Luna told him.
Lunar tilted his head out of confusion and looked back to Astral. She was wiping her tears away with her hooves and looked towards the blood stains that were on her body. She started shaking and tried her hardest to come to terms with what had happened, but couldn't find strength to do so. Lunar looked back towards Luna and wondered what had happened.
"I've never seen such pain in a dream before, Lunar," Luna told him, "have you?"
Lunar shook his head slowly, "I haven't. What happened before this?"
Using her magic, Luna showed Lunar what happened before he arrived, up until the point where the doctors told Astral what happened. Lunar immediately understood what happened and thought back to what Astral told him during their friendship lesson earlier in the night.
"She unfortunately passed away some time ago," Lunar recited, looking to Luna grimly, "this must have been what happened when Aurora passed away." He looked back towards Astral. "Dear Celestia..."
"Perhaps it would be best if you take things from here, Lunar," Luna suggested, "it might be unconventional, but lessons can happen at any time, even in the Dream Realm."
"I'll try my best, Princess," promised Lunar as he watched Luna leave back into the void.
"I don't want to be alone," Astral sobbed, wondering what she would do now that she was on her own.
Lunar nodded to himself, then allowed his magic to take over his voice, echoing throughout the room. "You don't have to be alone; not anymore."
Startled by the new voice, Astral looked up and wiped her eyes dry again, "Huh? Wh-who's there?"
With a bright light filling the room momentarily, Lunar made himself visible to Astral and approached her slowly. Astral sniffed a bit as a result of her sobbing and looked down a bit. Lunar took note of this and continued forward.
"Prince Lunar?" She asked herself. "D-does this mean that I'm dreaming?"
"Precisely, Astral," confirmed Lunar.
"But if I'm dreaming," continued Astral, noticing her blood-spattered hooves had become clean now, "why don't I wake up then?"
"Sometimes we can worry about a thing so much that fear can make us feel like we're trapped inside a nightmare," Lunar told her, using his magic to erase the nearby surrounding area, "these things are not real. The emotions felt inside of our dreams might be exerted from real events, but that does not mean we have to replicate them."
Astral looked down again, "How much have you seen then?"
"I've seen enough," answered Lunar, looking towards Astral and approaching her slowly, "tell me: is there something that you're deeply afraid of?"
Astral shook her head slowly; she decided to lie to Lunar for now.
Lunar rubbed his chin lightly, sensing that something wasn't right at the moment. "Are you sure about that?" He used his magic to bring Astral back inside the kitchen from earlier. "Because I can think of one or two things that could fill the void the question provided."
Astral gulped, then came clean, "I-I'm afraid of being alone. I...I'm sorry I lied."
"I understand," Lunar replied, "and I probably would've done the same if I were in your horseshoes."
"You would've?" Astral wondered, surprised to hear Lunar admit that.
"You see," continued Lunar, "when we're afraid to show signs of weaknesses, ponies often times hide them from revealing it to others. Your phobia is nothing more than mind games you're playing in order to trick yourself."
"I, umm, I'm not sure I understand," Astral said.
Lunar smirked, "We're all afraid of something, Astral. Admitting that we're afraid isn't showing weaknesses. In fact, it shows how strong we really are since we can admit those fears."
"But it feels bad knowing that you're all alone in the world," Astral responded, "that's mainly why I focus solely on my work now. It gives me something to distract myself from the consistent loneliness that I experience day in and day out."
"True," agreed Lunar, "but you haven't been alone this entire time. You did get sent via royal order to learn from me, and something tells me that if it weren't an order, you probably wouldn't have shown, am I right?"
Meekly, Astral nodded, "Friendship just hadn't had the same effect on me as it had on you, Lunar. You wouldn't understand if I just told you my story."
"Maybe not," continued Lunar, "but those thoughts and experiences are locked into your subconscious, are they not?"
"I-I guess so?" Astral quizzically replied, wondering what Lunar was doing.
"Dreams are similar in that aspect as they are locked into a pony's subconscious," explained Lunar, "which means, that if you'd like to show me those experiences, I can bring them and project them for us to see. That's up to you to decide, however, and I won't force you into doing something you're not comfortable doing."
Astral wondered for a moment, but ultimately decided that it would be okay to show Lunar some of the experiences she had with friendship as a filly, feeling that it would offer a better explanation than one she could've given herself. Lunar nodded, then used his magic to bring forth one of Astral's memories, projecting it so that they could both see it.
"This was when I was a filly of about four or five," Astral stated, "and I was in the local kindergarten that Whineysota had. Mom was still getting over my father leaving her and I didn't really know better at the time, often asking her when he'd come home. I was maybe seven or eight before I realized that he wasn't coming back. Here, however, I had my first experiences with friendship."
Lunar nodded and looked around the room they were in. It was a small classroom inside the kindergarten center Astral mentioned earlier and there were a bunch of colored drawings lining up along the walls as well as other items. In the middle of the room stood about fifteen fillies and colts, watching as the teacher was writing something on the chalkboard in front of them.
"Alright, everypony," the teacher beamed, "since you've all been wonderful today, the next twenty minutes will be free time! Remember to keep our inside voices on at all times, okay?"
"Okay, Ms. Daisy," the children responded in unison.
Ms. Daisy smiled, "Have fun then, everypony!"
Lunar noticed the fillies and colts scatter across the room and spotted the filly version of Astral. He saw that she was playing with some blocks by herself and wondered why that was the case. The adult version of Astral pointed to a group of three ponies to the left of the filly version and started explaining what was about to happen.
"Those three were the most popular ponies in the whole class," Astral said, "and whatever they did was considered cool. It sounds dumb, but we were kids and that's usually how it goes at that age."
"What happened then?" Lunar wondered.
Astral continued pointing to the group of three and answered Lunar as they rose from their seats, "Those three never liked me and would constantly pick on me."
"Look who's all by herself," one of the ponies laughed, looking at filly Astral.
"Weave me awone, pwease," the filly whispered.
"You're a loser!" Another one of the ponies teased.
"Ye-yeah!" The final one added. "Lose-tral!"
"Stwop, pwease," the filly cried, "Mwiss Dwaisy!"
Lunar cocked an eyebrow and saw what Astral meant now. Looking to the prince, Astral rolled her eyes and explained further.
"That," she said, "that right there is what I had to deal with day in and day out for over ten years. Ten years! That's the reason why I never gave friendship a second thought because it never cared for me! You have no idea what it's like to experience something like that on a consistent basis, Lunar."
"Perhaps not," Lunar admitted, using his magic to make the vision fade away, "but I think I can attempt to relate to the feeling of being alone."
"I'd doubt it," Astral spoke under her breath, "with all due respect, Lunar, but friendship isn't really something that could heal these wounds."
"I know," Lunar replied, "but they can help patch them. Allow me to show you something from my life. This goes back to before I became an alicorn, before I met Twilight, before I met Princess Luna, before I enrolled in magic school."
Lunar used his magic to again change the area once more. This time, he showed Astral something from his childhood. Astral noticed the surroundings and wondered what was about to be shown to her. In the middle of a small room was a young unicorn colt, a past version of Lunar. Astral cocked an eyebrow, but continued to watch.
"As a younger colt," Lunar explained, "I was very interested in magic and I remember always wanting to get better at it. This is the day I learned I had a gift, as my parents called it. We lived in Caneighda and had a lot of different books on magic."
The young colt used his magic to move a bunch of different items in the room around: books, the coffee table, some small ottomans, and some other things. When they heard a commotion, two other ponies entered into the room, surprised by the strength of magic the colt had.
"Those are my parents," Lunar told Astral, "my mother, Lustrous Nights, was a Pegasus and my father, Eclipse, was a unicorn."
Lustrous Nights approached the younger version of Lunar and asked him if he had actually moved the objects on his own.
"I-I-I-," the young colt responded, clearly being nervous about any consequences for playing with his magic.
"Lunar," Lustrous spoke softly, approaching the child and wrapping her wings around him, "it's okay, Luny...you can calm down now. You're not in trouble or anything."
"Your mother used to call you Luny too?" Astral noticed.
Lunar blushed slightly, "I used to have a lot of anxiety as a colt. Mom calling me Luny would calm me down a lot."
"I wed the wittle spell in the book," the young colt finally said.
Astral smiled softly, "That's cute."
"I did have trouble with some R's and L's when I was younger," Lunar chuckled.
"You know I'm not a unicorn," Lustrous continued, "but even I could tell that that was some sort of spell, Luny."
"Weally?"
Eclipse approached the two ponies and nodded, "Not even I can control that many things, Lunar. You have a gift."
The young colt grew excited, "Can I open it, pwease?"
Astral giggled to herself once more, "That's adorable."
"It's not that kind of gift, sweetie," Lustrous told the young colt.
Lunar smiled softly and used his magic to teleport him and Astral to a different moment in that time, "You get the idea. I had a pretty good relationship with my mom and my dad."
"Where are we now?" Astral wondered.
"Well..." Lunar began, trailing off as he motioned his head towards a set of doors to his left.
"Daddy," the young colt called, "where's Mommy?"
Eclipse's eyes started forming tears. The young colt was unsure of what was happening, so he approached Eclipse and twirled a hoof on the ground nervously.
"Am I in twouble?" He asked Eclipse.
Eclipse shook his head, "N-no..."
"Daddy," the colt continued, "what happened to Mommy? Where did she go?"
Eclipse wiped his tears away and pulled in his son for a hug. Astral looked towards the adult version of Lunar and saw as his eyes were closed, hoof wiping a tear away himself. Lunar used his magic to make the images disappear, looking towards Astral in the process and explaining to her what happened then.
"You see," he started, "right before Hearth's Warming that year, my mom, Lustrous, started feeling sick and was left very weak. She spent a lot of time in the hospital near Ontneighrio and I remember Dad taking me to visit her every single day when I came home from school." He cleared his throat briefly, sensing that he was choking up a bit. "Sorry about that. Anyways, the doctors told us that she would be okay and that she would be home just after the start of the new year. Dad and I used that as hope while we watched her be unable to really move on her own behalf. Those final few days were some of the heaviest ones of my life. That was the last time I ever saw my mother."
Astral felt heartbroken. She looked at Lunar and, reaching out, proceeded to hug him. Lunar returned the hug with one of his own and continued explaining to Astral why he showed her what he did.
"I never got to say goodbye to my mother," he said, "like you. I never got that closure, exactly like you. I could have ended things right then and there, but I didn't."
"How'd you push past that?" Astral wondered.
"Remember my dad telling me how I had a gift?" Lunar asked Astral. "Or my mother explaining to me how she saw that the spell I casted was 'some sort of spell?'"
"Yeah?"
"Well after that moment," continued Lunar, "my mom tried signing me up to attend Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, but every time I saw the application, I would throw it out. When she finally passed, I decided to fulfill her dream of me attending that school, though it took a bit of time for me to find the strength to do so. Dad always told me that she would've been proud to see how far I'd come. I went, enrolled, got accepted, and passed my entrance exam on a lenient technicality that I'll explain another time. I studied for a few years under Princess Luna's wing and, eventually, when Twilight helped me achieve my wings, I specifically requested that a seat be set aside next to my dad during my coronation ceremony. That seat represented my mother and was the closest to the aisle, which was the closest seat to me. My father and step-mother took the two seats next to the empty one."
"So you-"
"I do what I do because I know my mother would be proud to know that I'd done it," Lunar interrupted, "I didn't have any friends growing up, but studying magic and, eventually, friendship is what allowed me to get to where I am today – here with you talking about how friendship can change the lives of ponies. I know you don't have a great history with it, but I can tell you that friendship is indeed life-changing. If you don't take my word for it, at least take Princess Luna's word or Twilight's word for it."
Astral looked down and wondered if what Lunar was speaking was really the honest truth. She closed her eyes tight and bit her lip slightly.
"But what if I fail?" She hesitated to say.
"Then you just get right back up and try again," Lunar told her, "the fear of failure isn't necessarily the failure of fear. Our past does not define us, Astral, because our past is not today. Everyday is a new day and offers new opportunities for us to expand and better ourselves, that's why it's called the present. Yesterday's history, tomorrow's a mystery, but today will always be a gift. Use that gift to make a difference in the life of somepony, even if it's yours."
Astral opened her eyes once more and looked towards Lunar, tears of happiness in them. She hugged Lunar once more and promised that she would give friendship a chance, in honor of her mother.
"Wonderful," Luna smiled, entering into the dream with Lunar and Astral, "this is exceptional news, Astral, and a choice that will lead to many wondrous things in your life."
"Th-thank you," said Astral, wiping her eyes dry once more.
The next day, Astral rose bright and early and went in search for Lunar inside the castle. When she finally found him, Lunar looked happy to see her.
"Ready to learn today?" He smiled.
"I'm ready to see what gift today has in store for me," she answered back, looking up in the process, It's what you would've wanted.
Author's Note
A little while ago, I had an account on here by the name of A Derpy King Boo. It was co-run by one of my former friends whom I've since lost touch with. The main OCs mentioned - Astral Flare and Lunar Nights - were our ponifications (minus the alicorn part for Lunar). This story's ideas have been sitting in my mind for a long while, but only recently did I decide to put it on paper. Loneliness is something that I struggle with personally since I have been in both Astral's shoes in this story and Lunar's. As a result, friendships don't really sit right with me since betrayal is the first thing that I become afraid of. I wrote this story, not only as a cry of help, but as a way to ease my mind. This is the first story I've written that involves an OC I did not create, but have possession of because of a technicality (written statement). I think these two ponies work well together and wanted to see how they'd do in a story since my friend never wanted to do something like this before, but she's not here. I'm not looking for "wow, I liked this" or "wow, this sucked," which is why ratings are disabled. I just wanted to share my own thoughts on something I've been coping with for a large portion of my life.
