I arrive at the hospital, and am glad to find that it is relatively quiet, a stark contrast to the last couple of weeks. No more interruptions, just peace and quiet.

At the same time, though, it feels a little empty. Not completely deserted, but… unusual, after the chaos I’ve grown used to. Most of the ponies I pass don’t speak to or even acknowledge me, and whilst I’m not here to be an attention-seeker, I feel out of place; there aren’t any close friends of mine here, except Wish, who could quite literally be anywhere in this huge empty building.

I find her in the hallway on her way to treat another patient, humming to herself as she walks. She sees me and says, “Hi, Moonlight!”

“Hi, Wish.” I reply. “Co- ...Could you and I talk when you have a break? Or should I book an appointment?”

“Appointment?” she snorts. “Don't be silly, Moonlight. We've known each other for long enough. I'm just about to go to the children's ward, but I'll be free after that.”

“Good. I'll come with you. Sombra says I'm not allowed to do anything else until this is sorted.”

We walk together up a flight of stairs. “So, what is it that's bothering you?”

“Sleep problems.”

“Oh Celestia, please don't,” she says.

I burst out laughing.

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth, Moonlight.”

“I'm sorry, I can't help it. I don’t go looking for trouble, I swear.”

We reach the top of the staircase and walk out into the corridor. Wish leads me to the children's ward, and a nurse allows us inside.

I wait patiently for Wishbone out in the corridor between two hospital bays. Ponies smile at me as they pass, and I smile back, saying hello and how are you, and yes I'm fine, and to the young patients, “I hope you get well soon.”

Wishbone returns ten minutes later, beaming with happiness. When I ask her what has made her smile, she explains, “There's nothing quite like telling a sick foal and their parents that they're allowed to go home.”

She shows me the way to the office that she's been allocated since she started working here, and slides the sign on the door from “Vacant” to “Engaged” before we go in.

“So, sleep issues,” she says as she sits down in the plain black office chair at her desk. She picks up a notepad with yellow pages, a white quill and a pot of ink. Business time. “What's happening?”

“No more strange nightmares,” I assure her as I take a seat. “I just can't sleep at night, and I keep falling asleep during the day.”

She scribbles a few notes. “Anything else?”

“Those strange visions - although I haven't had one since the first of July - and stress, although I think you can understand why that’s an issue.”

“Has your magic been affected?”

“Um… Earlier, I lost control of it. I snapped at Sombra and I used magic by accident. And then there was that day when Celestia sent the… the necklace.” That was a fiasco.

She writes a few more notes. “Any other issues?”

“As far as I'm aware, that's it.”

“I already know you've been eating normally, because I have meals with you, so it shouldn't be down to nutrition…” she trails off. “It isn't anything to do with staying up during the day, either. It's actually completely fine once you've adjusted, so it shouldn't be affecting you because you've been ok for a few months. It could just be the stress of being the Queen, but I want to double check that there isn't anything else to worry about.”

“Right.”

She jumps up from her chair. “Stand up. I'm just going to do the usual medical exam.”

I stand up and walk slowly to the centre of the room, aware that she's watching me walk. I stop in the centre.

She marches over to me and taps a small spot somewhere on my spine, causing my wings to flare out by my sides on instinct. I don't know how she knows all of these tricks, but they work. She examines my left wing, opening and closing it whilst looking at the bones and the webbing, before doing the same to my right wing.

“Right, now I need you to lift your hooves one by one.”

She checks each of my legs, but finds nothing. Then she listens to my chest.

“Hmm, your heartbeat's a little off. Slightly irregular, and a bit too fast.”

“Is it anything to worry about?” I question her.

“At the moment, no, but you'll have to have it checked out on another day.”

I nod.

She continues with the medical exam. My eyesight and hearing are apparently perfect, and she doesn't find anything else wrong.

“So I'm free to go?” I say hopefully.

“Not quite.”

“Why, what are you-”

“Dream world.”

“Oh.” My face falls slightly. The old sticking point. I'm more than fine with Dreamwalkers now, it's just… old habits?

She sees the look on my face and giggles, “Don't worry, I'll wait until tonight before I bother you. But you'll have to stay away from King Sombra for a full hour before you go to bed, and you'll also need to stay at the hospital so that you can be monitored whilst you sleep.”

I stare at her. “It was never like this back in Everfree.”

“Well, there's more technology here, and I'll be able to find any problems a lot more easily now.”

“I - Celestiadammit, Wish.”

“I know, but I want to keep an eye on you.”

I'm annoyed, but I don't think I have much choice. She has a point.

“Well, as long as I know which ward I'm supposed to be on by tonight, I'll be fine. Thanks, Wish.”

She bites her lip and tries not to laugh.

“What?” I say.

“I was messing with you, but since you don't seem too bothered by the idea, I'll make sure that there's a room available for you tonight.”

“Dammit, Wish. Damn you.”

“See you at dinner.”

“I hate you sometimes.”

She hugs me, grinning from ear to ear. “You're my best friend too, Moonlight.”

A few hours later, I make my way to the sleep clinic. I'm still wide awake, though. How anypony is supposed to find out if anything is going wrong in my dreams, I don't know, but they'll probably use magic or something to help me sleep.

Wishbone is already there when I arrive. She takes me to an unoccupied room. There are two rooms that are connected to each other, one with just a single bed, and one set out like any other office with chairs, a desk, another bed and some sort of old-fashioned printer.

We walk together into the room with the bed, and I look up longingly at the crystal ceiling light. Wish grins at me.

“Have I finally convinced you?” she smirks.

“What?”

“Have you learned of the wonders of sleeping upside down?”

“No,” I fib. “I've already told you: I've always slept the normal way and I always will.”

“Liar,” she says almost playfully, teasing me like a foal.

“…Sombra told you, didn't he?”

“He did. Now, apparently whatever technology they have here hasn't been tested on ponies sleeping upside down, so you'll have to sleep the 'normal' way tonight.”

“See you in the morning, then.”

“Wait a minute.” She rummages through a chest of drawers that I didn't see before, then finds some stickers and a few wires sticking out of the wall that divides the two rooms. She attaches the stickers to the wires, and I grumble under my breath.

“I'm going to have to wear those all night, aren't I?”

She nods, then places them on my head in different spots. I climb into the bed and she smiles at me.

“Goodnight!” she says.

“Night,” I answer.

She pulls the curtains closed and leaves the room. As the door shuts, the crystal built into the ceiling begins to glow softly. I stare at it, and I feel myself growing increasingly tired. How does the Crystal Empire's hospitals have technology like this? How does it work? Surely they can't be using magic, since there were so few magic users here in the Crystal Empire before I arrived. So how do they-

The next thing I'm aware of is waking up in the Crystal Castle throne room, on the floor. I don't know why I'm here, but I am.

“Moonlight, my sweet little mare.” It's Sombra's voice.

I look up at him and nuzzle him as he returns the gesture.

“How are you?” He sits down next to me and strokes the back of my neck softly. Ooh, that feels good.

“I'm ok. You?”

“I am fine, Moonlight. More than fine.” He smiles sincerely. “I just wanted to check on you.”

I furrow my brow, aware of some faint buzzing noise in my ears. “I… what's going on?”

“Dream magic is complicated. I am trying to keep you occupied whilst Wishbone is busy running all manner of medical tests in the background.”

“Won't your magic affect the dream?”

“It won’t. Relax, my little bat.”

“Ok.” I pause to stretch my forelegs a little. “So, what should we do?”

“You can decide.”

I think of the Everfree and all of the things I love about the forest. The dream changes around us and we find ourselves in calm, still woodlands. The ground is soft and covered in a blanket of fallen leaves. Birds sing merrily in the background. Sombra takes a deep breath and sighs, laying down next to me.

“Sombra?” I ask.

“Yes?”

“Have you spoken to Skywalker or Hanzal?”

“No.” He glances at me. “They both have been rather busy with the trenches lately.”

“Good,” I say. “Because I… I think I'd like you to be there with me when I talk to them.”

"That's fine.”

“Thanks. I just… I don't know what I might do if I snap at them.”

“Nothing will happen, Moonlight,” he assures me.

“I know, I'm just worried about what will happen. I wasn't supposed to hear any of their conversation, but I…” I shrug, unsure. “I don’t know.”

“It will be fine, I promise.” He pulls me closer to him and gently kisses me. “I will do whatever it takes to ensure that nothing is too unpleasant.”

We stay there in silence for a few minutes, not needing to speak to each other. Even though this is only a dream, I can almost feel the cool fresh air of the forest filling my lungs. My mind wanders to the Everfree Village. How are the ponies who I left behind? I always felt like an outcast and never fitted in there properly, sure, but the bat ponies there are still ponies. They’re close to Celestia, and don’t have any protection from her other than the forest itself. It’s a miracle that they haven’t faced more nonsense from her before now.

I can sense the dream changing, although Sombra isn't doing anything to affect it. Instead, he seems slightly alarmed. He looks around, turning his ears this way and that, trying to find out what is happening.

“Sombra?”

“Moonlight, I-”

Everything fades to black before I find myself in the icy conditions of the Frozen North, surrounded by Crystal Army soldiers but with no sign of Sombra or Wishbone. The arctic wind howls in my ears, along with the battle cries of hundreds of soldiers. I look around and I can see Solar Guards charging towards us.

“Moonlight, are you there?” Sombra asks.

The battle rages around me, and I have to defend myself from several Solar Guards, using just my magic to hold them back before I have a chance to teleport away from them.

“Get out of the dream!” Wishbone shouts.

Then I hear a loud thud thud thud echoing through the landscape heading towards me. I see him: a huge red and grey centaur with glowing orange eyes. I find myself frozen with fear as he storms towards me.

“Sombra? Wish?!” I shout.

The centaur opens his mouth, and I feel a huge amount of raw, sharp pain in every part of my body. Purple and green dark magic appears to float through the air towards him as he inhales. He’s stealing my magic.

I continue to struggle, but it’s no use. He takes all of my magical power, and flexes his muscles as he grows even taller and stronger before my eyes. His eyes light up with delight, and I watch as a large ball of orange and black magic forms between the two large bull’s horns protruding from his head. The ball of magic flies towards me, and I try to move but I can’t and I-

I gasp and sit up straight in the hospital bed, dripping in a cold sweat. “Dammit,” I say angrily. “Celestia, damn you. Damn, damn, damn you Sunbutt. Rot in Tartarus where you belong.” There. That’s better.

Wish knocks on the door, then rushes inside. “Are you ok?”

“Um. Depends.”

She feels my forehead and takes off those horrible sticker things, throwing them in a yellow bin. “I think you have a fever, and ugh, you need a bath, too.” She looks at her now sweat-covered hoof with an expression of slight annoyance. “Now, why in Celestia’s name do you keep on surprising me?”

“You’re still young, so you haven’t seen everything the world has to offer. It takes a good thousand years for that to happen.”

She gives me a look that lets me know I’ve crossed the line with that joke.

“Ouch, somepony woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” I giggle. “Or did you fall from the ceiling?”

“Do I have to get King Sombra to come here and explain for you how serious this is, or can you be a big filly and concentrate?” Her tone is condescending and I feel like a foal again.

“I’m listening,” I grunt.

“Well, I now know a little bit more about what’s going on inside your head, which makes a nice change.”

“Finally found the cause of my insanity, have you?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to work out that you were completely unhinged by your time trapped on the moon, but enough messing around. Your magic is… irregular. It’s not following the usual rules. Now, whether that’s down to the fact that you’re using dark magic or something else entirely, I don’t know, but it’s not normal for a bat pony, at least.”

“And what about what happened in the dream? The crazy centaur who drained my magic?”

“That was Lord Tirek.” She looks in the little bedside drawer and pulls out a thermometer. After cleaning it quickly with a beam of magic, she gives it to me and I hold it under my tongue for around thirty seconds. When I give it back to her, she mutters, “About a degree and a half over what you should be. Typical.”

“And why am I having nightmares about Tirek?”

“Celestia knows. But I was still in your dream when it changed, and I think I know what’s going on. Possibly.”

“The diagnosis?”

“A few things. First of all, stop eating chocolate before bed.”

“And you’re saying I’m the one acting like a foal here?” I say doubtfully.

“It’s a proven fact,” my friend explains as she walks between the two rooms, grabbing a notepad, quill and inkpot and scribbling down Sunbutt-knows-what at lightning speed. “I know you have a sweet tooth like the majority of bat ponies, but a drop of honey or syrup on your tongue will do fine, and it won’t disrupt your sleep. I might be wrong about this, and please tell me if I am, but you’re going to go a month without eating chocolate before bed to see if it makes a difference.”

“And what else?”

“The other thing that’s happening is that you’re using magic whilst you’re asleep.”

My jaw drops for a moment. “I… didn’t know that was even possible.”

“It’s possible, and it’s perfectly normal most of the time. But when somepony doesn’t know how to sit down and relax for a few minutes, it causes problems. King Sombra might have some way of stopping you from using your magic at night, but I’ll probably have to prescribe a day off for you to spend at the spa or something, knowing you.”

“I don’t have time for spa visits.” I fold my ears back. “Try telling Skywalker to go to the spa for a day. It’s not happening.”

“You’ll make time to go and do something relaxing for your health,” she insists. “I might have grown up in the Everfree Forest, and I might be the last pony you’d expect to tell you to do something like that, but I went to medical school at Hollow Shades and I know what I’m talking about. Plus, I care, Moonlight. This isn’t just doctor talk, I’m worried about you.”

Her golden eyes meet mine, and I see a flicker of sadness and pain in hers.

“Wish?”

Her head turns away for a moment, and her voice is barely a whisper. “I think you’ve always taken it for granted, but I care about you so much more than you realise.”

“...I’ve upset you, haven’t I?” I ask slowly.

“No, you’ve not done anything, it’s just… I’m not happy here,” she admits, sitting down on the edge of the bed next to me. “The Crystal Empire is nice, and I’ve enjoyed meeting so many other ponies, and I’ve learned a lot too, but… this is the longest I’ve spent away from the Everfree Forest in my life. Ever. I miss the trees and the sky, and the calm and quiet there.” She gives me a watery smile. “And maybe I still feel like King Sombra has stolen my best friend from me.”

Now she’s tugging at my heartstrings. I tell her, “Wish, you know you can sit down and talk to me at any time-”

“But I can’t, because either you’re running off on some crazy adventure or dealing with politics, or you’re just spending time with King Sombra or the Colonel or one of the others. I feel… Left out.”

I bite my lip. I’m not a good enough friend towards Wishbone; I never have been, even back before Sombra got involved. She tries so hard for me, too, and I always end up throwing it back in her face.

“I-I'm sorry, Wish.”

“It's ok.” She shuffles closer to me. “I understand.”

“No, I mean it. I need to do more for you, be a better friend.”

She and I sit together in silence for a few minutes. All of a sudden I feel so terrible. Friends are supposed to stick together, and I've broken that rule too many times to remember. She deserves better after all she's done for me.

She smiles at me and says, “You and me, and maybe Hope and Cozy, too. We'll have a mares' day out together, and not worry about anything else but having fun with each other. Deal?”

“Deal,” I say. “As long as I don't have to deal with Sunbutt or Tirek-”

She interrupts, “They can wait. If we don't sort out something now, it won't happen because you'll always be too busy.”

“It's complicated, Wish. I'm the Queen, I have royal duties.”

“You also have King Sombra,” she reminds me. “He’s ruled this place on his own before and he can do it again. It's one day, Moonlight. As crazy as our lives are, that one day can't make too much difference.”

“I don’t know, if I’d been at the spa on the day Nightmare Moon was banished-”

She holds me down with her magic, grabs a roll of bandages and wraps it around my muzzle faster than I can react. My eyes grow wide. Wish, like all ponies who grow up in the Everfree, is a very dangerous pony to be around sometimes.

“Well, you can also try staying quiet and not think too much about it,” she tells me.

I don’t dare to say a word - though that would be impossible for… obvious reasons - about it for a moment. She’s right, to be honest. I’ve been questioning every single thing I do in life, doubting about if what I do is right or not, stressing myself by overthinking stuff that doesn’t have to be paid too much attention.

I look at her with a disposed look, then nod in response.

She unwraps the bandages and leaves them on a desk, only to hug me. “We’ll find a time when both of us are free, and we’ll have a nice relaxing day together for once.”

“Ok.”

“Now get to sleep. You need it, Moonlight.” She smiles at me one last time and leaves the room. I roll over and fall asleep, and whilst I do so my dreams are peaceful. Watching over me the entire time in the dream world is a full, golden moon surrounded by stars.

Author's Note

Wishbone in Doctor Mode...

~ Angel