It was another one of those dreams.
Atop the star blanket knoll, Luna’s eyes filled his vision. He could feel the warmth of her breath wash across his muzzle.
Though, what he meant by “those dreams” had changed over the years.
Pip had dreamt of Luna ever since he met her over a decade ago. In the early years, he would only dream of her occasionally. They would explore forgotten ruins, or sail to fantastic lands. At first, he had imagined that it really was Princess Luna visiting his dreams, but the ridiculousness of that soon dawned on him. Still... deep in his heart, he nursed a belief that she really had come to help him once. That dream had come when he needed it the most, and left him with a nagging doubt if it had even been a dream at all. It had, of course, been a dream, but the excitable little colt still within him wanted to believe, just maybe it had really been her.
Then the dreams became more frequent. As he grew up the adventures continued, but the Luna within his dreams became less a teacher and more a friend. Years passed and something else changed. He had always known Luna was a mare, but that had never meant anything. But one day he realized something had changed. He knew that she was a mare and that he was a colt. He knew that this difference led somewhere he’d never been. But she was just a figment of his own imagination, a self-conjured voice to help him understand his inner thoughts.
Years passed again with this knowledge. The Luna of his dreams became a near nightly companion. There were still dreams of distant lands and ancient temples, but also calm forests and quiet conversations beneath the stars.
The Luna of his dreams tilted her head. It was a motion that invited him to mirror it and lean closer. His lips tingled at the nearness, but then she pulled away.
“Pip,” she paused with a nervous, half-questioning expression. “Our first kiss, I’d like it to be on the other side. Is that alright?”
Pip nodded. He didn’t know what “other side” meant, but he didn’t care.
His dream swallowed him up in inky black. He found himself laying down now, enveloped in warm softness. Velvet lips touched his own in the absolute darkness, and Luna’s smell filled his dream. They kissed. Careful at first, but the touch soon turned playful and explorative, the kisses desperate. Hooves began to wander as passion embolden them both. Caresses became greedy clutching as each body tried to know the other one completely.
Taking a deep breath Luna pulled away into the darkness. He couldn’t see her, but Pip knew she was just within reach. “Apologies,” Luna said within the dream’s darkness. “I did not mean to push you that far.”
Pip reached into the void of the dream until he felt Luna’s warmth. He pulled her back into a kiss, then allowed himself to be toppled over into a twining embrace.
Dim morning light and the blare of his alarm clock broke the sweet nothingness of Pip’s sleep. He blindly smashed the off button, sending something to the floor in the process. He dug the sleep from his eyes and smiled as memories of last night’s dream began to trickle back.
Something cold and wet on the sheets spoiled the moment.
Pip flipped back the sheets and grimaced at the carnage. A wet dream. Perhaps more than one. He still smiled, he couldn’t bring himself to complain about having to do laundry. It was far too pleasant of a memory.
He flipped the covers onto the floor then began to peel off the fitted sheet. Pip wrinkled his muzzle as he pulled. The sheets stank... Or rather smelled very intensely. Some little urge in the back of his mind begged him to breathe it in.
Pip cleared his nose with a nicker. He had to get this smell off him. He’d have to write in his dream journal later if he wanted to get the shop open in time.
/ / /
Luna pranced into the kitchen. “Good morning,” she sang, before giving Celestia a playful bump. “What’s on the breakfast menu today?”
Celestia studied her sister with a critical eye. Her coat was still damp from a recent shower. That usually meant she’d had a hard night, but here Luna was in quite possibly the best mood she’d seen her in months.
“Oats and fruit in yogurt, waffles with jam, croissant, and eggs cooked to order,” Celestia answered. “Want some? There’s plenty.”
Luna’s magic plucked up an errant blueberry and flung it into her mouth. “I must pass this morning.” she said with a smile and bright eyes. “I promised to have breakfast with a handsome young stallion.”
A teasing grin crept across Celestia’s face. “Did you get covered last night?”
Luna’s muzzle wrinkled. “Sister, don’t make it sound cheap. T’was was a tender moment.”
“Oh,” Celestia blinked. Her sister was dead serious. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend.” Then she blinked again as a hundred little moments over the last year or two came into focus. Luna had been dating some pony in secret. And at the very least, her sister was heart deep into a powerful crush. “Well,” Celestia searched for something to say. “I wish you two the best, and I look forward to meeting him.”
Luna downed the cup of coffee Celestia had been sipping from, then gave her a toothy grin. “I will introduce you soon enough, I hope. First though, I need to set a few things right,” she said before trotting out of the room.
/ / /
Laundry in the wash and fresh out of the shower, Pip checked the clock on his night stand as he toweled his mane. Something caught his attention. A crisp sheet of folded paper lay on the floor. He paused in confusion. Slowly, he moved close enough to open it.
The examination revealed delicate writing in indigo ink.
“Sorry about leaving without saying anything. I needed a shower, but did not wish to wake you. I will return with breakfast shortly.
Yours, Luna”
Pip’s heart froze, his ears rang. He looked to the now stripped bed. Had he... Had Luna actually... All this time? No... Definitely not. It was just a dream. A foal-hood fantasy turned into a coping mechanism after his mother’s death.
His legs shook. He sat to keep from falling over. He looked again to the bed. More memories of last night began to flood into his awareness.
Downstairs, the bell rang. There was a customer, or a former princess waiting outside. A princess he’d just given his virginity to. He shook his head. That was silly. It was just a dream.
The bell rang again. Pip moved by habit alone. His mind a thousand leagues away, he descended the stairs and turned the store’s lights on. By the register he glanced at the picture of his Mum, the last picture they’d taken together. An old wound threatened to open in his heart. He needed to talk to her, but that was something lost to him.
Pip steeled himself and walked towards the door. He chose to find comfort in routine, and slipped into his practiced facade of shopkeeper. “Welcome to Darjiling’s tea, books, and games,” the oft recited phrase left his lips without thought as he opened the door.
“Everything alright, Dear?” Rarity asked.
“Just a restless night.” Pip answered, holding the door for her to enter. Taking a breath Pip put on his shopkeeper’s smile. “Here for your usual? I got in a new chi blend last week. I think you’d like it. It has that cracked pepper sent you like.”
Rarity’s ears perked. “Oh, sounds wonderful. I’ll take the usual and enough of the chi for a few pots.”
Pip welcomed the distraction of routine. “Manesone’s new book, Hoof Full of Charms, comes out in two weeks, want to reserve a copy?” he asked, sitting tins of loose tea on the counter.
A crooked smile played across Rarity. “Yes, please,” she said, placing some bits on the counter before looking to the books displayed near the register. “When is your next book due out?”
“Hm?” Pip looked up from bagging her order. “Oh, I think the editor said about three months.”
“You know Dash swares you’re going to be the next A.K. Yearling”
An honest chuckle escaped Pip. “She only says that because Quick Step is my take on her as an earthpony.”
The door’s bell rang as Pip passed Rarity her bag. ““Welcome to Darjiling’s tea, books, and games,” the practiced greeting rolled unbidden from his tongue.
Looking up, he found Luna standing in his store with a drink holder and a to-go box from some restaurant he’d never heard of.
The coffee smelled really good.
It occurred to Pip that the store had gotten very quiet.
“H- Hi,” Pip forced out.
Some form of squeak escaped Rarity. “I, think I’ll be heading home now. I’ll let you know what I think of the chi.” There was a flash of Rarity’s soft-blue magic and then she was gone.
Luna made an expression between surprise and curiosity. “I did not know she had learned that spell.”
Pip also stared at the empty space. “I think she just now found the motivation.”
Luna wilted. “I got you a mushroom and cheese omelette with hash browns: extra crispy,” Luna offered the box with a sheepish grin.
The dejected look stabbed at Pip’s heart. She’d brought him his favorite breakfast, probably from some place in Canterlot, and here he was making her feel bad. Absently, he cleared space on the counter for the two of them to eat. It was both unimaginable and rote that she knew how he liked his hash browns. But then he knew she liked them crispy as well. Both his mother and Celestia had a tendency to overcook things. “I... How long?”
Pip was met with a genuine look of confusion from Luna. “How long?” she asked, setting out their meal.
“I thought it was just a dream.”
Luna gave him one of her impish grins that he loved so much. “This morning was quite real.”
He took a bit of his omelette, then tried the coffee. They were every bit as good as they smelled. “No Luna, I thought it was all a dream.” He looked at the mare sitting across from him.
The life drained from Luna’s eyes. “Oh.” She sat her fork down. “I’m sorry. I’ll leave.”
“No.” The word left Pip as a declaration and a plea. A hoof lunged forward on its own and caught the edge of her wing. “Please don’t.” His voice faded to a cracked whisper. “Luna, my first stories were about chivalric romance for a reason.” A shy grin began to spread across Pip’s muzzle. “I’ve had a crush on you since about five minutes after I hit puberty. I’m just confused, maybe a little hurt. Why just dreams? You could have walked in here any time. Why now?.”
Luna sat back down. She poked at her meal, but didn’t eat. “At first, you were just a colt who had fun dreams. I thought of you as something like a favorite nephew I like playing with. Then I realized you were natural lucid dreamer, and a talented one too. Enough that I fancied making you into something like my apprentice.”
Pip’s ears perked at Luna’s words. “You think I could dreamwalk?”
Luna gave him a sage nod. “You could, but by the time I was going to teach you to enter the space between dreams, Celestia and I retired. I couldn’t really offer you a job and I had more time to spend in the dreaming myself, so I didn’t see a reason to complicate your life.”
“Is that when you started encouraging me to write?” Pip asked
“Indeed. Your creative sense is strong. It would be a loss for you to now follow it.”
Luna ate a bit of omelette. It reminded Pip that he was hungry, and took a few bites as well.
“I Intended to recommend you to some art school, but then your mother’s accident happened. After we spent the night talking on the roof of Canterlot spire, I knew you weren’t ready to let go of your mother’s store.”
Luna looked around the little shop as an excuse to gather her thoughts. She smiled. It was a delightfully quaint place.
A strangled sound snapped her attention back to Pip.
“That was real!?” the question begged for validation. “I really spent the night crying on you, on a roof, in Canterlot?”
“Of course,” Luna said with a confused pout. “I told you that at the time.”
A manic energy twisted Pips face into something like glee. “I’m not insane, you really teleported us up there?”
Luna nodded.
Pip’s expression twitched. “Huh...” A bemused grin replaced the mania. When their eyes met Luna found an honest smile. “Well, if I never said it, thank you for that.”
The smile soothed Luna’s heart. “After that, I visited your dreams a lot more. I thought you knew it was me, but wanted us to keep the same relationship. I convinced myself that you were the one afraid of what would happen if I became part of your waking life.” Luna rested her hooves on the counter. “Then one day I realized I was spending time with a stallion. A handsome young stallion that I very much wanted to spend more time with, but the fear of losing what I had only grew worse. So instead, I waited for you to make the first move. Maybe I knew all along you didn’t know and I feared change.”
A silence hung as Pip pondered his coffee.
“I could have asked Spike to send you a letter, but I never did. If I’d gotten back some polite version of, I don’t know you,” it would have destroyed me.” Pip rested a hoof on the counter, then reached out to hers.
“I know you very well.” Luna pressed her hoof into his.
“I like this,” Pip said. “We should spend more time together in real life.
Luna made a crooked grin. “Agreed.”
With hooves pressed together a comfortable silence settled over them as they ate.
Luna stretched, then made a defeated sigh. “Sadly, I must return to Canterlot shortly.”
“Are you working tonight?” Pip asked.
“Only till Pearl Diver comes in. She runs the place better than me anyway.”
A blush crept over Pip. “Would you want to spend the night.” He gave the slightest nod towards his bedroom above them.
Luna leaned forward to answer him with a kiss.
“Um...” A timid voice drawled from behind her, they had both been oblivious to the door chimes. “Should I come back later?” Fluttershy asked.
/ / /
Luna awoke on a pile of silk pillows. A grand, Saddle-Arabian style tent sheltered her on three sides, framing a sliver moon over rippling dunes that stretched to infinity.
She became aware that Pip was laying against her. “It’s beautiful.”
“Uh? I thought you made this?”
Luna snuggled into Pip’s embrace. “No, I think I wandered over here by accident. Luna scratched at her chin. “It’s probably because we’re sleeping in the same bed. Our auras are touching.”
Pip poked at Luna’s shoulder. “You're you, right.?”
Luna swatted him with a pillow. “I am.”
Ignoring the blow, Pip snuggled closer. “Good. Can we go back to sleep? I had enough adventure for a bit.”
A yawn crept out of Luna. “Indeed.”
