Princess of His Dreams

After a quick banana and a cup of the castle's strongest coffee, Luna left Canterlot Castle and glided down away from the mountain in the brisk morning breeze, down towards Ponyville.

While she knew Sky wasn't going to give up, she also didn't want to be left in the dark when it came to the details of what had gone so wrong in his life that he had taken it upon himself to create a tantabus for his dreams, so that she could be better prepared to help him when he decided to return to the castle to resume his trials.

A pair of E.U.P. pegasi escorts on the first shift flew on both her sides as she slowly descended towards Ponyville. She didn't want to cause too much of a scene, so she had double checked the address where the castle staff had sent Sky's invitation. If she could land and get to the residence quickly enough, her escort would be able to stop any interruptions. She turned towards the eastern neighborhoods, and set down on one of the streets that currently had no ponies on it. The princess checked the closest street sign, checked her map, and took a right at the next corner, to the fourth house on the right. She came up the front walk, and knocked on the front door, hoping that the occupants were home on a Saturday.

Sure enough, the door opened, and there stood an aquamarine unicorn, whose expression immediately was one of complete and utter surprise.

"P-Princess Luna!" The unicorn greeted in shock, immediately composing herself and offering a bow. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"Is this the residence of Sky Scribbles?" Luna asked.

"Yes, it is, he's our roommate, but he's out of town on business... Royal business... We thought with you," the unicorn replied.

"That's alright. I'm actually here to speak with you, and anyone else here, Miss...?"

"Oh, Heartstrings, Lyra Heartstrings, Your Highness. Please, come in," the unicorn offered, stepping out of the doorway.

Luna turned to her escort.

"Thank you, gentlecolts, please wait out here," she told them, before stepping inside.

By this time, Lyra's other roommate had come to investigate the commotion, and had a very similar reaction to the royal presence in their home.

"Princess! What an unexpected pleasure! My name is Bon Bon, may I get you anything?" The cream-colored earth mare asked.

"I would very much like to see Sky's bedchambers, if you'd be so kind," Luna requested.

The expression of the two mares betrayed how odd they found the request, but immediately nodded.

"Just down the hall, Your Highness, last door on the right," Lyra told her, pointing her down the hallway. She went down the hall at a slow trot, with her bewildered hosts behind her as she went down to the last door on the right side, and entered her hopeful's bedroom.

Luna took a cursory glance around, finding nothing out of the ordinary; a bed, nightstand, desk, and closet. Going over to the closet, she slid open the door, and saw the small chest in the back corner. She unlatched it, opened the top halfway, and gave a slight smirk as she saw the diapers and changing supplies.

"Um, Your Highness? Is Sky okay?" Lyra asked.

Luna softly closed the chest and slid the closet door back to its original position.

"To my knowledge, yes, as of very early this morning, when I last saw him. I've invited him to become a member of my court, but in order to do so, he has to confront a piece of his past that he's not keen on revisiting. That's why I wanted to come here and see what his friends and acquaintances could tell me, so I can figure out how to best help him do that."

Lyra and Bon Bon exchanged glances.

"You must be referring to his breakup. That's how he came to live with us. What would you like to know?" Bon Bon asked.

"As much as I can," the princess answered.

Bon Bon nodded.

"Well, I'll put on a pot for tea, Your Highness. I'm assuming you've been up all night," the earth mare told her before turning to head back down the hall towards the kitchen, with Lyra and Luna following, and sitting themselves down at the dining table.

"Sky and Cobalt met here, in Ponyville, at the Summer Sun Celebration a few years ago. They were one of those 'two peas in a pod' couples. They were perfect for each other, at first," Lyra said. A few moments later, Bon Bon brought teacups and teabags to the table. "But, as time passed, things changed. More specifically, Cobalt changed. He started getting himself involved in more extremist political groups, and eventually came out as an anti-royalist and anarchist."

The conversation took a pause as Bon Bon poured tea for the three of them.

"How did Sky take that?" Luna asked.

"We weren't super close with either of them back then, but I think he tried his best to ignore it, how Cobalt would go hundreds of miles to protests or conventions to meet with other anti-royalists, just hoping that he would come to his senses. But Cobalt just got worse," Lyra continued as Luna poured a cup of steaming water before dipping a teabag into it.

"I wonder if Sky would comforted by the fact that there were anarchists even back in ancient times, in just as insignificant numbers," Luna commented as she dropped a sugar cube into her cup of tea.

"Well, I'd say it's good to know that their numbers haven't increased over the generations, that means that most of us are clearly aware of what you and Princess Celestia do for all of us on a daily basis," Bon Bon said as she sat down with her cup of tea. "Sky was at work when Cobalt just... Packed up and left. I was passing by as he was headed to the train station. Asked where he was headed, but he just told me 'hooflickers and royalists deserve to come home to empty beds'. Lyra and I were never proclaimed 'royalists', but it showed me that he had absolutely zero respect for anypony who didn't share his fringe beliefs."

"Does Sky know what he told you?" Luna asked.

"No, and he never will, not from my lips. What possible good could come from hearing words that cold and vile, Your Highness?" Bon Bon asked.

Luna merely nodded in understanding.

"We went to go check on Sky that evening, and knew he shouldn't be alone. We didn't want to see him spiral down an emotional pitfall. We took him for a couple drinks downtown. He knew he wouldn't be able to afford the house they rented together by himself. We had a spare bedroom, so we offered it to him. He immediately accepted."

"Thank you for being there for him so quickly, both of you," Luna told them.

"It was the right thing to do. Just up and leaving without a word... You don't do that to somepony you love, I don't care what your politics are," Lyra said.

"To his credit, you couldn't ask for a better roommate," Lyra added. "Keeps his areas clean, does his share of the chores. In the beginning, he was doing almost everything... I think that he was really trying to stay busy and keep his mind off of what had happened. I know he was taken off weather duty for a few months, and he told me it was for the best. I don't know how pegasus emotions affect weather-related tasks, but he said he couldn't safely handle clouds."

"Sky is lucky to have ponies like you two in his life, but when it comes to that 'emotional pitfall', I'm afraid he merely internalized it. I'm trying to figure out how to help him, but I know there's only so much I can do; he has to help himself. He has to want to move on."

"How is all of this factor in to what position you're offering him in your Night Court, Princess?" Bon Bon asked.

"The position has to do with the dream realm, navigating it safely, and keeping lesser nightmarish forces at bay. He won't be able to do that if he doesn't rediscover his sense of self-worth."

Luna finished her cup of tea, and set it gently down on the saucer plate.

"Thank you for the explanation, ladies, and for the tea. It will help me make the flight back to Canterlot. And thank you again for being there for Sky to the best of your abilities."

"Our pleasure, Princess, and again, it was the right thing to do."