Dreamwalker's Tale: An Anthology

I tried very hard not to be grumpy with Luna as I stood in the hallway in front of my room. I swayed ever so slightly and trembled a little. My brain, as sleep-ridden as it was, insisted that it was not that cold out here. But the entire rest of my body really just wanted to pass through that door and crawl back under the blanket to cozy up to Sunny again. The soft sheets, her soft, smooth coat, her downy wing enveloping me. The mental image made me shiver.

“Are you alright?” Luna asked.

I blinked. Left eye first, right eye second. Then I shook my head slowly and looked at her. “Hm?”

She snorted amusedly and smiled. “I will retreat to my room for now and nap a little.”

Ah. Right. I smiled and briefly leaned in to brush my neck against hers. “Sunrise should be in half an hour, roughly. Nap until then. If everything goes to plan, you’ll be able to sleep properly for an hour or two afterwards.”

She sighed ever so slightly. I could feel it in her neck more than I heard it. “This will be a bit of a rough day,” she murmured.

I broke the contact and tilted my head to place a small line of kisses on her neck. “Probably,” I agreed, “but it’ll be worth it.”

She hummed ever so softly in appreciation and I noticed with a satisfied smile how her eyelids closed. Sadly, I did not have the means to continue this any further. She really should move on and take that nap – and I really should move on with my own plans as well.

Luna had been kind enough to play her part. The part I had asked her to play. I knew that it would not be easy to escape Sunny’s embrace unnoticed. I simply could not do that on my own. But Luna's ability to turn into mist not only helped her enter our room unnoticed, she also managed to sneak up to the bed and envelop me. She turned me into mist alongside, which marked the end of a very nice dream I had and was partially responsible for my initial grumpiness. I was really bad at coping with just about any interruption of my sleeping schedule. And as a night owl, getting up before sunrise was just the worst.

But today was an important day. A special day. And I had made plans.

She’s worth enduring this, I told myself as I nodded one last time and finally got a move on. The air in the hallways of Twilight’s castle sapped any remaining warmth from the bed out of my coat. I missed it dearly and mourned its loss. My first stop was the bathroom. For as little as I wanted to wake up, I needed at least a minimum of my mental faculties together. I was careful not to splash my muzzle with water, as that would mark the end of any sleep I would get this morning and I did plan on sleeping for another hour or so later on. However, I needed to brush my teeth. I was expecting somepony and the thought of talking to her with morning breath was certainly unappealing enough to ensure this stop was not skipped.

I made my way down to the entrance door afterwards and stood in front of it for a few seconds, pondering my new predicament. For as cold as the castle interior seemed right after exiting the bed and being awoken this rudely, I knew that it simply was not. It would be quite cold outside, though. If I opened that door, a gust of wind would rush in and freeze me on the spot.

And I was glad that, despite the overly dramatic image in my head, I still managed to convince myself to open the door.

“Eep!”

My mood improved immediately upon hearing that. “Sorry Shy, didn’t mean to startle you.”

Fluttershy still clutched her chest with a hoof and shielded herself with her wings, but upon hearing my voice, she at least lowered her ‘defensive wall’. Of feathers. Then again, I had seen Rainbow deflect an arrow with her wings. Somehow. Maybe there was more to this than I gave it credit for.

“I-It’s alright, you just surprised me. I was about to knock,” she explained.

I swallowed my initial comment about how I could tell, as I had seen her raised hoof before she quite literally jumped two steps back like a cat. It had been an impressive display of acrobatic prowess. But I did not want to embarrass her and despite it being a compliment in nature, well — I knew she had problems dealing with those on occasion. So instead, I simply stepped aside and let her in. I closed the door behind her and led her through the familiar hallways.

“You look very drowsy,” she dared to remark.

It made me smile. She felt comfortable enough with me for a little smalltalk. “That would be… because I am. Honestly, this is sooo not my time. Right now, I would love nothing more than to crawl right back under Sunny’s wing.” She giggled quietly as a faint blush rose to her cheeks. I had no idea what she was imagining, but I knew that Fluttershy had quite a vivid imagination. I decided not to pry. “Thank you for coming here this early. I know that it’s unusual even for you.”

She smiled and shrugged it off. “It’s no problem, really. I love to help. And I would have to get up in an hour or so anyway. Some of my animal friends are up quite early as well, and I’m currently dealing with a bit of an outbreak.”

“An outbreak?” My ears immediately turned towards her and my head followed suit. “Nothing serious, I hope?” She had not mentioned any issues. She had not requested help. Neither Twilight’s, nor mine. But for Fluttershy, not asking for help when help would be welcome was not out of the question.

She quickly shook her head though and tried to disperse my worries. “No, nothing serious. Just a common cold. A lot of bed rest and good soup will fix the issue in a couple of days.”

While I sighed in relief, we walked around a corner and I opened the door to the kitchen. She nodded as a silent thank you and entered before me. I turned a couple of lamps on, which I had strategically placed the evening before. “That’s everything you need?” I asked and pointed towards one of the kitchen counters. She carefully inspected the utensils, turned to me, smiled and gave a hearty nod. “Great. Then let’s get to work. I feel like I’m moving like molasses and we might be a little behind on the timer.”

Fluttershy quickly filled a kettle with water and set it on the stove while I busied myself with retrieving a couple of strawberries from the fridge and the glass of honey from a cupboard. And the little mini-stove from one of the cabinets. I placed a single tealight inside and lit it. I poured a bit of honey in a glass bowl and placed it on top, so that the honey would eventually be warm. Not hot. Never hot. But warm.

Next up was the vanilla. Luckily, despite being drowsy, I still remembered what I had to do in which order. I had ingrained it in my head the day before. And I was very, very grateful to be a unicorn. My clumsy hooves were nowhere near that knife as I scraped out a bit of fresh vanilla and mixed several pinches of it into the honey.

Only one task remaining. I looked over to Fluttershy. She worked on the chamomile tea, her face an expression of concentration. I had thought about making tea myself. Sunny loved it when I made tea. Not because it was any good, oh no. It very reliably tasted awful. She simply appreciated the effort. But this time was different. I wanted this tea to be good. I needed it to be good. And after Celestia herself with her millennia of experience, but still before all of the fancy restaurants and tea parlors in Canterlot, came Fluttershy’s tea. I had no idea why it was so different. Why it was so good. I had watched her make tea countless times by now and I had never been able to reproduce her quality by simple observation. There was something I could not see. I had joked about it being magic that helped her and that would have sounded a lot more reasonable if not for her cutie mark being plainly visible. And it was clearly centered around animals, not tea.

She put the kettle down. A pot of freshly brewed tea was waiting. A single saucer with a cup on top beside it, still empty. “Done,” she exclaimed with a happy smile.

It was infectious. I felt myself smile as well as I strode over and hugged her. She seemed a little surprised at first and tensed up a little, but quickly relaxed and melted into the embrace. “Thank you, Shy.”

“You’re welcome,” she mumbled in reply and for a moment or two, her wings closed around me. It was a pegasus-only-feature I had come to appreciate quite a lot. Hugging Pinkie was incredible. She was soft and plush and smelled like a bakery worth of goodies. But there was just something about a downy, feathery embrace that made it a little bit better.

Or maybe I was just so accustomed to it by now that I felt this way, seeing as all the loves of my life had wings.

When we parted again, I grinned at her and quickly leaned in to give her a peck on the cheek. “Thank you, Fluttershy!” I chuckled as she blushed a little.

Her gaze wandered around the kitchen in an effort to distract from the dreaded awkwardness. Even though there was none. And it landed on my own little workstation. The honey was good to go, the vanilla was mixed in, but the strawberries still rested a few inches away. “Do you still need some help?”

I followed her gaze and smiled. “I wouldn’t mind it, if you’re up for it. Told you, I’m slooow.” I heard her giggle quietly as I drew the word out further and further, as if I was caught in a slow-motion effect. So we got to work once more. It was a minor task, really. Just remove all the stems from the strawberries, wash them and put them in a small bowl. Once we were done, I thanked her again, took the tea set, the strawberry bowl and the mini-stove with the honey on top and made my way back to my room.

I was, for all intents and purposes, a weak unicorn. A fact that had bothered me surprisingly little over the years. I was unable to learn many fancy spells. Or even less fancy ones. I still could not light a fire with a few sparks of magic and had to resort to even more mundane means. But it was fine. I had an affinity for telekinesis. It cost me little to use it. But carrying the stove, the entire sea set, the strawberry bowl and then grasping the door handle was daunting.

The trick I quickly figured out was to move all the items in the same direction. I pushed the door handle down and my floating entourage went down a little as well. I pushed the door inwards and all my items floated towards the door. I just had to repeat the process in reverse once I had managed to sneak in.

To my utmost relief, Sunny still laid in bed. I put my vanilla-honey- and strawberry-setup on the nightstand and retrieved a metal dome I had stored away the day before to put over the entire thing. This way, the scent should not alert her. The tea I carried to the balcony and put it outside, just around the corner on the floor.

I snuck back in and wanted to crawl back into bed when I noticed that this time, she was looking at me. A graceful, intrigued smile tugged at her lips. I could not help but grin. “Good morning, love.”

Her smile widened a little. I pulled the blanket back just enough and she quickly pulled me in. “Good morning,” she replied and hugged me close to her chest. Being back at her side was relaxing. Her warmth immediately seeped into me, I nuzzled her soft coat and could not help but sigh deeply in content. This. This was great.

“Sunrise?” I mumbled into her coat.

“In a minute,” she replied. I could hear that playful undertone. She was probably running late. Not by much, obviously. She took her responsibilities very seriously. But a minute or two was not too bad. Few would ever notice. And I really did not mind snuggling with her.

That said, a minute was a minute. Not ten. Not five. Not even two.

She sighed heavily and got up. And she looked a little surprised when I got up as well. I grinned and said nothing, and she smiled and simply nodded. We both went towards the balcony, side by side. I had no idea when exactly she had woken up. Did she know about my little excursion to the balcony? Did she suspect anything?

We stepped outside and it was cold. Obviously. Sunny raised her horn, aglow with her warm golden light, and somewhere in Twilight’s castle – probably right beside Twilight in her bed – Luna did her thing and lowered the moon.

While Sunny concentrated on her celestial magic, I used the opportunity to fill the cup with tea and levitated it up to her eye level. With the sky slowly phasing through its incredibly beautiful display of colors and the light growing stronger by the minute, I had a good chance to see her happy smile as she noticed the floating teacup. She gladly took over my telekinetic hold of it and took a whiff. Her nostrils flared as she hummed in satisfaction. “It smells divine,” she said quietly.

Content with my work, I sat down beside her and leaned against her considerably larger frame. And a moment later, her large wing enveloped me like a blanket. It was familiar. It was endlessly cozy. And I loved every second of it. Especially since I could still see, and hear, how much she enjoyed the tea. And the sunrise. It was her favorite time of day. It was a beautiful spectacle.

She was beautiful.

“You know,” she calmly spoke up, “I could have sworn that just last evening, a thick layer of clouds covered the entire sky. And I am pretty sure that Rarity said something about a terribly rainy day.”

I tried very hard not to laugh. I could hear her bewilderment as she realized it, slowly. And I grinned from ear to ear. “Well… I owe Rainbow big time,” I replied with a chuckle. My body trembled ever so slightly as I tried to keep the laughter down, but I was pretty sure she noticed through her wing anyway. “She managed to rearrange the weather schedule with Mayor Mare and the local farmers so that the rain would come down over night, without flooding everything.”

Just so we could have a beautiful sunrise.

I looked up to her. Sunny's gaze was transfixed onto the horizon. Her sun slowly crawled its way up. The colorful display was in full swing. But more importantly for me was her smile. The tea. The free sky. And I liked to think: My presence, as well. It all combined to form a very, very good morning indeed. And I could see that twinkle in her eyes.

“… this was so worth it,” I mumbled. “This is such a breathtakingly beautiful sight.”

Her smile widened ever so slightly. “You are not talking about the sunrise, are you?”

I chuckled quietly. It was a rhetorical question. But at the same time, she knew me well. She knew how much I loved to compliment her. And this was a rhetorical question as much as it was an invitation. An offered opportunity. And I gladly took it. “For as pretty and awe-inspiring as your sunrises are, love… they don’t stand a chance against seeing you happy.”

Her smile gradually morphed into a playful grin as she finally tore her gaze away from the horizon. She looked into her teacup and nodded thoughtfully. “It is an exceptionally good tea.”

That finally broke my self-control and I laughed. And her quiet, but clear giggle chimed in shortly after. “Happy birthday, love,” I wished and guided her muzzle down with my magic to give her a proper kiss.

She gladly accepted both, but once we broke apart again, she still had that playful twinkle in her eyes. “You do know that it is not truly my birthday, right?”

I grinned and nodded. “Yupp. However, I had a talk with Luna and we decided that if you don’t choose one for yourself, we will. So here we are.”

She grinned and shook her head in amusement. “I see.”

Sunny emptied a second cup while we gazed upon the spectacle in the sky. Then we finally stood back up, took the tea pot and what little tea remained inside and returned to my room. I had already told her the day before that I had planned this entire day out and she was willing to follow my lead. That made it so much easier to lure her back to bed. A treat we rarely got to enjoy. On any given day, we would be at the castle in Canterlot. Aides would run up to her door because they needed her signature. Or had forgotten where she put some contract or form or whatever. There always seemed to be something, even on her off-days.

That was why I had considered it a stroke of genius to simply flee to Twilight’s castle for today. Canterlot could burn down in the ever-hungry flames of bureaucratic nightmares right now, for all I cared. We would have a party. We would celebrate her birthday. We would not be bothered by anypony from the castle staff. Or any guards. Or anypony else, for that matter.

“Am I allowed to know what the plan is?” she dared to ask as she climbed back into bed.

As soon as she laid down, I scooched closer and kissed her again. “You may know the next step,” I told her.

She nodded and waited expectantly for about half a minute before she smiled and asked. “And that would be?”

I grinned, kissed her nose and pulled her even closer. “You. Me. Cuddling. All morning. Or as long as we want.”

“Are you sure that this is my birthday, and not yours?” she asked with an amused tone.

I chuckled in reply. “You can’t tell me you don’t like this.”

She shuffled around a little to make herself more comfortable. I raised a hoof beneath the blanket covering us and slowly trailed it along her side. Her eyelids fluttered a little and she sighed happily. “No, I suppose I can not.”

“And you know what? I know just the thing to keep you hostage a little longer. And I’m pretty sure I can make you a very compliant hostage, too!” Sunny raised an eyebrow, but her smile told me she was intrigued to see where I was going with this. So I sparked my horn to life and lifted the small metal dome from the nightstand. I did not know if she had noticed it on our way back to bed. Honestly, with how perceptive she usually was, it would have baffled me to learn that she had not seen it. But she was so much better in restraining herself — and her curiosity — than I was. I grabbed a single strawberry, dipped it into the warm honey and carefully navigated it above the bed. After all, I still wanted to confine the mess I made to a minimum. And I slowly lowered the piece of fruit to her muzzle.

My heart skipped a beat as I saw how her eyes lit up. “To quote a good friend of mine: Atta girl!” I lowered the strawberry enough that, in one fell swoop, she lifted her head and caught the treat between her lips. She hummed quietly with her eyes closed as she relished the sweet goodness. And I felt that grin split my face as I saw her open her eyes again, how happy she was, how much she enjoyed this, how her eyes were fixed on that second strawberry I had quickly prepared. I fully intended to feed her the entire bowl. It was not that much. Maybe a dozen strawberries, maybe a couple more. But it was a nice early morning treat. It was her favorite.

“You spoil me,” she complained in an utterly unconvincing tone while simultaneously sporting the cutest pout I had ever seen on her face.

“That’s the plan, love,” I replied and kissed her. She tasted like honey and strawberry, with a hint of vanilla. Everything done right then. “Just relax and enjoy.”

Sometimes, time tended to become a blur. That was not necessarily a bad thing. It was snug and comfortable and I was happy. So was she, as far as I could tell. It was hard to tell how much time passed by. I might even have gotten another hour of sleep in — again: Hard to tell. We lazed around to our hearts content. We snuggled and cuddled and kissed and dozed whenever we felt like it. But eventually, the spell came to an end. More mundane necessities came up. Like a full bladder. Or her slight annoyance that a strand of her messy, albeit gorgeous morning mane constantly floated in front of her face.

“Am I still allowed to know the next step?” she inquired as she readied herself to get up.

I smirked a little. Just a little. She clearly had fun figuring out the rules by which I was playing this ‘game’. “Yes.” She nodded. I could already see the gears turning behind her furrowed brow as we exited the bed. We left my room behind, with the balcony door open to let in some fresh air and we were halfway down the corridor towards the bathroom when we heard a bell chime.

She immediately looked at me, suspecting another step of my plan coming to fruition. And she was right, of course. So I grinned and shrugged. “That would be the next step informing us that it is time to get ready. Which we were about to do anyway, so this is fortunate timing.”

“So the next step is the bathroom?” she surmised with a small pout.

It was too adorable to not spoil the surprise a little bit. “Well, no. We are obviously getting ready for breakfast. In the dining hall.”

And my heart fluttered ever so slightly when her pout, as cute as it was, turned into a smile again. “Obviously.”

We went to separate bathrooms and did our morning routines. I had the advantage of having done some of it earlier already, which gave me juuust enough time to slip back into my room and retrieve two small boxes. They were roughly six by six inches and weighted almost nothing. One of them was almost empty as well, containing nothing more than a few notes. But I had made sure that both of them were bound with a lovely little gold and white ribbon. They were birthday presents, afterall. Well, sort of.

When Sunny exited the bathroom, I was already waiting for her in front of the door. She quickly spotted the two boxes floating beside me and raised an eyebrow as an inquiry. “Well, considering we are about to meet your surprise birthday party guests, I assume you will be getting your presents,” I elegantly non-explained. At least I hoped it was elegant. I had no doubts that she noticed how I dodged the actual question, but that was fine. She did not press me for answers anyway.

A few hallways and a set of stairs later and we stood in front of the dining room door. “Ready?” I asked.

“Do I need to brace myself?” she asked back.

I saw her bemused look and chuckled a little. “No, not really. Don’t worry.” I opened the door and let her in first. The dining room was large. Positively huge. It was easy to feel small and lost in here, even for somepony as large as Celestia. One of the several reasons we rarely used this room.

“Auntie!” Cadance immediately shrieked. Much to Shining Armors dismay, as his ears quickly splayed flat against his skull. While the exuberant princess of the Crystal Empire jumped to her hooves to properly greet Sunny, the other guests were equally thrilled but less in-your-face. Twilight quickly followed Cadance, of course, but Luna and Shining remained a little behind and waited their turn.

I simply stayed close to the door, closed it behind me and observed.

“She doesn’t look that surprised. Did you tell her?” Spike asked. He stood right beside me and observed the scene playing out in front of us, just like me.

I chuckled and shook my head. “I didn’t spoil everything, no. But she’s too smart to not expect something, you know? The tea and the clear sky already clued her in that I did the rounds to rope a couple of other ponies into this party. I presume she simply guessed. But just look at her. It doesn’t matter that she’s not as surprised as we hoped she would be. Just look how happy she is.”

We watched as the others greeted Sunny and she in turn welcomed them to her party. Eventually, the turmoil died down. “Time to get this rolling again.”

Spike bumped his little scaly fist into my side. “Good luck.”

I grinned. And for some strange reason, my confidence did not waver when I told him: “Thanks, but I don’t need luck. I got this.” For once in my life, I really did believe that. I got this.

I closed the gap as I walked over to Sunny’s side again. “As you can see, we have a seating arrangement figured out. It’s a little peculiar, but there’s a reason for that. Now, if everypony would please sit down? I’m starving!”

The dining table was long, but relatively narrow. Celestia sat in the middle, with Luna and Twilight on her left and Cadance, Shining Armor and Spike on her right. And I sat across from her. The only one on the other side of the table. I felt a little bit on the spot, which would have served wonderfully to make me feel uncomfortable, but I was surrounded by friends. Loved ones. Family.

“Alright, everypony,” I started a little louder to get the attention of everypony, “I believe Spike the Brave and Glorious has been working his scaly little rump off in the kitchen.”

“Yes, because somepony asked me to!” Spike cut in with a chuckle.

I grinned. “Let’s see it then.”

He stormed off to the kitchen next door and the table quickly filled with platter after platter. A variety of pre-cut fruits, marmalades and syrups. And three stacked large plates of pancakes. The towers wobbled a little when he carried them in, so several magical auras sprang to life, all gripping at the towers to stabilize them while he carried them over to the table. With the third plate finally put down, he sat down next to Shining Armor and immediately forked two pancakes over. “Bon appetit, everyone!”

The pancake towers were fearsome foes. They yielded only after we besieged them for numerous rounds, and breaks were mandatory to avoid cramps, nausea and overstuffing. These breaks in turn were the perfect opportunity for everypony to spoil the birthday mare some more. With presents.

Twilight made the first move, before anypony else could. “So I have been told numerous times by several individuals that I am quite predictable when it comes to presents.”

“It’s a book,” Spike cut in with a snicker. He was completely unfazed by Twilight's glare. A glare that made Shining Armor shut up, though.

“I will have you know that I put a lot of thought into what I am giving and I am always respectful of what somepony wants, needs and appreciates,” she continued with a regal voice, her head held high and proud. Then the tiniest spark of mirth entered her eyes and tugged at her lips as she retrieved her present from a nearby table. “That being said, here, have a book.”

Sunny almost snorted. We all broke out into laughter and Twilight seemed very satisfied with the result of her little jest. I was especially proud of her for refraining from calling her Princess Celestia even once. She still did that occasionally. But right now, right here, she simply joked around with an equal. With a friend.

After Sunny had regained control, she opened Twilight's gift and indeed, found a book inside. But apparently not just any book. It was a memory album. Some pages contained actual photographs, others contained rough sketches or reconstructed diary entries. A blast from the past. I could see it hit Sunny in her very core. How her eyes glazed over with that thick sheen of nostalgia. A serene smile persisted on her lips as she slowly worked her way through the pages.

It was a very thoughtful present, I had to admit. A really good one. I had not known what everypony would give her, as I was confident that I still had the best present anyway. I still was.

But goodness gracious me, that was a good one too.

In our next pancake-extermination-break, Cadance jumped at the opportunity to present ‘Auntie’ with her gift. A wellness package for older mares, including anti-aging creams and anti-wrinkles makeup. Again, everypony had a good laugh. Especially after Cadance explained that she actually used some of that stuff herself and she tried so hard to defend it as being worth the bits. Not because it actually helped with aging or wrinkles, but because it felt good and moisturized her skin.

At that point, half of us were lying on the table due to uproarious and unbridled laughter. Even Cadance herself could not help but be swept away by the merriment. Every now and then, when she actually managed to catch her breath enough to utter a sentence or two, she tried again to explain herself. And several times, it only served to make us laugh again.

I didn't quite catch what Luna gave her sister in all that chaos. Something that the rest of us would have probably not fully understood anyway, because otherwise, she would have probably waited for us to witness it. And with the pancake towers almost defeated, Spike gave Sunny a card. I could not see what was inside. What he wrote. But he blushed when he gave it to her and fiddled with his claws. And I could see the reaction on her face. Love. Gratefulness. A look in her eyes similar to what a proud mother would have when she regarded her foal. She quickly swept him off his chair and hugged him tightly. And while Spike protested verbally, we all saw him hug her back just as tightly. Nopony commented on it, but we all smiled.

Eventually, all three plates were emptied. Somehow.

And I floated a single little box over to Sunny's side of the table. I put the almost empty one next to her empty plate and kept the other one for now. “You get mine later,” I said as she picked the box up in her magic. “When the time is right.”

“Oh?” She inspected the lightweight box from all sides and shot me a smirk. “How daring of you to hoof it over already.”

This day was special. And that made it strange. Not in a bad way. Just… strange. I felt such an inner… serenity. I felt at peace. I simply smiled at her. “I know I can trust you.”

She placed the box back down at the table. And left if there for later. For when the time would be right. And her gaze focused on me again. “And what is the next step?” she asked with a wide and happy smile.

I loved that smile so much. I wanted to keep it there for as long as possible. Forever would be awesome, my brain chirped up. I had no idea why my own inner voice suddenly sounded like Rainbow. Maybe I had spent too much time with her recently. “Well, now we are going for a walk. You know the saying, right? After dinner, rest a while, after breakfast walk a mile.”

“That’s now how that—” Twilight immediately tried to cut in.

“Shush!” I cut her off and grinned. “We’re all going for a nice little stroll now. That’s the point.”

My little peanut shot me a distinct ‘I will lecture you on the proper use of proverbs later’-look and nodded curtly. I grinned and noted with satisfaction how everypony — and Spike — got up and walked towards the door.

It took us roughly two minutes to reach the castle doors and we stepped outside. Due to last night's sudden and heavy rainstorm, the ground was a bit muddy. But that was the price we had to pay for a picture-perfect sunrise. A price I certainly had been willing to pay.

Lucky for us, the ground had already soaked up most of the water and we could navigate around the remaining puddles with relative ease. And while we walked, we mingled. Little groups formed and disbanded. Spike bugged Cadance about news from the Empire and she told him about their plans to invite him as a host for the next games. Shining told Twilight about how her mom went on and on about how she missed them. Sunny inquired if her little sister was feeling alright and if maybe she could help her somehow.

A couple of minutes later and Cadance lamented her fate as a princess to Twilight, who had a couple of issues with the thrill-seeking nature of her former foalsitter. Shining meanwhile reported to Sunny how the Empire’s guard was faring, despite him not being her guard captain any longer. And Cadance was bugging Luna about some sort of spell or something.

It was great.

I used the opportunity to do what I honestly loved to do most of the time anyway. I sunk into the background and simply observed. I watched and let my heart be refueled by every giggle and snicker, every chuckle and smile, every laugh and twinkle. We, as a group. Me, a part of it. I belonged.

Every now and then, I noticed Sunny looking around. Looking back at me. As if to check if I was still there. And I always was, obviously. And when our gazes met, she gave me a smile that was worth remembering forever. She oh so thoroughly enjoyed this day, each minute, each second of it. And she showed me. And I could not have been more grateful for it.

We eventually reached our destination. Despite me making a big deal out of us taking a walk, I had a destination in mind and the others had known. Sunny was the only one kept in the dark about it. As such, it was an amusing sight. We stood in front of the museum and she stared up at that big, pompous banner hanging high above across the entrance.

“They have a Starswirl-exhibition?!” Twilight almost-shrieked in excitement and her wings sprang open. “You never said anything about a Starswirl-exhibition!”

I snorted and laughed for a good moment as a baffled Luna tried to get Twilight’s wing out of her face. That had admittedly come out of left field. “Well to be fair, all you had to know was that we would go to the museum. I thought it would be a nice surprise for you as well.”

“Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!” Cadance promptly chimed in.

I had honestly not known that she was such a fan of Starswirl as well. But that only made this even better. “You know, keeping this under wraps was hard work,” I explained and noticed how Twilight huffed as soon as Spike agreed and chuckled.

“You two have been conspiring against me! Again!” Even though Twilight really tried hard to show us her outrage, it was hard to take it seriously when she was still literally vibrating from sheer excitement and anticipation.

“You’re welcome,” I replied. And I broke out into laughter again as soon as I noticed that Spike had said the same thing, at the same time. I walked a couple of steps over and gave him a high five. And Cadance was nice enough to quickly distract Twilight by nerding out over the famous unicorn.

“Is this really the best you could think of?” I heard Sunny's playful voice tease me right next to my ear. Her proximity alone sent a shiver down my spine and plastered a goofy smile on my face.

“Do you really have so little faith in my capabilities as a social engineer?” I shot back with a grin. “Trust me, this will be fun.” I turned and saw her smirk as she made her way towards the museum's entrance, with her little sister by her side. “Such a tease.”

“Blergh”, Spike commented on the scene.

“You shut up or I'll tell Twilight about your last date with Gabby,” I threatened my accomplice with a grin.

“His what with who?” a third voice suddenly chimed in.

Maybe I should have stayed a little more aware of our surroundings. Both Spike’s and my eyes went wide and we slowly turned towards Shining Armor. He waved a hoof awkwardly. “Yeah, so, I’m still here. My wife kind of left me behind. So what was that about Spike having dates? Does Twilight know?”

I looked back at Spike, who begged me with his big, pleading eyes to help him. And a devious grin grew on my lips. “Remember that time you asked me for advice and I told you to ask the Princess of Love but you refused because that would be totally embarrassing? How about you ask your buddy, the husband of the Princess of Love, instead?”

I lit my horn and slowly and carefully pushed Spike towards Shining. And I chuckled as I saw that horrified look on his face. Ahhh, nooo, betrayal!

Honestly, he would be fine. And Shining really was a better counselor than me. He had decades of experience being a stallion many mares fawned over, he was a goofy nerd just like Spike (or me, for that matter) and he was probably better at giving advice due to all of that. And his closeness with Cadance.

Yeah, he’ll be fine.

I quickly followed the other four into the museum and it did not take long for the two slowpokes behind me to catch up. While Spike and Shining eventually did start to get into the nitty-gritty of what was bothering my scaly buddy — much to my relief —, I quickly found the others in exactly the situation I expected to find them in. Cadance and Twilight were gushing over supposed artifacts of Starswirl the Bearded. They excitedly exchanged stories they read or heard about, corrected mistakes they found in the plaques and constantly returned to Celestia and Luna to tell them aaall about their idol.

And the two sisters, for their part, let them. They let them prance around and shriek in excitement. They let them tell them all these things these two knew already, or knew better anyway. And their smiles told a decently detailed story about how the older generation was glad to see the younger one this thrilled to experience a piece of the past.

That was until the moment something caught Luna’s eye. Starswirl's crystal ball. Twilight immediately flew into a lecture about how Starswirl had these issues with focus-based divination spells. Legendary issues, apparently. And how this crystal ball was linked to many of his failed attempts. Maybe the artifact was simply cursed.

Then Luna snickered.

And Twilight went quiet.

She studied Luna's face closely. She knew that expression. She knew that specific snicker. She recognized that Luna knew something. And at Luna's side, Celestia had a fond, nostalgic smile. Twilight sensed history. So did Cadance. And the two younger alicorns went quiet with expectant stares.

Eventually, Luna relented. And she started to tell the story of a glass ball that she had carefully prepared through hours of laborious work. Only to prank a dear friend of hers. A prank that somehow found its way into the annals of history. This revelation obviously opened the floodgates. Both Cadance and Twilight quickly realized the massive opportunity they had been presented with. Right in front of them were two contemporary witnesses. Neither Celestia nor Luna were talking about Starswirl the Bearded, legend of old. They were talking about Starswirl, a dear old friend they remembered fondly from a time long past. They knew his favorite color was a light, grayish purple. That he eventually became a grumpy old stallion with a hearty laugh, as he himself had ‘prophesied’ decades before. They knew that he had hated winter because he was not exactly fond of the damp cold it brought with it. Or the snowballs Luna would throw in his direction. It was such a pest to keep a shield spell up for months.

And for a couple of hours, Celestia and Luna were drifting in a sea of nostalgia. They reminisced about the past and remembered a dear friend. They told a new generation all about him, about his accomplishments. His dreams. His quirks. For a couple of hours, the sisters had two very enthusiastic pupils who were ready to learn anything they were willing to share. Surely that was a nice throwback for Celestia as well, seeing that look in Twilight’s eyes again.

I just followed and watched. And I was delighted with what I saw.

We exited the museum hours later in the late afternoon. Sunny quickly sidled up to me. “You were right,” she quietly spoke, “that was a lot of fun.”

I could still hear the fondness in her voice. That thinning sheen of nostalgia. We left the building and therefore, we left the past behind again. We stepped outside into another beautiful, sunny day. The birds were chirping and very much alive. The clouds were white and extra fluffy. A brisk wind carried the scent of flowers and grass. It simply felt like a good time to be alive. To be here. Now.

I smiled and looked up at her. “Told you.” And I quickly guided her down for a kiss. She gladly accepted and our entourage stayed quiet and gave us a moment. Honestly, I was pretty sure Luna used the opportunity to sneak in a kiss or two herself. As did Cadance, probably. Was I supposed to be sorry that Spike did not have his special somepony along? Hm. Then again, for that to come true, he would have to come clean with Twilight. He would have to actually tell us who he was with. Seeing him date Gabby was one thing. Seeing how he flirted with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom or how he clung to Scoots’ back when they barreled down the streets was another thing. And then there were the letters from Ember.

Ahhh, sod it. Not my mess. If it even was a mess to begin with. After all, my own relationships were not exactly straightforward either. But they worked.

We returned to the castle at a leisurely pace. And just like on our way to the museum, everypony was just chatting. And I was once again content to be there. It almost felt like bathing. I was surrounded by warmth. It was comfortable. I felt like I was weightless. Floating. At ease.

Upon returning home, I shepherded everypony back into the dining hall. Spike and I went to the kitchen to retrieve a couple of gratin dishes, a few small cutting boards, a couple of knives and a heap of vegetables. Potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, onions, a bunch of herbs, some lettuce, a couple of sweet potatoes — basically whatever we had in store.

Unsurprisingly enough, the table was therefore once again packed to be brim.

“Are you telling me that you do not have dinner prepared? Did something go wrong?” my love teased me again.

I confidently smirked and shook my head. “Nope. We are going to make dinner now. Builds up the appetite and gives you another chance to talk. Not to mention the chance to prank a little. I assume it’s been a while since you last peeled a carrot?” I chuckled and stuck my tongue out at her.

The best part was her very, very brief moment of silence. I usually was not this confident. Teasing me usually was easier to achieve. But today was different. Today was special. And she knew that now. I had no idea what she made with that realization. I saw her stare at that small box that still waited for her beside her plate for a moment. But she was patient. She waited for the right time.

“No one will judge me for my carrot-peeling capabilities, right?” she asked nopony in particular.

And Luna jumped at the opportunity to mess a little with her sister. “Oh now that you mentioned it, I’m quite curious to see how you fare!”

We obviously had a carrot-peeling contest then. Spike won first place with ten out of ten points. Second place was Cadance with six out of ten. Shining Armor insisted that she got a bonus point for her dexterous and professional technique. Twilight insisted that she did not want to hear another word about Cadance’s carrot-techniques. At that point, everything devolved only further into innuendo. Obviously.

It went from eggplant-comparisons — Shining had the longest one, but mine had a thicker girth — to suggestive lettuce-origami and ended with a couple of very low-flying one-liners about the process as we were about to put everything together in the gratin dishes. It was silly. Everypony was so utterly silly. Luna clearly had a blast, snickering almost the whole time. And we could even rope Sunny into spouting one or two really, really bad jokes.

I helped Spike put the dishes into the oven. We filled plate after plate. And we sat down for dinner. And for the first time this entire day, I felt nervous. It creeped up on me slowly, stealthily. But every now and then, my eyes were drawn to that box beside Sunny’s plate. She had not touched it. I knew that the moment came closer and closer. And now I finally got nervous about it as my confidence, which had protected me throughout the entire day, finally cracked and crumbled.

As dinner slowly died down and most plates only offered crumbs and leftovers, I nodded to myself.

I looked up and waited. I simply waited. For a moment when she would look at me. She did it frequently, but now… now it felt like an eternity. Now my nervousness really flared up. Then the moment came. She looked over, and with an expression that was probably more serious than it was intended to be, I nodded. She looked at her box, then at me. And I nodded again. It is the right time. I told her, as much as I told it myself.

She slowly grasped the box and lifted it up. The ribbon was untied. The lid lifted. Her brow furrowed as she looked inside. There were five small notes. She obviously only saw the top one.

I had considered my approach for these notes. I initially wanted them to be very, very fancy. Something one would not mind framing and hanging on a wall. I even considered if I had the time and money to learn calligraphy for this. A few lessons would surely be enough to scribble a couple of sentences, right? But in the end, I decided against this approach and went with my regular old horn writing. The reason for this was quite simple.

While it was not fancy and certainly not worth framing or putting on a wall, it was very much me. Unmistakably me. Twilight constantly loved to tease me about the quality of my horn writing. Big, sprawling letters with too much space in between. She loved to say how it reminded her of how a colt in elementary school would write. But despite all her good-natured teasing, she had a point. I had not seen anypony else write this badly. Maybe I should have been embarrassed by it? But what mattered for this was the fact that it was unmistakable.

I obviously knew by heart what note spelled out which message. Look to your left, the first one read.

With her brow still furrowed, Sunny did what the note asked of her. Twilight and Luna were currently locked in an intense contest to see who could make the silliest face and force the other one to laugh the loudest. It was heart-warming to see Twilight being swept up by the good mood this easily. Especially once both of them noticed Sunny's attention and they proceeded to include her in their little contest. They made silly faces in an effort to crack her up. And I saw her lips curve upwards, I saw them tremble and quiver. While she did not guffaw, she did the next best thing. They succeeded. And at that point, her smile was not only an expression of gratefulness and love, but of mirth and closeness.

She looked back down into the box and put the first note on the table next to her plate, where the box had originally waited for her. Look to your right, the second one asked.

Cadance, Shining Armor and Spike were busy throwing names around. Names for a potential foal. Cadance had wanted one for a long while now. It seemed this topic, despite its nature and implications, was not worthy of Spike’s disgust. Instead he vividly participated in the discussion, favoring some names above others. Clearly the parents would have the last word, but his opinion was very much appreciated. As was Sunny’s as soon as they noticed her staring at them. And they asked for her opinion as well. For her advice. For suggestions.

Eventually, she returned her attention to the box. Sunny discarded the second note onto the table.

Look at the following two notes. Then turn the seating order around.

The first note was my rough first draft of the invitation I had Spike sent out initially. I came up with the entire idea for this day as the result of a nightmare. Which… was very much on brand for me. This first draft was… well, exactly that. A little rough around the edges. Surely not my finest work. I was simply asking if ponies were up for a party for Celestia. I did not even mention that it would be a birthday party. I did not mention where we would have said party. Or even when we would have it.

But I had belatedly marked down at the side of the note when exactly I had asked Spike to send it. Date and time. As well as the date and time of the responses. They had all agreed within the hour. Not within a week. Not after I provided further information. Not after I answered several questions. No. Even Cadance, Princess of Love, regent of the Crystal Empire, had simply confirmed her participation within the hour.

That had really stunned me. And I liked to believe that I saw a similar surprise on my love’s face as she noticed the little remarks at the side.

The second note was my brilliant attempt at planning a party. It was a stick-figure drawing of the dining hall table with several utterly unrecognizable pony-shapes on it. Even I could not tell who was supposed to be who. Which is why I ultimately resorted to scribbling their names above their heads. Spike, Shining Armor, Cadance, Celestia, Luna, Twilight. And me on the other side, opposite Celestia.

Wherever she had been at the time, Pinkie probably had a very, very uncomfortable feeling when I drew that.

After regarding the embarrassingly bad drawing with an amused smile, Sunny flipped it over and read what was written on its backside.

You will never be alone. Because your family loves you.

I saw her swallow a lump in her throat as her eyes threatened to fill with tears. I saw her fight for her self-control. She raised her muzzle and looked around again. Looked at her beloved little sister whispering something into the ear of her now blushing former student turned close friend. She saw Cadance write down a list of names, with those Celestia had suggested right at the top. She saw Spike smile at her, like he would probably still do in several millennia.

There was one last note in her box. Look at me.

I saw how she tried to steel herself. She was surrounded by friends and family. I kind of knew why she did not wish to cry openly. I avoided that as much as I could as well. Even in such a safe environment, it could still be a struggle to leave yourself open and make yourself vulnerable. She expected another assault on her infamous, legendary self-control.

How could I disappoint her, then?

I slowly lifted the other box up. I untied the ribbon before her eyes and slid the lid open. A single note was glued to the inside of the lid.

Will you stay with me?

Her eyes went wide. And I tilted the box just enough so she could see the two horn-rings in the bottom of the box. They featured our cutie marks, of course. Simple silver bands. I had crafted them myself. The cutie marks had been done by a professional, though. That was way above what I was capable of making.

Sunny took one of the notes and quickly scribbled something on it. I did not question where she had retrieved that pencil from. And I was surprised to see that the others had not noticed what was going on. Or they were simply kind enough to let it happen uninterrupted.

My attention quickly shifted back to Sunny though. I saw her tear up. How her sheer force of will kept those tears in. Eventually, she held her note up with her golden glow, and there was a single word on it. And she finally allowed tears of joy to roll down her cheeks.

Always.