The surprise still on my face after hearing the news i ask.
"why? how? what about what happened last time?" I say in my confusion.

Fletching says in an attempt to calm her foals nerves "that was months ago, things are going to be different."
Holding her foal close she says "How about i get dinner started hmm?"
She makes her way to the kitchen before i could say anything in protest.

While mom was in the kitchen i go grab my book on magic for beginners.
Going up and down the stairs has always been a bit of a struggle,
i may have gotten used to walking on four legs but my small stature doesn't help me one bit.

Opening the door to my room i grab the book and head back down stairs.
I may not have a special talent in magic but i want to learn anyway after all i do have a horn,
so of course there will be some very useful spells i could learn.
levitation isn't the only spell that makes life easier for me.

I can only imagine how more of a struggle i would've had adapting might've been for me
if i didn't get such a lucky card in the game of life.
but then my luck immediately ran out and i got bad card after bad card,
not like i was that lucky originally anyway.

Its not like i didn't have to struggle a bit to even get my hooves and horn to do what i wanted
them to anyway, all those times of falling on my face whenever i tried to speed up my pace,
or things slipping out of my grasp when trying to grab them.

Or even the times i struggled to even get my horn to glow in the first place.
It was like if you randomly was giving a new appendage you've never had before,
that you now had to figure out how to get it to actually move.
Even though i think i did have it before?

Then my train of thought shifts.
What special talent would i get if i could? Doesn't really seem possible due to a lack of flesh for one.
But maybe it would still happen in some way anyway just to spite expectations.
Where would it appear anyway? Would it even be visible?
Or would it just become an innate talent that can not be known unless seen or told.
Using the book to practice levitation i start to spin it around.

I start to get lost staring at the book, becoming hypnotized by its spinning.
Shaking my head i break out of the trance then start to look around the room.
I hear the sizzling of hay at the stove then look back at the book.

I start to get a bit of a mischievous grin, i proceed to make it spin faster and faster.
I say speen book speen in my head, spin faster!

All of a sudden my concentration is lost by mother prodding me with her hoof.
The book gets launched hitting me in the face.
"OW! Damn literature!" i yell in pain.

Chuckling she says "Now hun books are not toy's they are for reading" while emphasizing the word reading she picks up the book and puts it down on the coffee table.

Grumbling i say "I wasn't playing with it i was practicing" While rubbing where the book hit me.

"Well you can practice tomorrow" she says as she goes back to making dinner.

In the dead of night a librarian is reading every book she can that could lead to the answer she is looking for.
But no matter which she read she couldn't find any answers to the mystery that was driving her mad.
Nothing got any where near close to matching the description of what she saw.
The skeletons described in any relevant books say either they are mindless slaves to the summoner.
or are so hostile that everypony including the summoner would get attacked on sight.

Obviously this doesn't match the description at all, the foal was well behaved and in the care of a thestral.
If they where any danger to ponies then they wouldn't be near anypony, because they would've been dealt with long ago.
And what skeleton that has every been summoned have an interest in learning about magic?
Its like this is the first case of something that has never been documented or so rare that nopony had the chance to
or this library just didn't have the right book?

Completely disheveled and bone tired she works on putting all the books she read in their places on the shelves.
But she cant get out of her head how mysterious that foal is, the secrets of their condition driving her mad since she first saw them.

At this point she might have to do some investigation herself but that will have to wait until tomorrow.
Until then she has to get some sleep, she has stayed up for far too long.

groggily walking to her bed she flops into it, getting wrapped into its sheets, quickly falling asleep.

In the dreamscape a certain foal usually would be having a more elaborate dream,
this time however they decided to dream of something small for a change.

Sitting in a beautiful field of grass they look off into the night sky as they hold close a plush
of a purple porcupine with red shoes and hat.
They can only imagine how their second attempt at school would go.
The running the screaming, cheerilee desperately trying to calm down the foals,
The name calling.

Without warning the dream starts to go south.
The stars in the sky start blinking out at an alarming pace, the moon starts to gain an evil smile laughing at them,
the grass starting to turn brown and die and the leaves of the nearby trees falling revealing the dead branches, voices of the foals becoming a cacophony.

Just before it could get any worse they yell stop as they gain control back banishing those fears deep into the back of their mind. If they don't keep their dream in control then a certain pony a certain alicorn will have to intervene.
They don't want her here, there are foals out their that deserve her attention more than they do.
They don't need her, they don't need her sympathy, they can handle this.

They can control their dream, they can keep it in line, no other foal to their knowledge has this much self control.
They don't need her here worrying about them and their well being.
They don't deserve her care or her worry.
They don't deserve it.

They are not as important as the other's.
They are nothing but a drop of water in the ocean of pain and fear other filly's and colts are having.
Their problems are not as important as the others.

Even after regaining control the dream is still cracking, buckling at the seems of the built up sorrow.
Creating inconsistencies, creating noticeable flaws.
little inconsistencies that when you notice them you wont be able to get them out of your head.
Their fears still eating away at the dream, they cant ignore them anymore can they?

But in their stubbornness they try to ignore them anyway, holding the plush tightly refusing to acknowledge
anything that is going on around them.
Doing their damnedest to ignore it all and wait for the sun rise.
But tears start to well up in their eyes,
when all of a sudden they hear someone behind them that wasn't there before.

"What troubles thee so my little pony?"

Moments before.

It has been so long since she has patrolled the land of dreams.
but weeks after being freed from the clutches of the nightmare, she has been able to get back into the swing of things.
step by step, inch by inch, she has grown accustomed to it again.
shacking off the 1000 year rust that has grown onto her.

The dream realm is luna's responsibility, her domain.
The dreams of her subjects can either be pleasant or nightmarish.
Nightmares, those are her main focus, those are the ones she is most concerned about.

As she trots past one that can be classified as a more private dream she cringes a little and shudders.
Many moons ago before her fall, due to her own curiosity she wandered in one and got a rather nasty surprise.
Since then she'd avoided them like the plague.

such dreams are best to be left alone, privacy is a special commodity.
as she looks away from it she notices one that requires her undivided attention.

Black tendrils wrapping around it and a black mist starting to seep from it,
but just as she was preparing to fly to enter it they vanish when a blast erupts from it leaving slight cracks.
Clearly whoever it was has some level of control over their dream but their resolve is starting to crack.
Whoever it was they have some underlying fears and problems under the surface,
problems that require some comfort from her.

She fly's over to enter it, once she does she starts to notice the cracks manifesting in the dream.
The moon is slightly crooked, the trees have chips in their bark and are starting to twist
and the field of grass has some weeds here and there.
With concern visible on her face she says "What troubles thee so my little pony?"

Back to now.

Stiffening upon hearing her voice i struggle to respond.
This wasn't supposed to happen, she wasn't supposed to be here.
She was supposed to be helping those that deserve it, i don't deserve her help.

"y-you can go. i-im fine" i say while stuttering and wiping away tears i only just noticed where there.

This only made her more worried. Sighing she sits beside the foal and holds them close with one of her wings.
Awaiting a response from them.

Not getting one she breaks the silence by asking "what is troubling thee?"

They look towards the hills in the distance they sigh then say "I-ts just i am supposed to be going to school next week but,
wouldn't they all still be afraid of me?"
looking in her eyes they say "they where all terrified of me! screaming and running around like i was gonna hurt them!"
as they break eye contact they say under their breath "I'll never have friends. everypony thinks im a monster."

The field starts to fade into the dark, The night sky becoming blocked by a twisted net of trees.
Sensing the foal is losing control of the dream luna lights her horn and returns them back to the field.
"Thee shall has't friends my little pony, they may beest afraid before, but."
Giving her a questioning glance i ask "but?"

"how long has't been since thee whither there last?" she asks.
answering the question i say "3 months ago?"

nodding she says in response "Then they've hadst plenty of time to adjust."

Shaking my head i say "But they could still be scared, i am just going to create a mess again! i-"

Luna puts a hoof to the foals mouth then says "I believeth thy fears art misplac'd"
lowering her hoof she continues "Thee can not assume the worst,'twill only worsen thy fears."

she says in finality "thee shall has't friends, thou art not a monster"

They then proceed to admire the night sky in silence.
Off to the side the moon stares down with a big menacing grin.

the next morning

Opening their eyes to the sound of the alarm clock they turn it off.
Not wanting to get up they roll over and snuggle deep into the bed.

sighing happily to the warmth of the blankets they begin to close their eyes.
But their eyes shoot back open revealing empty sockets upon hearing a knock at the door.
Turning over i see mom opening the door,
she walks over and looks down at them with an eyebrow raised and says.
"you better not have been thinking of going back to sleep"

Still to this day i'll never know how mothers have this sense of their children doing something mischievous.
I wouldn't doubt she'd say it is mother's intuition, its what every mother says when their kid asks how did they know.
I get out of bed and continue with my routine.

But even now the fear of the upcoming day of school is looming over me.
how could i not worry about it? What happened before is very likely to happen again.
Wasn't like i was good at introducing myself anyway, and being a skeleton doesn't help.
Maybe it wont be as bad as i'm thinking.

Maybe i will only get odd stares this time and maybe just them whispering to each other?
No screaming or running?
I can at least hope so.

Slowly making the way down stairs suddenly my sense smell somehow returns just to give the bird to reality.
I hastily speed up almost tripping down the stairs at the smell of chocolate chip.
I dont care how i can smell it i want it right here and right now.
Running over i quickly sit down at the table.

With a sly grin mom says "looks like somepony is excited for waffles"

"You bet i am" i say with a wide grin

Chuckling she finishes preparing the waffles for her foal and her to enjoy.

Author's Note

came back to edit and make luna's dialogue more accurate.
regardless of how much time it has been i haven't abandoned this.
its just that a different project has taken up most of my time.