The Equestrian Rider

Damian had been sitting, staring out a window munching on the same piece of toast for the past 10 minutes.

Everypony in the dining hall was beginning to grow concerned, that was if they hadn’t already been worried about him.

Butterscotch didn’t even know where to begin with helping to comfort the dragon, she wasn’t aware that the princess had entered his dreams or that he would take it this badly.

Whilst luna paced back and forth trying to come up with an apology which alluded her.

“we’re.”

“No! No more apologising, please…. Just…. Give me some time to think, this is hard for me to comprehend princess.”

He just continued to stare, lost in the Hurricane of confusion and despair.

“Sir Damian…. We should have asked but our Curiosity got the best of us.”

“Sigh* I-it’s fine…. Did you go through my memories?”

“Of course not, I’d only do that if you were dreaming about a memory.”

“Good…. I may not remember faces or names but I still have my memories…. Hold up a minute, you were in one of my dreams. I tried showing you how to ride a bike.”

“Yes we remember, it was the night before the element of loyalty attempted to kill you.”

Rainbow winced and looked ashamed.

“C-can you just use my dream to make a bike appear, so Twinkle can get a better look at what it’s supposed to look like and sound, feel, ride and what not?”

“It’s Twilight.”

“Tis possible but the spell is rather invasive, if that’s not a problem then we’ll happily dream share tonight?”

“…I need to think about it….”

Celestia chimed in. “I’d strongly suggest that you go through with this, I especially would like to witness one of these motorbikes in action and you might remember the faces of your loved ones.”

“Wait? How many are going into my dream, princess Luna?” Celestia was about to answer but upon hearing Damian address her sister, she closed her muzzle.

“Eep us? Um well as many as thou is comfortable with….”

“Okay, I’m only letting twilight and Celestia in my mind.” A steely look in his eyes.

“We would also have to be there for the spell to function.”

That look disappeared. “Fine, only the princesses and Twilight are going into my brain…. I can’t believe I’m saying that….”

“We’ll find you just before you go sleep tonight sir Damian.”

“O-okay, am I free to go now?”

“But you haven’t even touched your lunch dude?”

“Yeah darling, Rainbow Dash is right. You should eat something.”

“And what’s it matter to you two anyway?” Snark dripping from his words.

“Hey now partner, y’all don’t need to be rude. They’re only concerned for ya.”

“You’re joking, right? Skittles and snob snobbington don’t even know me, hell one of them tried to put me in a box.”

All three mares were taken aback, Rarity fainting while Applejack gritted her teeth.

But Rainbow just looked ashamed.

“Sigh* princess, please can i just take my leave now. I just want to explore the grounds some more.”

“You may, Damian but only after eating your lunch please.”

“Fine….”

“Sigh* I wish you would smile Dami-wami! GASP!!!* don’t tell me, you don’t know how to.”

“I can smile, I just don’t want to…. Because my life has been turned upside down.”

“Then I’ll just have to turn that frown upside down for you.”

“Please don’t.”

Pinkie pie cut him off and disappear from his line of sight, reappearing behind him and pulling the down drake into a big hug.

“Don’t worry! I’ll fix your sadness.”

“No!!!”

The room fell silent as Damian yelled at the pink menace, her mane and tail went straight and she turned a few shades duller.

Whilst Damian was backed against the windowsill breathing heavily, pupils narrowed and sweating.

Everypony was on edge because of how close he was to the drop, heart beating so hard it was audible and wings shifting.

Luna took a cautious step forward and lowered her head, trying not to come across as too threatening but then a far more determined pink party pony fired confetti which made the drake jump behind a pillar.

To everypony’s relief, both Celestia and Fluttershy breathed a silent sigh whilst Rainbow quickly closed the windows in the room.

“H-how did she do that?”

“It’s best if ya don’t question it sugar cube.”

“It’s just pinkie being pinkie darling.”

“Huff* it’s kinda difficult to not question it….”

“Yes…. We find it difficult as well but enough of that, sir Damian clearly isn’t in any state to comfortably finish his lunch. So we propose that he is to be given some privacy sister.”

“Mhmmm yes~ I suppose you’re right Lulu, please go with Butterscotch and Damian to get him some more lunch and make sure he finishes it.”

“Sister! Don’t call us that, especially not in front of him!”

“Heheheheh, so princess Lulu where’s the kitchen? I’d like to make an omelette.”

“Eep! Um yes, let us go sir Damian. Please go ahead and follow the nurse.”

Damian and Butterscotch went ahead whilst a flustered dark blue Alicorn spun around and berated her sister.

“W-why is thou doing this!?”

“Because I know you won’t act on your own Sister.”

“Act on what? We are only helping him, something thou is not helping with.”

“Me? I’m helping him, he’s been recovering steadily thanks to the doctors and nurses I requested for.”

At this point both royal sisters were now bickering like foals, a sight quite undignified and most certainly not appropriate for royalty.

“Psssss Twilight, I think we shouldn’t be here now.”

“Yeah, I’m with AJ on this.”

“Oh no. This is bad, they’re arguing.”

“And that’s why we should leave darling, this sisterly dispute shouldn’t be witnessed.”

“I know but what if princess Luna becomes Nightmare Moon again!”

Celestia’s prized student immediately covered her mouth and the bickering between the two sisters seized to be as Luna shrank back and fled out the room.

Damian was smiling as he made himself an omelet but that smile began to fall.

“Damian, are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine…. I think.”

“Please don’t lie to me, you can trust me.”

“Sure…. Thanks Butterscotch but why do you care?”

“Well um…. It’s because I feel bad for you, so I’d like to help in anyway possible.”

Damian gave her a sceptical look but it quickly disappeared.

“I see….”

At that moment Damian and butterscotch hear rapid galloping go down the hall and saw a dark blue blur fly past.

“Who’s that?”

“I think it’s one of the princesses, Luna it the dark blue one right?”

“Um yes but if so, why was she crying?”

“No clue but I’m going to find out.”

“What?! No Damian, you can’t that’s an invasion of privacy. You have no right to.”

She was lecturing the drake but he had already taken his omelet and gone.

Following the echo of hoof steps hitting the polish marble floor, it eventually led him to a part of the castle that was themed after the moon or the luna princess herself.

Damian liked the style but found it hard to believe that there was no staff in this part, the only question on his mind was “why?”

He finally made it to where he last hear the hoof steps, in all honesty Damian was impressed with his ability to track her down.

But that didn’t matter now, he was still concerned about the lack of guards or anyone in this area. He went to knock but he decided to just let himself in.

Pushing the large double doors open and he realised how weak he truly was but he slowly opened them revealing a dark room.

“H-hello? Princess Luna?”

She didn’t respond but she did look at him, he felt like he had offended her but decided that he was too far in now.

So he walked over to her bed, that was giant in comparison to the hospital beds Damian was familiar with.

“Are y-you alright? You want to talk about it?”

“No….”

“Okay, you want to chat about something else?”

“Sniffle* not really.”

“Mmmmm fine, so what’s that.” He pointed at an untouched canvas with new looking paint brushes and art supplies.

“It’s how we past the time.”

“How, care to show me?”

“Why is thou interested?”

“Because I’m trying to stop myself from going crazy.”

“We see, then we’ll demonstrate for thy sake.”

“Thank you princess.”

Luna started to explain what the canvas and tools were as she began to mix the paints, Damian happily sat and watched whilst enjoying his omelet.

“So sir Damian I see thou is getting around the castle with ease now.”

“I wouldn’t call it with ease but I’m able to walk around with reasonable speed, so what is thou painting for thy to gaze on?”

“Heheheh~ what would…. You like to see?”

“Um anything really, just as long as it’s good princess.”

“Well that shan’t be a problem for me, I used to paint the night sky with each and every star.”

“Used to? Did you stop?”

“Um yes…. We did because ponies sleep away our night in favour for our sister’s day.”

“But that doesn’t mean you should stop, I like the night. Empty roads, clear skies and trillions of stars that map out constellations. It overwhelming by so simple to understand.”

Damian didn’t see because she was facing away from him but she was blushing a light shade of pink.

“W-we know that thou speaks of the sky from back home but if we were to bring back the constellations, dose thou have any ideas?”

“Just make them noticeable and meaningful if you can do that, i mean the power to control the stars it’s too much to try and wrap my head around…. I’m a little sceptical if I’m being honest.”

“We entered thou dreams if thy does remember.”

“I do but the stars are completely different but now that you mention it, they are just barely visible and I definitely can’t make out constellations.”

“We will demonstrate this power tonight before bed and you will be in shock at our beauty.”

“Your beauty?”

“We meant our stars beauty!!!”

“Oh well I’m sure that if your stars are anywhere close to as regal as yourself, than I’ll be more than impressed.”

“Thank…. You for your compliment, it fills us…. Me with hope, hope that one day my subjects will see me in such a light.”

“Don’t look so down, i am still waiting for you to start painting princess.”

“Oh sorry…. One more question, why is thou trying to help comfort me?”

“Why are you letting me?”

“….”

The luna Alicorn was left speechless from his response, she pondered it for a few minutes whilst she got to work on the background of her painting.

“We see….”

Damian sat quietly and watched as Luna painted a beautiful portrait of him in great detail, she was doing it all from memory which left him in amazement.

She even got the detail of each one of his feathers that lined his forearms, Damian had long since finished his lunch and was now enjoying the display before him.

But little did they know that they were being watched by the elements of Harmony and Luna’s own sister, that had rush to luna’s wing of the castle to comfort her.

But someone else had beat them to it.

All watched except Fluttershy who felt it was wrong, Celestia was annoyed but also happy that Damian was proving to be a kind hearted individual.

Although she was angry that her sister still hadn’t had any ponies applying for jobs in the night guard or anything else for that matter.

As for now, that can wait until a better time because right now was a heart warming moment between her sister and Damian.

Until then she noticed the drake wobbling.

“Oh no Damian.”

She was just about to walk in to catch the stumbling dragon but Luna put her brush down and turned to look at him.

“So sir Damian…. Are thou okay?”

“Wow, it’s incredible~.”

He began to fall but Luna jumped to catch him, now with an unconscious dragon in her hold she pondered what to do.

She look to the bed, then to him and then around the room before levitating him onto the bed where he curled up into a ball.

“Heheheheheheheh~ thou is quite cute sir Damian, it’s a shame thy is so home sick. We’d love to learn about…. You.”