To Dream in Red

Finishing her rounds for the night, Luna stared off into the distance where she knew Poppy Blanch’s dreams resided. She had flown there often enough to know the place by heart, even if she didn’t feel that gentle pull towards it. She was certain that centuries from now, long after the colt was gone, her idle gaze would find its way to that spot on the horizon still.

She hadn’t visited him for some time now, as her visits had slowly become less and less frequent the more sure she was that he was no threat. An enigma, to be sure, but not a dangerous one. He never minded the spaces between their meetings, of course. He was always happy to see her, whether it had been a day or a month.

Deciding that today was as good a night as any to pay the strange colt a visit, Luna double checked that no nightmares remained active in her dreamland before she took off in the direction of Poppy’s scarlet sanctum.

It didn’t take very long at all, and when she arrived she couldn’t help but notice that the rough edges of the craggy ground that his door rested upon seemed a little smoother today than usual. The door looked the same as ever, and upon pushing her way inside, she found herself faced once again with the stench of decay and the dripping red of death.

Interestingly, like the exterior, the dream itself seemed different today. Instead of the endless mountains of bodies, she found that there were not so many this time. Still uncountable corpses piled high into rolling hills, but a magnitude fewer than the norm.

Curiously, Luna set off to find the dream’s owner, and only within a minute’s time she found him in a clearing where he seemed to be playing jump rope with some creature’s entrails. Upon seeing her approach, he ended his morbid play and began to trot towards her with an unusually cheerful pep in his step.

“I see your realm has changed, little one. Has something happened?”

The scrawny colt looked around with a curious expression. “Everything looks the same to me, Princess Luna. I don’t know what you mean.”

The alicorn pursed her lips, unsure of how he could have missed the change in landscape. However, her eyes lit up at another difference before her.

“I see you have earned your cutie mark, Poppy Blanch!” As she said that, his face beamed happily as he twisted to better slow off the image on his flank. As he had hoped, his special talent had nothing to do with the bloodshed that surrounded him now. Instead, it showed a mortar and pestle alongside a bundle of herbs.

“I almost can’t believe it, Princess! I got a cutie mark in medicine, just like how I wanted!” It was strange to see a foal celebrating earning their cutie mark whilst standing in a field of gore, but there was nothing typical about the colt in question.

Instead of ruminating on that, Luna nodded her head proudly. “Do tell, Poppy Blanch, how did you discover your talent?”

Poppy Blanch seemed to deliberate it for a moment, weighing within himself whether or not he should tell Luna. She noticed this, and was about to ask when he smiled again and began to speak.

“Well, today I decided to sneak out of my house to explore the woods. My mom and dad don’t like me leaving without their permission, but they almost never give me permission, so I don’t bother to ask anymore.” Luna furrowed her brow at that, but let him continue his story. “While I was outside, I found a filly who had hurt her leg. She was exploring the woods too, and lost her balance and fell. Her leg was scraped up pretty bad, but there were some flowers nearby that I remembered from one of my mom’s books! I took some of the flowers and roots, and chewed them up into a paste and put it on her scrapes. She was grossed out at first, but when the pain went away she was really thankful!”

Luna considered her next words carefully. “I… Have several questions. Those can wait, however. I am happy to hear that you’ve earned your cutie mark in a benevolent field. Perhaps this filly is also to be a friend of yours?”

Poppy Blanch blushed at that, giving his pale face some colour. “I think so. We played for a little while before I had to go home. Her name is Jade Brook, and she said she wanted to play again sometime! She’s my first ever friend, I think.” He paused, before looking apologetically up at Luna. “Aside from you, Princess.”

Luna was taken aback by this, not realizing that he had truly considered her a friend all this time. Her expression spoke volumes though, and Poppy Blanch read it well.

“I know you probably haven’t considered me a friend, but I am happy that you’ve come to visit me so many times. It’s really nice of you.” He punctuated the statement with a small, earnest smile.

“To be honest with you, Poppy Blanch, I am new to matters of friendship. Only just recently have I made my own first friends during last month's Nightmare Night celebration. They have been helping me adjust to… modern times.”

Poppy’s smile grew a bit more. “I was wondering why you weren't talking funny tonight like you normally do. I guess we're both making new friends.”

Luna nodded in agreement with a chuckle. “Yes, I suppose we are. Though, I am also more than happy to call you a friend as well, Poppy Blanch.”