Luna looked out into the dark of night. "This is far from the nights I once held guardianship over." She ruffled her wings, scanning for movement carefully. "I can feel few and far dreams in it. A wasteland of some sort. How sad."

"You'd be surprised by the number of dreams here," said Victor. "The ones people do dream are generally nightmares, but people do dream." He scanned around with the telescope he held. "Your world does seem like a lovely place, from what I've heard."

Luna was silent, thinking to herself that she hoped that Toby and Angel were doing alright in this new environment. "Your people are troubled in their slumber. Perhaps I could assist? It is my duty as a protector of sleep, to ease minds." Her gaze wandered across the wasteland, seeking out more undead to obliterate.

Victor chuckled quietly as he turned the scope towards her. "You're welcome to ask them yourself. I'm not giving permission carte blanche for an alien, however well-meaning, to poke into their dreams." He pointed down towards the distant ground. "There."

Luna glanced, spotting several of the zombies lumbering along, aimlessly searching for their next victims. A quick series of energy blasts dispatched them, leaving behind smoking ruins where zombies used to be. "The unliving do not dream, or know pain. It is an existence devoid of joy or sorrow. I almost pity them, in that regard. No suffering, yes, but no happiness, either. Not for them."

Victor raised his scope and peered down again at the figures now lying in disarray. "We're here to keep them from getting to us, not consider what life as one of them might be like, for good or bad. Look, if I start turning, and you don't have a way to stop that, I want to be dead before I finish. Understood? If not, I may end up killing people."

Luna tilted her head at him, considering that for several long moments before nodding her head. "Understood." She saw the sincerity there, the passion. "You are a good friend." She inclined an ear. "Aren't you more of a scholar than a soldier, however?"

Victor sighed and lowered himself into a seat, gazing out into the night sky. "I prefer the pen to the sword, but sometimes the choice isn't mine to make. I was a researcher before this started, but after everything went bad, I found myself drafted into fighting for survival." He gestured over the barren landscape. "Now, this place is my office, the zombies are my research subjects, and the best writing tool is a gun."

Luna frowned at the thought. "Unfortunate, which feels far too tepid a word for the situation. I cannot express my regret." She raised a hoof to her chin. "At the least, I can assist you now. My attacks are far quieter than your guns. It draws less attention from them. Thus, we can take our time, and they will be unable to counter-attack."

Victor adjusted his glasses. "True. We may not have been the most cordial greeting party, but I doubt you could have picked a more opportune time to show up." He raised the scope. "Do your worst."

Luna laughed merrily, her horn glowing and sending a beam of power out into the night. With each blast, a few more shamblers were kept far away from the line of their fence. "May you all sleep well."

In one of the buildings, Toby rolled over onto the captain, getting a surprised grunt out of him. He was woken quite abruptly when the body of a tall, furry tsuki landed squarely atop him. After a moment of grunts and growls from Toby, and cursing from him, he managed to shove the fluffy thing off.

Toby sat up with an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Sleeping." He mimed his hands as pillows with fake snoring sounds. "Not mean."

Sally shook her head from where she sat in the corner. "Just be more careful about sleeping. If he hadn't gotten you off in time, you would have crushed the good captain's ribs into paste."

The captain laughed at that. "It'll take more than that to end me, but that's not how I want to risk it." He pushed against Toby's thick fur. "Sleep a little further away. We can hug when it's day out."

Toby made an exaggerated gesture of zipping his lips. "Quiet sleeping. Got it." He sprawled back onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling with an impatient sigh. "Sleep?"

Sally nodded to Toby. "Might as well sleep, or we're not going to last through the mission tomorrow. I'll keep an ear out while you all catch a nap." She eyed Toby a moment, then waved for him to come closer silently.

Toby saw it, looking confused a moment before he slid closer towards her.

She grabbed him and nestled in close. "You remind me of a stuffed animal I used to have. Can I, look, can I just hold you a while?" She felt embarrassed saying it aloud, but there was something reassuring about holding the fluffy thing close.

Toby gave a brief nod. "Yes." He closed his eyes, relaxed. His hand gently stroked Sally's head.

The captain was left watching this unfold from nearby. He was somewhat incredulous at first. After the display, he slowly laid back on the bed, watching the night turn by, listening to the noises outside. Sleep came for them all, a gently blanket over the room.

***

Luna yawned loudly into the new morning, glad the night was over, and ready to greet the new sun. "Good morning!"

There was a thump beside her as Victor woke up, startled by the noise. "Huh? Oh." He looked up at the rising sun. "We did it. One more night survived." He struggled to his feet. "Thank you for helping."

Luna rubbed her eyes. "Of course. It is the least I can do. My friends, Angel, Toby, Fluttershy, they have also helped your people, have they not?" She rose to her own hooves. "Let's report in, and get some sleep. I think both of us could use some."

Victor led the way downstairs and met up with the captain.

"How was everyone's night?" The Captain nodded as the two entered the room. "It looks like you two did good work up on the roof. Anything else to report?"

Luna shook her head. "Every undead monstrosity was kept far away from things. None approached." She grinned proudly.

Sally nodded to her. "That's excellent news. Most of our dogs are fine. One has a limp, but Fluttershy here patched him right up."

Fluttershy raised a hoof. "Excuse me." Eyes turned towards her, to her immediate regret. "Oh, um. It's just, we do want to get home. Does any of this help with that?"

The Captain shook his head. "I'm afraid we lack information about such travel. It simply never came up before. No way to experiment, no interest before, no resources to do it now."

Sally glanced at Fluttershy, then nodded. "What the captain said. It's not that we don't want to help, but life is about surviving right now. We don't really have the resources to send magical horses to their magical world."

Toby chuckled. "Luna not horse."

Luna cleared her throat. "Pony." She glanced sidelong. "Is there anything you can spare? I could probably find what I need among these ruins."

Victor clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Tread carefully, and not, mmm, while we're both beat. If you want to join the scavenging teams, that'd be fantastic. Maybe you all can find something useful for you while you search for supplies. Sound good?"

Luna considered a moment, then nodded. "Very well. I shall have to endure a little while longer." She then fell forwards dramatically, face-planting onto the table with a dramatic sigh.

Angel hefted Luna up with the strength of her kind, carrying the tired alicorn towards the bunks. "Put bed."

Toby saluted to Angel as she left. "Good job!" He then turned to the other members. "Know way go home?"

Fluttershy poked a soft leg of Toby. "They don't. They said we can look with them for supplies. We might find something on the way. Toby, um, you're very strong, and fast. I bet they'd like you along."

Toby flexed, a grin on his muzzle. "Big! Tough." He glanced sidelong, waving his hands. "But can carry delicate. Gentle."

Fluttershy smiled, laughing quietly. "You are a very caring giant." She hugged Toby gently, to his approval. "Help them, please. You might be helping us too."

Sally nodded, coming over and extending a hand. "You do seem to be a tough customer, I bet we'd benefit from your assistance."

Toby eyed the offered hand, hesitantly. No, handshakes were not appropriate, so he grabbed Sally instead, gently mashing her against his front as he made little noises of happiness. Sally couldn't stop a slight blush from appearing on her cheeks.

***

Angel laid Luna down, watching as the pony princess dropped straight back asleep, snores emitting from her almost immediately. "Sleeping cutie." She patted Luna's forehead and turned away to see who else was sleeping. She saw Victor settling in to get some sleep of his own. "Is good?"

Victor groaned faintly into the pillow. "Yes, very good." He pulled the covers tighter over himself. "I didn't know when you got here, so I figured you needed the sleep anyway."

Angel hopped over in one long jump. "Is good. Not sleep." She inclined her head. "Tsuki sleep small. Sleep day. Sleep night. Not sleep dawn. Not sleep dusk. Is dawn, not sleep." She nodded with confidence, having explained the tsuki sleep cycled. "Is good. You sleep." She pointed at Victor, then pointed at herself. "Not sleep."

Victor stared at Angel blankly before rubbing his eyes. "Sure, alright, not gonna second guess someone else's sleep patterns, lord knows ours have been messed up." He pulled his blanket higher, eyes closed. "See you later, okay?"

Angel waved cheerfully. "Okay."

***

Back on Equestria, Princess Celestia stepped forward to Twilight Sparkle. "My sister failed to return with those two ambassadors. It seems that our magic portal worked perfectly." She hissed in a breath. "Not that we wanted them to. I would have preferred they hadn't worked at all." She paced back and forth across her personal study room. "We have tried again, and it seems this new universe they have found is far from stable."

Twilight nodded. "I'm worried about them all, but also intrigued by their findings." She rubbed behind her head. "It's difficult to learn much, but that is clearly a world in flux. They must be in danger, though the source of it is unknown."

"Twilight." Celestia gently bapped her once-student. "You're not helping me calm myself. You know how protective I am of my dear sister. Even though she is strong, and wise, and powerful, I still worry about her when she's late, or lost, or not feeling well, or maybe there is a small chill in the air and perhaps she doesn't have enough clothing." She laughed at herself tensely. "This is far beyond that. She is on a hostile world. I do not know if she is safe or not."

Twilight smiled faintly, touching the older alicorn. "You are worried, and that makes perfect sense to me. You have to remember, though, that she isn't the fragile filly anymore. She is grown up, able to stand equal-to-equal with you. She is even capable of defeating you in certain arenas. You've told me that many times, and I believe it. Your sister can do incredible things."

Celestia took a slow and deep breath. "Yes. Hm." She frowned faintly. "At least she has Toby at her side. Those two make for quite a pair. I doubt that tsuki would permit harm to befall her." She shook her head. "Still, if harm were to reach her, even despite his best efforts... There are dangers greater than physical strength."

Twilight nodded firmly. "I understand your concern, and I share it." She put a hoof at her chest. "I will continue my research. As soon as we learn anything new, I'll come running." She darted away, wings spreading to make haste easier.

Celestia smiled at Twilight. "Thank you." She settled herself into a chair and looked to the mirror that Luna had vanished into. "I would curse you, but you are the only key to her possible return."

Author's Note

Next adventure: supply gathering.
Nothing could go wrong.

Join the special community of folks who like my stories and/or get your own here at atreon!

Don't want to do an ongoing thing? You could

Join my discord to chat!