The sun shimmers above the fields of Apple Acres as me and Applebloom take Rain back to our home. I look at Rain as I push him along on a wheel chair.
Why am I doing this? I'm bringing in a complete stranger Applebloom found in the Everfree forest of all the places, he could be a psychopath for all I know! I take a deep breath and sigh.
Calm down Applejack, you know that ain't true. I'll just let him stay here for a little while until his wounds heal, then he can be on his way. I then take a look at he's amputated wing.
How did he manage to get himself damaged this much anyway? To break both his hind leg and wing and have so many bruises and scratches...
Was it Timberwolves, Manticores, maybe even a Hydra? My thoughts are then interrupted by Applebloom tugging at my hoof.
"Sis, do you know what happened to him?" asks Applebloom still looking a bit panicked.
"For the last time Applebloom, I don't know".
Applebloom drops her head and sulks. I stop pushing Rain and sigh. I turn around and kneel down to Applebloom.
"I'm sorry Applebloom for snapping at you like that, I just feel pretty agitated at the moment" I say rubbing the back of my neck.
Applebloom looks up to me.
"Will he be okay?"
I give Applebloom a look of uncertainty, but I didn't want to worry her.
"Don't worry Applebloom, he'll be fine as a fiddle while he stays with us, I promise" I said forcing a smile.
Applebloom seemed to feel more calm then, and smiled back at me. This time I didn't have to force my smile, just to see her happy and relieved is more than enough.
"Come on, it's getting late, Granny's gonna start worrying" I said grabbing a hold of Appleblooms hoof and guiding her back home.

I feel a gentle sensation on my nose, which makes me shiver, but also makes me calm and relaxed at the same time. I opened my eyes to see a butterfly resting on my nose.
As I got up from the ground, the butterfly flew off my nose. After I stopped getting distracted by the butterfly, I took some time to survey the area.
I was in a middle of a field of various flowers, even though it was a field filled with life and beauty, it still felt like a barren wasteland. The only these field of flowers was a humongous tree.
Is this a dream, or another memory? If so why would I be taken here?
"That question will be answered soon".
"What the?".
I looked around, left and right, but there was no sign of where the voice came from. I got up from the ground and took a couple of steps forward and searched more thoroughly, but still nopony to be seen.
I turned around and out of no where a tall blue mare was standing before me.
"Boo".
I screamed at the top of my lungs and dropped to the floor. The mare was giggling like a school filly, while I was just about as angry as a gambler losing all their bits.
"I apologize, Nightmare night was not too long ago and I was still in the mood for scaring" says the mare trying to talk while laughing uncontrollably.
I really wasn't in the mood right now, I felt like shouting at the mare, but I held it in. When I took a closer look at her she didn't look like a normal pony.
She was much larger than most ponies I've met, and she had both wings and a horn, so she must be a alicorn. The thing that stood out the most was her mane, I've never seen anything like it, it was like she took a chunk out of the clear night sky and made it her mane.
"You're right Rain, I'm not like other ponies" says the mare.
"Then who exactly are you, and how can you read my thoughts, I'm sick of not knowing anything!" I shout.
"Those who have patience will gain answers in time".
The mare held out her hoof, and the butterfly from earlier landed on it like a owl.
"I have visited many dreams, but this one this is the most beautiful by far. Then yet again, most of the dreams I've visited are clouded by memories and fears, so what is there to show if you can't remember anything." said Luna looking at the butterfly resting on her hoof.
"Then, what about that tree over there?".
"The tree?", says the mare taking a moment to stop examining the butterfly, "You will have to find that out by yourself".
"But you haven't told me anything, aren't you supposed to be a guide?" I ask getting impatient.
The mare holds her hoof in the air, and the butterfly once again takes off.
"There is always a time in our lives where we may think we know ourselves, but really you know just as much as your friend, so we ask ourselves questions like does this pony really love me? Is this really what I want to do for the rest of my life? Am I doing the right thing? Everypony goes through this, but in your case you need to find out everything again".
"Can't you at least give me a bit of guidance?" I ask the mysterious mare.
There was a silence, a wind blows past me and the mare, making a shiver go down all the way to the bottom of my spine. The mare walks up to me and put her hoof on my shoulder.
"Beginning today, treat the family who have taken you under their care as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and then the path will become clear.".
"Be kind to the apple family, but how will that give me any answers?" I ask the mare.
"Like I said, everything will soon become clear" says the mare giving me a smile.
Suddenly out of no where a pulse wave goes in between me and the mare, all the various flowers, plants and grass get pulled out and get thrown in our direction. The mare reveals her wings and flies away from me.
"Time has run out, remember Rain, do not lose hope, and if you do, find hope within the apple family!".
The mare disappears and I'm left all alone in the middle of the field. I turn around and still see the tree. I muster up the strength to fight against the wind and debris.
Each step I took it seemed like the tree was getting closer, then it started rotating. That's when I realized the tree was actually flying towards me.
I quickly turned back and ran, the wind was giving me a little extra speed, but it wasn't fast enough. The tree hit me with tremendous force, and everything became pitch black.

Next thing I knew, my face was deep in dirt and I felt like my head was about to explode. I looked around my surroundings to see that I was in a barn of some sort, but the real question is who's the owner of the barn?
I then suddenly remember the mare telling me the apple family has taken me under their care, but why would they do that? I would think they would be hesitant to bring a stranger into their home.
I hear the sound of a door opening behind me, I manage to just turn my back around while still on the floor to see Applejack running to me.
"Good gravy Rain, you have to be more careful" says Applejack while helping me back up onto my wheelchair.
"Sorry, I had this bizarre dream..." I said while Applejack was brushing the dust from the floor off me.
"Dream? What about?" asks Applejack sitting on a block of hay.
"I'm not exactly sure, there was a mare, but she didn't look like your common pony folk".
"What do you mean?" asks Applejack not sure what I'm exactly on about.
"Well for starters, she was much taller than most ponies I've seen, second she had this beautiful mane that looked like the night sky-".
"Princess Luna?".
"Princess who?" I ask a bit confused.
"She's the goddess of the night, and sister of the ruler of our land Equestria" explains Applejack.
"But, what would the Princess want me with me?" I ask pretty shocked that I was visited by royalty.
"Well, you're not the first one I know to be visited by her".
"There's more?" I ask.
"Yep, one of Appleblooms friends Scootaloo was visited by her when we were camping out with a couple of my friends".
"So she visits ponies dreams? Isn't that kind of an invadement of privacy?".
"I'm sure she doesn't visit you to find out about your secrets Rain, I think it's pretty swell what she does, when she visited Scoots, her fear of the headless horseman faded".
Ugh, the headless horseman, why do I have a feeling I've had the same experience when I was younger.
"So from what I can tell, she helps you with confronting your fears?"
Kind of ironic how she scared me in the dream.
"Yep, if you really want to know more about this you could talk to Scoots, or maybe even my friend Twilight, she may have a book on it" says Applejack.
Applejack gets up and does a little a stretch and yawns.
"Anyhow, I think we both better hit the hays, in my case literally".
"Huh?".
"You need all the rest you can get if you want to get on all fours again, so you can take my bed for the next couple of nights".
"You sure" I ask not really comfortable with taking somepony else's bed.
"Yeah sure, I'll be fine I've slept in worse conditions" says Applejack chuckling, "I'll help you up stairs into my room".
Surprisingly, she carried me all the way from the bottom of the stairs into her room, especially considering my current weight. She lays me in bed and tucks me in.
Honestly felt a bit awkward, since I haven't been tucked in since, well I don't know but I'm sure I was pretty young. Applejack turns off the lights, says goodnight and closes the door.
I finally go back to my original form and let out a sigh of relief, didn't know it was so hard to keep up at using a fake identity.
I haven't felt such luxury in a long time, sleeping in Appleblooms dog basket wasn't exactly a pleasure.
I was still thinking about what Princess Luna said, about being kind to the family and then the path will be clear, whatever she means, I hope it will give me answers.
First I plan on asking this Scootaloo about her dream, and hopefully that will give me some more knowledge of this Princess Luna.

I'm then woken up by rustling and creaks, I've always been a light sleeper so I'm not surprised I've been woken up by these sounds. I managed get out the bed onto the wheelchair with just the upper part of my body.
I slowly make my way out of the room, weary of my surroundings since it was pitch black. The only source of light I got was from Appleblooms room which had the door half open, and turns out the sound was actually coming from it.
I slowly opened the door to see Applebloom sitting on the chair, with a screwdriver and a few other tools.
"Applebloom?".
Applebloom suddenly jumps and falls off her chair. I quickly pull myself over to her, but she quickly gets up and puts her hoof to her mouth.
"I'm sorry", whispered Applebloom, "Don't tell my sis I stayed up late".
I looked at the table to see a wooden box with markings engraved on it, the most noticeable mark was the apple with vines going around it.
"What exactly were you doing?" I asked.
Applebloom sighed, brushed the dust off her and went back on her chair.
"It's a very important object, not just to me, but our whole family" explains Applebloom.
"A box?" I say slightly puzzled.
"It's not just a box!" says Applebloom slightly raising her voice at me, but then quickly covers it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice I just...".
"Don't worry Applebloom, I understand it's important to you, so if it's not "just a box" what is it?".
Applebloom gets off the chair while holding the box and shows it too me.
"It's a lullaby music box, you see my great great great great great great grandpapa was a carpenter, and decided to make this and pass it down to future generations of our family. From what my granny told me it's played to remember lost relatives in our family old and new, it's also played when a family member or somepony really close to us die, so we can remember them through the lullaby".
I was little shocked by this, I never knew a family could be so close like this, I truly am lucky to be found by such a sweet bunch of folks.
"So what's wrong with it, why are you fiddling with it?" I ask.
Applebloom looks to the floor a little teary eyed.
"Well...".
There was short silence, but after a while Applebloom held in the tears and finally spoke.
"It was show and tell not too long ago, my teacher Miss Cherilee told us to bring in a family possession, the school bullies got jealous because everypony thought my object was cooler and then...Well I think you can figure out the rest".
Wow, what a cruel thing to do, I still can't believe there are ponies like this in Equestria. I really didn't want to just say "Oh that's a shame, well goodnight!", there must be something I can do.
I look at the table and back at Applebloom who was getting teary eyed once again.
"How about I take a look at it?" I ask not too confident I will get it working.
"Really?! Thank thank you so much!" says Applebloom jumping to me and hugging me tight.
"Shh, I won't get a chance if your sis wakes up" I say chuckling.
"Oh, sorry" says Applebloom feeling a little embarrassed.
Applebloom places the box back onto the table, then moves the chair out of the way so I could sit at the table with my own chair. I do a couple of stretches and then get to work.
It looked very complicated at first but then for some reason or another things started to become clear, I knew that this part had to bad tweaked a bit, I knew that this part had to be replaced, it was like deja vu.
It took me a while, Applebloom even started to get really impatient at one point, but I finally got it working. I turn around on my chair to see Applebloom with her upperpart of her body off the bed.
"Applebloom? You still with me?" I ask.
Quickly Applebloom flips off backwards on her bed and runs to me quickly.
"Did you get it working?" asks Applebloom excitedly.
"Well, it looks like it's much more intact than before, lets try it out".
Applebloom got under her covers while I put the box on a nearby desk and started twisting the knob on the box. After a couple of seconds I let go off of the knob and placed it down the desk.

Suddenly a majestic melody played, each note that played hit my heart like it was a drum. The lullaby just made you wanna forget everything and just basically live your life, it was that beautiful.
I looked at Applebloom to see her smiling at me, with no tears in her eyes anymore.
"Thank you Rain, you're the best".
"It's fine Applebloom, it was the least I could do" I said smiling back.
Applebloom stretched and yawned shortly after, I think that's my que to leave. I went out of Applebloom's room, switched the lights off and slowly closed the door.
I let out a sigh of relief as I happily made my way back to my room. When I got to my bed I was was more tired than before, I guess that lullaby affected me too. Eventually I closed my eyes and went to sleep, with a grin on my face.

Author's Note

Special thanks to Cowboy Bebop for making me think of "The Family Lullaby" idea.