The wind was cold that night. A full moon illuminated the way as Stargazer trekked through the grass that went above her own head. Though that wasn’t very tall, considering she was only two inches at the moment. It was like walking through a forest of extremely skinny trees that had green trunks. There were bugs and small animals everywhere that were scaring her half to death as she walked. Silently she cursed the nocturnal animals.
Every blade of grass was dew-covered and made her whole body wet and cold. She shivered as she grew nearer to the house. “I’ll have to get a shower after this...” she muttered with a Canterlot accent peeking through her annoyed tone. “One with soap and filtered water.”
She finally reached the window of the nightmare-fueled filly, who had been having bad dreams for a week now, and transported to the windowsill. Her head spun from the large use of energy to do that spell, but she shook it off and jumped from object to object until she reached her destination: the bedside.
Stargazer stood on the filly's bed table, watching her nostrils flare and her sides move up and down rhythmically. Thankfully she didn't snore, or the noise would knock little Stargazer off of the table and onto the carpet. Even though it was soft, she knew it hurt from past experience.
The light blue unicorn then hopped onto the bed and rubbed a hoof comfortingly on the foal's cheek. Right now she was twitching uncomfortably and muttering something about running away between breaths. "You'll be okay now," Stargazer whispered. "Your bad dreams will stop soon."
Using a sharp purple magic aura that matched her eyes, Stargazer lifted the tiny pouch from around her neck and opened it, taking out a small pinch of silver dust with her hoof. She then closed the bag and softly blew the dust into the filly's almost teary eyes, trying not to wake her up.
The dust was made from pieces of stone that were from the moon, which were smashed into a fine powder. It was said to have magical powers, like getting rid of bad dreams, for instance. Ever since she found out that anything to do with dreams were her special talent, Stargazer had used it and a shrinking spell she learned to help other ponies with their dreams and nightmares.
Sadly, this also meant she got no sleep at night.
To her relief and joy, the filly suddenly stopped writhing in her bed and became less agitated. Her breathing pattern was shallower and a small grin was visible. Stargazer sighed, knowing her nighttime world would be safe for quite some time now.
"My work here is done," Stargazer said, smiling herself. Her horn lit up and a flash of purple lit up the room for a split second. The light cleared, and Stargazer was gone.
She reappeared in her own home, a little shackled house in the heart of Canterlot. It wasn't much, but it sufficed. Most of the money she had for the house she spent on books and a telescope. Most of the unicorns in Canterlot probably owned two houses instead of just one, and they were probably all extremely expensive and could be easily paid, but not Stargazer. She may have been born and raised in Canterlot, but she did not act like the other residents. Well, besides the accent.
Stargazer looked out the living room window, and realized it was still night for the most part. "Good," she sighed. "I can get some nice, well-deserved rest." Stepping over piles of books, she went upstairs and immediately collapsed onto her bed, not caring to even move the books out of the way. Soon she was snoring quietly in a very uncomfortable position on top of a stack of books.
All was silent... for thirty seconds.
BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP!
Stargazer jolted awake, frightened and drowsy. Her eyes widened as she looked at the clock.
“6:00 AM?” Stargazer gasped. "I'm going to be LATE!" Then she raced out of bed, grabbing her clipboard and quill as she went. She didn't bother to brush her mane, so right now it looked like a dark blue bird's nest. Hopefully there were no visible bags under her eyes
Stargazer worked at her own therapy office downtown of Canterlot. It was an office specifically made for talking about dreams, whether they seemed to have a message or if you had repeated nightmares over and over. Her first client was going to be there at 6:10, so she had to hurry.
If there was a speed limit for running in this town, she surely would be breaking it. Some of the unicorns watched her whiz by, then sniffed and stuck their noses in the air like they always did. Stargazer cursed herself for not knowing a teleportation spell.
She finally reached the doors and burst through into the lobby. “The doctor is in!” she announced, breathing hard. The room was silent, since there was nopony else there.
The receptionist, a lavender unicorn with white and violet hair and glasses, looked up to where Stargazer was and her eyebrow arched.
“Am I late?” Stargazer wheezed.
The unicorn arched a brow and responded, “Nope. But it would be really sad if you were late. You know, to your own business.” She could see a smirk dance on her muzzle.
Stargazer rolled her eyes. “Poppy, you’re so weird,” she laughed.
“I’m not weird, I’m telling the truth,” Poppy said. “Anyways, Skybound will be coming in about ten minutes. I suggest you brush your hair and take a few aspirin before she gets here.” She levitated a brush from her purse to Stargazer, who gratefully took it and brushed her hair while walking to the bathroom.
After preparing her mane and swallowing her last aspirin, Stargazer fidgeted for her keys from inside the envelope up front. “Come on keys...” she muttered. “Where are you...”
There was a knock on the door, but it opened without a chance to say anything. A white pegasus with curly cerulean hair entered the building and went up to Stargazer as fast as possible. “Ms. Gazer! You’re here to help me!” she said, then suddenly seemed nervous. “I mean, you are here to help me, right?”
“Of course, Skybound,” Stargazer said, taking a happy glance at her before digging into the envelope again. Stupid keys.
Skybound’s eyes darted around, then landed at the envelope. “Are you trying to find the keys?”
“Yep.”
“...Any luck?”
“Nope.”
“...Oh. Can I help?”
Stargazer lifted her head. “Huh? Oh, sure.” She moved away and let the white pegasus peer inside. Ten seconds later she popped her head out with a ring of keys in her mouth. Stargazer stared.
“How did you find that?” she asked in disbelief.
Skybound shrugged as Stargazer took them from her using her magic. “It was hidden behind all the weird papers and stuff.” Her right wing fidgeted.
“Ah.” They walked to the office and Stargazer unlocked the door.
The office was fairly small, with a shelf of books and a large red bed in the middle. A leather black chair stood next to it. The main source of light was the giant window leaked sunlight in thin strips all over the room. A mixture of whites and light blues were the only color scheme: it was proven to make a pony calm.
This being an almost daily routine, Skybound hopped onto the couch and lay down. Stargazer sat down on the chair and crossed her hooves as they hung over the arm. She levitated the clipboard and feather to her and said, “So, how was your night?”
The first question of the day that she usually dread when in came to this patient.
Skybound took in a deep breath. Here she goes, Stargazer thought.
“A few nights ago, I had this really crazy dream. But it was... different than the other ones I’d had before.”
“You mean the ones where the giant muffins chase you down?” the psychologist said, scribbling something down in a messy version of cursive.
“Yeah. Anyways, there was this huge thunderstorm with pink clouds that rained this delicious brown liquid. I think it was chocolate!” While talking, her eyes began to twitch a bit.
“Chocolate rain? Hm.” She’d had heard some weird dreams before in her many years of work with Skybound, but not this crazy. “Go on.”
Skybound nodded. “And all around me were weird versions of my cutie mark!” She put a hoof on her flank, where a cloud with curls and stars surrounding it was emblazoned.
Stargazer finally looked at her for the first time since the appointment began. “Your... cutie mark.”
“Yeah. It made me really dizzy. And there were pies falling from the ground, a strange purple pony following me around, a large mix-matched brown creature who was watching my every move and scaring the flying feathers out of me and laughing, buffalo in tutus, bunnies with long-”
“Hold up, now,” Stargazer interrupted. “Let’s backtrack. A large mix-matched brown creature who was watching your every move and laughing about it?” She bit her lip and wrote another sentence down. Now it started to sound more creepy than weird.
Skybound sat up. “Am I going crazy, Doc?”
Like you already weren’t crazy, Stargazer groaned in her head. You got your cutie mark because you’re crazy and you question me about it? She decided to shut her trap and not say anything about that.
“I wouldn’t think so, just, ah...” Stargazer tried to think of the right wording. “... Paranoid?”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” Her violet eyes were curious.
Stargazer shook her head. “Let me explain it this way. Have you been having any scary experiences lately?”
Skybound tapped her chin thoughtfully with a wing. Then she answered, “Well, a lot of things have gone wrong in my family in the past week.” Her left wing flapped spontaneously a bit.
Stargazer tried not to look at her little Tourettes issue. “How so?”
“There have been all sorts of weird fights coming up between everypony. Like, for instance, last night, my Uncle Cuckoo and Mom were fighting over who had the Wii controller last. We don’t have a Wii controller. I really have no clue what a Wii controller is, anyways.”
Great, she even has an Uncle Cuckoo. Stargazer couldn’t help but agree. Wii controllers didn’t exist in Equestria. Whatever it was, it was a big deal. “Go on,” she continued.
“And my father and all of my siblings have been fighting about something that actually makes sense for them to talk about. But this time, it’s the same fight every day. And they end in the same way too. I can’t tell if I’m just having a bad case of deja vu, or if I’m imagining.” Her tail lashed at random.
Stargazer watched as the pegasus’ whole body had begun to shiver already, and she looked even more scared than she would at other appointments. Sometimes she would act terrified, others she would be loopy or excited. Either way, she wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer.
“Well, what do you think it is?” Stargazer asked after a moment’s pause.
Skybound frowned. “Maybe there’s a bunch of discord going on in my family? It’s so strange and scary...”
But Stargazer wasn’t listening after the first sentence. She had dropped her clipboard onto the seat of the chair and was staring into the air. Her breaths caught in her throat and formed a lump.
Maybe there’s a bunch of *discord** going on in my family*?
Discord.
“Um, Ms. Stargazer?”
Stargazer shook her head and blinked. “Yes?” Perhaps she was just being ridiculous. Discord was sealed in stone quite recently; how could he get out?
“You kinda... drifted.” Skybound seemed confused. Well, more than usual.
“Oh, um. sorry,” she said, sighing. “Anything else you’d like to tell me?”
Skybound shook her head. “See you later then, Doc!” she said and flew out of the door and into the streets in a flash. What an abrupt leave, yet perfectly normal for Skybound.
Stargazer rolled her eyes, then picked up her clipboard and continued to read that line.
Maybe there’s a bunch of *discord going on in my family***?
Discord. Then again, he did escape by only a hint of chaos around him, thanks to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Stargazer couldn’t decide whether it was just Skybound being weird or if there was seriously something wrong with the balance of harmony.
Time for some research.
