When my eyes open to the darkness of my own room, I initially believe I have simply stirred in my slumber. Only when I attempt to roll over and go back to sleep do I find myself in a body too big for the bed. I groan and bury my face in the pillow for a moment before turning over on my back.
I glance towards the open window. I much prefer the cool air from outside rather than the magically chilled air that is Equestria's version of air-conditioning, which Rarity sets colder than I prefer. I hear ponies milling about outside.
As I swing my legs over the side of the bed, soft hoof-falls sound from the hallway. "This is really weird," I hear Sweetie Belle say. "I wonder if anypony is here?"
She comes trotting into my room as I stand. No sooner does her gaze fall upon me when she freezes in mid-step, one fore-hoof raised, her pupils shrinking to near pin-pricks.
After several moments of uneasy silence, I say, "Something wrong, Sweetie?"
Sweetie's mouth drops open, "Candy?? I-is that you?"
I manage a tiny smile. "Of course. Who else would it be?"
"But ... I ... WOW, is this what you used to look like?"
Ponies in my dreams rarely comment on my appearance. Why would they? They're phantasms of my own mind, and I no longer worry about who knows of my origins. "I think I did tell you that I still appear this way in my dreams."
"Well, yeah, but this is MY dream." Sweetie Belle glances about. "Um, isn't it?"
My heart races. Is this really a dream? Did something suddenly go horribly awry with my transformation? Or is Discord playing a prank on me?
I run a hand through my hair. "I'm not sure anymore. I mean, yeah, shared dreams happen. That's the whole point of what Mom and the others are doing for ... um ..."
A chill radiates down my spine.
Sweetie tilts her head. "You don't suppose this is the same--"
"PONIES!"
The cry reverberates through the dreamscape, echoing inside the boutique as if it had been spoken in the next room. Sweetie Belle leaps for the window, and for a heart-stopping moment I fear she will accidentally vault herself over the windowsill. Instead, she clings to it by her fore-legs as I scramble for position next to her, my human stature forcing me to crouch.
"Look, it's Princess Luna!" Sweetie cries.
My eyes go wide when they fall upon her. The Princess is floating above the ground, inside a sphere of energy. Bright tendrils of light are wrapped about the spiral of her horn, winding up far into the night sky. Several ponies have already dropped into a bow around her.
Luna's booming but desperate voice makes my heart skip a beat. "There is no time for bowing, my friends! There is something coming, something terrible!"
"That doesn't sound good," Sweetie murmured.
Before my addled brain can think of a response, my blood turns to ice as an unnatural chill sucks all the warmth from my body. An inky darkness suddenly passes over us, like a cloud passing before the moon.
"No!" Luna cries. "It is already here!"
I lift my gaze and stare into the heavens ...
... and the heavens MOVE.
The sight has taken too much of my breath to yell a warning. I instead yank Sweetie Belle back into the room just as an amorphous indigo blob of living night soars overhead, another wave of ice crashing over me.
Sweetie's ears flatten as she shivers. "Wh-what IS that thing?!"
I am still struggling to catch my breath when Luna's voice booms out, "I am so sorry. I brought this upon you. But I will end it now!"
"It's the thing Mom talked about," I say in a quavering voice as the sky flashes with magical power. "She called it a Tantabus."
"But what did Princess Luna mean when she said--"
I heave an exasperated sigh, "Honestly, Sweetie Belle, you know as much as I do at this point! I--"
I shiver as I hear frightened screams. Sweetie rushes to the window, evading my feeble attempt to grab her. I follow her and lean my head out. I utter a sigh of relief when I see Mom and her friends standing before Luna, though Twilight's face is a mask of concern. I see her speak but cannot hear her. Only Luna's amplified voice can I hear in response, "It's ... it's taking all my strength just to hold this massive dream together!"
Sweetie gasps. "It IS the same dream! She must've pulled in all of Ponyville."
"You will have to stop it," Luna declares to Twilight and her friends. "I truly wish I did not have to ask this of you."
Luna's voice sends another chill through me, not for its words, but its tone. In all the time I have known her, she has never sounded so worried and desperate. As the others give chase to the amorphous monster, all I can think of is a single pony, and my gaze frantically searches the mayhem. "Cherry! Where's Cherry?!"
"I-I don't see her, Candy," Sweetie says. "Maybe she's still at the farm."
"That thing swept over the farm when it arrived!" My eyes widen, and I tremble as I witness the Tantabus animate an entire house into horrible, monstrous life. I pull my head back in. "I have to find her!"
Sweetie turns her head towards me. "I'll go with you!"
"NO!" I flinch as I hear more screams and terrible roars. My breath is a ragged pant as my eyes dart about the room, as if expecting the boutique itself to come alive next. "I-I mean ..."
"Maybe we can find the other Crusaders, too!"
"All right, we'll go together." I ball my hands into fists. "If only I didn't appear like this in my dreams! It'll take me forever to get over there."
"Maybe you can turn yourself back into a pony," says Sweetie. "I thought I just heard Applejack yell something about being able to do anything in--"
I roll my eyes. "Sweetie, do you really think it's that simple?"
Sweetie glances back out, her mouth dropping open. She narrows her eyes at me as she deadpans, "Big Mac just turned himself into an alicorn princess. If he can do that, you can do this."
That statement would have been funny in any other context ... no, it's still funny, I'm just not of the mindset to laugh.
Had I not wished in the past to appear as a unicorn in my dreams? If it didn't work then, why would it work--
"Whoa!" I cry as I suddenly find myself balanced on two fewer legs than my brain is expecting. I topple over onto my back, a curl of red and orange mane falling over one of my eyes.
Sweetie Belle hops down from the windowsill. "You okay?"
I roll around and right myself on my hooves. "Yeah, I'm fine," I say in a slightly breathless voice. "Let's go. Let's take the back way to avoid trouble."
We burst out the back door of the boutique and take off at a gallop. Sweetie turns her gaze to the sky. "Candy, look!"
"Sweetie, don't stop!" I cry, desperation tinging my voice.
"I'm not, but you have to see this!"
I turn my head in time to see a corner of the Tantabus rise up, exuding an appendage like a long crystal, which it uses to slice at the sky ...
... and my mouth drops open when I see it slash THROUGH the night as if it were nothing but a cloth veneer. My heart drops into my stomach when I witness the monster attempt to flow through it.
A beam of alicorn magic erupts from Twilight's horn, and the monster is repulsed. Another beam blasts from Luna's straining form and seals the breach.
"What's it doing?!" Sweetie cries.
"Nothing good!" I snap.
"Hurry, my friends!" comes Luna's voice to the others as it fades behind us.
"Maybe Princess Luna needs our help!" Sweetie says.
I grit my teeth and utter an almost explosive sigh. My heart wrenches as it is caught between two ponies I have come to love. "W-we will, once we find Cherry, but right now, we need to--"
We are both brought up short at the start of the road to Sweet Apple Acres and skid to a halt. Shimmering in the moonlight across the breadth the road are hundreds of tiny creatures on gossamer wings, looking vaguely like tiny ponies no bigger than dragonflies.
I swallow hard and back up a step. "We need to find a way around them."
Sweetie Belle smiles and steps forward. "Candy, it's okay. I guess you've never seen breezies before."
My eyes widen. "No, get back!"
"Oh, come on, a stiff wind will take care of them. They're perfectly harmless." Sweetie slows her approach. "But ... that's weird, they look like they have ..." She stops. "Fangs??" She gasps and stumbles back a step. "And creepy glowing red eyes?!"
I face-hoof. "I knew I should've brought the sour cream and doughnuts."
As one, the mass of fairy-like monsters utter a bone-chilling hiss.
Sweetie Belle screams and gallops back the way we came, and I fall into step alongside her in shared panic, the fluttering wings of the swarm rising to a terrible, purposeful drone. We take no more than a few steps when another wall of the were-breezies coalesces before us. Sweetie Belle's eyes dart about while the two phalanxes of the tiny monsters close around us, forming a circle. "We're surrounded!"
"Thank you for stating the blindingly obvious!" I yell as I search in vain for an opening. My hooves have splayed in a defensive stance as they had when I readied myself for Starswirl to channel his shield spell through my horn ...
... which gives me an idea.
I hear a loud, chilling hiss, and then Sweetie's cry as she runs in an erratic circle, a dozen were-breezies having sunk their fangs into her mane and tail. "Candy, help!"
I grit my teeth, and my horn blazes. Bright white energy expands in a hemisphere, knocking the attacking monsters from Sweetie's hair and pushing the others back.
"Nice going!" Sweetie cries.
The were-breezies hiss and spit as they charge the shield, magic crackling around them as they bounce off. "But even if I can keep this shield up, we'll just endanger Cherry if they keep following us."
Sweetie gives me a determined smile, and her horn glows. "Then we blast them!"
Could that even work? Doesn't the shield work only because I have experienced it before? We have no other choice but to try. "All right, on the count of three, I drop the shield."
Sweetie nods, her horn glowing brighter.
"One ... two ..." My gaze finds the largest concentration of our adversaries. "THREE!"
The shield drops, and fire blasts from our horns. We each tear a ragged hole through their lines, but after a moment's pause, they regroup and close in again. We fire a second and a third volley, and still they close in. My heart pounds, panic threatening to overwhelm me again.
"There's too many of them!" Sweetie cries as she lets out another blast, only to yelp when a were-breezie latches on to her tail. She snaps her tail and it goes tumbling to the side.
My mind races in too many directions. I have to focus. I need to conjure more powerful magic. Twilight knows powerful magic. What would she do to get her and a friend out of a situation like this?
Once it comes to me, I don't think, I just act. Something that would be far too foolhardy for me to ever attempt in real life becomes our salvation as I grab Sweetie in one fore-leg and will us to be on the farm.
My horn flashes brilliantly, my sense of place wrenches and my stomach along with it. A brief but bone-chilling icy chill envelopes me before the trees of an apple orchard appear around us.
"Candy, d-did you just teleport?!" Sweetie cries in awe.
My lips curl into a tremulous smile even as smoke curls from my horn. "I think I did, but don't EVER ask me to do that in real life."
Sweetie's response is drowned out by a roar and a scream. My head snaps towards the sound, and icy fear clutches at my pounding heart. Several large, monstrous creatures are arrayed near some thick bushes. They appear as frighteningly huge wolves with glowing eyes, yet as they move, it is as if they are comprised of wood rather than flesh and bone. That's when I recognize them.
A timberwolf has clamped its jaws around Cherry's tail, lifting her into the air. Her legs flail as she screams. Apple Bloom delivers a far more vicious buck to the monster than I ever thought her capable of, sending chunks of twigs and bark flying. "Let her go, ya ugly bunch o' sticks!" Apple Bloom cries.
I feel another chill as one of the timberwolves actually talks. "Never mind them, get the pony's little friend."
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Cherry wails.
"Candy, we have to help!" Sweetie cries, lighting her horn.
"I-I'm not sure I can," I whimper as only sparks fly from mine.
"I can't do this alone. We need more firepower!"
I blink. "More fire ..."
And we get it.
"...power -- OOF!"
We both fall into seats inside a little metal room with an array of hoof-adapted controls before us. Sweetie's pupils shrink. "Did you just teleport us again? Where are we?" She lifts a hoof to her head. "And why are we wearing pith helmets?"
I can't help but laugh. I conjured the first thing that came to my mind. I look up and see a circular door with a wheel upon it. I reach up and spin the wheel easily, pushing open the door to reveal the night sky. I pull myself up.
It's exactly as I thought: a tank.
I am no military history buff. My knowledge of these things is a mish-mosh of old World War II newsreels shown in school, movies, and cartoon shows. To my mind, a tank is simply a big metal box with long treads and a big-ass gun. That's exactly what I got. The barrel of the cannon is comically long, three times the length of the body of the tank. As if in some compensation for bringing an Earth war vehicle to Equestria, it's colored lurid pink and decorated with bright flowers. I almost laugh again when the term "friendship tank" comes to mind.
My mirth is cut short when I hear a loud thud as Cherry is dropped to the ground. She whirls around and trembles alongside Apple Bloom as the timberwolves close in. "P-please, leave her alone," Cherry whimpers.
"Ya heard her, back off!" Apple Bloom cries, her voice quavering despite her bravado.
"Aim the cannon!" I shout.
Sweetie glances up. "Huh?? How do you expect me to do that?"
"Um, Sweetie? See the hoof-pedal conveniently labeled 'Aim Cannon'?"
"Oh, right."
The cannon rumbles as it swings unerringly towards the timberwolves.
"FIRE!" I cry.
I hear Sweetie Belle slam her hoof against metal, and golden fire erupts from the mouth of the cannon with a resounding boom, my ears flattening against my head as the flash illuminates the trees almost as bright as day. The timberwolves are blasted apart, bits of charred sticks and twigs exploding outward and raining down upon the grass. Smoke curls from the end of the cannon.
Sweetie Belle climbs up next to me. "We did it!"
Apple Bloom gasps as she trots over to us. "What in tarnation IS that thing??"
"Candy, Sweetie, thank you," Cherry gushes.
Sweetie peers. "Um, how do we get down?"
I answer her question by simply willing the tank away. It vanishes in a pop, and we tumble to the ground. "I'll explain it later, Apple Bloom," I say as I rise back to my hooves. "Cherry, are you okay?"
Cherry nods and turns away from me. "I am, but let me check on Wun."
I blink. "Wun? You don't mean ..."
Cherry steps up to the bushes. "Wun? You can come out now."
My mouth drops open as a little bedraggled changeling emerges from the bushes. Her wings flutter as she looks at me, her lips curling into a small smile. "Hi, Candy."
I swallow hard, no words coming to me as I stare at Wuntusix.
Sweetie Belle steps up to Apple Bloom. "We have to find Scootaloo. Princess Luna is here, she's the one behind this huge dream."
Apple Bloom gasps. "Ya mean the whole town is in this? Does it hafta do with that smoke thing we saw?"
"Yes, and--"
A rending sound in the distance draws our attention. The Tantabus, now even larger than before, has extended another appendage shaped like a pair of scissors. It cuts open the night sky with frightening ease.
"And she needs our help!" Sweetie cries.
Just as the monster attempts to escape through the tear in the sky, it is driven back by a knight-shaped Spike riding a giant Derpy. Literally nothing surprises me anymore.
"But what about the timberwolves?" Apple Bloom says. "Sometimes they pull themselves back together!"
"I'll stay with Cherry," I say. I levitate one of the sticks left behind by the fallen creatures. "My horn's working again, I can protect her." My eyes dart to Wuntusix. "Protect them, I mean."
"Good idea, Candy. Let's go, Sweetie!"
I watch them gallop off before turning to Cherry. "I don't understand. Why is Wun here?"
Cherry smiles. "In my dreams, we appear as separate entities. I have lovely, long conversations with her, and when my dreams are more lucid, I can conjure parts of our world that she didn't get to see during her time there."
"It's really good to see you again, Candy," says Wun.
I turn towards her, and my throat tightens too much for me to speak. Accepting what Wun did is much easier when she exists only as a hidden part of Cherry's mind. Now she appears as she did on a day that was both terrible and wonderful, other than in a much better state of health.
Wun's wings droop. "Is something wrong?"
I bite my lower lip. I have no business feeling any more guilt. I want to give up whatever I have left. I did so with my birth mother and with Cherry. Now I stare at the creature who would never have sacrificed herself if I had not brought her to that place. It is like I substituted one guilt for another and didn't realize it. Did that affect how I felt about Kevin moving to Ponyville? Did I simply not want a reminder?
Cherry touches a hoof to my shoulder. "Candy?"
"I-I'm fine." I look at Wun again and sigh. "No, I'm not. Wun, can I ask you something?"
Wun nods and gives me an inquisitive look.
"Wun ... do ... do you ever regret what happened?"
Wun remains silent for a moment, but then answers in a firm voice, "Not at all."
It is what I want to hear, but somehow it doesn't satisfy me. "But you hesitated."
"Only because I was surprised you asked me."
I sit down and simply nod for her to continue.
Wun steps up to me. "Maybe you don't remember, but I ... I was dying. I wouldn't have survived to the night. By the time the Princess returned from fighting the bugbear, I would have been dead."
I tremble, but my voice remains calm. "But wasn't I just taking you to die in a different location?"
Wun raises a hole-infested fore-leg, hesitates, then alights her hoof on my shoulder. I don't pull away. "You didn't force me. You didn't make me do what I did for your friend." Wun's eyes become sad. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you still felt so much uncertainty over this."
I sigh. "I didn't know myself, to be honest."
"I did," Cherry says softly.
My eyes widen. "You DID?"
"It took me a while to realize it," Cherry says. "If I hadn't been caught up in recent events, I would have channeled her for you, so you could talk to her yourself."
I look back to Wun. She is smiling. Despite the conjured dreamscape, she seems as real as she was when I first saw her weak and helpless in the castle. Even as I make peace with my actions that day, another ugly memory makes my shiver. "Wun, there's still something I never understood. Why did you even come with me? Back when I found out you replaced Sweetie Belle ... I ... I tried to hurt you! I WANTED to hurt you! I tried to take everything out on you!"
Wun nods once. "It's true, I was a little scared of you at first. But ... the way you cared about your friend so much. That meant something to me."
"And you didn't even think that I was just abusing you again? Th-that I thought you were disposable or something?"
Wun's wings quiver. "Well ... no. That wasn't your intention at all."
"But how could you ever know ..." I say in a helpless voice.
Wun smiles. "I'm a changeling. I kind of sense these things in ponies' emotions."
I am too stunned to speak. Did that incident really still haunt me this much?
"And once we were joined, I told her the kind of pony you really are, Candy," Cherry says. "That you've always been. Don't let one incident define you."
My vision becomes a watery mess as I stare at Wun. "But, I hurt you ..."
"I forgive you," says Wun. "But, please, Candy ... forgive yourself."
I then do something I never thought I would see myself do: I pull a changeling into a hug. I try very hard to let go of the regret. Even after all that I have gone through, all the guilt and pain I have left by the wayside, this proves to be the most difficult.
"I-I'll try," I whisper.
Cherry suddenly gasps. I break off the embrace and find her staring at the skies above Ponyville, her mouth dropping open. I turn my gaze skyward as well, and my heart skips a beat.
The Tantabus is even larger than ever, easily able to cover more than half the town in its twisting, inky blue darkness. The ponies attempting to contain it appear only as mere specks as they converge upon it. Yet the great monstrous form shudders, and it bloats still further.
"Candy, maybe we should help!" Cherry says.
Wun's wings buzz, and she lifts off the ground. "Yes, I want to help, too!"
My heart thunders. I want to stay as far away from that thing as possible. My heart lurches at the memory of Princess Luna sitting beside me in the castle, sharing her coffee, draping a wing around me, and making me feel like I just might be able to make the right decision.
"All right, let's go!" I cry, taking off into a gallop back towards town.
Cherry comes alongside me, but her earth pony nature soon has her pulling ahead. I utter a surprised yelp when Wun lands on my back, wrapping her legs around my barrel like she had that fateful day. She is anything but helpless now; her wings become a blur, and she helps propel me forward faster.
It is not long before Princess Luna's voice fades back into hearing. "--is how it grew strong enough to escape in the first place!"
My stomach twists. I never heard such utter despair in her voice, which quakes as if she's trying to cry at the same time. I know that sound all too well; I heard it from myself far more times than I have cared for.
I flinch at a rending noise as the Tantabus begins tearing another hole in sky. I hear Luna's strained and despondent voice. "I created the Tantabus to give myself the same nightmare every night ... to punish myself for the evil I caused as Nightmare Moon."
She ...
I ...
What??
My mind goes numb. I almost cannot believe what I have heard. Had it not been her mention of Nightmare Moon, I would wonder if somepony else said it.
As we close the distance, I can hear other ponies. Fluttershy's pleading voice rises above the din of the Tantabus. "But why would you do that?!"
And Luna responds, "To make sure I NEVER forgave myself for how much Equestria suffered because of me."
Oh, dear God.
All that time.
All her advice to me.
Everything she ever did for me.
No wonder she understood. No wonder she could empathize with me. No wonder we had bonded. Suddenly, the idea of her watching my repeating nightmare, watching Cherry -- Michelle -- die in my arms over and over and OVER and knowing the guilt I once felt takes on a whole new significance.
We burst out of an alley and come to a stumbling halt. My heart lurches as my gaze falls upon the stricken Princes Luna. The look in her eyes is one not just of despair but of sheer helplessness. Tears well up in her eyes and roll down her face. I almost want to cry with her; she looks as I once felt so many times when I first arrived in Equestria.
A sudden screeching roar from overheard makes my ears draw back, and I lift a fore-hoof as it to bolt. Cherry utters a frightened gasp, and I turn around, nearly crashing into her as she stumbles back a few steps.
The Tantabus rises into the sky to immense, terrifying height, taking on the form of a huge unicorn, or perhaps an alicorn and I simply cannot discern the wings. As its head rises, its horn sweeps through the sky, rending it as if it were paper until the opening is as large as it.
"But that just means you might be the key to stopping all this!" Twilight cries from where she stands before Luna.
Air rushes overhead. Rainbow Dash is flying around the monster's legs, wearing an odd costume. "Yeah, if it gets strong because you feel bad about what you did as Nightmare Moon, then you just gotta stop feeling bad for what you did!"
No, Rainbow. It's not that easy. You have no idea how hard it is to give up such a deep-seated feeling, no matter how much pain it causes you.
"H-how can I forgive myself?" Luna cries as her tears drip to the ground. "I am no better now than I was then. My creation is about to turn the world into a living nightmare!"
My blood runs cold. The creature is already walking through the tear that I now know links the dreamscape with the real world.
"But look at what you're doing," says Twilight. "Nightmare Moon would've WANTED the Tantabus to turn Equestria into a nightmare." Her friends gather around her, and my heart flutters when I see Mom standing among them. "You're doing everything you can to stop it!"
I don't know what to do. Should I go up there? Should I shout something to her from where I stand? Do I even have a right to intervene? Would I just make things worse? Who am I to help with this sort of thing anyway?
"Don't you see?" Twilight cries. "That proves you're not the same pony you were then."
(I told her the kind of pony you really are, Candy, that you've always been)
"Everypony who knows you knows that Nightmare Moon was in the past."
(Don't let one incident define you)
And then I am crying along with Princess Luna. Cherry wraps a fore-leg around me tightly, and Wuntusix hugs me. I swallow hard and cast my gaze towards Luna.
"We all trust you Luna," says Twilight. "Do you trust in us to believe we're right?"
Luna's eyes rise to the Tantabus, then come level. Her gaze locks with mine.
Is she surprised to see me? Is she seeing me at all?
Please remember, Princess. Please think about what you did for me. Think about our conversations, about the way you comforted me. I've grown to love you, Luna. I don't want to see you do this to yourself.
Please ... forgive yourself.
Her lips suddenly curl into a smile. "I do!"
The Tantabus utters a wrenching screech as it recoils from the tear, its ethereal head molding itself into an expression of surprise and shock. The monster suddenly shrinks, the opening in the heavens sealing itself.
Did I do anything? As much as I needed to be there for Cherry, I wish we returned earlier. I want to believe I connected with Luna in that brief moment.
The Tantabus is now no larger than Luna herself. It turns almost casually, walking on air as it approaches its creator. After a pause, energy crackles around it as it enters the sphere of energy surrounding Luna. It merges with her, a living piece of guilt that she gave physical form in her dreams. The last of it disappears into the crescent-moon symbol on the chest of her outfit.
Luna lowers her gaze to the six. "Thank you!"
The dreamscape starts to fade to white, and my presence becomes more tenuous until I am barely aware that I am at the tail end of a shared dream. I struggle to see her through the deepening mist.
"Thank you, all ..."
As I sat at the table in the familiar confines of the kitchen in the boutique, I felt I had come full circle. Dinner was graced by an additional guest that evening, and I smiled at Cherry from across the table as she chatted away with Sweetie Belle.
"So why were those timberwolves attacking you in the dream, Cherry?" Sweetie asked.
Cherry paused to finish the bit of salad she was chewing before replying. "The Tantabus was feeding off ponies' fear, I think. I still have fears of what might happen to changelings that mean nopony any harm. And, well, maybe Apple Bloom shouldn't have shared that scary story about timberwolves right before bed."
Sweetie Belle giggled. I smirked and propped my head up with a fore-leg as I flicked my gaze to Mom. "And we all know who we have to thank for the Attack of the Were-Breezies!"
Mom lowered her head. "Ugh, you are never going to let me live that down, are you?"
I lowered my voice in a passable imitation of Big Mac. "Nnope."
Both Cherry and Sweetie laughed. Mom lifted her head and smiled faintly.
I grinned. "Hey, you have enough things to tease me about, let me have this one."
Sweetie Belle smiled. "I'm just glad we were able to help Princess Luna."
My grin faded a bit, but I otherwise refused to give any clue as to what I was really thinking. Yet Mom knew me too well, and I felt her place a hoof on my shoulder.
"I'm fine," I said softly. I turned my gaze back to Cherry. "So, um, you're really that worried about the changelings?"
It was really a stupidly trite thing to say, as it was obvious to everypony what Cherry believed. Nevertheless, she saw it for what it was, an attempt to steer the conversation in another direction. She nodded. "Perhaps it's a foolish fear, but I can't ignore it."
"If it helps any, darling, the residents of Ponyville are not given to rash acts of violence," Mom said. "Even Spoiled Rich, with all her bluster, would never call for something like that."
Sweetie Belle frowned. "I doubt she'd lift a hoof to help if it did happen, though."
Mom sighed. "Well, yes, there is that."
"Candy mentioned you want to do more to help the changelings, Cherry," Sweetie said. "Do you know what you want to do?"
Cherry remained silent as she picked up the glass of juice in her fore-hooves. Her eyes flicked over to me for a moment, and she took a sip before replying. Her eyes became subdued as she replied in a soft voice, "I have some ideas, but I'm not sure yet. I want to talk to Twilight about it first."
"Care to share?" I prompt her.
"Not quite yet." Cherry sighed. "I'm sorry, Candy, I just--"
I waved a fore-hoof. "It's fine. Tell me when you're ready."
She smiled. "I will, I promise." She set down her glass. "I guess in a way, I have Princess Luna to thank. While I never would have wished her woes upon her, it made me realize I can't just sit and wait for things to happen."
That comment alone said volumes, and my heart ached.
The conversation bounced around to other topics, but I mostly withdrew. I considered mentioning meeting Summer Wind, but the last thing I needed was Mom gushing over me meeting a potential coltfriend. She meant well, but I had trouble getting her to realize things like that were still likely a fair way off in the future.
As the meal was about to wrap up, we were startled by the sound of a knock at the front door. Mom glanced at the window, where the moon hung in the darkened, starry skies just above the horizon. "Who could be coming to call at this time of night?"
"You want me to get it?" I said, motioning to climb out of my chair.
Mom touched a fore-hoof to me. "I'll see to it."
I had hoped for an excuse to leave the table, but I nodded as she headed off.
"Do you sometimes get customers this time of night?" Cherry asked.
"Sometimes. Usually it is for me." I heard the bell of the front door tinkle, and a surprised exclamation from Mom. "Emergency repair or alteration. Usually somepony who was going to attend some party or go on a date and had a last-minute problem."
"That's very nice of you to do that for them," Cherry said, smiling.
I smiled faintly in return. "Would be better if I could figure out what my talent is." I touched a fore-hoof to my horn. "Haven't seen this thing glow mysteriously in a while."
"You've been busy getting ready to start school," said Sweetie Belle.
I sighed. "Yeah, and I'm afraid once school starts, I--"
"Candy?" said Mom as she stepped into the room, smiling. "It's for you."
I rolled my eyes and slid off my seat. "I could've told you that. What is it this time? Patch? Repair? Alteration?"
"None of the above," said Mom. "Just go look."
I raised an eyebrow. Why all the secrecy? I shrugged and headed out of the kitchen. Either way, maybe having something to do would keep my mind off things. Yet as I trotted into the front room, all other thoughts flew out of my head as my eyes fell upon our nocturnal visitor.
"Hello, Candy," said Princess Luna, a soft smile gracing her muzzle.
My eyes misted, and I trembled as I fought to contain myself. Yet the memory of what I had seen and heard was too fresh, and I gave into the urge to do what I should have done in the dream. I bolted across the room and hugged her.
She folded her wings around me. "Candy ..."
"I-I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help," I said in a quavering voice as I fought back tears. I pressed my face into her soft fur. "A-all that time, I never knew ... I never knew ..."
Her wings tightened around me. "Shh, it's okay."
"But y-you helped me so much, and the least I could do was--"
"Candy, please, stop," Luna said firmly. "Look at me."
I drew in a ragged breath as I lifted my head, my eyes meeting her teal gaze.
Luna smiled. "That's why I wanted to visit you tonight. I wanted to thank you as well. I didn't get a chance before as I had exhausted my energy in keeping that dream together." Her smile widened. "And I had my own pleasant dreams to attend to."
"But I-I didn't do anything!"
"Sometimes, all it takes a single look."
My eyes widened. "You saw me?"
"Yes. And Cherry. And Wuntusix." Her eyes misted. "Seeing you all together, knowing the love you felt for one another helped me realize some of the good I had done. Just like seeing the Crusaders reminded me of their nightmares I had dispelled. Twilight's words were powerful, but I needed a little more."
My lips twitched into a smile.
"You were not the sole reason I finally forgave myself, but you did play your part. Don't ever underestimate yourself, Candy Swirl."
My smile widened. That was the same thing Mom had said to me some time ago.
I could have wished to call Luna family. If my aunt back on Earth had even a fraction of her wisdom and love, maybe my home life would not have been on the list of things I was trying to run away from.
I hugged her one more time. "Thank you, Princess, this means a lot to me."
Luna returned the hug. "I must be off, but I am sure we will meet again soon, whether in the waking world or the dreamscape."
I smiled as I slowly pulled back. "I'll look forward to it either way."
Luna smiled before she slipped out the door. I held the door open with my magic for the pleasure of seeing her open her beautiful wings and fly off.
My smile remained as I stared up into the lovely night sky. For the first time in a long while, I truly felt good about myself. Now I could face the next challenges that awaited me, whether it be struggling to find my talent, or starting school, or dealing with a new round of peer pressure.
Or what my dear friend Cherry would have to tell me soon. I needed all my fortitude for that.