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Chapter One: Something Soft1,231 words
Chapter Two: This Empty Castle3,681 words
Chapter Three: Carefully Chosen Words3,727 words
Chapter Four: Bound to Find Something Eventually2,769 words
Chapter Five: The Clausterphobic Forest3,888 words
Chapter Six: Darkness and Doors4,021 words
Chapter Seven: The Day of the Storm4,299 words
Chapter Eight: Somnus Oblivionis5,137 words
Chapter Nine: A Secret Place6,159 words
Chapter Ten: Waiting for You6,154 words

Chapter Ten: Waiting for You

Princess Luna wrapped up a scroll with one of her royal seals and sent it off with her magic. She turned away from her writing desk and casually cantered through her bedchamber and over to a small cabinet on the other side of the room; retrieving a small tea-set and burner from within the cabinet.

She prepared the kettle and lit a small flame on the burner with her magic, and as she was debating between chamomile and black ginseng tea when she heard a burst of magic behind her; and turned around to see Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Spike standing in the middle of the room amidst a cloud of dispersing magical sparkles.

“Why didn’t we just use that spell to get to the building?” Spike wobbled off balance and dizzily held his head.

“Cause I didn’t know where the building was.” Twilight said, standing normal. “Teleportation only works if you’ve been to both locations before or are teleporting somewhere within the general area.”

Spike sat down onto the floor still holding his head. “Why couldn't we’ve just taken the train? That spell always make me dizzy.”

“Good afternoon my subjects.” Princess Luna joined the conversation. “We weren’t expecting you to arrive so soon. By ‘immediately’ we assumed you would have arrived by nightfall.”

Twilight chuckled an apology to the princess. “We would’ve come later but Rainbow felt that we shouldn’t waste any time. Right Dash?” Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash who had been simply staring at the two ponies as they talked. “Dash? Are you okay?”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. She could see her mouth moving but couldn’t hear what she was saying. It was then Rainbow Dash realized that she couldn’t hear anything at all except for a sharp ringing in her ears.

“I.. I...” Rainbow Dash stammered. “I can’t hear anything. Twilight, I can’t hear anything!”

Rainbow Dash began to freak out. She started to hyperventilate, looking around frantically before aggressively tapping her hooves to her ears. “Twilight I can’t hear anything!” She yelled again.

“Celestia, no.” Twilight remarked. “She’s got magical Intemperance.”

“Magical what?” Spike said.”

“Magical Intemperance.” Princess Luna repeated as she stepped between the two ponies. “It means she’s been exposed to too much magic recently. What’s happened to her?”

“I used Somnus Oblivionis on her,” Twilight explained. “After she came into my bedchamber last night.”

“Somnus Oblivionsis?” Luna’s eyes went wide. “But that spell is only meant for-”

“I know I know,” Twilight interjected “I should’ve used something that wasn’t as strong, but I thought she’d be over its effects by now. Especially after her memory returned. The teleportation spell must’ve overloaded her brain and incapacitated her ear drums.”

“I can’t hear anything you’re saying!” Rainbow Dash yelled through hysterical cries.

Twilight levitated some parchment and a quill out of her saddlebag and scrawled a quick note, explaining the situation to Rainbow Dash.

“What do you mean too much magic?” Rainbow Dash yelled, unable to control the volume of her own voice.

“Let us see.” Luna said as she enveloped Rainbow Dash’s head with her gentle magic. The blue pegasus recoiled as if she were in pain and began to thrash, trying to move away from the spell field.

“Get your filthy magic away from me!”

“There’s nothing to fear.” Luna said confidently, releasing Rainbow Dash’s ears from her magic. “Her hearing will return. Magical Intemperance never causes any permanent impairments. Since she doesn’t want magic we’ll just have to wait for her hearing to return on it’s own.”

“What’s she saying?”

Twilight flipped the parchment over and scrawled another note.

“How long do I have to wait?”

“It could take a few min-” Luna began to answer but let her sentence end with a quick sigh. Grabbing the parchment from Twilight, she wrote her own note and showed it to the deaf pegasus. Once she read the note, Princess Luna motioned everypony over to a pair of sofas by the far end of the bedchamber.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and reluctantly trudged across the room and slumped down into the sofa, looking off to the side; annoyed. At the same time, the tea kettle had started to whistle and Luna prepared cups of chamomile tea for her guests.

“You would think for somepony of her physical strength she’d be more resistant to magical side effects.” Luna mused as she sat on the couch opposite of Rainbow Dash. She hovered a teacup and saucer into Rainbow’s vision and was quickly waved away, so she placed the cups on the table in front of everypony.

“Maybe she doesn’t have enough points in Constitution.” Spike joked as he sat down next to Rainbow Dash.

“Constitution?” Luna asked, confused.

“You know, like in the game Ogres and Oubliettes.” Spike explained. “You get to pick different attributes for your character that represent your characters’ different physical and mental abilities.”

“But isn’t Constitution usually used against things like poison?” Twilight asked, sitting down herself. “Wouldn’t Wisdom be better since wisdom saves are used against charms and mind magic?”

“But Wisdom is mostly used for judgment and willpower” Spike pointed out.

“Really depends on what edition we’re talking about.” Twilight irreverently intoned.

“Doesn’t the fifth edition have Sanity?” Spike recalled. “That could work.”

“Sanity is just an optional thing for unnatural or supernatural situations.” Twilight corrected. “Wouldn’t do much good against spellcasting.”

“But,” Spike restated. “Most spells require some sort of save. Either Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, or something else.”

“It really depends on what the spell does.” Twilight added.

“Right.” Spike continued. “So Constitution could work, since in this case the spell caused a physical impairment to Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight thought for a moment. “I guess that is more fitting than Wisdom.” She mused.

Luna chuckled at the complexity of Twilight and Spike’s conversation.

“This Ogres and, Oubliettes, you called it? Sure does sound complicated.” Luna remarked. “When we was a filly we just either played with horseshoes or dice.”

Rainbow Dash looked over to see Luna and Twilight engaged in conversation but still couldn't make out a single word they were saying over the high pitch ringing in her ears. She could only make out the tiniest low pitched resonant cadences of their voices, which was more than she could hear before, but she felt like she wouldn’t hear any more any time soon, so she just sank herself back into the couch and stared up at the ceiling.

“-and I got a nightstand that used to be owned by Saddle Arabian royalty,” Twilight explained, having wildly changed the subject. “and even a gryphon armoire that was made before the Great Gryphon war. Back when they were making their furniture out of Eagle Spruce before they consumed all of their lumber for the war-effort.”

“T’is a rare find indeed!” Luna said, oddly ecstatic.

“I know!” Twilight exclaimed. “Could you imagine my surprise that I was able to find something that rare, right here in Equestria of all places?”

“We can only imagine.” Luna said. “Gryphon furniture has been made primarily of Equestrian Oak since the war ended, finding any piece of furniture made from Eagle Spruce means it’s almost as old as this very castle.”

“Speaking of Gryphons” Twilight said. “Rainbow’s been having some pretty weird dreams about them lately.”

“Oh? What about?”

“Something about them burning a forest,” Twilight said, misattributing the dream. “and having to hide in a town for safety.”

“They were burning the town.” Rainbow Dash corrected. “I had to hide in the forest for safety.”

“Rainbow your hearing’s returned?” Twilight exclaimed. “That’s wonderful.”

Rainbow Dash thrust her hoof against twilight’s mouth, shushing her. “Please don’t talk so loud. It hurts my ears.”

“Oh sorry,” Twilight whispered. “I forgot your ears would be sensitive for a while.”

“Burning a town huh?” Luna said, speaking at a lower register than usual.

“Yeah, it was called St. Hoofsburg or something like that.” Rainbow Dash. “The gryphons were burning the town to the ground and I had to run into the woods for safety.”

“St. Hoofsburg?” Luna’s eyes widened ever so slightly, but only in a controlled regal way that only a princess could manage; so nopony picked up on her consternation.

“Or something like that.” Rainbow Dash repeated. “Although I may have just confused the name with Hoofington or Saddleburg or something. I have been under a lot of stress lately.”

“It very well could be the stress.” Luna nodded. “Stress does do some pretty terrific things to us ponies.”

“Now hang on a minute.” Twilight cut into their conversation. “It couldn’t be stress, I saw St Hoofsburg on many of the letters we found in the administration office, so it has to be the name of a town.”

“Administration office?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What administration office?”

“Oh that’s right! We didn’t get a chance to tell you.” Twilight said, exlpaining to Rainbow Dash about finding the poetry and the various documents inside the administration office. “I have them right here.” She levitated them out of her saddlebag and placed them gently on the table. “I theorized the building was some kind of hospital or weapon smuggling operation.”

Rainbow Dash looked over the files and correspondence letters for the first time. “That’s interesting, I thought something like that too. Well, not the weapon smuggling part. But that it was some sort of asylum or sanitarium given how industrious the cafeteria, kitchens, and bathrooms looked and then…” She let her sentence trail off as she looked through the profiles of various foals, suddenly remembering why she even wanted to see the princess in the first place. “And then I found this ghost pony in one of the bedrooms who said he had been waiting there for Princess Luna... This one!” She said as she pulled out Rain Chaser’s file. ”Even says he was brought in from St Hoofsburg.”

Suddenly everypony looked at Princess Luna and they all stared at her with varying degrees of surprise.

Princess Luna looked between her afternoon audience, meeting their expectant stares. Without saying a word, she sighed and rose from the couch, moving silently across the room to a barren section of wall. Everypony exchanged confused glances as the Princess’ horn began to light up, and soon an intricate pattern of matching colored light began to appear on the wall as well; before suddenly sliding open, revealing a secret alcove with a single large leather-bound book inside.

The Princess grabbed the book with her magic and returned back to where everypony was sitting and set it down in front of them.

“I guess we can’t pretend we don’t know anything anymore.” Luna said, opening the book.

“What’s the deal?” Rainbow Dash asked as Luna flipped through the tome looking for a specific page. “What’s up with all these foals?”

“And the building?” Twilight added.

“And St Hoofsburg?” Spike chimed in as well. “I haven't even heard of that place until today.”

Luna didn’t respond at first, instead she reached the page she was looking for and gave it a quick glance-over as if to refresh her memory.

“We wouldn’t expect you to have heard of St Hoofsburg” The princess said, looking up. “As for the foals and the building? You were both correct and incorrect, in some ways. The building was a place of care, that is true, but it wasn’t a hospital or an asylum, nor was it used for smuggling weapons.”

“Why wouldn’t you expect us to have heard of St Hoofsburg though?” Spike inquired.

“St Hoofsburg was a town on the edge of Western Equestria.” Luna began. “A territory controlled by the Palominos before they were annexed into Equestria. The town was destroyed by the gryphons as part of a four-front offensive during the Great Gryphon War. Many towns and settlements that didn’t have a large military presence were razed by the invading army in an attempt to eventually surround Canterlot on all sides; it was a common gryphon tactic to vice grip their foes.” Luna made a demonstrating semi-circular squeezing motion with her hooves as she spoke.

“Hold on.” Twilight interrupted. “I’ve studied the Great Gryphon War at length and I haven’t read anything about Equestria annexing territories, or gryphons destroying settlements. They were reported to have always fought in pitched battles.”

“We aren’t surprised you haven’t read anything about this.” Luna said rather darkly. “Seeing as most of what happened during the war wasn’t recorded, as was the case with much of the pre-classical era. That’s why we have to rely so heavily on eyewitness reccountings such as these.”

Luna flipped to a different page and turned the book around so the rest could see.

Twilight leaned forward and could see it was a hoof-written accord, almost like a journal entry, detailing the besiegement practices of the gryphon army.

“So you were, documenting the war?” Twilight spoke aloud as she read.

“No necessarily, just what we happened to encounter ourselves.” Luna explained. “After the war, Celestia was very particular about what she wanted to be documented, such as the ‘pitched battles’. Everything else was swept away with the sands of time.”

Rainbow Dash took the book from Twilight and looked at it herself, pawing through the pages like a cat with a toy before landing on a page with a detailed drawing of a pair of black wings.

“What is this symbol?” Rainbow Dash turned the book so Luna could see. “I’ve seen it in my dreams, and we’ve even seen it in the Everfree Forest. There was a camp with this symbol on everything.”

“It’s the battle insignia of the gryphon army.” Luna stated plainly. “They wore it on their armor, on their flags, even on their dinner plates. You won’t find it inside any history book or even depicted anywhere in Griffinstone. It’s another relic lost in time just like most of the pre-classical era. Not even the current gryphons know this was the insignia their ancestors fought and died under… Another thing Celestia didn’t want remembered.”

Everypony was silent for a moment, as if none of them had anything to say to seamlessly move the conversation forward. Eventually, after some thought, Luna spoke again.

“It should go without saying that what you’re reading and what we are telling you is one of a few unfiltered first-hoof classified accounts of Equestrian history; and must be treated with the utmost confidentiality.”

So then why are you even showing it to us?” Spike asked.

“So I could answer your questions.” Luna said, losing her royal ‘we’. “I was there the morning after St Hoofsburg was attacked. I saw things I dare not endure to recall, but I also found foals while wandering the fields and forest. Those that had survived the night were cold, hungry, and alone. The gryphons had killed the entire adult population of the town, leaving the foals to fend for themselves.”

Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Twilight all sat back in the sofa, stunned into silence at what princess Luna was saying to them.”

“I couldn’t just leave them in the fields, and since sister was personally dealing with the war I had to do something, so I brought the foals to an abandoned teaching hospital a few miles to the north to try and tend to them.”

“Why not just take them to a normal hospital?” Spike found the courage to speak.

“Were they all full because of the war?” Rainbow Dash inquired as well.

“While Celestia was off leading the front lines, something about being the eldest and the commander of the armies in times of war,” Luna recalled. “I was tasked with her princessly duties. Running the castle, writing her treatises, and, most importantly, caring for the citizens.”

“As the war waged on,” Luna said after a sip of tea. “The amount of injured and displaced ponies grew. We were able to divert the adults into mainland Equestria while the outer territories were being defended, but there wasn’t much we could do about the children orphaned from the war. You see, that was a common gryphon tactic to only kill adult ponies, never children. Maybe it was some code of honor or maybe just an act of attrition, we don’t know.”

Twilight and Spike reached for their own teacups, reaching down for them whilst maintaining eye contact with the princess.

“All of Equestria’s resources were being used for the war effort.” Luna continued. “Food, iron, medical supplies. Most of our schools, hospitals, and other service buildings were left empty and unusable as Celestia called for nationwide conscription, only those who weren’t mothers or nurses were called into service as the tides of war were turning away from Equestria’s favor.”

“But what does that have to do with these foals?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“There wasn’t anypony available to care for them...” Luna said, getting to the point of her tale. “Injured soldiers routinely filled the hospitals. Foals that were healthy were able to be sent to some of the mother’s households but they soon filled up as well. More and more foals were orphaned each day as the gryphons annexed more territory. So I decided to turn the teaching hospital into a permanent place where they could be taken in, housed, educated, and cared for until they became adults. I ordered the building to be repaired in secret and expanded to comfortably accommodate any foal we brought in. Adding living quarters, classrooms, and even a statue similar to the one outside St Hoofsburg since a large a large amount of foals came from that town specifically…” Luna paused for a moment. “I even enchanted the Everfree Forest to grow around and conceal the building. I figured that anygryphon who came looking for us would be dissuaded by the forest's myths, but I also enchanted the land so that anygryphon brave enough to come within a few miles of the building would be more or less exterminated by the forest.”

“That explains why Gilda was attacked by the forest.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Or why those gryphon skeletons were inside those vines.” Spike added.

“That all sounds so… so..” Twilight searched for an appropriate word. ‘

“Barbaric?” Spike finished her sentence for her.

“We were fighting a war.” Luna refilled her tea. “Things were different back then. We had a much different mindset than the one you ponies have developed after a thousand years of peace. Back then we were defending our country, defending our lives.”

“So what happened next?” Spike asked, oddly engrossed in Luna’s story.

“As time went on.” Luna recounted. “More foals came into our care. Those who could be brought back into the mainland were integrated into any orphanage or family that had room for them. But for the most part this place was their home. I would visit the foals on a nightly basis. I educated them, fed them, read them stories. I was their headmistress, their nurse and their mentor... You could say, in a way, that I grew attached to them. I didn’t have any foals of my own, and still don’t, but I cared for these foals as if they were my own. I grew so attached even, that once the war had ended I proposed a new lunar colony for those that I had raised in secrecy to continue prospering in the moonlight. But sister forbade it. She theorized that the kingdom was too new and too weak from the war and wouldn’t be able to sustain a new colony and ordered that I was to return to my nightly duties.” Luna paused, taking a moment to collect herself. “Suffice to say I became resentful. For all I did to protect the foals, for all I did to take care of the kingdom while sister was at war, she wouldn’t entertain the idea of my Lunar Republic. I pleaded and pleaded with sister to reconsider, which soon turned into demands, threats, and day-long arguments. By the next moonrise I was so consumed by bitterness and rage that I had transformed into Nightmare Moon and refused to lower the moon ever again.”

“But we were always taught that you transformed into Nightmare Moon because ponies shunned your night.” Spike cut in.

Luna’s countenance shifted for a moment, as if a thousand years of resentment had begun to stir up within her again, but it was washed away with another royal sip of tea.

“They say that history is written by the victors.” Luna said after swallowing. “However, I say that history is written according to the necessities and possibilities of current politics.”

Everypony exchanged glances, confused by Luna’s statement.

“Additionally,” She went on. “The passage of time usually shifts the answer to the question ‘who really won?”. Yes, The Equestrian army was victorious in defeating the gryphons in the Great Gryphon War, but the gryphons of today are now beloved allies to Equestria and even serve as a cursory defense against invaders. Just like the myth that gryphons only fought in pitched battles came about to hide the truth of their atrocities, so too was the myth that Nightmare Moon, the wicked mare of darkness that slayed the ponies who shunned her night, was created to hide the fact that she went on a rampage over a proposed lunar colony. It’s more comforting for all parties than to know the truth.”

“So what does this history lesson have to do with my dreams?” Rainbow Dash said, growing bored of listening to politics. “What does this have to do with this Rain Chaser?”

“This foal you saw in the bedroom, Rain Chaser. He was one of my foals. Yes.’ Luna said. “We found him and his sister outside of St Hoofsburg, wandering the White Tail Woods. I took them them to the orphanage and cared for them just like all the others. I always told the foals two things, we stressed it with a grave importance. If they went outside they would surely parish, as we were in the middle of contested Gryphon-Equestrian territory, and that when we left for our daily duties they were to wait for my return. That I would always return at night and they were safe as long as they waited for me.”

Luna swallowed as a sudden realization settled into her just like the tea in her stomach.

“But once I became Nightmare Moon, nopony ever came for them.” Luna said dolefully. “They couldn’t, they wouldn’t have had any idea they were there. I concealed the orphanage so well that nopony knew a thing about it. Even the train-workers who would deliver the foals to me though they were delivering construction materials or medical supplies.” She absentmindedly looked through her old correspondence letters. “The only other pony how knew what I was doing was one of the conductors, and on his last delivery he believed the gryphons were following him. Judging how I never heard from him again, and judging by how you said you saw signs of the gryphon army in the forest, I wouldn’t doubt he was correct in his assumptions.”

“So that means…” Rainbow Dash began to say.

“When I got banished there was nopony there to take care of them anymore.” Luna said with one last sip of tea. “Nopony there to feed them or nurture them...We can’t imagine any of them survived the winter.”

“Those poor foals.” Twilight said sadly. “Waiting for you to return, wondering why you weren’t coming back for them.”

“Yeah, no kidding” Spike said.

“So why me?” Rainbow Dash said. “Why am I the one to find this foal? Why am I having dreams of being taken through the woods to an orphanage? Dreams of reciting poetry? Dreams of, of, gryphons killing ponies? Of foals freezing to death?”

“That unfortunately, is something I do not have an answer for.” Luna said sympathetically. “If we were to guess though, we would theorize that it could be in part due to your connection to the element of harmony. Every generation a new group of ponies connect with the elements of the personality trait they most resemble. As I cared for the foals I can recall at least three of them who began to show a connection to the elements. Honesty, Magic, and, in Rain Chaser’s case, Loyalty. However it’s just a theory. It could just so happen that you were chosen because you are close enough to me and vulnerable enough to have your dreams infiltrated. Since you don’t have, what was it you said spike? Enough points in Wisdom?”

“Constitution.” Spike dutifully corrected.

“If we want to know for sure we could always try viewing one of her dreams.”

“We already tried that though.” Rainbow Dash said sourly.

“Remember I sent you a letter?” Twilight amended. “You said you weren’t able to find anything unusual, despite Rainbow stating you and her had a conversation in that very dream.”

“We had no such conversation.” Luna said, her suspicions seemingly confirmed. “If it were a vision created by a spirit and not a dream created from mortal cognition then my dream magic wouldn’t be able to detect it. I’d have to use a very specific type of magic to see into higher or lower planes of existence. If you ever studied astral projection you’d know that spirits are on a plane above ours and can easily cross between the two. Sometimes they can become trapped on our mortal plane, so to know for sure we’d just need our rainbow-colored friend to fall asleep.”

“She’s already way ahead of you.” Spike pointed to Rainbow Dash who had fallen asleep on the couches armrest.

“But.. How is that possible?” Luna marveled. “We were speaking to each other just moments ago.”

“She’s been doing that a lot recently.” Twilight said apologetically. “She kept falling asleep mid-conversation on the train earlier. She really hasn’t been sleeping well lately.”

“No matter.” Princess Luna’s eyes and horn began to shine a brilliant white, connecting with the sleeping head of Rainbow Dash with a thin, white ethereal magical chord.

“Hmm, I only see darkness” Luna said turning her head.. “Maybe I need to go higher? Wait… My eyes just opened.” The princess craned her head, as if she were looking around the room. “I see walls… floorboards… I’m in a bedroom.” Luna began to narrate aloud what she was seeing. “I recognize it as one of the bedrooms in the orphanage. It’s cold, I’m shivering, and I’m running out into the hallway as if I’m looking for somepony. I feel… sad, abandoned… I’m calling out to somepony. ‘Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash why’d you leave me?’ I’m running down the stairs, into the classrooms, into the administration office, through the corridors and into the lunchroom. ‘Don’t leave me!” Luna was shouting this time. ‘Don’t leave me alone again!”

“It’s just like Warriors and Wizards’ Spike whispered to Twilight.

Shortly after Luna came out of her trance, her magic dispersing in a flash, a steady stream of tears were rolling down her face.

“Forgive us.” Luna said wiping her eyes. “It’s been some time since I’ve seen those halls, since I’ve heard that voice. But this confirms my suspicion that Rain Chaser is trying to use friend Rainbow as a conduit to cross over but might be held back by some lingering regrets.”

“Look how tense she is.” Spike announced as everypony watched Rainbow Dash’s face and hooves twist and contort in discomfort.

“I’d imagine that these visions are taking quite the physical toll on her.” Luna said as her horn lit up and quickly zapped Rainbow Dash with a bolt of magic. Her body instantly uncoiled and her face returned to a normal, rested, expression. “Dream for a while,” She whispered to Rainbow Dash. “of the things that make you smile.”

Princess Luna then stood from the table and collected her leather book.

“It’s decided then.” She said as she returned the book to to the alcove inside the wall. “We’ll return to this orphanage in the morning. You can all sleep here for the night, and on the morrow we shall put to rest this chapter of history once and for all.” She closed the wall with her magic and bid them a good evening, departing for her nightly duties.

“Wait!” Spike said, suddenly digging through Twilight’s saddlebag and pulling out one of his comic books. Taking it over to Princess Luna who had stopped in the doorway. “I want you to have this, I think it would mean a lot to you.’

“An issue of Warriors and Wizards?” Luna questioned as she took the comic in her magic.

“Behind the comic” Spike said, motioning Luna to open it.

“Oh… Ooooh.” She said as she opened the comic pulled the stack of poetry out from inside. She fanned out the pages, looking at each of the poems, taking a moment to read each of them individually; Tearing up as did. “Thank you little one. This indeed does mean a lot to me, more than you could ever know.”

***

Princess Luna and the gang returned to the orphanage the next day and stepped inside the bedroom, only to find there was nothing there except for the Luna doll still sitting in the middle of the room.

“He’s not here,” Spike said, shivering. “and it’s still so cold in here!”

“He’s here.” Luna said as her horn began to glow. “He’s just shy around unfamiliar ponies. Just a moment.”

Luna shot a beam into the ground, causing a shockwave of magic to radiate away from the initial cast point. Moving outward, covering the floor and climbing the walls, and revealing Rain Chaser in the back of the room as the magic passed over him.

“What are you doing here, Rain Chaser?” Princess Luna asked.

Rain Chaser was surprised at first, looking down at his ethereal form, but then looked up, smiling, and ran over to Luna and hugged her in a tight embrace.

“I was waiting for you momma, just like you told me to.” He said, looking up at the Princess with tears of joy in his eyes. “Now you can bring the others back and we can frolic in the moonlight again!”

“No Rain Chaser, momma can’t do that.” Luna said flatly. “The others have crossed over already, and you need to as well.”

“But…” Rain Chaser choked up. “I waited for you.”

The ghost foal began to weep, and Luna kneeled down, making her face level with his. “Ssshh, don’t cry.” She said. But the foal did cry, making wordless sobbing sounds and Luna tried to console him.

“Sweetie, you’re not alive anymore.” Luna said, running her hoof through Rain Chaser’s mane. “The others aren’t either. They moved on a long time ago, and you need to as well.”

“I don't want to!” Rain Chaser protested. “I’ve been waiting for you just like you told me to. I followed all the rules. I did everything I was supposed to do! The others left me behind saying you weren’t coming back, they didn’t believe me when I said you were, and they left me here all alone. I knew you were going to come back. I waited for you. I… I… I…”

Luna gave Rain Chaser an indignant stair that only mothers could take with their young.

“I… I didn’t want to go without you.” Rain Chaser sat down and cried softly. “I’m sorry.”

“And I’m sorry for making you wait so long.” Luna wiped his eyes with her hooves. “Momma got into some trouble trying to make her night last forever and she had to go away for a long time. She thought about you and the others every day, but I thought for sure you would’ve all crossed over by now.”

Rain Chaser didn’t respond, he only continued to cry quietly to himself.

“But I should've know momma’s little element of loyalty was going to wait for her!” Luna said smiling. Rain Chaser looked up and smiled back. They both laughed and shared in a hug.

“But listen Rain Chaser.” Luna’s tone got serious again. “There's nothing here for you anymore. What we had... What we did here... It truly was a special time, and it means the world to me, but that time’s over now.”

“But it isn’t fair!” Rain Chaser began to protest again. “I never got to have a life. I never got to grow up… What did I do wrong?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong little one” Luna said, wiping her eyes. “I did. I did you wrong… I did all of you wrong.” Luna stifled a gasp, holding herself back from crying. After a moment though, she regained her royal composure. “I was supposed to protect you, keep you safe, I was the only pony who could, and I failed you.”

Rain Chaser reached up and wiped away a tear that had begun to roll down Luna’s cheek. “Don’t cry momma, you didn’t fail me, you did your best.”

“You were always such a sweet child.” Luna said. “But you have to listen to momma, Rain Chaser. The times we spent together were great, and I’m glad we got to share them together, but you need to go now. You need to join the others.”

“But…”

“Aren’t you cold, Rain Chaser?”

“But I”

“Aren’t you cold?”

“...yes.”

“Don’t you want to see your friends again?” Luna asked as twenty-something foals appeared behind the doorway. A shimmering radiance had consumed the hallway, catching Rainbow Dash and friends by surprise. “Look dear, I brought them with me. They told me that they want you to go with them. They’ve been waiting for you to cross over all this time. They want to help you across and make sure you don’t get lost again.”

As Luna spoke, a yellow filly stepped out of the hallway and into the room and stood beside Princess Luna.

“You’re right, she does kinda look like Fluttershy.” Twilight whispered to Spike.

“I even brought your sister, Sandy Shores.” Luna said, petting the yellow filly’s head. “She is quite lonely, and still waiting for you. She misses you, she wants to play with you again.”

“It’s true. “Sand Shores said. “Momma’s there too. Our real momma!. She’s been waiting for you, for us, this whole time!”

Rain Chaser looked at Princess Luna, then at Sandy Shores, and finally at the foals standing in the blinding light of the hallway, and for a long moment he was quiet. Everypony was quiet.

“Are you going to be there?” He finally asked.

“I’ll be there.” Luna said, not holding her tears back this time. “And the night lasts forever if you want them to. You can have all of your favorite snacks and there aren’t any bedtimes... It’s where you belong now.”

Rain Chaser was silent again, this time for even longer. Eventually, he slowly rose to his hooves. He picked up his Luna doll and held it close to himself with one hoof. He began to walk towards the door with princess Luna by his side, lovingly stroking his mane, but when they got halfway to the door Rain Chaser suddenly stopped. Everypony watched as he walked over to Rainbow Dash and held the doll out to her.

“Here.” He said offering the doll to Rainbow Dash. “I want you to have this. I… I don’t need it anymore.”

Rainbow Dash was speechless. She wordlessly took the doll, and before she could muster a response Rain Chaser wrapped his hooves around her and hugged her tight.

“Thanks for coming.” He said. “I knew you were going to be able to help. Sorry about all the nightmares.”

“Heh, Don’t mention it kiddo.” Rainbow Dash said trying to sound cool but couldn’t control herself from choking up. “It’s… It’s what I do.”

And then, with nothing left to connect him to the orphanage, Rain Chaser galloped over to Princess Luna and grabbed her by the hoof.

“Can there be poetry recitals too?” He asked Luna as they walked out of the room. As they crossed the threshold of the door the rest of the foals began to follow behind them, walking past the many bedrooms were they used to sleep. They made smalltalk with Rain Chaser about all the fun things they were going to do together until they began to slowly fade away, one by one, until only Rain Chaser and Princess Luna remained.

They stopped at the end of the hallway, standing besides each other at the top of the stairs when Rain Chaser himself began to finally fade away from reality like the fuzz of an old television that had been switched off.

“I’ll see you on the other side.” Rain Chaser said, almost completely invisible. “Thanks for everything that you’ve done for me. I love you.”

And the, Rain Chaser was gone. So too was the brilliant light, replaced by the warmth of the morning sun.

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