"To jealousy, nothing is more frightful than laughter."
-Francoise Sagan
I was confused. Tonight my sleep was not haunted by dreams of war. I came to just outside the front door to my house, and I was the human again- I mean, me again.
I gave my head a gentle shake, and pushed open the door.
The smell of freshly baked bread wafted into my nose, and I found myself waltzing right to the kitchen without another thought.
Instantly I was wrapped in a powerful hug by Stevie, as was his wont.
"Missed you," he said. I uneasily wrapped my arms around him too.
"Good to see you too. Go sit, it's dinner time."
He did as I asked, and I found myself raising an eyebrow. Stevie was certainly a bit more with it today than he usually was. Half the time he refused to leave his room unless he was allowed to bring his teddy with him.
"Where's Mr. Bear?" I asked. Stevie froze for a minute, and looked next to his cup, where he usually set the stuffed animal. I frowned. Here comes the Stevie I knew and loved.
When he saw nothing there, he started hyperventilating. Mom came around to one side to try and calm him, and I happened to see a little furry foot poking out from under the table. I recall Dad once saying, when we were really strapped for cash, that we might need to start selling off old stuff. He tried to convince Stevie to let Mr. Bear go to another kid who might need him.
As soon as the words left his lips, Stevie was a bawling mess. He was screaming that we couldn't take Mr. Bear away unless he could go too. He refused to eat or drink anything until Dad relented.
Ever since then, if the stuffed animal was out of his sight, he feared Dad having snuck away with it. He was already a sobbing mess, and Mom was doing what she could to keep him from ruining the rest of dinner- he'd already overturned a plate while pounding the table.
I pulled Mr. Bear up from where he fell, and shoved him into Stevie's face. It might seem rude to someone outside the family, but that was a surefire way to calm him down. It never failed.
And it didn't fail today. As soon as he figured out what was happening, his sobbing completely slowed to a halt, and he wasn't sending food all over the place anymore. There was a reason we never took him out to dinner when we had money.
"My, aren't you a good brother?" asked Mom. Her voice froze me, though. It wasn't Mom's voice. It sounded like someone else.
"Do you not recognize us?" she whispered. I finally got up the nerve to look at her.
"Princess of the Night, Luna?"
She grinned. "Very good! Please, have a seat."
I did as she asked. Part of my mind was berating me for not bowing to her first. As if sensing my turmoil, she shook her head.
"If anything, we should bow to you. Your dreams are your escapes. We are but a visitor."
"To what do I owe the honor?" I asked. "Can you please change back?"
She frowned. "Does this form not comfort you? We wished to make you feel at home."
I shook my head. "I just... this is all too new to me. May I ask why you are here today? You only come to end nightmares, right?"
I took a breath and looked at Stevie- he was feeding himself and Mr. Bear while paying us no attention- again, not unusual. Typical Stevie.
"Moreover, why do I know that?"
Princess Luna stood from her chair, and took the form I'd known her in. This time, however, she was far smaller- small enough to fit in our tiny kitchen. Additionally, I saw her flank- when I last saw her I remember seeing what looked like a crescent moon tattoo on it. Now, it looked like one of the symbols that the Japs used to talk to each other.
"Five hundred years."
I blinked. "Huh?"
She smiled comfortingly at me. "A pony's average life span is five hundred years."
I felt my blood run cold.
"You are but a filly because 16 years is still childhood. We took some years from you as well, as you have by now surely realized."
I blinked.
"You were taken far too early," she continued. "It was our desire to see you make a new life here."
"As a mare?" I gasped.
"We didn't choose your gender."
"Then who did?" I asked. Luna was silent for a moment, then pointed a hoof at me.
"You did, Sam."
I fell dead silent again, and she continued.
"The reason you feel as though you are losing yourself is because your mind is working on rewiring itself to better fit your new body. You unconsiously chose the body of a mare because some small part of you wished to run from your passing. Female Sam didn't die. Male Sam did."
Luna walked around the table to me. The kitchen I was in vanished. I barely paid any mind to Stevie's disappearance too.
I felt a hoof on my shoulder again. When I saw her flank again, the tattoo was different. It looked like a piece of parchment this time.
"Do not leave the ones you now know. They are good ponies to have in your life. I can think of none better."
I felt the tug again; the same that signaled my return to the waking world. Once more I looked to her. The mark had changed again- a cricket.
"Be good. I will see you again."
I awoke with a start to find myself still nestled against Pinkie, who was snoring loud enough that I wondered why no part of me mistook her for a tank.
I felt very guilty. I'd been considering her so insane in my mind, and maybe she was a little nutty, but she was kind.
I could feel my ears droop down. She wasn't trying to hurt me or scare me. She was just loud and bubbly, and slightly insane. Then again, who isn't a little bit out there?
She welcomed me into her home, if only for the night. I heard the pounding rain outside; had I been caught in that I wouldn't have slept. In addition, I'd gone to bed with a full stomach for the first time in what felt like ages.
I looked over my shoulder at the window. The sun was just barely making its way above the horizon. Again I rested my head against the pink menace. Yeah, I know. I just sang her praises, but think of it like this: how often do you come across someone who fits the title of pink menace? I rest my case.
She had her arm draped over me and I didn't want to risk waking her. At least, that's what I told myself.
Also, her fur is really soft.
I didn't feel myself fading again, even if I'd just slept 6 or fewer hours. Instead, I just listened to Pinkie's heartbeat.
I felt my brow rise. It seemed like even her resting heartbeat was extremely high. I felt a pang of worry, but was unsure I should be, considering just everything about this mare.
"Thank you," I whispered. I just barely caught her ears twitch in response.
She awoke once the sun began to send more of its rays into the window- directly into her eyes, no less. Surprisingly, she didn't seem bothered. That certainly would have annoyed me.
Her body tensed up, and slowly her eyes looked to me. I blinked at her.
A look of relief washed over her face. Hey, she remembered me!
"Morning morning morning!" she chirped.
"Good morning, Pink Menace."
She both helped me to stand and stood herself in one swift motion. Oddly, she didn't react to my nickname.
"How'dja sleep? I slept really really good! I dreamt there was this pony who had amnesia that made him forget everything up to the day he got amnesia, and I was dating him, and every day I had to come up with a new way to meet him and hit it off, and-"
She took a huge gulp of air, which prompted me to take a step back for fear of being inhaled.
"-Then we became special someponies and there was a stallion he chased away from me with a baseball bat!"
She grinned at me. "And then I woke up."
"I slept okay," I said, and against my wishes a small smile formed on my face, prompting her grin to become wider.
She then defied physics and leapt into the air with a cheer. When she landed, she pointed a hoof at me.
"I got you to smile!"
Still smiling, I only nodded gently.
"Thank you," I said softly. "For last night."
She tilted her head, so I tried to clarify.
"I was sad. You found me by the window."
She remained still.
"You hugged me."
She nodded. There it is. "Right! I like hugs. They're like cupcakes taken physical form."
"You mean cupcakes?"
She grinned. "Yeah! Speaking of, it's time for breakfast. Then I'll help you find your family!"
Gulp.