Opened her eyes.
Slowly.
Light with its white ceiling.
Cold.
Sharp, medicinal stench.
Coughed.
Throbbing head.
Rubbed it.
Clothed in a white robe, on a white bed.
"Not...again..."
Shut her eyes.
"So, Arctic Lily," the white-suited doctor across the table said, holding up his papers closer to his eyes, "your recovery has been quite normal. You're the Crystal equivalent of an Earth pony, so it's no surprise that you've survived with only a few minor injuries."
She sat there, watching every little movement of his hooves with the paper.
A doctor's cramped room stuffed with more papers and a few diplomas hanging on the wall.
"You've said that this is not the first time you've been through this. Is that correct?"
Arctic Lily nodded. "That is correct."
"Then, you don't need to hear a repeat of the typical advice we give to ponies like you."
"I know."
The doctor nodded. "It's not your fault that you keep moving to places targeted by your kind. I'm no strategist, but I do know there's one thing they're getting out of this."
"Fear," she spoke.
He nodded again. "We're letting you go. Just remember to take care of yourself out there. Not everypony's this nice to you."
"I know."
She stood up.
The blue Crystal mare was alone on the path.
Ahead, it continued straight on for miles and miles.
On her right, a range of snow-peaked mountains and its surrounding hills, touching the blue sky. Fields of browning grass strewn about, unmarred and unharmed by a soldier or his weapon.
On her left, a quiet and idle farm. Half of the fields were ready with their potato leaves sticking out. The rest were just brown dirt.
The trees that graced the path were dying, their leaves falling one by one.
Wind blew by her.
Lily's mane flowing.
Walked on.
Miles after, the same dirt path.
Sat on the lonely railroad and its crossing with the path.
Beside her, shrubs of honeysuckle.
Around her, nothing much but fields of more grass and solitary cottages and manors too far away for one to discern the details. Past that, more mountains.
Late afternoon, the sun coming towards the horizon.
She grabbed some honeysuckles from the shrubs.
Ate them.
Their sweet taste coursing down her throat.
A smile flickered on her face.
Rumbling tracks.
Leaped out of the railroad.
Turned around.
Not that far away, an approaching train shrilling with a whistle.
She waved a hoof at it. "Over here! I need a pick-up!"
Train hasting on, closer and closer.
"Can you hear me?!"
Tracks shook, whistle louder.
Deafening.
Whooshed by her.
Intense breeze, flapping her mane about.
Closed her eyes.
Then, at the other side, the train speeding away.
She groaned and kicked the ground.
Grabbed most of the honeysuckles left and dressed up her gray blue mane with them, tying the berries with locks of hair.
"When you have no bag," she commented to herself.
Crossed the railroad.
Kept walking.
Night.
Under the chirps of crickets and other insects, she sat by the trunk of a tree.
To her right, the path extended for yet more, disappearing behind a rising hill lightly forested with a copse of trees. To her left, a surging river and a little bridge.
Colder. Freezing.
She shivered, hugged herself at yet another gust.
Looked up.
The night sky with its stars and its moon.
"Princess Luna?"
Looked down on the grass she lay on.
Lied down.
Closed her eyes.
"I wanted to bring the most cherished thing ever in my life," the stallion before her said across the table, both of them sitting by the bridge of a bustling city, ponies galloping by on the sidewalks and ignoring them.
Pulled out a bell and rang it.
"Why?" she asked.
"To remember me," he said. "It has a distinct sound. Kind of hollow compared to the other bells. But, if you hear it, even if you're surrounded by bell-ringing crowds, then you'll know that somewhere, out there, someone remembers me. Hopefully, that would be you and my family and others who know me."
She looked around. "Why? But, I—"
"It's a bell that will rule all the bells in the world!" he yelled, standing up on the table and raising the bell high up in the air. "It's whimsical, but it's the bell that will ring throughout this land and bring upon centuries and millenia of innovation and excellence!"
Lily threw herself out of her chair, stepping back and watching the stallion in dread. "What are you doing? Are you mad?!"
Ponies galloping by, jostling about and pushing her away.
"They'll know me!" he shouted. "They'll know me! They'll say that I'm out but, no, I'll be more than out! Everything's out if it doesn't obey by the beckon of the bell!"
His eyes glowed green.
"No!" Lily screamed.
Pushed out.
Floated away.
Covered in a blue glow.
Scenes whizzing by her as she zoomed away.
"What?! What's happening?"
Plopped down on a sunny grass field.
Struggled, stood up.
Saw dark blue hooves.
Gasped.
Looked at the figure's face.
Her ethereal mane.
"Have no fear," Princess Luna spoke, putting a hoof on her shoulder.
"Princess Luna?!"
Cowered and kneeled down before her.
"Please...please don't banish me! I don't deserve anything from you and your sister, but give me mercy! I plead mercy!"
Luna patted her on the shoulder. "I do not seek to banish you."
Opened her eyes, tears forming.
"I desire to comfort ponies in their dreams," she said, her hair still flowing about. "That goes beyond our own subjects, for you dream, too."
"But...I-I'm always the enemy!" Lily said, shrinking in fear. "No matter where I go, I can tell they're not really trusting me! They always have that mistrust in their eyes! Just when they look at my eyes, they know I'm a Crystal pony and think that I'm a spy or an infiltrator or some other secret espionage kind of pony!"
Shook her head, tears running out.
"No! I'm not! I just want to live a happy life, a life where I could go and be happy! We used to be happy, but then...then...the king...then we escaped...then, e-everything..."
Luna held her closer. "I know, Arctic Lily. I know."
Lily burst into tears, hugging her as the sobs echoed out on the countryside.
Letting it all out.
To fall to a whimper. A weak and limp whimper.
"Remember that not everyone views you with such cynicism and doubt. Do you recall Double Pass, the doctor who checked up on you? And, before that, there was that family of unicorns? Quick Frosting and Steeplechase? Do you not remember them and their wholehearted trust in your word, believing that you are not like many others who, sadly, did not escape from their tyrant?"
She looked up again, her face doused with dried tears.
"I know you do, Lily."
Silence in that field.
"All you must do is remember. While there will be those who see only evil in your eyes, there will also be those who know that you are an honest mare, that you do not want to cause any harm...that you just want to survive and live. That is what you want, right?"
Lily nodded, not speaking a word.
"Good. I wish I could stay, but I must go, for many more are in dire need of somepony to help them, to guide them in their dreams."
Luna flew up.
The whole field slid down.
Lily screamed, falling—
Woke up.
Cold sweat.
Breathing fast.
Dawn. Pink and blue sky.
Felt the warmth of the sun.
Tree and river still by her.
Arctic Lily touched her mane.
Felt the honeysuckles still tied up there.
Around her, the same picturesque landscape of huge mountains, browning grass, and sparse structures.
"OK, gotta move to the next town," she said. "Get myself comfortable and don't act too suspicious like always."
Then, frowned.
"What is the next town?"
Slapped herself on the face.
"Why didn't I bring a map? Agh, nevermind."
She walked back to the path and journeyed on.