The Terror of Death- Dreamwalker
Canterlot
The sun had already been set for some time over the land of Equestria as it was now covered by a blanket of stars. The moon rising above as the only form of light that shined across Equestria as the Princess of the Night looked at the sky, before looking down to see all the ponies who were still awake at this late hour in the evening. The members of the royal guard who were on the night watch shift, the ponies who were out late with their friends and those who were about to go sleep.
Of course, with her title of ‘Princess of the Night’, Luna had one other responsibility that she had to take upon herself as she began to make her way towards her bedroom. A responsibility that her sister did not even know about. It was what she would refer to as being a ‘dreamwalker’. Where she would walk through the dreams of ponies who were sleeping across Equestria and try to help resolve any nightmares that somepony might be having. Originally, she thought that Night Court would be the best way to help the ponies that her sister saw as her subjects. But… after a few sessions, she saw it more as tedious rather than actually being helpful in any form whatsoever. So, this was a better alternative for her.
Now, for her, dreamwalking wasn’t exactly some kind of spell that she needed to cast on herself before going to sleep. Instead, it was something that actually happened naturally. Anytime in the evening that her physical body fell asleep, she found herself in the realm of dreams. A place where the dreams of everypony around Equestria would look like a series of crystal orbs on pedestals… and if one of those orbs seemed to be glowing a dark red, that meant that there was a nightmare going on in that dream. Tonight though, there didn’t seem to be any nightmares that were happening.
However, there was one thing that kind of stood out to her. Because one pedestal that was close to a huge tree was much different from the others and the orb that was on the pedestal actually had the reflections that you would find from a gemstone or a crystal pony. A sense of curiosity soon fell over Luna, wondering whose dream this was. Surely it was not that of her sister or the elements of harmony, for theirs were in another section of the realm of dreams that resembled more of Twilight’s library.
Thinking it over, she thought that she had some extra time on her hooves this evening… So in her mind, it would be interesting to see whose dream that this orb belonged to.
Upon touching it and letting a soft light surround her for a moment, Luna found herself in what she referred to as the Dreamscape. The plane of existence where the dreams of ponies take place. It was different from the Realm, because that just served as a gateway. The dreamscape contained the actual dreams themselves for Luna to walk around and see what was happening.
However, there was something about this dream that… was different than normal. When she first entered the dream, the princess found herself in a place that… seemed unfamiliar to her. It… looked like a hallway of a school, but everything inside it was not what you would find in a typical equestrian one. Not to mention that the atmosphere outside looked dark and murky like a rainstorm was going to hit.
Then, she heard voices. And when she saw who was speaking, she was caught off guard. “Get that ridiculous thing off your head!”
The individuals she was seeing weren’t equestrians… they appeared to be the same species as that of Haseo. However, this wasn’t just one or two, but an entire classroom filled with them. Though, she was primarily hearing the conversation taking place between two of them. One that sounded like a female that had black hair, green eyes and tanned skin and was dressed in a tight shirt and shorts. The other one was smaller than the other and wore grey baggy pants and a t-shirt. Aside from his black hair, blue eyes and light skin… there was one other thing that stood out to Luna.
Seabus was wearing a hat that looked sort of familiar to the one that Applejack would wear. “But why…?” He asked her, while also suppressing a smirk as he just looked back at her. In Luna’s mind, it looked like the two of them were friends… but they were friends to the point that they would often get on each other’s nerves.
Just as that friend was doing right now as they were approaching the door to one of the classrooms. “Seriously, people are going to look at you all funny!”
All Seabus did was shrug in that moment as they went through the door, with Luna following them as she walked through the door that was closed into her. “Then let them look. I can’t see why it’d matter.”
However, it was as they were walking in that the two students, along with Luna herself, noticed someone that was standing in the front of the room. And when Luna saw who it was, she was caught off guard. “H-haseo?”
Originally, she thought it was Haseo. However, there were a lot of noticeable differences when the princess was looking at him. Aside from the fact that the clothes he was wearing were different from what she saw him have on when they met each other in the crystal empire, there were no red markings under his eyes. The only detail that did not change was that of his mane. It was still grey and rather spiky from when they met last time.
However, her attention soon became focused on something else as she heard what appeared to be the instructor of the class begin to speak. “Alright, all of you settle down now-” He said, before looking in the direction of Seabus as he noticed what was on his head. “Seabus, what in the world are you wearing? Are you part of a theater class or did you just come back from the midwest?”
“I dunno, I saw it in my closet and I put it on.” Most of the classroom laughed at this, but it wasn’t a loud obnoxious one like if you said a joke during a comedy. It was more of a series of held back giggles and snorts, but Luna saw what Seabus said not as humorous, but just a bit disrespectful.
The teacher himself just let out a small sigh, before looking back towards the class and beginning to speak. “Right… Well, before we begin the lesson today, I wanted to introduce a new student to the class,” After the first part of the statement, he motioned his hand towards the new student that was next to him in the front of the class. “This is Ryo. He’s a new student here and had just moved here from San Francisco. I want you to give him a warm welcome because he’ll be your new classmate for the rest of the year.”
Luna personally thought that around now, she would actually hear this ‘Ryo’ speak and greet everyone. However, all he did was sigh and take up an empty seat near a window that was a couple of spots behind Seabus and his friend as the class went on. He actually stayed silent throughout most of the class, leaving Luna in suspense and making her wait for when the class was going to end.
At one point though, it did. And with it, Luna watched as the girl that was with Seabus got up to introduce herself. “Hi, I’m Tessa, and that weirdo blocking your view is Seabus.”
“Oi!”
Around now though… was when Luna finally was able to hear him speak. “Um… Hello…” It was brief, but Luna remembered that voice. Because it sounded just like Haseo’s, but not entirely the same. Was it because he seemed a bit nervous?
“So, you’re from San Francisco… What’s it like there, cold?” He heard Seabus ask. However, in saying that, the princess that was watching this thought that he didn’t really seem too interested in the city itself.
“Not always. Just depends really…” Ryo replied back, moving some of the hair out of his face so he could look at the two of them. Before asking them a question. “Um… I’m sorry if this is much to ask, but could you help me find my next class? I’m still trying to understand where everything is at.”
“Of course! Just follow us, we’d be happy to help!” Tessa grinned eagerly, while Seabus just shrugged.
Smiling as he casually added on. “What she said.”
For another few moments, Luna watched as the two of them helped Ryo understand his classes and who was teaching them, while also seeing him attend some of those classes. One of the teachers that Luna saw made her feel appalled and wonder how they ever became a teacher because of how he verbally abused his own students whenever they wanted to ask a question. Another was a kind history teacher that was also a bit of a fast talker while she was teaching the lessons, and one that Luna thought should at least slow down so she could help students who might’ve fallen behind.
Eventually though, after getting through his classes, Tessa brought Ryo into the cafeteria for lunch, where three other people were sitting with Seabus, who looked to be holding some kind of strange device in his hands while also making sure it was out of reach of someone else at the table.
Which… had Luna in that moment think the exact same question that Ryo asked to Tessa. “Um… is this normal?” “Yeah, Seabus thinks it’s rude to use electronics at any meal time. And Tim’s absorbed in his game twenty four seven.”
“That small thing is a gaming device?” Luna murmured to herself as she watched everything play out in front of her. “Fascinating…”
It was around then that someone new began to speak. It was another young girl that looked similar to that of Tessa, but she appeared to be tall and skinny. Not to mention that she had blonde hair, green eyes and wore clothes that were much different from that of Tessa. “Oh, uh, hey. You the new kid? Welcome to the misfits.” She said with a bitter smile as Luna noticed that she looked a bit hunched over.
“Pleasure’s ours.” A boy who looked strikingly like Tessa spoke up next. Smiling cooly as he had a plastic fork in a salad bowl. However, it was shortly afterwards that the kid who was trying to get his gaming device from Seabus decided to stop. Turning back around as he rubbed his blue baggy eyes with one of his hands and scratched his mane with the other. Letting out a simple ‘hey’ as a greeting.
Just before Tessa began to introduce all of them one by one. “Alright Ryo, these are our other friends,” She began with introducing the blonde girl that greeted him just now. “She’s Bethany Brooks, or BB as we like to call her. She’s Seabus’ little brother’s babysitter/tutor, and she’s from France, but moved here when she was three.”
“France? That oddly sounds like the country of Prance… Is that how they pronounce it here?” Luna spoke, before she began to hear Bethany say something to Ryo shortly after Tessa introduced her.
“I’m sorry if I bring your mood down…”
“Now why would she assume that?” Luna thought to herself. Just before Tessa introduced another one of the misfits at the table.
“Next is Kasper Scandal, he’s the polite one. He’s studying to become a doctor and helps the rest of us with our grades”
“I try.” He shrugged casually. “And I changed my last name after I lost a bet. It was a funny story.” That though, made Luna not want to know what kind of bet made him legally change his last name… or anything related to that.
“And then there’s Timothy Stones- or Timmy. He’s studying to become a marine biologist. He brought us together, mostly picking transfer students up whenever he could so they wouldn’t be alienated…” Upon originally hearing Tessa introduce the last member of their social group, Luna thought that Timothy had a rather kind heart in order to go out of his way to do something like that.
Then, she heard the other part of what Tessa was saying. Just as Timmy was able to steal back what Seabus took from him. “He’s addicted to games though…”
That… had Luna stare at him for a moment, before she began to think to herself. “M-maybe I should reduce the amount of time I spend on the Haystation 3…”
Quickly though, she brought her attention back towards Ryo as he introduced himself to the rest of Tessa’s friends before sitting down at the table. “Well… Nice to meet you all. I’m Ryo. Ryo Misaki.”
“Welcome to Seattle.” The one named Kasper replied back as Ryo got out what looked like a sandwich to have for lunch. They seemed to have a bit of a small conversation at to where Ryo originally was from and how his family had moved to this place that sounded eerily similar to the Seaddle that Luna was familiar with. But there was one part of the conversation that the princess of the night heard that kind of caught her attention.
And it started when Ryo said this. “It’s good that I can finally have some friends that I won’t be leaving behind.”
“Trust me, you’ll want to.” Timothy snarked for a moment. Which, had Ryo looked at him with a confused expression on his face.
“Um… What do you mean by that?” He then asked Timothy, sounding puzzled before looking back towards Seabus and Tessa while Tessa was slowly beginning to shrink down in her seat. “Is there something that I don’t know about?”
“She not tell you we’re the losers of the school...?” Timothy asked rather lazily as Ryo shook his head before he finished his sandwich and tossed the plastic bag away in the trash.
“I was aware that we were misfits, but not losers.” He replied back, brushing some of the crumbs off of his clothes as Luna noticed Seabus chuckling awkwardly.
“Well… Kasper’s often picking fights with the jocks-” He spoke, just before he was cut off by Kasper himself. Who didn’t flat out deny it, like Luna was expecting… but instead stated his reasons for actually doing it. Something that the princess founded as rather… shocking considering that Tessa had labeled him as the polite one.
“They bring up my foster roots… And insinuating that my sister isn’t smart.”
“Then he gets his ass handed to him.” Grumbled Bethany, even though Kasper himself looked unfazed. “Oh, and his sister picks on their little siblings.”
“He has a lot against him…” Tessa then added on, leaving Ryo with just one question that was in the back of his head now that he had heard all of this.
“H-how long has this been going on for?” He asked, almost sounding like he did not want to know the answer to his own question. But it was an answer that Kasper still gave him… and from how Luna saw it, it was one that made him think that it was really going to be hard staying out of trouble with these new friends of his.
“Since last year.” Again, that shocked Luna. She would’ve thought that this was something that gone on for the last couple of days or so, but to hear that it was going on for more than a year? That was just insane. Still, Ryo took it rather… lightly and not as something that he should really be trying to use up a lot of his time on. However, the conversation did not exactly die down like he or Luna thought it would… and instead, it went an entirely different direction.
Because the next person to talk was Timmy, and just like how Seabus talked about one of Kasper’s bad habits, he began to talk about one of Seabus’ bad habits. “Seabus can’t keep his mouth shut. Talks off the popular people, the geeks, the teachers… He gets into the most trouble.”
Once again, Luna had expected for Seabus to flat out deny what Timmy said. But instead, like with Kasper, he didn’t. “It’s all my fault really, I don’t mind it.”
Around then, the princess of the night seemed rather confused not just by where she was, but why would these individuals be acting this way. And those kinds of thoughts were best demonstrated by Ryo when he spoke up next. “You don’t mind… getting into trouble…” He said, raising an eyebrow as he appeared to be trying to wrap his head around what he just heard from Seabus. “Was that the reason why you wore that old cowboy stetson like it was one of Clint Eastwood’s old western movies?”
“Who’s Clint Eastwood?” Luna asked herself. Ironically though, Seabus was asking the same thing. But before he could finish his sentence, that was when Tessa cut him off and try to explain to Ryo why exactly he would do something like that.
“No, he’s just very expressive. He blabs what he thinks without considering the consequences and accepts them after it’s too late.”
“Hunh… I see…” Ryo replied back, before trying to clarify everything that he had just heard. “So let me see if I get this straight… both Kasper and Seabus respectively act without thinking things thoroughly…” Kasper himself was quick to counter Ryo on what he said.“No, I think things through, I just throw that to the wind when my family’s brought up.”
“That still doesn’t mean you should try to fight them…” Luna said to herself, almost like she was wanting for them to hear her, even though she knew that they couldn’t. Though, when she looked back towards Ryo, he was quick to think of a comparison.
“So like if Edward Elric was called out on his height in Fullmetal Alchemist?”
“Who?” Luna thought to herself. Even though it looked like she had no idea what he was talking about, Kasper himself seemed to understand it as he nodded his head.
“Pretty much. I’m an overprotective brother. Penelope might be bratty, but nobody badmouths her.” Kasper affirmed. To Luna, even though being a good sibling seemed admirable to him, she also thought that it did not serve as an excuse to start a fight with somepony.
Though, it wasn’t until Timothy tried to say something that the entire table got quiet. “Tessa’s bullied because… Reasons we… don’t feel right saying.” Luna herself turned towards Tessa, and based on the fact that she wasn’t looking at anyone at the table right now, it must’ve been bad. And when Tim thought he could try to change the topic of the conversation, he just ended up making it worse. “Uh… BB’s mom’s a slu-”
“Her mood makes her alienated from people.” Seabus immediately butted in, glaring daggers at Tim. “And Tim’s-”
“No! C’mon, that’s uncalled for!” Timothy cried out, which surprised Luna because she was not expecting for him to raise his voice so quickly. “I thought we were through this!”
“Hey, he’s gotta know.” Seabus smirked. Which, only made the night princess curious as to what he was talking about. “I mean, so what if Nightingale revealed that you were a crossdresser~?” The whole table snickered quietly around Ryo and the comment itself had Luna look at Tim with a rather disturbed expression on her face.
However, Tim himself was not the kind of individual to back down as he hissed back towards Seabus. “I only dress up for cosplays! You’re the one who leaked the pictures!”
Like with Ryo in that moment, Luna herself was really trying to understand what was going on through all the bickering between both Timothy and Seabus as she just watched. All before hearing a question from Ryo that got the two of them to stop arguing… and also got the princess a bit curious as to the answer. “Who’s Nightingale?”
The answer to that question came from Bethany, who was focusing her salad as she spoke up. “Oh, she’s the queen bitch of the school. You know, the Heather Chandler.”
Luna herself… oddly enough, said the exact same question that Ryo said in that moment. “The who?” All that did was cause BB to groan in response, but not before Tessa tried to help provide some context so Ryo could understand what she was referring to.
“Oh, BB likes old movies. Her favorite is Heathers.”
“I’ve… not heard of that one.” Ryo admitted, which resulted in an offhanded reply from BB as she took a moment in order to try and explain it to him.
“It’s a classic R rated movie in a school setting, where there are three girls names Heather who are bullies and stuck up.” Upon originally hearing that, Luna thought of what they were talking about as one of the satirical comedy performances that would be done at the royal theater. Something heartfelt, yet still serious. That was… until she heard Bethany finish that statement. “Until the head Heather, Chandler, is murdered.”
Luna herself, did not expect that at all and the thought of something like that almost made her feel sick… but Ryo himself only showed a small amount of shock from such a gruesome detail. Even as Seabus tried to simplify things a little with one small statement. “A dark comedy.”
“Ugh… I was never one for those kinds of productions…” Luna said to herself, coughing for a moment so she could try to keep her composure. Though, it was around now that she noticed Kasper trying to shift the topic of the conversation.
“Nightingale’s basically a stereotypical bully.” He responded with a stoic tone in his voice. Before deciding to ask Ryo a question related to the general topic. “Now… what movies have you seen?”
“Well, there’s not a lot that I remember off the top of my head, but I do remember seeing Akira when my father got back from Singapore one year,” Ryo sighed as he spoke to them. Luna was unfamiliar with the names that were mentioned, but something about the last one that he mentioned that somehow… felt familiar. “Then there were some other films, some animated and a few live action… last one I saw was .hack//GU Trilogy.”
“Huh… isn’t that game in your collection?” Tessa asked Seabus as she turned to face him.
“The first series, yeah.” Seabus replied.
“Oh, so you like .hack// as well?” Ryo then spoke up, overhearing the two of them as they were talking. “I have some of the original movies that weren’t released to the US.”
“What is a US? Does it stand for something?” Luna asked herself, before turning her attention back to Ryo and the others. Though, it seemed as if what Ryo was saying to Seabus actually resonated rather well.
It was to the point that when he was talking, Seabus then said what seemed like an offer. “If you want, you can visit our house and check out what I have. Just be warned of our siblings.”
At first, Luna watched as Ryo seemed to look a bit nervous. Considering what he said, before wanting to think things over. It also lead to them talking about where each one of them lived at in the local area before they all went to their last class. Ryo’s teacher in that class was very nice and sweet, making Luna think that this kind of class would be one that she would want for all ponies to have. Even the teachers name, Ms. Clover, reminded her of Clover the Clever.
However, there was one small problem. And that was the fact that Timothy was also part of that class. Tessa did warn Ryo that Timothy made Ms. Clover’s life hard for her, but Luna did not think that it would be this much disruptive. It was not fun for Ryo, her… or practically anyone in that class to watch him groaning loudly, being disruptive and going as far as to shout a verbal declaration that he just finished a test.
Thankfully though, he stopped halfway through the class and let everyone else finish in peace all the way until the end of the class. And yet, there was only one other thing that Ryo had heard from him. “Pleasure meeting and annoying you. Welcome to hell.”
Luna herself, thought that his greeting was just a bit excessive and rather rude, but Ryo didn’t seem to mind it too much. In fact, all he did afterwards was meet up with Seabus and Tessa as they went towards their house. It was mentioned earlier in the dream that Tessa actually lived with Seabus’ family and his siblings. However, he didn’t really mention how many siblings he had. Personally, she thought that he had only one other one besides Tessa.
When they arrived, the princess was surprised to see how small the home actually was. Granted, she was able to simply just walk through one of the walls at the front of the house. The home itself was around two stories tall, had a few bedrooms across the second floor and two bathrooms. But the reason why that it seemed rather small to them… was because there were three other children that were in the living room.
“Ryo, these are my siblings. Luke, Nayeli, and Monte.” Seabus stated, pointing to a boy almost their age, then a girl who looked even younger, and an even younger boy. They all looked vastly different, and only Luke seemed to resemble Seabus with their shared black hair and hazel eyes. But Nayeli had red hair with green eyes, and Monte was blonde with blue eyes.
“Hello, nice to meet you.” Ryo greeted them. Even going as far as to try and get down on the same level as them so he would not seem intimidating.
Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like that worked. Monte was busy playing with his toys while Nayeli just shyly replied back while looking at her feet. “S-s-same…” Just from that comment alone, Luna almost thought that she was just like Fluttershy. One who was very nervous and shy around somepony except for those she feels comfortable around.
“She’s the newest addition to the family. She’s shy around everyone,” Seabus explained to Ryo as he stood back up. “We’re helping her out of her shell.”
It was also then that the child that was named Luke decided to add on to the conversation, while also adding a bit of a snarking tone. “Yeah, she’s been with us for about a month. She isn’t used to the attention Seabus and Tessa give her,” He then turned to Ryo, where he continued what he was saying. “Welcome to overloaded center. Mom’s out, so if you need something ask those two… or find Keon. He’s the eldest.”
“Who’s Keon?” Luna saw Ryo ask. The princess herself was wondering more about how many siblings are actually here. Because she thought that there would only be a small number… and then thought it was just Seabus and these three. But to here that there was somehow one more? That was something that confused her.
Fortunately though, what Seabus said next actually clarified a couple of things. “Keon’s our older brother. He’s usually taking care of us when mom’s away.”
That had Ryo nod his head, before looking around for a moment as he took in his surroundings first before asking a key question. “Alright… where exactly is he?”
“In the kitchen.” Luke replied, which soon lead to Ryo letting Seabus and Tessa guide him around their home. Luna originally thought that this new individual that was mentioned was a lot like Seabus, given how he was the older sibling and also how he looked after his siblings. But she did not want to immediately jump to this conclusion just yet.
Because as they were entering the kitchen, they were greeted by the person they were just talking about. ““Ah, you two brought home a new friend? If you need a ride home, I can spare a lift.” Keon himself had a brown mane and currently had an apron over his standard clothes as he looked to have been busy with making something in the kitchen.
However, Ryo seemed to have not expected anything like this… well, at all. “You’re… Keon?”
“Yes, why?” Keon replied back, seeming oblivious to his thought process as Ryo let out a sigh.
“Sorry, I was just…” He was going to continue, but decided to take a different approach after scratching his head. “Let’s start over. I’m Ryo… It’s nice to meet you.”
“Same. I’m Keon, Seabus’ substitute guardian while our mother is called on important business.” Keon told him while also smiling. This made Luna wonder if it was both Seabus’ and Keon’s responsibility to look after everyone in the household while their mother was working and was hoping that Ryo would ask about that, but instead, he was asking her about where their mother worked at before the three of them went off to Seabus’ room.
It was around this point that the dream seemed to… fast forward a little. It jumped to a point where Ryo was with some of his friends as they were walking along a street. Some time had passed since it appeared that they were wearing some different clothes and Ryo looked like he had aged a little. He was with Seabus, Tessa, Bethany and Timothy while they were walking and around now, Seabus had what appeared to be a piece of bread stuck in his mouth.
That was… until Timothy slapped it out of his mouth as it fell onto the sidewalk. “No! My breakfast!”
“Why did you have to waste such perfectly good food?!” Was what Luna was asking right now, before she heard Timothy speak.
“That’s what you get for going too anime. You got me into Index, but you aren’t pretending to be a school girl.” He growled back, just as Bethany and what appeared to be a newcomer joined up with them.
“It’s a waste of food.” The newcomer soon spoke in response to what Timothy was saying. “There are starving children in-”
“Shut up, Ben…” Timothy grunted, now addressing the newcomer by his name. And, as Luna found out, both Ben and her had similar thoughts when it came to Timothy’s overall behavior. Though, Ben was the one who was able to actually tell him that.
“You’re far too rude…” Ben sighed disappointedly. He seemed a bit like Ryo in the sense that he was even more awkward when he joined the group. Getting to the point that everyone else would end up talking over him accidentally while he was trying to speak.
Speaking of Ryo though, he was the one to speak next to try and ease tensions a little… while also answering a question that was on his mind. “So, what are we exactly doing today? I know we’re going to the mall, but were you guys looking for anything in particular?”
“I’ve been working on costume making...” Bethany mentioned while they were all still walking.. “I’m looking for materials. It’ll take a while to put them all together because Luke pressured me into making him and his friends costumes.”
“Are they preparing for Nightmare Night or something?” Luna thought to herself. She would’ve thought that it was too early for them to be trying to think about costumes and what to wear. Unless it was one of those ‘costume parties’ that she heard about last time she was talking with Pinkie Pie.
Of course, it was also then that Timothy began to state more on what Bethany has been doing. All while saying it in a tone of voice that made Luna think that he wanted recognition. “She’s helping us with our own costumes. Since Kasper’s the only one busy, I thought we’d all meet up and work on it so one day we can all go to comic con.”
“What’s a comic con?” Luna thought to herself again, wondering if it was like one of those big gatherings that was held in Manehattan each year for fans of the Daring Do book series. Of course, the only way that she actually was familiar with the book series was because one of the friendship reports that was sent to Celestia was from Rainbow Dash and she mentioned that it helped her pass the time while she was in the hospital… and when she asked Celestia about it, she told her about the books and how popular they were to the point where the author held big fan gatherings in Manehattan so they could tell A.K Yearling how much they appreciated her work.
Back to the moment at hand though, it was around now that Luna noticed Ryo’s facial expression change. Looking a little more serious as he let out a sigh. “One day we’ll get there… but every year, my dad tries to buy tickets and they sell out lightning quick,” He told his friend, shortly before thinking of another idea. “Maybe we can try one of the conventions that held here locally before trying to go for comic con. Wasn’t there one that occured in downtown?”
“Yeah, but that won’t come back for another year or two.” Ben added with a sigh, before adding in something positive. “Still, we’d be ready by then.”
Ryo nodded in agreement, while Luna watched as Tessa was doing the same thing. Before asking a question that caused Timothy to look away in what appeared to be embarrassment. “Yeah! So, what’re you guys going as?”
“Well, before I answer that, what were you thinking of going as, Tessa?” Ryo replied as he sent the question right back at her.
That… just had Tessa stutter with her answer as she giggled nervously. “I… don’t actually know.”
To Luna, it looked like Ryo saw that as a way to try and explain more about what he had in mind, just so he could probably help out Tessa a little. “Well, there was one idea I had… but I was unsure about doing it because I didn’t want to put a lot of stress on BB given the complexity of it.”
“I’m going as Obi-Wan Kenobi.” The one named Ben spoke up eagerly.
“Kasper’s going as some Elsword guy with purple eyes.” Timothy then spoke up, though he did not look like he really wanted to mention what he was specifically going to be. All before Bethany corrected him with just one word.
“Add.”
“Add what?” All Timothy’s question did just caused Bethany to groan for a moment. Luna herself was also wondering what she meant by that, but it was upon hearing what Ryo said next that things began to slowly fit into place.
“I think Add is the name of the character he’s talking about,” Ryo deadpanned as he looked back at Timothy, noticing that he had not contributed to the topic and thought that he should include him in the conversation. “What about you, Tim? Who would you go as?”
For a moment, things seemed rather quiet… all before Timothy sighed and grunted one word. “... Index…”
It was around then that Luna noticed that this time, Bethany was actually smiling as she looked back at them. “Seabus and him made a bet. The former won, and Timothy has to dress as his favorite anime character… who happens to be a girl.”
“Now that sounds like cruel and unusual punishment…” Luna muttered. Sure, it was common for mares to dress up like they were part of the royal guard, but having a male dress up as a female character? That sounded wrong to her on so many levels.
She watched as Ryo looked back at Bethany… before looking towards Tim as he spoke up. “I’m not sure if I should feel sorry for Tim or if Tim should be lucky that it’s just for one time only.”
“Me neither…” Tessa added. Luna herself was a little unsure about which choice she would’ve taken if she were in the exact same scenario. Though, the whole thing seemed to have Ryo thinking about something to himself for a moment, before looking back at everyone else and asking another question.
“So what about you, Seabus? Bethany? What do you guys plan to go as?” Out of all of the people who mentioned the characters that they were going to be, only Ryo, Seabus and Bethany had not actually said what that was. And Ryo himself wanted to hear what his friends had to say first before he would speak.
“I’ll be going as Larxene. Luke pressured me into it.” That was no surprise. Over the course of Ryo’s visit earlier in the dream, Luna learned that Seabus’ brother was a real huge fan of a particular game series called Kingdom Hearts. Going as far as to steal one of Seabus’ game consoles in order to play it. The character that she was talking about must’ve appeared at some point in the series if Luke was the one to make her do it.
As for Seabus, he started his answer by turning himself around and beginning to walk backwards. Something that Luna saw as kind of unsafe given their current setting. “Me? I’ll be the twin blade, Kite. Hero of the first game, and the guy who they keep basing characters off of.”
Luna now knew a little bit as to what he meant by that. From Ryo’s visit, they got the chance to talk about another game series that Ryo had mentioned earlier called .Hack//. There were two main series of games that they happened to enjoy and the character that Seabus was talking about was the protagonist of the first game. Not to mention the fact that all this talk about games made her wish that she had some of the games that she was seeing in this dream.
But it was also around this time that Ryo seemed to have an idea to share. “I like both of them. Matter of fact, what I think would be interesting is if you had Tessa be BlackRose.”
Yet, upon first hearing that, Luna watched as Seabus’ grin got wider and Tessa looked back at Ryo with wide eyes as she used her arms to cover her chest. “No! She’s way too exposed! I’m not wearing a bikini armor!” It didn’t help any that when Kite whispered something in her ear, her expression made her look extremely horrified.
As for Ryo, all he did was get out a device that was called a phone as Luna heard him speak. “To be fair, it’s only the top half that’s exposed… Besides, it’s ironic that you were going to do something from .hack// because I was thinking the same thing,” Yet, it was when he showed the picture to his friends that Luna herself froze in place. She was staring at Haseo. The Terror of Death himself, but why was it there of all places? “I was thinking about maybe going as Haseo… However, with the fact that he has like… multiple different forms, it’s hard to choose which one I would like to do in particular. Which one do you think would be a good choice?”
“Second,” Tessa quickly added on. “And… fine, I’ll be BlackRose. But if BB makes it too small I’m not going!”
“I highly doubt she would do that. Bethany’s not the kind of person who would do something like that on purpose…” Ryo added on… before turning towards Bethany. “Would you?”
“Not on purpose.” Bethany responded, crossing her arms and shaking her head. Which caused both Luna and Ryo in that moment to let out combined sighs of relief. The dream began to move forward much faster now once they reached the mall that was there. Moments and memories flying past her like fireflies before it got to the next part of the dream.
However, as Luna soon realized, this part was much more serious. Ryo and his friends were all back at school again and it was lunchtime once more. Kasper himself was, once again, absent due to a fight and Bethany was out sick. Everyone but Timothy was there, until the shortest teen in the group reached the table and sat down. Ryo noticed though, that his lip was cut and there was a large purple spot around his left eye. “Holy crap, Tim. Are you alright? What happened?”
“Dear stars…” Luna gasped. She had not expected for this boy… the one who she thought was the one who was the most rude and impatient, to have such grievous injuries. And his response did not make things sound any better at all.
“It’s nothing.” Tim said, offhandedly. The response had Tessa and Seabus look away, but Ben had the same reaction that Ryo had just a few seconds ago.
“That isn’t nothing… Nightingale hasn’t gone that far in a while. In fact, she’s been turning a new leaf.” Ben said as he narrowed his eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I said nothing, my dad just got a bit carried away and I ran out of makeup.” Timothy said. He didn’t look anyone in the eye as he stared down at his tray. In Luna’s mind, she thought that Tim’s father getting ‘carried away’ meant that he assaulted and beat his own child. Something that would get you thrown in jail if you were caught doing that here. And she thought it was shameful that Tessa and Seabus weren’t doing anything to help him.
However, Ryo in that moment was still trying to do his best in order to try and help his friend. “That’s just horrible… You should at least go to the nurse to get that looked at,” He told Timothy as he set his tray aside. “I can help take you there when you’re done eating if you like-”
“No, he asks too many questions and I can’t keep saying I fell.” Timothy said as he played with his food. “They’ll catch on, adults aren’t morons.”
However, when Luna watched Ryo, she saw that he was not going to give up so easily on trying to help a friend. Something needed to be done about this as he moved his hand over to open up his lunchbox. Grabbing what looked like a cold cooler pack as he handed it to him. “Here… Maybe this can help stop some of the swelling.”
“Thanks...” Timothy replied, taking it and applying it to his bruise. “Look, I don’t like my dad, but he pays the bills, gives me a roof over my head… Tessa knows what foster care’s like most of the time. Once I’m eighteen I’ll leave. He’s usually not this bad, mostly verbal.”
Even with what he said though, in Luna’s mind, she saw this as no reason for anypony to harm their children whatsoever. No matter if it’s verbally or physically, no child should have to suffer at the hands of somepony that’s supposed to care for them… and in a way… she felt sorry for him.
The dream continued on like this, playing pieces of what was Ryo’s life with his friends as it got to one particular scene. One where he had his friends over as Bethany was working on his costume. Tessa was asleep on the couch, Timothy was passed out drunk in the kitchen after stealing some of his father’s booze, Ben was busy and not there to join them and Seabus was in another room playing a game on his phone. All while his new puppy was sleeping on Ryo’s lap.
After some time had passed, Ryo had offered to get Bethany a drink of water, who said yes even though she was so focused on her work that she did not even pay attention to him when he offered the drink or when he brought it back for her. But as he returned, that was when Luna had noticed that there was what appeared to look like a picture frame. One that had all of their friends together by some kind of museum and all of them looked rather happy together.
But that kind of happiness was not present right now, as Bethany suddenly said something that even threw her off guard. “I’m sorry you have to deal with me all the time.”
It was a statement that left Luna rather shocked… especially when she thought that things were doing fine within their group of friends. And Ryo himself seemed rather puzzled by Bethany’s comments. “Why would you be sorry about that? I like it when you and everyone else is around… I really did not have a lot of friends before you guys aside from one friend I had when I was very young, so I don’t see you being here as a bad thing.”
“I’m not the easiest to be around.” She clarified.
However, Ryo himself was not buying that. “Actually, I think you are. You just don’t give yourself enough credit.”
All that did was leave Bethany a bit puzzled as she looked back towards him. Now she was confused and had no idea as to what he meant by that. “Why? I’m a pessimist… There’s not much to like about that.”
Ryo let out a low sigh, before looking back towards the kitchen. Timothy still seemed to be passed out from the looks of things, but that didn’t prevent him from speaking about him. “Well, unlike some people we know, I like hearing a difference of opinion. I’m open minded when it comes to most things… except if it’s something that might get us in trouble.”
“Same,” Bethany replied back as Luna watched her scratch the back of her head awkwardly. Speaking the next sentence as if she sounded… uninterested. “I think this is the first time it was just the two of us. I suppose we should’ve talked about this sooner, maybe I would’ve had a better mood around you. Emotions are a pain…”
Ryo himself nodded his head in agreement as he looked back at his friend. “Yeah, I can agree there. Sometimes, not everyone is that easy to read when it comes to their feelings.”
“Even my emotions are hard to understand. I hate feeling worthless every day…” Bethany then said while the last few words that she said began to sound quieter and almost whisper like. However, Luna looked back at Ryo and watched as he spoke up to her. Trying to help her feel more like herself and comfort her.
“Bethany, let me tell you this right now… In my eyes, you aren’t worthless. You’re very important to the group and ever since what happened to Kasper… well, it’s been up to the two of us to make sure that we stayed together. I don’t know what would’ve happened if we all just separated, so from the bottom of my heart… thank you. For everything.”
At this point, there were two questions that ran through Luna’s head… One, what happened to Kasper? And two… were Ryo and Bethany somehow a possible couple in the making? Because as of this point, it almost seemed highly likely. Especially with how Bethany was looking right now. Shocked at first, before putting on a genuine smile as she looked back at him. “No, thank you. I needed that.”
The white haired teen smiled back at her before deciding to sit not far from where she was at. “I’m glad to hear that helped… If you want to talk again, I’m more than open to help you if you need it.”
Once more, the dream began to move a bit fast forward as it approached what happened next. It looked like it was a few days later and Bethany had called everyone over for a particular reason.
Timothy was the first one to speak, yawning for a moment as he asked a question. “Why’d you bring us here, BB? I was helping my little brother with his homework.”
Tessa was the next one to say something, while also backing Tim up. “Yeah, what he said.”
All of that just had Bethany smirk, before speaking in a vindictive tone. “Oh, so you don’t want your costumes?” Around that moment was when Ryo began to hold out what looked like a long white garb with gold trims and a matching hat on a clothes hanger. Something that had the group laugh while Timothy just grumbled and claimed his costume.
Ben was next as he was given what looked like a series of robes and a brown cloak. However, the weapon that Ben had with him was that of what looked like a red ‘lightsaber’... and it was something that made Timothy speak up. “Where’s the blue lightsaber?”
“Oh, I didn’t have enough money for a blue one. I had this one in the garage. Even if I had money, it’s not worth it.” Ben explained.
“Though, if it’s one of those build-your-own-lightsaber or whatever those ones are called, you can probably find the right pieces to change it up. Heck, I can even buy that for you if you like,” Ryo suggested, before grabbing another two costumes. “Next we have Seabus and Tessa.”
Luna herself was surprised by the first two costumes, but upon seeing the next one, that was when princess thought that she was seeing things. Seabus’ outfit included that of a hat, shirt and pants that were all a rather bright shade of orange. Something to which he nodded his head and proceeded to say that this was definitely like the character he was going for. As for Tessa, she had what was called a metal ‘bikini top’ with black pants, grieves that were the colors of purple and gold as well as a pair of white boots.
“The shoes are always the hardest.” Bethany then stated factually as Ryo got the next one out. Which turned out to be her own costume.
“Good thing I was able to help you with that,” He said, taking the costume off of the hangar and looking back at her. The costume she was holding was that of a simple black cloak with a zipper and chains at the shoulderblades. “Here’s yours.”
“Thanks.” She simply replied. Though, around now, Luna was personally curious as to why they were giving them their costumes now. I mean, it was typical to give somepony something they requested after they were finished working on it. But according to earlier in the dream, they would only be going in these if they actually had some kind of event to attend.
It was a question that also seemed to be in the back of Timothy’s mind as he decided to speak up. “So, when’s the event?”
“Well, that’s a funny story,” Ryo replied back with a smirk as he looked back at them. “One night when Bethany was over and we were working on our costumes, my parents came home. We told them how we were doing this on the off chance that we were going to a convention that we wanted to be prepared… So my dad decided to surprise us.”
Luna watched as Ryo pulled out what looked like a series of passes. Ones that had the words ‘PAX Prime’ directly on the front of each one. Enough for every one of his friends. “He got all of us these passes for PAX Prime in Seattle… that starts tomorrow.”
That just left a surprise Seabus to smirk back at his friends and ask them one question. “Well then… Who’s ready for PAX!?!?” His question was met by cheers from everyone as they went back inside Ryo’s home.
As the next day rolled around, Luna watched as each one of Ryo’s friends were in their costume and going towards the event. However, not everyone seemed to be happy as she heard Seabus and the others talking with Bethany. “… And I said we’d meet him here.”
“Good to know he’d leave us that quickly…” Bethany grumbled as she rested her chin on her hand. Before noticing the shocked looks from everyone else that was there. “What?”
“He’ll be here…” Tessa then spoke up. Making Luna wonder who exactly they were referring to in that moment.
“That’s more pessimistic than normal.” Ben pointed out.
“Well, I am pretty annoyed that I have to babysit Luke and his friends while I’m here…” Bethany grunted. All before Seabus suggested something to her.
“Um… maybe I’ll go get you something? Y’know, to cheer you up? No payment, I’ll buy you anything ya want.”
Bethany herself, was appalled and taken aback by the simple suggestion. “I’m… I’m not a charity case.”
“This isn’t charity, it’s paying ya back for the costumes you slaved over…” Timothy added, looking away as to not seem interested. Or maybe to hide his face from the others as Luna watched the whole thing unfold. Currently, she thought that they were talking about Ryo in that moment, but she did not want to assume anything preemptively. Especially since there was still more of the dream to see.
“We’ll buy you something nice so you have a lot to go back with. You keep Luke entertained and we’ll help you get what you want.” Ben added on to what Timothy was already saying. “We’ll meet up here and there, to make things more bearable for you.”
Bethany was speechless, so Seabus stood up and looked back at the small group. “Yeah! I’mma go look for something right now to prove my sincerity.”
“I’ll help!” Tessa added as she stood up. “We’ll be back in a minute with something… hopefully.” With that, the two went out into the crowd of people and searched for a souvenir. Leaving Ben, Bethany and Timothy by themselves before Tim tried to break the awkward silence.
“Welp, Ryo’s gone and pissed you off. He’ll probably apologize and make it up to you, so why dwell on it? I’m going to see if I can find some people who’d appreciate the costume you made.” With that, Ben left the table. Which left only Timothy and Bethany as it grew rather silent at the table.
That was, until Timothy tried to break that silence and say something. “You might want to go and enjoy what little time you have while Luke’s in a line.”
“And you?” She questioned. Before Timothy said something that… in Luna’s mind, could have possibly been phrased rather differently.
“Not really feeling up to it…” He said, tone matching hers. “And no, it has nothing to do with the costumes. You did an amazing job. Now get going before you waste both of our time, BB.”
“Oh dear…” Luna said, facehoofing herself before looking back at them as Bethany left a few moments afterwards. “You had her all the way until you said that last statement-.”
Of course, that was also when she heard Timothy spoke up, letting out a deep sigh as he looked down at the ground. “Nothing ever lasts…” He grumbled. “Even friendships like these…”
“I suppose you’re right…” The moment that Luna heard this newfound voice, her heart almost skipped a beat. The voice came from a woman with black hair and green eyes, who just walked up right next to Timothy. She wore a striped dress that was both black and white while also emitting a dark aura around herself that made Timothy feel smaller than an atom. With the last few words she said feeling like ice being pressed against somepony’s skin. “So why not change that~?”
Immediately after those words, Luna felt herself being forced out of the dream. Finding herself back within the realm of dreams once more. If she found herself here, then that could only mean one thing. That whoever was having the dream just woke up. Whenever somepony were to wake up, she would always find herself back here.
However, she had several questions emerge in the back of her mind. Who was that woman at the end of the dream? What happened to Ryo and his friends? Was Ryo… really who she think he was? All of them were questions that lacked answers.
“Perhaps I should revisit this another time…” Luna thought to herself, before looking in the distance and seeing a small amount of sunlight emerge from one corner of the realm. “It’s time to wake up anyways…”