Darkness. Even when I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by darkness. All directions around me, as far as I could perceive, were nothing but a vast ocean of blackness that threatened to drown me in its inky nothingness.
Then, from that all-consuming void, three women slowly faded in, all facing away from me.
The first was tall; even taller than Mr. Adler, from what I could tell. Her bright aurora-colored hair flowed on an invisible breeze, and her white dress practically glowed with a warm light.
The second was about as tall as Mr. Adler. Her midnight-blue hair shimmered like a field of stars, and she wore a light blue business suit with metal adornments resembling armor.
Lastly, the third one was about as tall as my human self. Her dark indigo hair was streaked by purple and magenta, and she wore a uniform that seemed straight from the most respectable school in the world.
I'd have to be an idiot not to recognize them. "Wha— Princesses?!"
They did not respond; instead, they kept standing there, staring at the nothingness.
I willed myself forward, and found myself running towards them. "Princesses! Princesses, you've gotta help!"
Still they stood, motionless.
As I ran, I extended my foreleg out to reach for them, only to realize it was glowing. I faltered at that, tripping and suddenly finding myself falling into the endless nothing.
As the wind whipped past my ears, I began to hear a jumble of voices.
"It didn't feel good, lying to Ms. Finch like that..."
"I have made a terrible mistake..."
"What happened to not abandoning your friends?"
"The night shall last forever!"
"You're doing it! Rove, you're actually doing it!"
"It seems I have not learned my lesson after all..."
"I know, I know; I'm just messing with you."
"I never should've banished you to the moon! I should've destroyed you!"
"Whatever caused this... I'll do what I can to help."
"She warned me, but I did not listen..."
"Sure, this is a lot to take in at once, but I wouldn't stop being friends with you!"
"I'm sorry."
And then everything went white.
I jerked up in a cold sweat, gasping for breath. Looking around frantically, I quickly calmed down at the realization that I was still at Os's house. The thestral herself was nowhere to be seen, but the evidence of our research session still remained — namely, all the papers that were scattered across the coffee table. The clock on the wall read 2:30 AM.
I sat upright and hopped off the couch, making sure my wings hadn't been crushed by my body. "Os?" I called in a hushed voice, "Os, where are you? Os, I just had another dream!"
No response.
Momentarily fearing that I was still in a dream, I bit my hoof, then winced as my fangs nearly pierced my chitin. Okay, not a dream, I thought to myself before starting my search for Os.
I found her sitting on the roof, staring into the night sky. Making sure to check the wind first, I took off and alighted next to her. "Os, what're you doing out here?"
She sighed. "Couldn't sleep."
"Something on your mind?"
She looked at me with a totally serious face and stated, "No, my body's just becoming nocturnal."
We paused for a moment, before laughing our asses off. Luckily enough, nobody heard us (or, if they did, they didn't voice any complaints about the noise).
Once we got it all out of our systems, we just sat there for a while. The clouds were finally starting to clear up, so we simply looked up at the stars and just enjoyed each other's company.
After about two minutes, I finally broke that silence. "Penny for your thoughts?"
She was quiet for a moment, before replying, "I'm just... thinking about everything that's happened. This time last week, we were just two ordinary guys, getting through high school; now, we're cartoon characters, I've come out as trans, and we're trying to find six people who can stop the human species from going extinct."
I paused. "That is a lot to take in..."
Then I wrapped a foreleg around her. "But you won't have to do it alone; from now on, I'm sticking by you like a..." I struggled to come up with a good simile. "Like a... a fly to... fucking, uh, Fly-paper!"
She chuckled a bit, then continued to look off into space. "Do you know why I was so upset when you almost didn't go along with my plan?"
I shook my head. "No, why?"
She sighed wistfully. "It's because of my dad.
"Last year was when I... figured myself out, if you catch my drift. The first people I told were my parents. Mom took it fine enough, but Dad..."
A shocked silence hung over us. I'd heard that Os's dad had left them, but I'd never understood why! For the longest time, I had no idea what to do as she sat there and held back tears.
Then I threw my arms around her and gave her the biggest hug I could muster.
"R-Rove, what're you doing?" She asked, barely able to breathe.
I simply stated, face buried in her mane, "Trying to give you the love I've collected; you clearly need it more than I do!"
Os chuckled, "I don't think that's how it works."
"Then how about this?"
And then I kissed her.
Time seemed to freeze as our lips met. I didn't even realize what I was doing until a second later; I was so wrapped up in trying to comfort her.
Once I did realize, though, I quickly pulled away, blushing profusely. "O-O-Os, I'm so sorry! I-I-I don't know what came over me; I was just trying to comfort you, I—"
"Rove?" Os was suddenly in my face.
I flinched. "Y-yeah?"
"Stop talking."
With that, she lunged forward for another, much longer kiss.
I was taken aback for a moment, but once the shock faded, I lost myself in the passion of the kiss. My arms instinctively wrapped around her body, and I could feel her wings do the same for mine.
After a while, we parted for air. Now both of us were blushing as we looked each other in the eye.
I hadn't noticed it before, but Os's eyes... They were absolutely gorgeous. The way the dim moonlight glinted off the colors, making them pop out like a neon jack-o'-lantern; the subtle points of the pupil, giving them a sharp and attentive look; and the emotion — damn, the emotion those huge pony eyes could convey was resplendent! I didn't even need to look at her aura to see what she was feeling!
And judging by the look on her face, she was lost in my misty blue eyes, too.
"Did we just...?" She finally asked.
"Yup."
"Did you enjoy that as much as I did?"
"Yup."
"You wanna, maybe, do it some more?"
"Definitely."
And thus, we did.