We stayed up late into the night, doing little more than simply… talking. He did most of it, sharing details of some of his most interesting past lives and the personas he had to improvise when he reappeared in the middle of an early-morning event.
It was a normal conversation, albeit one that stretched into the morning’s first rays, one that anypony else would have on a daily basis. It was friendly. It was open. It was sincere.
It was bizarre, and I decided I wanted more of it.
A few seconds later, I realized he’d asked me a question, and I gave him an embarrassed chuckle. “Would you mind repeating that?” Was this what everypony felt like, all the time?
He gave me a charming smile, one I could not help but trust a little. I’d have been suspicious if I could figure out what it was he could get from being with me. Status? Favors? There was nothing I could think of that would last. All he seemed interested in was me, for my own sake.
Well, that, and a few other questions I wished I were used to answering. “Of course, your Highness. I asked if you are, in fact, the Princess of Dreams as well as the Night, as they say?”
I nodded. “I can interact with ponies’ dreams, and alter the dreamscape itself as required.” He nodded, satisfied, but I wanted to tell him more. Nopony other than my sister had bothered asking. “Admittedly, I do not dreamwalk often. Some ponies’ nightmares would give me nightmares if I could dream myself.”
My Doctor gave me a warm chuckle, sipping a mug of tea as we relaxed in my chambers, watching the sun rise. “We have that much in common, then. I haven’t dreamed since I was a foal.”
I hummed. “Are you certain? Perhaps you just cannot remember them. I could, of course, attempt to check for you, but it might be difficult, figuring out whose dreams to watch next.”
He set his tea down. “I wouldn’t want you to sift through dreams you are uncomfortable with, Princess. As I’ve said, I’m fairly certain I cannot dream at all.”
“Maybe I’ll look through them all, then!” I blurted. My expression must have looked ridiculous, for he laughed, a sweet feminine laugh, and I felt my face heating up. “It would be worth it, to know what a pony who has lived a thousand lives dreams about at night.”
“Oh, Princess,” he said with a smile, looking out as the golden light stretched shadows across valleys and rooftops. “After such lovely company tonight, I’m certain I’d dream of talking more with you.”
My grin turned into a half-stifled yawn, and it earned me another sweet giggle. “Speaking of dreams,” My Doctor said, leaning back in his chair. “It seems that this morning is one of the rare ones I get to see. Make no mistake,” he added hastily at the scowl that threatened to pull down my muzzle. “I love the night and all its beauty, and I appreciate every new evening as it arrives.”
His horn lit up, and I watched the magic gently lift the mussed sheets of my bed invitingly. “Sleep, Princess. It seems I’ll be here when you wake up, and we can continue our conversation.”
“But… but I don’t want to miss another moment with-” The next yawn took me by surprise, cutting me off for a full few seconds.
“You won’t,” he said soothingly, turning so his back was to the window. “I will be here when you need me.”
I slunk into the covers, and the warmth of a strange mare’s magic tucked the sheets around me. The last thing I heard was a soft humming, lulling me to my dreamless sleep.
I awoke a mere few hours later to a harsh rapping against the window-grate right outside my bed. Regally, I slumped from my mattress to the floor and said something that was supposed to sound like “Are we being attacked, and how may I best assist in this dire emergency?”
There was a moment of confused silence, during which a healthy dose of adrenaline woke me up an unreasonable amount, considering it was still day outside, and my mind caught up with the fact that the noise I had actually made was a series of bewildered mumblings.
“It’s your Doctor,” a voice called out from my window. I opened the grate uncertainly and watched a lanky pegasus with a poor mane-cut wedge himself through the window.
“It’s you, Princess,” he said, with no small amount of awe in his voice. “When you sleep, the moment you fell asleep, I…”
I stared at him. He stared back.
“I’ll never sleep again,” I whispered in horror.
He was next to me in an instant, the perfect height to offer a wing. A wing of comfort. I felt myself leaning into it. Only my sister had ever offered to do such a thing, and Celestia… she wasn’t here. This was my bit of happiness. Mine. Most ponies treated her like the ideal Princess, but never before had somepony prioritized me.
My Doctor seemed to want to prioritize me more than I did. “Don’t promise that. I’ve lived this way long enough to know I’m perfectly able to manage on my own.”
It was a light chastise, but I felt a little better, in a way, that he’d scolded me. I did not mean to compare him to my sister, but it felt different, coming from him. He didn’t treat me like a filly, nor as some goddess. “I know you can,” I said, slipping into his embrace, his wing curling around me slightly to shield my eyes from the bright afternoon sun. “But you don’t have to, now.”
I pulled away from him as a sudden uncomfortable thought occurred to me. “You don’t have to say yes, of course. I know this might be uncomfortably fast, and you can always say no at any time and walk away, and I will understand. I-” Why was I sniffling? “-I know I’m a young Princess, and that can be rather difficult to deal with, but…”
He looked at me, expression thoughtful but otherwise unreadable. “I promise,” he said at last. “If, for some reason, I am uncomfortable with how things are going and we are unable to resolve it through discussion, I will not feel obligated to return. I swear this to you, Luna, if and only if you can promise the same.”
I was crying, and I knew they were happy tears, but it took me a moment to realize why. He’d taken me seriously. A request for mutual respect, as much of an equal relationship as I could receive, and all I could say was “Of course, Doctor. I swear.”
“Perfect,” he said, and ruffled his wings. “Now, let us go and explain to your guard that I did not, in fact, break into your room, and after that we might see if the kitchen could spare us something sweet to nibble on.”
“Not the cake,” I giggled, wiping my eyes and leading the way. “That’s for my sister only.”