Crescent awoke in the early hours of the day, yawning as she rubbed her eyes and looked around to make sure she was actually awake this time, and not in another dream or vision. When she was convinced of it, she stretched and slid off the bed. "Morning." She padded to the balcony and peeked out at the gardens below, enjoying the sights and sounds that greeted her.
Returning to the room, she took note that Mama wasn't there. "Getting ready for bed?" She trotted out into the hallways with a merry clip-clop. "Mama? Where are you hiding?" Her eyes flicked across the corridors, trying to find her mother, or anyone she knew, in fact, that might be willing to provide company for the morning. "Anyone?"
When there was still no response, Crescent used her horn to float a hat on. She had picked out the red bow one from her collection. "Oh, well." There was one place that felt like a safe place to go, so she went to where Celestia and Mama often had breakfast.
Celestia was there, enjoying a waffle. "Crescent, how nice to see you." She nodded towards Crescent as the filly entered. "Would you care for one?" She lifted another waffle to punctuate her question.
Crescent's eyes locked on it for a moment, but she pulled herself together and managed to respond with a curt nod. "I'd love to!" She bounced towards the table to sit right across from her Aunt Celestia.
A plate was lifted from the table, magically, and placed before Crescent, along with a fork and knife, as well as a bottle of syrup to coat the waffle with. "My, my. You have quite the appetite." Celestia took a small sip from a cup of coffee. "How was your day yesterday?"
Crescent grabbed the waffle with her bare hooves and started to chomp on it, smiling with delight at the treat. Her magic slathered it in syrup even as she devoured it, somehow managing to not drench herself in the stuff. "It was good." She considered bringing up heavier parts, but that felt rude to Luna. "Do you know where Mama is?"
"Yes, I do." Celestia leaned across the table and whispered, "She's getting her beauty sleep, but she'll be out and about when she's ready." She sat back up with a smile and finished her waffle before reaching out with a hoof to scritch Crescent's cheek gently with her hoof.
Crescent smiled at the affection even as confusion swirled in her. "I checked her bedroom. It's my bedroom too! She wasn't there. Is she sleeping somewhere else?!"
Celestia looked out a window at the warm light of the day. "Ah, she must be in the garden today, soaking up the sunlight for a change of pace." She kept eating her waffles at the same lazy pace she had started with, a quiet nibble here and there. "Are you jealous, Crescent? Or just lonely?"
"Lonely." She reached over to take another waffle in her hooves. "I wanted to talk to her." She stuck out her tongue at Celestia. "Is it that odd for a filly to want to talk to her mom?"
Celestia nodded solemnly as she swallowed another bite of waffle and drank of her coffee to wash it down. "Very well. Let us find her." She stood up. "Follow me. I am quite certain of where she is."
Crescent rose as well, trotting after the elder princess as they left the dining room and stepped into the hallway, passing through the halls as they walked outside to the courtyard and the little garden where the sisters could enjoy some sunshine together, as they once had done as foals themselves so very long ago. "That's nice."
They walked to the small hilltop where a tiny stream trickled on by. "She's resting here. Come on, I'll wake her for you." Celestia stepped on forward to stand right next to Luna and Crescent raced forward to catch Celestia's hoof before it could make contact. "Thank you. I can talk to her now." She nuzzled Celestia's captive hoof. "I can take it from here."
Celestia could have gotten around Crescent, easily. She could have just knocked the filly right over, but she felt no need to do either. "Just wanted to be near her? What a darling little creature you are." She turned away. "You know where to find me." So as to not awaken her sister if not needed, Celestia returned to inside the castle at a gentle walk.
Crescent curled next to her mother. "There you are. I didn't know you slept outside sometimes." There was no accusation there, just innocent marvel at learning something new about her mother. "Let me join you." She closed her eyes and pressed from her mental space into the one that had created her.
"Crescent?" Luna did not stir when she spoke, she simply did so from her mind, sharing a vision of their joined dreams for the moment. "What are you doing here?"
Crescent curled against her mother, basking in the warmth and love flowing between them. "I wanted to see you. And talk to you some more. I fell asleep last time and I feel bad about that. You deserve more time and talks." She flashed a big smile at Luna. "We all do, but especially you, mother. You are my mother. I like talking with you."
Luna chuckled softly at the thought, smiling with obvious joy from the filly's simple logic and dedication. "I think we talked plenty last night. Don't you?"
"Nope!" Crescent hopped up onto Luna, who continued to lay in the soft grass of the dreamscape, the sky above them twinkling with the hopes of the citizens of Equestria. "You have some big worries, and you shouldn't have to face those alone." She nuzzled into Luna's soft fur, nestling in close. "So many ponies love you, starting with me, but not ending, no no no." She shook her head wildly at the thought of such a thing, sending her mane flying out and whacking Luna in the face, briefly covering the pony's eyes with its length and darkness, leaving her blind and relying on Crescent's warmth and voice to assure her of the filly's presence still being there and she was not alone in the world anymore.
Luna chuckled softly at her daughter's enthusiasm, brushing the little filly's mane away. "Somepony woke up with all the vim and vigor, I see. You should be enjoying the day, not foalsitting your silly mother."
"If I want to foalsit my mama, than I'm gonna." Crescent sat up so she could fold her arms in a proper pouting gesture. "She deserves it. She foalsits all of Equestria every night, and they love her for it, knowing her hooves are wrapped gently around them, keeping them safe." She softened, laying back down, nuzzling her mother's warm flank with her own smaller one. "I wish I could help you do that."
"You do." Luna opened an eye to look at her. "Your existence gives me strength, more than you know. It is very pleasant to have a piece of myself, but not my entire self. You are a reminder that I can create as well as destroy." She hummed gently. "I am a pony of many parts, but it is folly to think I am alone in this. The dreams I visit make it quite clear that many others have quite nuanced inner places." She rested beneath Crescent, tired, but pleased to have her.
Crescent nodded, leaning back just enough to rest her head on Luna's, letting her head sink in gently as she let herself fade out and back to her own space, the distance between them widening as she returned to her own physical form, snoring quietly as she still reclined on the gentle curve of the sunbathing Princess Luna's side. "Sleep well." She smooched her slumbering mother and hopped up to her own hooves.
Spiritedly, she trotted into the castle and almost bumped headlong into a pony on the way. "Blueblood!"
"That's prince—" Blueblood took a step back, realizing what foal he'd almost tripped over. "Oh, cousin Crescent. Charmed. Where are you dashing off to with such spirit? Going to wake your mother, I suspect?"
"No, she's taking a nap." Crescent beamed up at Blueblood as he fixed his cravat with a fancy twist of his hoof, her horn glowing with magic as she adjusted her own dress from his touch against her coat, and the tickle of his mane in her eyes. "Anything interesting happening in the castle today that you know about?"
"There's you, to start." He examined her curiously a moment. "You've really stepped up your fashion game, haven't you? I'm not complaining, but what inspired the sudden interest? Did somepony else decide to dress you, or?" He shrugged at the possibility of the answer not mattering, which it might not have to the little filly. "We've also got a royal ambassador arriving from some country or other. The boring one. You wouldn't be interested."
"Yeah, I wouldn't." Crescent grinned at the adult standing before her. "Auntie Tia will want to handle that, I'm sure. I'll play with you, then, if you're not doing anything. I'm bored."
"I have several things to be doing, some of them in fact urgent." Blueblood let out a sigh, feeling that such pleas may not be taken at heart by the filly. "Perhaps you could accompany me, for a little while?"
Crescent squeaked with delight and got to trotting alongside Blueblood. "Which thing are we taking care of first?"
"We are going to a sitting room. The guards told me a pony has come to visit, and they simply cannot be turned away. Must be somepony of some importance. I will see what they need. You can watch." He ruffled the top of Crescent, mussing her hair and adjusting her hat.
She was tempted to move it back, but held herself back and simply smiled up at him, her mane slowly drooping from his hoof's interference and into her eyes, as if to add an element of comedy to the scene that could only be read by her own amusement. "What's this pony's name?"
"I'm told it's--" He paused. "They didn't mention it." They entered a small sitting room and found the answer for themselves. Seated at the table there was Princess Twilight Sparkle. "Oh, what a surprise. I wouldn't think they'd need a pony to greet you."
Twilight looked up at Blueblood, nodded, then her eyes dropped to Crescent with a big smile. "There you are! I was worried something terrible might have happened to you, the way that dream ended so sharply. What happened?!"
"The dream?" Blueblood quirked a brow at that. "What dream? I haven't dreamed yet today, let alone shared one with somepony." He frowned at that as Twilight's attention was focused on Crescent. "Is this a joke, cousin? Did you send her here ahead of you, or..."
Crescent giggled as she bounced towards Twilight. "That was last night. I'm sorry if I scared you. It was surprising to me too, but I felt somepony needed me really bad, so I went to them. "
Twilight reached a hoof and curled the attached arm around Crescent, drawing her close. "I'm glad you're alright. You were speaking to me, in the dream, and then, it was just gone, all of it." She shook her head, focusing on Blueblood. "You must be terribly confused, sorry. I had come to see if Crescent is alright, which she seems to be. You don't need to greet me. I was hoping Celestia or Luna would arrive, truth told, to ask them about Crescent."
"That's hardly my concern," stated Blueblood with a dismissive wave of his hoof, though he did pour himself some tea at the counter. "They're around. Luna is certainly busy these days. She does what she wants. Celestia probably knows where she is. Would you care for some tea?" He raised his own.
"Thank you." Twilight took a glass for her own with a little proper sip. "I won't keep you a moment longer."
"She is my cousin." Blueblood nodded towards Crescent. "One I've grown fond of. Go on."
Twilight rubbed behind her head awkwardly. "As you wish. Crescent, thank you for checking in on me. Are you regularly in the habit of helping your mother with dream patrols?"
"Sometimes." Crescent leaned up, rising to her hind legs to grab Twilight by the cheeks and smooch her on either. "I'm so happy you came, just for me. I hope it wasn't too hard, but I'm okay, really."