//------------------------------//
// Friends After All 
// Story: Stars In The Day 
// by NightInk 
//------------------------------//

	The world was dark again, but not as dark as before. There was less torment to wade through on the way to the center. When I arrived, I stood in the same place I arrived the first time, a short distance away from the tree. It had grown substantially in the time that had passed, and was a good looking tree now. Discord was sprawled out underneath it, thoughtfully tapping one of his lion claws on the trunk of the tree. I sat down on the other side of the tree without saying a word. We sat for a while, just looking at the sky. He was the first to break the comfortable silence.
“Thanks for shooting me.”
I craned my head to look at him from my side of the tree. “You’re welcome. Thanks for being a cool guy, minus the crazy trying to kill me stuff. Though I did enjoy the challenge, half dead stuff aside.”
I saw him smile just before settling back into my comfortable patch of mind dirt. “Yes, I suppose I did get carried away there, didn’t I?”
I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me from where he was sitting. “Well, maybe. It was kind of fun.”
He gave a wry chuckle. “You are a bit off, aren’t you?”
I shrugged again. “I guess. Luna would probably agree with you. I prefer to think of it as undiscovered genius.”
I heard a derisive snort come from him. “Yeah, so undiscovered you haven’t even found it.” He shifted in his place. “She really is a goddess, you know.”
I looked up at the sky through the leaves of the tree. “Luna or Tia?”
“Mmm, both, I guess.”
I smiled. “Both counts, I agree. Tia is a bit protective of Luna at times, and Luna snores pretty badly, but they are both really great.”
He couldn’t help but exclaim in laughter. “Ha! Luna snores?! Really?”
I laughed with him. “Yeah, and drools a bit when she sleeps on her side. She refuses to acknowledge it though. She just blames it on me. Won’t listen to reason, doesn’t admit that I wouldn’t be drooling on her pillow, but she does.”
We laughed for another moment. “In all seriousness, though,” he continued. “Your wife, Luna, is truly dynamic. I don’t know of anypony else that could have navigated that obstacle course as well as she, and she stood remarkably firmly by you even after you were dead again.”
I smiled thinking about her. “Yeah, she’s perfect. Too good for me. Did you happen to be there when she gave me her ring?”
“Almost cried. Even before you talked sense into me, I had emotion. It was beautiful.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“I’m serious.”
“I know. Me too.”
We were quiet. A few clouds passed overhead. “That one looks like a bunny,” I muttered.
He seemed confused. “What are you talking about? You and I are the only ones here.”
I rolled over next to him so I could see his side of the sky. “You serious? What kind of cloud-watcher are you? Look at that cloud,” I said, pointing. “What does that look like to you?”
“A cloud.”
No, I mean something you’d see otherwise. I think it looks kind of like a pirate ship.”
“Why a pirate ship? Why not a large sailboat or a kind of schooner? Or, maybe even-“
“You suck at this. It’s just what it looks like. It might be different.”
“Oh, all right. A pirate ship it is. What’s that one look like to you?”
I squinted at it. “A turtle maybe?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I can see that. A turtle…”