STAR TREK: EQUESTRIA

by Alicorne

STAR TREK: EQUESTRIA- SUPPLEMENTAL

Something woke me up…
Our cabin was dim, there’s no point in allowing any room on the Ship to become totally dark. Even in a total power failure the enchanted glowpanels maintain fifteen percent illumination, enough to allow a pony to navigate to the bathroom and avoid the furniture or make their way to emergency stations. It was enough for my Augmented eyes, though, and I peered blearily as I strained my ears to discover just what roused me.
Sunny’s fan purred away, the sound almost-but-not-quite masking her snores as the cuckoo clock tick-ticked to itself on the wall next to the door. I gave it an irritated glance. I had thought I’d finally come to terms with the thing making its Goddess-damned racket every hour on the hour! The ever-present sounds of the Ship’s power systems thrumming through the walls like a high-tech lullaby as well as the various noises of the Life Support Systems I’d long ago accepted and ignored as part of the routine workings of the Hermes. But that clock, on the other hoof, had taken some getting used to. I would have gladly fed it to the recycler days ago if Sunny wasn’t so attached to it!
I turned my head just far enough to read its face. The fact that it read three-seventeen registered to me the very same instant that I realized that something was curled up in my mane. Something warm and trembling that whimpered to itself right in my ear!
…Tyllae was having another Bad Night.
It happened sometimes. Flighty and carefree by day, Tyllae was careful to get under the covers… and my sleepwear… to tuck her head into my breast before I dimmed the lights at night. Listening to my heart, snug and warm, she passed most nights honing her appetite for the next morning’s breakfast and dreaming Faery dreams for her rest. Once in a while, though, her dreams take her back to the uncounted years she spent buried in the ground spelled into stone at the whim of Nightmare Moon where, lost and forsaken, she huddled cold and alone in the dark and cried tears that never came in her fear and loneliness. Sometimes she awakes in the dark confused, afraid that she’s still in the ground and she’s only dreaming a hopeless dream of warmth and comfort. Afraid that she dreams and afraid to wake up she has a miserable time of it until she finally exhausts herself and lapses into actual sleep again only to wake in the morning fresh as a daisy and bright as a home-grown sapphire, apparently none the worse for her ordeal!
…All of which is cold comfort to either of us in the wee hours of the morning. I comfort her as best I can when it happens. Sunny, for all her understanding and compassion any other time, is an advocate of Tough Love at three in the morning! But Sunny can sleep through anything when she puts her mind to it. I, on the other hoof, need less sleep and the sounds of the little Tyke’s distress tugs at my heartstrings like nothing else can.
So, feeling guilty for feeling irritated, I worked a hoof up to cup the trembling little Fey and nuzzled her against my cheek.
“Shhh, kiddo!” I whispered. “It’s all right. I’m right here. You’re all right. Go back to sleep, Honey!”
“Tyllae is all scared!” She mewled into my ear, hugging my mane so tightly I would have lost hairs if I tried to drag her out! “Tyllae is afraid Tyllae is dreaming and gonna wake up all cold an’ alone again! Tyllae doesn’t wanna be cold any more, no, no, nooo! Sooo dark! Tyllae can’t see! Tyllae can’t move! Tyllae still buried, Tyllae knows it! No fair! Tyllae never did anything to anypony!” She curled herself up tighter around my mane and hiccoughed, sobbing.
I stifled a hiss as she tweaked a few hairs loose! “Damnit, Tyllae! That hurts! Come on!” I squirmed and pulled her away from my head as far as I could, brushing my excess mane away from her with my free hoof.
“Take a look around! See? You’re in our cabin!” On an impulse I reached out and triggered the sunglobe for the Geeva plant into life. It rose into the air and cast its green-tinged yellow light onto the plant next to the bed, the brown and yellow tiger-striped, poinsettia-like blooms looking particularly vivid in the dim room. I crossed my fingers that I wasn’t waking Sunny up as I hitched myself up a little and pointed the little Fey in that direction. Sunny made a disgruntled noise and shifted in her sleep, burrowing her head into my shoulder against the soft light. I held my breath for a moment but Sunny stayed silent.
“Look! There’s Myrl. Have you ever dreamed in color before?”
“Tyllae dreams in colors alla time!” The little thing wailed. “Flowers an’ Sun an’ leaves poor, poor, poor Tyllae never gonna see againnn!” Tyllae shook her head and ducked into my palm and whimpered.
“Shhh! You’re gonna wake Sunny! Tyllae you can hear me. Have you ever spoken to anypony in a dream before?”
“Tyllae talks inna dreams alla time!”
“But have you ever had a conversation in a dream? Actually had a talk with somepony who said something you didn’t expect?”
“Anything can happen inna dream, Starry! Tyllae could be dreaming Tyllae is talky-talking to nice, nice, nice Starry. Then Tyllae gonna wake up an’ be all cold again!” The terrified tyke protested. “Tyllae is dreaming Tyllae just knows it! Is all too good to be real!” She sniffled and trembled, hot tears trickling down onto my fingers. “Nothing good ever happens to Tyllae any more! Tyllae must be a bad, bad, bad Faery!”
“Calm down, kiddo! You’re not a bad Faery; you’re just having a nightmare.” I nuzzled her against my cheek. “Feel that? I’m real. Have you ever felt anything in a dream before?”
Tyllae sniffled and nuzzled my cheek with a soft elfin nose. I felt her gather up my mane in her hooves and rub her face. I felt a surge of hope as her trembling backed down slightly but there was still an element of doubt in her voice when she spoke.
“Tyllae could be dreaming…. Anything can happen inna dream, Starry!”
“That’s it, Tyllae! Stop and think!” I urged her. “Trust your senses. You can hear and see in your dreams but have you ever physically felt anything before?” To emphasize my point I cupped her in my hoof and jiggled her, something that always set the waking Fey into giggles.
But the little cynic was refusing to be comforted!
“Tyllae could still be dreaming!” She said stubbornly, but in a firmer, less tearful voice as doubt gnawed at her terrified resolve.
“Keep it down, will you? You’ll wake Sunny at this rate then we’ll all be in for a real nightmare!” I admonished as I felt Sunny squirm restlessly. “Now think, already!” I paused for a moment, a sudden inspiration coming to me. I came to bed late that night, having taken a turn around the Sciences Department for more than an hour and lending a hoof with the Sensor modifications. On the way back I stopped by the Galley and scrounged a late-night snack in the form of leftover garlic bread with toasted onions from the spaghetti dinner we’d been served that night. As fate would have it, I jumped straight into bed without brushing my teeth first… I knew I’d be getting up before Sunny anyway and would have plenty of time to get presentable!
“Tyllae, you can see, hear, talk, and maybe feel things in your dreams, right?”
“Uh-huh…” She quavered, unsure.
“Well, have you ever smelled anything in a dream before?” With that, I cupped my hooves around the little Fey and puffed an aromatic blast straight into her face!
I felt her go rigid for an instant before she backpedaled out of my grasp and free of my mane. She hovered in front of me windmilling her wings and shaking her head!
“Acky-poo, Starry! Tyllae never ever, ever, ever smelled anything inna dream before! Tyllae would have remembered something lika that!” She worked her nose and sneezed before flitting up to hug my cheek and dry her tears. “Tyllae is sorry for being a silly, scardey-scared Faery!”
“All right! All right!” I hissed. “Keep it down, already! It’s all right! Now come on and get back to bed. Think you can sleep now?”
“Tyllae can sleep now. All goody-good dreams from now on!” She caroled, nodding hard enough to set her little antennae jangling.
I turned onto my side, facing her and pulling my top open and the blanket down. “Shhh, will you? Come on, let’s get back to sleep, ok?”
Just then I felt the bed shift as Sunny pulled herself up and peered over my shoulder. Oh, crap!
“I’d better be a-dreamin’ this…” She growled sleepily.
“Hi-hii, Sunny!” Tyllae waved at her. “Tyllae knows how Sunny can tell if Sunny is dreaming or not! Starry just showed Tyllae how! Tyllae will show!”
Before I could stop her, the little fink zoomed straight up in front of Sunny’s muzzle and did a smart about-face in midair. She lifted her tail and, fanning her wings backwards for good measure, pooted right into Sunny’s nose!
“Ever smell anything inna dream before, Sunny?” She asked brightly.