The world felt warm and soft. A blanket of cloud gently kissed me to sleep. I drifted between the words of dreams and consciousness.
Now, slowly, the fog petered off, thinning to reveal grasses, and trees, and ferns. I was once more in a grassy bed next to the river Yark. The sun played peekaboo through the overhanging branches, warming one side of me. I rolled over, letting it warm the other side. The branches and the leaves chimed away as they synchronized with the whistling wind. The river genteelly flowed by. A fish or two jumped, disrupting the pristine surface with an irregular beat.
The collective symphony of life hummed all around me. Everything was peaceful and calm. If this was the afterlife, then it was not such a bad place. Why had I fought so hard to stay away?
In the distance, horns bellowed and the drums pounded. They called to me to the land of the undying. They wanted me to join their ranks, to be a member of the great pack in the sky. All my ancestors were there; they greeted me with smiles, beckoning me to come forth.
“Come join us,” they called.
Hooves beat on a rocky path, their sharp clicks shattering my euphoric state.
Irritably, I raised my head and searched for its source.
A pony appeared. She was nearly black, with wings and a horn, her mane holding the night sky within its strands. Her armor glistened with a dark radiance, a crescent moon upon her breast and flank.
She appeared to be our on a casual walk: stopping to smell the flowers, watching a rabbit as it hopped on by. She turned to the river just as a great fish leaped clear of its surface, droplets twinkling in the sunlight, before it plunged back below. Her current path would take her directly past me and yet she seemed not to care. She was getting too close for my comfort.
I growled.
She stopped, cocked her head, and then smiled.
“Be not afraid, for I come in peace,” she said. Her words flowed smoother then the surface of the river Yark. I bared my fangs; I dared her to take another step. She did not move, only watched. Her face was kind with a disarming smile. I glared back.
She sat down, folding her legs underneath her body. I continued to watch. She made no movement. Finally I laid my head back down on my paws. My eyes never left hers.
“Who are you?” I asked. It was strange to have a pony in my own secret place. She didn’t feel threatening, or an intrusion, or some illusion of the magi. It was almost as if this plane of existence was an extension of me as much as it was to her. Maybe this was purgatory, to be locked together with a strange pony.
“I am Princess Luna,” she said.
“According to the books i’ve read, you are the evil Princess of the Night. Have you come to pay me a visit?” half to myself. She looked nothing like who I imagined: far too graceful, far too majestic. Indeed, the title of princess was very befitting.
“Evil,” she said solemnly, “once, yes. I tried to take the throne from my sister, and it cost me a thousand years of solitude from this world. I no longer have those desires.”
If she wasn’t evil, or at least not claiming to be, then why was she here? Why wasn’t I feasting with my ancestors? Why was I not chasing the stars in the eternal race across the sky?
“Am I dead?” I asked.
“No,” she answered, “but you came very close. You were lucky to have the help that you did.”
Maybe; I was very happy just before she arrived. If my life was to continue, then so be it. “If I’m not dead, then this has to be a dream. Why are you here?”
She took some time to preen her wing before answering.
“I raise the moon at night and visit the dreams of those who sleep. You are the first Diamond Dog I have had the pleasure of visiting in many years. Does it frighten you that someone else can spy on your dreams?”
“No.” In truth, it didn’t feel weird, or alien, or even remotely disconcerting. She was more of a soft glow that enveloped me, a shield against the darker horrors that lay inside the unconscious mind.
A question popped into my mind.
“Whatever happened to Kitty Hawk?” Strange I should be asking such a thing. Did it even matter now.
My question kindled a spark within my chest. An idea was forthcoming; there was a task left undone. I needed to see it through
Princess Luna stood up and stretched.
“Why don’t you go and find out? Wake up, Ember, wake up.”
My eyes snapped open.