“… here… always. Promise…”
Nighttide’s ears flicked at the sound of a distant voice. She opened her heavy eyes to find a blurry figure of a tall grey mare trotting through a dark room. A pleasant warmth surrounded her barrel, threatening to pull her back to sleep. She struggled to blink herself to waking, to get a better look at her surroundings, but found the motion nigh of impossible. The voice spoke once more, a soft sort of thing, equally as soothing as the warmth. But the words still couldn’t quite reach her. The voice trailed through her mind like a familiar ghost.
Then she heard fire, and the even more familiar sound of cracking pavement.
Her eyes flung open. Looking down a street lined with brick rowhouses, she saw street lamps flicker beneath what appeared to be a night sky, although the smoky canopy that loomed overhead glowed a bright orange. She knew this scene. This was perfectly familiar to Nighttide.
What wasn't familiar was the pony walking at the other end of the street. This was new. Nighttide tried to gallop down the street, but her legs refused to move. Stuck in her spot on the asphalt, she watched the unfamiliar pony trot down the street, looking around curiously, until its eyes met with hers.
The pony had a dark mane – perhaps blue, though it was hard to tell for sure. Speckled throughout were sparkling points of bright white. It reminded her a little of the stars in the night sky. And on her flank, a crescent moon.
Her eyes narrowed at the symbol. She opened her mouth call out to the pony, but before she could utter so much as a word…
__________
“… ING… USION… WARNING. NEURAL CONSCIOUS NETWORK INTRUSION. WARN—”
Nighttide found herself rudely awakened by her defenses once again – only this time, the alert was important.
“Neural… conscious...” Nighttide mumbled in the cool night air of Fluttershy's bedroom. “Meaning, someone's hacking into me?”
She rubbed her eyes with cold metal hooves as she tried to wake up. She hadn't felt this way in a long time, but she was so cozy where she was that for once, she didn't want to just bolt right up and get things out of the way. Nevertheless, such an issue could be extremely dangerous.
After rubbing off some of the sleep, Nighttide disabled the alarm and reviewed the alert on her retinal screen.
DIRE LAB-1032. Status report:
- 01:44 - Intrusion to neural conscious network detected.
> Source unknown.
> Device unknown.
> No DIRE information leaked.
'Interesting,' Nighttide thought. 'Could just be a fluke? Though I've never had this alert go off in the past... Maybe it has to do with something in this foreign land.'
Nighttide did a quick sensor sweep of the room to determine if there was anything possibly capable of breaching her systems. Not only did she not find anything, she found nothing electrically powered whatsoever. 'Why didn't I notice this before?' Realizing that the past few hours had made her all but completely drop her guard, she decided she needed to be more cautious.
Nighttide eventually slid out of bed to look out the window again. “Still night,” she whispered, looking up at the moon overhead. She checked her internal clock again. 01:58.
'Seems like this place is in relative sync with my land's time… which makes no sense at all. Is this not the same world? There's no land like this of any sort in our time zone to my knowledge.'
She did another sensor sweep, this time of the immediate area outside the window, and found the same result: no threats, nothing electrical. She couldn't make out any distinguishable lights anywhere along the horizon, and with no clouds overhead, it was impossible for her to determine a city's location – if cities existed here at all.
Her curiosity quickly stirred her awake. Staring out at the luminous night sky, she considered taking a walk to explore the area. It had been years since she had been free to explore, and she was eager to take advantage of the opportunity. Thankfully, her hooves were padded, so if she had to sneak down the stairs, she was sure Fluttershy wouldn't hear. That is, if her floorboards didn't creak, and her animals didn't react to her presence.
'Better think of another idea,' she guessed. Examining the bedroom window, she found a simple brass latch. After unlocking it, she pushed the window out ever so slightly, checking for noise. Nothing. She slowly pushed the window open until the wooden frame hit its stop, happy to find she could fit through no problem. Directly beneath the window was a plant-covered ledge that would help soften her land. Given the right angle, she could slip off the ledge and into the grass just beyond the fence. How she would ever get back up was another question.
After careful consideration of the location of Fluttershy's sofa, she deemed her escape route to be the best option available. She wondered for a moment how she would explain herself if she failed to make it back up to her room before sunrise, but curiosity eventually got the better of her, and she decided to give it a shot anyway. A few seconds later, she was sliding out the window, onto the ledge below, and out beyond the fence.
With a heavy thud, Nighttide hit the ground barrel-first and rolled against the grass. Once she came to a stop, she glanced behind her. The second-floor window sat wide open, but nothing seemed to stir in the house. She watched for a few seconds to make sure no lights lit up, then turned for a dirt road.
__________
Walking down the moonlit path, Nighttide examined everything around her: the trees, the terrain, and eventually a barn with some rather large livestock. 'The farm Fluttershy mentioned, perhaps?' She took a moment to scan the building and the lazy-looking creatures resting within, then continued on her way.
After rounding a slight bend in the path, the outskirts of a village came into view. A few buildings scattered the streetside to the right before the thick of town, and she noticed that with the exception of a lack of foliage, the homes were built similarly to Fluttershy's – simple designs, constructed with what appeared to be a type of dried grass covering the roofs and wood for the structure.
“The designs are primitive, but the construction materials aren’t foreign,” she muttered to herself. She also noticed the odd shapes of some of the buildings. Not all of them were built with straight lines or perfectly upright. Some sat squat to the ground, some leaned to the side. The overall picture seemed haphazard, but Nighttide couldn't help but giggle a little under her breath at the funny appearance. They didn't appear to be built randomly. There was something charming about them. They had a lot more character than the buildings back home.
Crossing over a bridge into town, she noticed a large structure to her right – what appeared to be a gathering place. As she explored on left, the buildings stood a little taller and more uniform than the previous ones. Some had signs outside of them, suggesting places of business. Some did not, which she assumed were residences.
“What strange city zoning,” she muttered as she continued forward, looking around at the signs. “Residential and commercial mixed together?”
There was not a pony in sight, and after a moment, she realized that the most significant thing about the scene was the sheer lack of noise. Nothing stirred but the occasional breeze and, if she listened carefully, a loud snore. Not a single piece of equipment sounded anywhere nearby. In her homeland, the silence would probably come across as eerie. But here, Nighttide felt at peace. The air, the land, even this foreign town she trotted through in the dead of night, seemed to bear no malice of any sort.
Even so, she figured it best not to venture too far, so she stayed mostly on the outskirts of town and casually examined the sights. After several minutes, she happened upon a very strange building that was more like a large tree with windows and a door swathed through it. She stepped close to a makeshift stoop built into the base of the trunk. The door had a drawing of a lit candlestick, and near the door was a sign with an image of an open book.
“Familiar things again,” she said. “But… so old.” She noticed a light flickering from one of the windows near the door. On tense hooves, she snuck over to the window and peered inside. To her surprise, she saw a sleepy Twilight Sparkle hunched over a table, attempting to read a book by candlelight. It appeared fatigue was winning the battle.
Nighttide cocked her head to the side, wondering why in the world Twilight would be up at such a late hour – especially after exhausting herself so much earlier. She was immensely curious and thought about knocking on the door. But, considering a foreigner roaming the streets at night would probably be a bit unsettling, she decided to keep moving.
About an hour passed before she had explored the outskirts of town. Once finished, she saw no reason to go any further, though she wasn’t sure how she’d get back into Fluttershy’s room. With no other option in mind, she took the road back toward her cottage anyway.
As she walked across the bridge from earlier, she noticed a few stray clouds hanging over the forest across the creek. And yet, there were still no clouds above Ponyville. Spotting a clearing tucked between some trees near the creek, she decided to sit for a while and look up at the stars.
It took a moment for her to naturally adjust to the dark night sky, but once the tiny little dots overhead came into view, her eyes widened. Thousands of bright white stars filled the visible sky, far more brilliant than any lights she had ever seen. She could remember somepony telling her about this many years ago, but she had always thought it was an old mare's tale. That the sky could have thousands of stars? In all her years, either the lights of the city drowned out most of them, or the sky was completely blotted out by clouds… or smoke.
She breathed in the crisp, cool air, soaking in the moment as she gazed up at the sky. With enough concentration, she was just able to make out how the stars twinkled ever so slightly, a myriad of colors and hues gently breaking the cool violet of the sky.
She then turned her attention to the moon, which sat just above a snow-capped mountain in the horizon. It seemed to have a different surface than the moon of her home. She couldn't clearly make it out since it was a crescent moon, but she swore there was something unique about it. And, having no information on astronomy, she was unable to determine her location based off the stars.
“Who cares,” she murmured to herself. “This is incredible.”
Nighttide nestled her haunches further into the dew-covered grass and leaned back, her violet eyes reflecting the starry canopy overhead.
‘Yeah. Fluttershy’s can wait.’
__________
Nighttide had been blissfully watching the stars twinkle and shift overhead for several minutes before fatigue finally settled in. Just as she moved to stand up, her ears flicked at a sound. She glanced back at the creek behind her, which made little more than a trickling noise against the smooth rock embankment. Turning her head back forward, she heard the sound again – a hoof against dirt. She squinted toward the road.
The dark silhouette of a pony trotted down the dirt path, its mane and tail flowing in an unfelt breeze. Just as the pony was about to pass her, it turned its head in her direction.
Startled by how quickly the pony noticed her, Nighttide unlocked her rotary cannons and stood to her full height. As it approached her, she noticed a strange sort of glimmer to the pony’s mane and tail, almost as if it reflected the stars above.
Brushing the thought aside, she calmly called out, “Dark pony, identify yourself. Friend or foe?”
“A warm welcome to you, Nighttide Star,” spoke the soft voice of a mare. As the pony stepped up to the clearing, Nighttide noticed she looked very familiar to the one in her dream – a tall mare with a dark blue mane and tail that glistened with what appeared to be stars, flowing and glowing in a most unusual manner. Her flank bore the same crescent moon as both her dream and Equestria's night sky, and she wore a collar piece bearing the symbol as well.
Knowing her name and bearing a resemblance to a dream figure, Nighttide took a step back and fully extended her weapons. “Identify yourself. Friend, or foe?”
“I am a friend. My name is Princess Luna.” The mare approached her just enough to reveal a set of sapphire eyes and a friendly smile.
Nighttide examined the pony and noticed she bore a similar alicorn appearance as Twilight. Considering the power and scope of the magic she witnessed earlier, she considered the Princess a potential threat. And given she was meeting with her in the dead of night with no forewarning, the situation was more than a little unsettling.
Wishing to show respect nevertheless, Nighttide gave a small bow to the mare. “Greetings, Princess Luna. Given your ability to use magic, and since we are not familiar yet, I must remain alert. This means I may attempt to use deadly force if I deem you as a threat.”
“I understand, Nighttide Star.”
“And…” She looked up. “You can just call me Nighttide.”
Princess Luna returned another smile and sat within clear view of Nighttide, keeping her distance as a show of respect.
Standing upright, Nighttide said, “If I may ask, ma'am, why are you out here in the middle of the night? And more importantly, how did you find me?”
“I am the Princess of the Night. It is both my duty to guard the night, as well as to watch over the dreams of ponies.”
“So…” Nighttide's expression grew more serious. “I saw you in my dream after all, didn't I?”
The princess nodded once. “A dream of smoke and memories, it appeared.”
'This pony can invade dreams?!' Nighttide thought to herself. She took a more rigid stance as she addressed the Princess. “You know, where I come from, this would be considered an invasion of privacy at best – espionage at worst. Why would a pony, especially a princess, be interested in the dreams of a foreign pony?”
“It is not just your dreams that I observed, Nighttide. Dreams are an important part of every pony. They represent our desires, and they represent our fears. It is my duty to help guide those who may have lost their way in a dream, or to encourage a pony to face their meaning.”
Nighttide was intrigued by the idea. But, “As far as my culture is concerned, dreams are just silly nonsense. Your ponies would consider them to be of such significance?”
“Not everypony; many ponies still have yet to understand that there are sometimes important teachings to be learned from their dreams. That is where I come in.”
“Well…” Nighttide cocked her head to the side with a raised eyebrow. “In a world of magic and wings, I guess that's just about as believable as the next thing. It makes sense now why my systems alerted me to an intrusion.”
Princess Luna's expression softened, her ears folding a little at the ends. “I'm sorry if my appearance in your dream was disturbing.”
“It's odd. That's the word I'm going to use for it. But… probably no more odd than someone like myself suddenly showing up to your peaceful land.”
Princess Luna giggled under her breath. “Perhaps so.”
“So,” Nighttide said, taking a seat on the damp grass, “I think we both steered away from the initial questions. Why are you here?”
Princess Luna sat down as well. “My sister, Princess Celestia, forwarded the information that Twilight delivered. Since it is my duty to guard the night, I took it upon myself to meet with you while I had the opportunity.”
Nighttide tilted her head. “How did you find me?”
“After your dream, I thought you may embark on the dark of night yourself, as some ponies before you have. I understood you were staying at Fluttershy's cottage, so I examined the nearest route and found you here.”
“Logical,” Nighttide said with a shrug. “If not strange.” She paused and waited to see if Princess Luna had anything more to say. After a moment passed, Nighttide prompted her. “Well, what do you want to know?”
“What do you feel is important for me to know?”
'What a vague question,' Nighttide thought to herself. “Well, I can give you the same speech I would if I were meeting with delegates of another nation.” Nighttide pulled up a script on her retinal screen. “Alright, so…
“Ambassador slash delegate slash… yeah, sorry — my name is Nighttide Star, a female pony 18 moons of age, DIRE milispec, LAB-1032, representing the interests of Roanne. Please be informed that I am equipped with weaponry capable of lethal harm that may be used if either my health, the health of my state and its ponies, or the progression of my operation is jeopardized at any point. Roanne wishes you a warm welcome.
“It is the intent of our nation to spread peace and prosperity across the globe for the betterment of society and the individual pony. Our ultimate goal is to network together the various cultures and societies of the globe under one democracy. It is not our goal to abolish culture, but rather to unite ponies together through a government that thrives on the multiple cultures of our world, free of political conflict and strife such as our planet has suffered for millennia. We wish to speak…”
Nighttide scrunched her muzzle a moment, then switched off the script. “I don't feel as if the rest has any application here at the moment. That should give you a basic summary of my background, though.”
Princess Luna nodded softly, though she seemed to not be completely satisfied. Smiling a little, she said, “Thank you, Nighttide. But may I ask you a question in return?”
“Of course.”
“While this gives me an understanding of where you are from, it does not tell me who you are. Would you explain more of your personal nature to me?”
Nighttide blinked. “Y-yes, of course.” With a sigh, she said, “I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot more of this throughout the day.” Clearing her throat, she considered how to start. “I'm sorry. This is the first time somepony here in Equestria has just said 'Tell me about yourself' without having a prompt.”
Princess Luna gave a gentle smile. “Take your time, my little pony.”
Nighttide thought for a little longer, letting her gaze drift to the dewy grass around them. “Well… I was born to a family in the suburbs of Hiigara. It's located at the foot of a small mountain range called the Ferin Sha that borders the west coast of our continent. Or, it did… at one point,” Nighttide said, slumping a little.
After a pause, she continued, “A few years back, a group of ponies buried and set off a series of hobbled-together nuclear bombs along the eastern fault-line of the Ferin Sha. There was an earthquake, which is what they were hoping for, but it was so intense and so broad that it broke off an entire chunk of the continent. Part of it sank into the sea, and the other part heaved up a bunch of earth and lava.”
“Pray tell,” Princess Luna interjected, “what are these ‘nuclear weapons’ of which you speak?”
“They're what we call ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ They're a rather archaic form of military tech, but terrorists and would-be independent countries still like to make use of them every so often. They do more than just destroy land, though. They pollute the air… and they kill millions of ponies.”
“What a horrible sounding thing,” Princess Luna commented with genuine concern in her tone.
Nighttide averted her gaze slightly and rubbed a fetlock. “Sorry again, but… certain topics that feel like an everyday affair from my land feel… how should I say… foreign? maybe more so dangerous? to yours.”
Princess Luna considered her statement for a moment. “While it is true that we do not know of such ‘weapons’ as you describe, our land is neither perfect.”
“That's what your other princess told me.” Nighttide looked around at the pristine landscape surrounding them, wondering what imperfections they could possibly be suggesting.
“Please, do continue,” Princess Luna politely requested.
“Right… So, it was found out the attack was by a group of independent countries known as The Kidesh Union, looking to avoid becoming integrated into Roanne. It was a declaration of war against us on each of their parts, but they also hoped to deal a blow to our government at the same time. Back then, a lot of our industry was located south of the Ferin Sha, right along the end of the fault line… not far from where I was born.”
Nighttide cleared her throat again. “My parents were killed in the earthquake. They were inside the house, asleep, when it began. I woke up in time to run outside like I had been taught, so I expected to find them out there. But as soon as I was out the door, I turned around to see the house crumbling in on itself. And the ground was…”
Nighttide paused to breathe. This was not the first time she had relived this memory. “…I also lost my legs that night,” Sitting a little more upright, she continued. “While I was standing in the street, a light pole fell on top of me. I don't remember the pain as much as I remember just staring down the street, watching the horizon glow orange.” She hesitated for a second. “That's the last thing I remember before I woke up in a hospital.”
Nighttide retracted her weapons with a light hiss of hydraulics, seeing no need to keep them trained on a princess of Equestria. Something about the night air and Luna's presence were calming, even as she relived the distant memories. “I was still a little filly when my parents died, so my first years with DIRE were spent mostly bouncing around the makeshift foster care system they developed after the attack. It was supposed to help the nation handle the sudden influx of orphans, but the system they used was really outdated, so when I was a couple moons older, DIRE integrated me into a project called 'Labyrinth'. It was designed to raise foals in a group environment, with caretakers assigned to a group in order to keep something resembling parental figures around. There's about eight ponies to each group, which… well, makes for a pretty crazy 'family,' if you can call us that,” she said with a faint giggle. “I've been stationed in Tanis now for a few years, a city that's pretty far inland. It wasn't so bad the first couple years; we were free to come and go as we pleased. We even attended public school outside of the facility.”
Nighttide became visibly flustered at the next thought. “Back then, I had a lot of fun with fillies and colts my age. But then DIRE decided to lock down the Labyrinth project and make it an entirely 'internal' affair. Meaning we’re now kept on-site at all times, specifically at Ridley. At first, it was okay. We were still able to go outside and hang with other ponies – the facility itself is pretty large, and there are outdoor sections that we're free to roam. But after a while, things changed. Certain ponies were hoof-picked for projects. Jealousy became a thing. Other ponies even became afraid of each other when they found out what the projects were.” Hoofing at the ground, she looked down and said, “Like the one I’m in.”
Princess Luna approached her slowly. With a smile, she leaned her head down to look up into Nighttide's eyes. “I may not be familiar with your land, but I do understand what it is to be feared by your fellow ponies.”
Nighttide smirked. “Well, sure, you're a princess. Aren't you supposed to exude 'regal authority' or something?”
“Not always. I thought as much for some time, but then I learned otherwise.” Her expression turned from reassuring to serious. “But this is not the point which I am referring. Once upon a time, I was an enemy of Equestria.”
Nighttide lifted her head up to meet Princess Luna's eyes. “An... enemy?”
The princess nodded somberly. “For many years, our ponies embraced the day, but shunned the night. My sister seemed to always shine brighter than I did, and in time, I grew bitter toward her and the ponies over whom we ruled. My bitterness eventually transformed me into a creature known as Nightmare Moon.”
Nighttide tried to stifle a giggle, but failed. “Snnkt… Nightmare Moon? I'm sorry, but that's a pretty awesome name, if I may be honest.”
“But Nightmare Moon was not an 'awesome' pony, as you would imply," Princess Luna said, maintaining her serious tone. “After trying to force eternal night on the land of Equestria, my sister had to banish me for a thousand years.”
Nighttide blinked. “D-did you just say 'a thousand years?' As in, a thousand seasonal cycles?” Princess Luna nodded. “How old do you ponies get anyway?”
Princess Luna shook her head. “That is not the point either. After a thousand years passed, my return as Nightmare Moon came. Thankfully, a certain group of ponies helped transform my heart back to its former state, and Princess Celestia forgave me of my actions. However, that did not fix everything.” She turned her attention toward Ponyville, resting peacefully just beyond the creek. “On the first Nightmare Night after my return, a holiday that we celebrate here in Equestria, I made an appearance in this village to reintroduce myself to the citizens.” She visibly grimaced at the thought of the memory. “They shook and cowered before my presence, some even mistaking me for Nightmare Moon. But not everypony felt the same.” Her expression softened again. “Some ponies helped me to communicate better to my citizens. I even learned how to have fun with them. In time, I found my place in Equestria – and by my sister's side – once again.”
Nighttide pondered her story a moment, then frowned. “You know, Princess, if you were trying to tell that story to make me feel better… to be honest, there's really not a lot to relate with.”
Luna walked over to Nighttide's side. “Our stories may be different, but some of our experiences are similar. I too was feared by others because of my position. It was my responsibility to learn how to respond to that fear, and to learn how to communicate with others when this happened.” She smiled at Nighttide. “I was also thankful to have a few ponies help me along my journey.”
Nighttide thought back to the group of ponies she had met in the past few hours. Fluttershy, Twilight, the brash Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and even the loud and boisterous Pinkie Pie. 'That pony had no idea how close she was to getting hurt,' Nighttide thought with a shiver.
“Yeah. I can see that,” she eventually remarked. “I just… I don't know. Where I come from, a lot of this is old hat. Everyone is looking to relate with each other – everypony wants to pretend they can understand and sympathize. Maybe it was a nice dream once upon a time, for everyone to get everyone's business, but now it just feels like... I dunno, inconsiderate? To hear someone say, ‘I understand,’ or, ‘I feel your pain,’ when you're hurting feels so degrading.” Nighttide looked up at Princess Luna. “But it's different when somepony takes the time to share their story because they're considering your feelings. It's empathy, not sympathy. While you haven't actually experienced what I have, you seem to at least have a sense of what I'm feeling. And,” Nighttide added as she looked away, “it doesn't feel like you're just out for attention either.”
Princess Luna smiled and allowed a moment of silence to pass. “Nighttide Star… your name is quite interesting. Does it not mean the time between dusk and dawn?”
Nighttide's ears perked up ever so slightly. “Yes, it does. Yet another similarity you ponies have with my world: your language. Except…” Nighttide considered how to make her next statement without sounding rude. “I heard you say 'pray tell' at one point. Where I come from, that's an ancient form of syntax that hasn’t been regularly practiced in over a millennium. Is it considered normal practice here?”
Princess Luna gave out a hearty laugh, not becoming of her regal appearance. “It is ancient here, too. Old habits.” She gestured with a hoof and added, “I apologize, for it is taking me some time to adjust to society after being gone a thousand years.”
Nighttide smirked. “Yeah, that's definitely something I cannot relate with.” The two shared a short laugh.
Once over her giggles, Princess Luna looked up at the stars above. “Prithee, what do you think of your name, if I may ask?”
Nighttide looked up to the stars shining above. “Not a whole lot. Where I come from, this,” she suggested with a hoof to the clear night sky, “is a rare instance. Ever since the earthquake, most of our continent has had some pretty miserable weather. If it's not raining, then all I can see is an orange glow with an occasional flicker. There’s just too many lights in our city to really see the stars well.”
Nighttide continued to examine the stars and the moon on the horizon. “Princess Luna. You said that your ponies ‘shunned’ the night. What exactly did you mean?”
“Many ponies slept through the night and played in the day. I understand now that my night is a time of peace and for dreaming, and that my sister's day is a time for waking and activity.”
'Such a simple way to put it,' Nighttide thought to herself. “But what a beautiful night yours is.”
Princess Luna smiled warmly at that. The two sat side-by-side in peaceful silence for a moment, watching the stars flicker above. The moon was slowly beginning to fall behind the mountain when she spoke again. “I should return to Canterlot soon, as the night must end in a few hours.”
Nighttide looked at Luna's flank and back at the moon. “Princess, can I ask you one more question?”
“Please.”
“The way that you talk about ‘your’ night and your ‘sister's’ day, do you two have something to do with the sun and moon?”
Princess Luna opened her mouth to speak, then briefly paused. Smirking, she looked over at Nighttide and said, “As the morning approaches, my sister raises the sun, while I lower the moon. Then as evening approaches, she will lower the sun for me to raise the moon.”
“…Using magic?”
“Correct,” Princess Luna said with a nod.
Nighttide looked up again at the expansive universe, trying to figure out how a simple pony could do such a significant act – let alone be held accountable for doing it each and every day. 'What a magic these alicorns possess,' she thought. 'Could I even stand up against one if I had to?'
Princess Luna stood up and turned toward the mountain. “Well, thank you for introducing yourself, Nighttide. I hope that we may meet again soon.”
Nighttide wondered why she wouldn't see her with her sister tomorrow, but before she could ask, the Princess took to the skies. She figured she must sleep during most of the day if she was responsible for guarding the night.
As Nighttide returned to the road toward Fluttershy's, she mused aloud, “I should've asked the Princess if she knew anything about how to get home. Didn't seem like she knew where, or what, home was though...” As the cottage came into view, she smirked and added, “Should've at least asked her to hoist me back up to the window.” This turned out to be unnecessary though, as she noticed a light shining from an open door and could hear a faint voice in the distance somewhere around the cottage.
Nighttide galloped to the cottage and heard Fluttershy behind the house calling for her. “Fluttershy! I'm over here!”
Fluttershy rounded the side of her cottage and galloped up to Nighttide. “Oh my gosh, Nighttide, I was so worried!”
“Sorry! I'm sorry,” Nighttide stammered out as she hung her head in guilt. “I woke up from a bad dream and decided to take a night walk. I didn't want to wake you, so I kind of… well…” She nodded up at the window.
Fluttershy gave her a concerned look, not unlike the one she first gave her soon after they met. “I woke up in the middle of the night to Angel hopping on the couch. When I got up to check on you, you were gone.”
Nighttide could see Angel watching them from the bedroom window, with what appeared to be a knowing grin on its face. Embarrassed, Nighttide hoofed at her mane and said, “I'm sorry, again. I promise, this isn't something I'd normally do.”
“I'm just glad you're alright,” Fluttershy said, relief now evident in her tone. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Yeah, actually,” Nighttide replied with a softness to her own voice. “Trust in me that I won't do something like this again, and show me the way back to bed.”
Fluttershy returned a tired smile as the two walked inside the house. Thoroughly worn from her little adventure, Nighttide took to her bed with newfound exhaustion. This time, her dreams would prove to be a little more peaceful, as the figure of a familiar alicorn passed through her imagination.