When Cloudy Night opened her eyes, she immediately knew she was no longer lying in her bedding.
She was lying on something soft, though for the moment she could not tell what it was. She could feel a breeze on her coat; cold and unfamiliar. It felt as though she had travelled worlds away from where she had fallen asleep.
She stood up, and as she did so the wind picked up, blowing her long blue mane away from its spot over her eye. Looking down, she noticed that she had been lying on a bed of fallen leaves; all of which were green and healthy as the mid-summer. She continued to stare into the darkness around her, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Finally sight came, only… not in the way she expected.
It was as if the world simply expanded beyond her leaf bed, with the visible world extending out in a perfect circle around her. The process increased in speed as it went, and before long the visible sphere of the universe burst out in all directions, travelling from her faster than a gale wind. Finally, Cloudy could clearly distinguish her surroundings.
First of all, she saw that it was a moonless night. Despite that fact, she could see the objects around her as clearly as if it were the middle of the day. She was in a forest, which seemed to go on forever, fading into the distance with a blur. There were no landmarks of any kind, as well as a lack of any mountains, hills, or any other sign that there was anything here but forest. There was also a distinct lack of shrubbery or any other kind of foliage. The forest itself was also clearly lit, but lacked colour; their forms appearing as grey as a pencil drawing.
The wind was picking up, and though it was cold it did not make Cloudy Night feel cold. Surprisingly, she also felt relatively unsurprised. It felt like she was not in control of her body, no… it was like she knew that there was no other choice to make than those she was making at that moment. It was calm… she was calm, and she knew that there was something in the woods that she needed to see.
Yet… she did not know where to go. Perhaps it did not matter, and the only important thing was that she went.
Cloudy took a breath, and trotted off of her leafy bed and into the forest. When she looked up from between the grey trees, she could see the stars; whose twinkle had often filled her with comfort on the lonely nights she had spent on her cliff. Tonight, in this place, they appeared cold and uninviting. These were not the stars that she remembered… then again, this whole place was nowhere she remembered.
When she looked in front of her, she could see a path stretching ahead. That had not been there before. Still, it was something to follow, perhaps it even lead to the thing that she sought.
Cloudy continued her trot, only now she followed the new path. As she trotted, she could feel a physical build-up, like pins and needles, all over her body. She also became more anxious the longer she walked down the path. There was something ahead, that much she could tell.
Whatever lay down the path before her, it was large. Too large… large enough that she should be able to see it by now, and yet it was still hidden from her view. With every step of her hooves the tension built, making her feel like each step was a crash. The pins and needles on her body grew more intense by the moment; now bordering on outright pain. Whatever it was in front of her, it was not right!
Cloudy could feel the beginning of panic setting in as she walked forward. She was not ready for what lay before her! It was so far beyond her. She must not take another step!
In the distance, a twig broke, and Cloudy jumped with a terror she had never known. Desperately, she turned to run down the path behind her, only to find that the path was gone. When she turned back around, the path before her was gone as well. She was lost in the woods.
The grey scale trees surrounding Cloudy seemed to lean in towards her. Though she was no longer on the path, the panic and pins had not subsided. Cloudy Night was still filling with the building terror she had felt not moments ago… And it was becoming unbearable.
Still inward the trees bent, their branches beginning to shift greater than the wind should be able to shift them. She looked around quickly, her gaze flying from place to place, but finding nothing but more trees. Cloudy even began to huddle close to the ground; her legs physically shaking from the sensation of extreme panic that she was feeling.
The branches reached from the leaning trees, gravitating towards the little blue unicorn. Cloudy did not know what to do, other than sit there and panic. Oh, why had she turned from the path?
Closer and closer the branches reached, their ends becoming grabbing claws, grasping desperately for Cloudy. She was absolutely, astoundingly terrified, and stood frozen in place; just watching the branches draw closer.
Completely panicked, and not knowing how to escape the ever reaching branches, Cloudy looked to the sky; hoping to find some way out through the opening in the treetops. She tried to analyze the star speckled skies in the moment she had to see between the branches, and found something startling… In that instant even the claws grasping at her paused. The wind dropped, and all became silent.
The stars… were moving.
As Cloudy Night gazed at the small patch of dark purple sky she could see the points of light scraping their way across the sky; leaving small trails behind them. One light in particular got brighter and brighter, and though it should be impossible to tell, Cloudy knew that this star was falling towards her.
In seconds the falling star went from a growing point of light in the distance to a blazing light the size of the sun, turning the sky and ground into almost graphic shades of white and black. Cloudy watched the light in silence, completely entranced by what she was witnessing.
If only the moment could have stretched a bit longer.
But alas! It could not, and the silence that the forest had fallen into quite suddenly became chaos as the world was shattered by a sound like a thousand bolts of lightning striking the ground simultaneously. Cloudy Night, as well as almost all of the trees surrounding her, were hurled backwards through the air from the shockwave of the star.
Cloudy was able to see the explosion as the star hit only for a moment. She also saw the various trees uproot and soar through the air with her. Her vision would have continued longer, but before she had even touched the rolling ground she saw the world collapsing into an abyss around her.
In an instant, her world was enveloped by darkness.
***
For a time Cloudy Night floated in the unknowable abyss that had claimed her from the falling star. It was like being underwater, but without the need to breathe.
She could still feel the physical shock of the world suddenly tumbling into absolute destruction around her. It had been terrifying, for the moment that it had lasted.
Now, however…. Now Cloudy Night could feel herself recovering from the shock of what she had witnessed. She also felt terribly aware of the feeling of being underwater, and despite the lack of a need to breathe she could feel her lungs recoiling. She decided to try to swim up through the seemingly endless abyss; no easy task, as telling what direction was up could be a trial beyond even her mind.
Regardless, Cloudy’s mind demanded that she swim upwards, and she would surely give it her best shot. She kicked her legs out in a pony’s awkward looking version of a stroke, and sure enough, felt herself propel forwards through the invisible water. Again, Cloudy kicked out with her legs, and again she moved. She repeated this pattern; her strokes becoming faster paced, as well as larger, the further she went.
At first, it seemed as though nothing changed as Cloudy swam her way through the abyss, however, after some time of moving she began to notice a change in the current. To her coat, it felt like only a tiny flow in the water, but she had nothing else to go on, and the promise of a current was certainly more appealing than endlessly wandering this bottomless pit. She began to move herself along the direction that the current seemed to be flowing in, hoping to find whatever lay at its destination.
As Cloudy went, she began to feel the current pick up speed and force. Within moments she was being pushed along by the flow of the water without the need to swim herself. Another minute or so, and the water sped up to a very fast pace, now dragging Cloudy along with it.
She wished that she could escape the water, but some part of Cloudy Night knew that the only way out of this place was through the current. She allowed herself to be dragged by the ever increasing might of the water towards… whatever it was that waited ahead.
Faster and faster the water flowed, until it felt to Cloudy like she was riding the force of a great tidal wave beneath the water. This only lasted a short time, however, and Cloudy quite suddenly found the current completely vanished from her. She also felt the water disappear from around her. There was a moment of pause, long enough for Cloudy to realize what was about to happen, and then she fell.
She screamed, but was abruptly cut off by the wind flying out of her lungs as she collided with something solid. As she hit the mass, the zone of her landing seemed to crumble inward, and Cloudy fell inside the thing she had crashed into.
For several seconds after landing all that Cloudy could do was cough. With every breath her lungs filled with dust coming from the collapsed roof; which was surprisingly well lit from above. In her small time of dust filled panic Cloudy was able to tell that apart from the lighting coming from the hole she had made, there were no other sources of light.
Eventually, the dust became bearable to breathe, allowing Cloudy to better analyze her situation. She was sitting in a large room; cold and damp, and likely underground. She could not see the other end of the room, nor could she tell where exactly the light from above her entrance hole was coming from. She was, undoubtedly, trapped between to scenes of imperceptible distance, and it was… well… not pleasing.
If there were the option to choose between paths, Cloudy Night would likely have tried climbing through the hole in the ceiling. As it was, the ceiling was too high for her to reach, and without any nearby objects she could use to climb, Cloudy was left with no choice but to investigate the other end of the dark room.
So Cloudy trotted forward, carefully observing the darkness for any sign of an object. She would have taken anything, be it a crate full of spiders or a pit full of snakes, to the completely empty basement she found. No scene can be as unsettling as finding nothing where you expect something. As finding dust where you expect spectres.
Nevertheless, Cloudy continued her slow trot all the way down the outrageously long room. It was only when she had almost reached the very end of the basement that she noticed a shadow darker than the rest, sitting directly in front of her.
Cloudy Night reached towards the unknown object with her hoof, completely expecting the shadow to leap towards her the moment she touched it. Instead, her hoof tapped against the shadow, making a light clinking noise when it did so.
Cloudy immediately recoiled her hoof, surprised at the sound she heard, and continuing to anticipate something awful happening. For once, her suspicions were confirmed, as the object slipped from its now apparent pedestal, and smashed on the floor with a loud crash. Cloudy had leaped out of her skin the moment that had happened, and she turned tail and ran when the sound actually seemed to repeat itself; the second crash even louder than the first.
In an instant the end of the room is bathed in a bright green light, and Cloudy can now clearly see that the object she had broken was an undecorated vase; which appeared to be made from some sort of clay. She could not see another vase anywhere else in the room.
The fear that Cloudy had felt back in the forest immediately returned, and she was struck frozen from the appearance of the light.
She tried to search for the source of the light, but could find nothing. Cloudy night looked down at her hooves; seeing her whole body looking a deep shade of evergreen in the light. Is that what the rest of her looked like? She didn’t have time to think further, as the whole room was suddenly filled with a thunderous voice; which also appeared to come from nowhere in particular.
“WHO ARE YOU!? WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?”
Cloudy could not speak, she was too terrified. The voice sounded demanding, loud, and more than a bit annoyed.
“SPEAK!”
“I- I”
“THERE YOU ARE. I COULD HARDLY NOTICE YOU! WHY ARE YOU HERE!?”
“I-“
“YOU TREAD UPON GROUND THAT NOPONY SHOULD WALK! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT T-!” The voice tried to continue what sounded like a… lecture… when it immediately moulded into a indecipherable yell of rage. Cloudy finally broke, and tried to run, but before she could get a step she collided with something standing right behind her.
Cloudy Night fell to the floor of the basement, suddenly enveloped in an overpowering sense of drowsiness. As the last sparks of her mind faded into a deep sleep, Cloudy was able to make out a pair of eyes looking down on her.
Green eyes; though oddly tinted. They seemed… absolutely friendly.
***
Cloudy opened her eyes, and found herself in familiar spaces. She was back in Cloud Charmer’s room; lying in the now tangled heap of the bedding she had been given by Stormflight. Had it all really been a dream?
That didn’t seem very fair. Why should dreams be more unpleasant than reality?
Cloud Charmer was snoring loudly in her bed behind Cloudy. Apparently her dream was great, because Cloudy could see a big grin on her grey face from the light being cast into the room from downstairs. Speaking of which, why was there a light coming from downstairs? Cloudy Night may have just woken up, but even she could tell that the night was still far from being over. Perhaps she would investigate… it would certainly take her mind off of the nightmare she had been having.
So, Cloudy Night struggled her way out of her blankets and proceeded to tiptoe her way down the stairs. This proved fruitless, as sneaking around with hooves is nigh impossible, and before she could get four full hoofsteps she heard a voice call her from the room below.
“Come on down, I can hear you.” It said.
Cloud Charmer didn’t hear anything at all, she continued to lie in her bed; submerged in sleep. Cloudy trotted down Cloud’s short stairs to the room below, only slightly disappointed that her sneaking had not worked.
Reaching the picture covered room, Cloudy Night immediately took note of Cloud’s father, who was sitting on a pillow by a n extremely bright lantern. Stormflight was mostly silhouetted as a shadow against the light, but Cloudy was able to note a rather large pair of spectacles placed on his muzzle. He turned to look at her, revealing a large smile on his face.
“Cloudy Night, I honestly hadn’t expected it to be you being awake at this time. What’s wrong?” Stormflight finished, likely noticing some hint of trouble in Cloudy’s face.
“Nothing… I just…”
“Can’t sleep.” Stormflight finished.
“Yeah.” Cloudy said.
He gave a little sigh, a sign of deep thought in most ponies. “Me neither. Bless the princess Luna, that she protects our dreams… I just wish I HAD one once in a while.”
Cloudy may have been amused by Stormflight’s comment, but she said nothing. She didn’t like to speak intensively when Cloud Charmer was not around.
That might have been awkward for anypony but Stormflight, who completely rolled with her silence. “So, your dreams have been troubling, I suppose.”
“Yes.”
“Well then, don’t just stand by the stairs, come here!” Stormflight said playfully. Cloudy obeyed, seating herself next to Cloud’s father. She was a bit surprised to find him reading a very large novel, likely almost a thousand pages in length, judging solely from the size of it.
Stormflight noticed her looking at his book, and he decided that it would be best to make it now the centerpoint of the conversation as well. “I doubt you’ve read it, it’s called ‘Reading the Fields’ it’s a book of philosophy.”
“I really haven’t heard of it before.” Cloudy Night said, once again surprised at not being able to recognize the old tome.
“It’s a collection of short poetry, as well as the major philosophical ideas of many prominent Earth ponies. I like to read them when I can’t sleep.”
“Why?”
“Well, there are no deeper thinkers in this whole world than the Earth ponies. But I’ll tell you, their literature is fit to make me sleepy whenever I can’t accomplish the task myself.” Stormflight joked, even accompanying his statement with a large and exaggerated yawn.
That joke actually did make Cloudy Night giggle. Stormflight joined in himself, losing to quiet laughter for a few moments before he continued.
“So, you can laugh. That’s good to hear, I had almost expected you to be stoic as a stone. So… by the sound of that thunderous rumbling I can assume that Cloud Charmer is still asleep?” He asked.
Cloudy Night merely nodded in response, watching as the light in Stormflight’s eyes suddenly changed when he mentioned his daughter. His eyes now looked deeper; far more reflective and thoughtful than Cloudy Night had expected to see.
“Ah, she really is something special, Cloudy. I’m glad she found you as a friend.”
“Why me?” Cloudy asked.
“Oh… that little girl’s life. She’s had it very hard in the last few years. I really think we’re lucky that she found someone as cheerful as you to save her spirits.” Stormflight said, his deep voice sinking deeper with every word.
Cloudy Night felt utterly confused. It was like Stormflight was seeing the role of his daughter and her friend swapped. SHE was the one who was lucky to have Cloud Charmer find her. It was Cloud Charmer’s chipper personality that had turned Cloudy’s regretful life from bitter to sweet. What in the wide realm of Equestria was going on in Stormflight’s head?
Cloud’s father glanced at Cloudy; immediately responding to the confusion that was obviously painted on her face. “Forgive me… I’m tired and I’m speaking strange. What I mean to say is that you’ve really brightened up life around the house. Cloud Charmer is constantly telling Oak Leaf and me about you. I think that you’ve helped her greatly with adjusting to the new home.”
“Th- thank you.” Cloudy said.
“The thanks is all mine. Cloud Charmer really did need a friend, someone who could always be around to spend time with her.”
“You mean, unlike Far Flung.” Cloudy asked hesitantly.
Stormflight was not surprised by her mentioning of his brother. “I knew she’d tell you about him. The pony was a downright legend in the family. I’m sure the family would’ve kicked him faster than he could ask what was wrong, had he not been one of the major contributors of the family’s money.”
“Far Flung is the source of the money!?”
“Heh… not all of it, just a big enough bit. He was always exploring. Galloping off without a moment’s hesitation, and it was he who forged many relations with ponies far from home. He provided…. The connections for the business.”
Despite her reluctance to speak, she decided that now was a good time to ask. “Did Far Flung really meet the griffon prince?”
“Yes… and he ruffled quite a few feathers just being there. Not many griffons have forgiven the Pegasi for the war between us. Too much spilt blood. But Far Flung has no borders… much to the lament of my family.”
Cloudy smiled, “That could be a good thing.” She said quietly; actually, it was practically a mumble.
“Yes, it could... Well, I must say that you are a pleasant conversationalist, even when you’re quiet. That said, I insist that you go back to sleep now; from what my daughter’s said it seems like you’ll have a busy day tomorrow.”
“What about you?”
“Oh, I’ll be fine. I was almost asleep by the time I heard you anyway…” Stormflight took a moment to wink after his comment “But the night is yet young, and so are you. A young filly needs her sleep, as much as an old stallion like me needs mine. Do you still feel bad from your dream?” He asked.
Cloudy Night thought about it for a moment. She… didn’t. Talking to Stormflight had comforted her, and while she still remembered the strange dream, she didn’t feel it anymore. “I’m fine now.” She responded.
“Good, I recommend you sleep. I don’t doubt your dreams will be more pleasant from here on.”
“Thank you. Good night, Stormflight.” Cloudy said, feeling a yawn coming on.
“Good night, Cloudy Night.” He replied with a fatherly smile.
Cloudy left him there, reading his book, and returned to her friend’s room. Of course, she immediately spent the next few minutes untangling her bedding, as well as re-making it into the perfect rectangular blanket it had started as. When that was finished, she lied herself under the comforter, feeling her sudden tiredness the moment her head collided with her pillow.
Just before true sleep came, a thought materialized in her mind.
Earlier… Stormflight had said that Princess Luna protects the dreams of ponies. Had it been her eyes that Cloudy had seen just before she woke up?
That was kind of nice; like being visited by a… well… a princess. It made her feel special… Important…
Cloudy Night closed her eyes, and entered into a deep and dreamless sleep.
This time she was not listening to the pulse of the tree, but the snore of her friend.
And that made her feel special too.