The dream started off as all others, as soon as Luna arrived. It was just white at first, complete and totally whiteness. Then, like a canvas, it began exploding in color.
The prologue began, and I let Luna watch.
“Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young Prince lived in a shining castle.”
A raspberry pink stallion stood at the entrance to the palace. His mane as brushed back, as was his tail. He wore an elegant blue (oddly enough, it was pinstriped) suit. He gave the kingdom a proud smile.
“Although he had everything his heart desired, the Prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter’s night, an old beggar mare came to the castle and offered him a single rose In return for shelter from the bitter cold.”
A mare came up to the palace door. She was dressed in an old gray cloak, with a pink butterfly on the clasp. Her coat was a sickly gray, and her mane was a rat’s nest. No, seriously, it was. Her dark turquoise eyes landed on the door. She lifted up a weak hoof, and knocked.
The door opened. The mare held out a single red rose as payment.
The Prince took one look at the mare and slammed the door shut.
“Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the Prince sneered at the gift, and turned the old mare away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for Beauty is found within. And when he dismissed her again, the old mare’s ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful Enchantress.”
The cloak vanished in a bright pink flash. The Prince opened the door, his eyes going wide at seeing the now beautiful mare.
“The Prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart. And as punishment, she transformed him into a hideous beast, and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there. Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world.”
He became… a dragon.
“The Rose she had offered, was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-first year. If he could learn to love another, and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.
The Prince sat up in his tower, slamming every door in the palace. He tore apart any paintings of his old self, and many of his old suits. Yet, for the Rose, he placed it inside a glass case.
“As the years passed, he fell into despair, and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love...a Beast?”
The ballroom was decorated with golden light. I was dressed in a pinstriped blue suit, while Luna was dressed in Belle’s yellow one. My head fins were left shaggy, cause I felt like it. Her’s was all done up nice.
The two of us met on the stairwell. She looked almost a bit unimpressed.
Lune gave me a teasing smile. “Truly, Raspberry? A dream of Princesses?”
“Hey.” I gave a teasing smile back. “It would be sad if I was the Princess. I chose to be the awesome Prince/Beast.”
Lune rolled her eyes. We walked down towards the dance floor, and I heard the song playing.
It cut off, like a record player.
“Sorry. The song was kinda boring.” I excused. “Mind if we skip the romance?”
Lune shook her head. “It is of no trouble to Us.”
I laughed, looking over towards the door. Lumiere Dash, Twilight Cogsworth, Mrs. Rarity Potts, and Spike Chip were simply watching us. Luna laughed, slightly.
“Raspberry, it seems to me you enjoy these dreams for more than just me.” Luna began. “You seem to take pleasure in forcing my sister’s Prized Student to play silly roles.”
“Of course.” I chuckled. “My favorite has to be when Twilight was that bunny from Alice in Wonderland.”
“Our first night.” Luna commented.
This was fun. Simply hanging out with Luna in a dream. “Did you like you’re senile old man?”
Luna groaned, putting a hoof to her head. “We are beginning to question your sanity, as well.” I laughed. “You made Discord Our Father? What was thou thinking?! We nearly collapsed on that floor in peril!”
“Oh, I wish I could’ve seen your face!” I laughed.
“Why not Celestia?” Luna asked,almost groaning.
“I’d felt like I had over used the ‘Celestia is your parent’ card.” I shrugged. “Thought a change of pace would be nice.” Luna laughed. “Did you like Gaston? I thought Gaston Trixie would be cool.”
“Pray tell, was this the same Trixie that you bested in a duel?” Luna asked.
I smiled. “Yep.” I popped the p. “The very same.”
“She was very loud.”
“Yep.” Popped p.
“And she spoke oddly.” Her eyes widened. “Now halt-”
“Said the pot to the kettle.” I laughed, pointing my hoof at her teasingly. “Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones!”
Luna facehoofed. “Yes. Yes. I speak oddly as well.”
“I...can’t think of another one.” I admitted, the excitement in my voice dropping. It picked back up. “So, tell me, how have things been in Canterlot?”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Our Niece has pushed her wedding date again.”
I groaned. “When will those two finally tie the knot?”
“What does it mean to ’tie the knot’?” Luna asked.
“Back in the old days, beds didn’t have metal springs.” I began. “They had bits of rope that had to be tied together. In order to make a marriage bed, you had to tie the bits of rope together.” I blinked. “I am a walking encyclopedia of weirdness.”
“Tis true.” Luna teased.
My jaw dropped. She was finally getting jokes. “You’re supposed to say ‘no, you’re not.’ Be a good friend.”
“I thought good friends were honest with each other.” Luna argued. I gaped at her for a second, then started to laugh. “Thou doth laugh too loud.” I laughed harder. “Why did that makest thou laugh more?”
“They said the same thing about my mom!” I laughed. “That she laughed like a banshee! It’s...HAHAHAHA!” I fell to the dream ground of the ballroom, going into hysterics with my laughter.
It took some time, but I finally came down.
“What happened on this day?”
That stopped my laughter dead. “What?”
“When we began, you took me to a realm where the impossible happened every second.” Luna began. “To gain my intrigue.”
I kinda just watched her explain. Was I really such an open book? Well...it was on my cutiemark...stupid Storyline.
Luna went on. “When thy sister passed, you created no magical world, only a small room of which to partake in celebration.” She trotted over towards the windows of the ballroom. “Dreams have more meaning than most ponies believe.”
“I know.” I said, trying very hard to make it not sounded like a snap.
“On this night, you created a realm where you were a beast.” Luna frowned. “And it was the kind mare Fluttershy that turned you so.”
I flinched back, almost in pain. “Yes.”
“What happened?” Luna asked.
I gulped. The pain of that afternoon hit me hard. I remembered the words of a man, way back when I was a child. “Some things, my friend, are better left unsaid.”
Today, I had done Putting Your Hoof Down.
Today, Fluttershy gave it to me straight.
Today, for the first time in my whole life, I didn’t believe a single hateful word out of her muzzle.
It hurt. It really hurt. I was listening to her words, and realizing it was true. Iron Fluttershy shared how she felt. That was what Fluttershy had been hiding deep inside of her. She told me how she truly felt about me. I had been hearing it for a long time, and it finally stopped hurting.
Three weeks ago (five for me) they had Family Appreciation Day. It was Lilac’s turn, because the universe hates me. I was able to get one of Raspberry’s aunts. It was the Equestrian version of Aunt Hannah, which made me happy as...just so happy. She was just like I remembered, sadly.
It was sad because I remembered I wasn’t actually to Aunt Hannah. I wasn’t actually with the aunt that showed me CSI. This wasn’t the aunt that had long nails that always dug into your skin when she tickled you. This wasn’t the aunt that felt like the only person I could talk to while on vacation.
Aunt Rose Brilliance did like to paint. She did work in a day care centre. She did get adopted by Poppy and Meme. She did love talking to me.
But, she knew Killjoy. She knew Killjoy. That was what really killed me. No one back Home knew she existed. All those other people, people that Darcy has met over the course of her forty or so years, only half knew she was my sister.
Killjoy is a result of my love of cop shows. If not for Aunt Hannah, Darcy wouldn’t exist. I could never repay her enough for that. This mare? Not so much.
Story, she even sounded like Aunt Hannah.
The thing was, it was seeing Aunt Rose Brilliance that encouraged me to talk to my mom for the first time since Thanksgiving (two months, human time). We sat on the couch and watched all the Switched at Birth we had been missing. It felt good to actually have her attention for once, and not have her constantly on the phone. Mom was finally paying attention to me, and Merciful Story it felt good.
Back in Equestria, Fluttershy had actually invited me to one of her and Rarity’s spa dates. I’m usually not one for gossip, but I actually found myself having a bit of fun with the dressmaker. She was having fun with me. Rarity was becoming my friend.
Rarity and I had a good talk during that trip. She found out about my job, about how I adopted Lilac, about how I really liked to read, and how I occasionally would just start humming if it got too quiet.
The two of us talked about how much Sweetie Belle and Lilac got along. It was actually adorable. We talked about their potential talents (singing for Sweetie, and painting for Lilac) and made little bets as to which one would figure it out first.
Never make a bet with Morgan Spencer. She will kick your ass.
Anyway. Back to the Story. Fluttershy yelled at me for being, well, me. She said I was a tagalong, a liar, and a hypocrite. That I was, frankly, just a really bad pony.
I went to her cottage the next day. When she apologized, I told her the truth. That I had such much worse about myself, and worse than anypony could ever say to me. It was true. No one else can hurt you like you can.
“Something...” I began, trying to think of a way to explain this to Luna. “Something kinda, weird.”
“We have all the night.” Luna explained.
I smiled, thankful. “I just...I’ve just been thinking about myself, ya know? About a bunch of crap that messes my head up. My view of myself, and of others.” I sighed, running a dream claw over my head. I let out a laugh. One of those sad ones. “I wasn’t always like this, ya know. Somepony who tried to avoid friendship. I actually used to be very friendly. Everypony I talked to fell in love with me. A real pony of the ponies.”
Wow. Pony sayings are hard.
“Then, some bad ponies did bad stuff, and I...I couldn’t see friendship the same. I thought it made me weak, vulnerable, and I didn’t like that.” I explained to the Night Princess. “I was eight.” I let out another sad laugh. “Eight, when they taught me friendship was a bad thing. Nopony wanted to be my friend, nopony wanted to even talk to me, and the only pony who had been my friend left, and it hurt.” I shook my head. “It hurt a lot.”
Lune just nodded, accepting my explanation.
“Now.” I gulped. “Now, I’m learning everything I taught myself was a lie. I mean, I knew that it wasn’t a real weakness, but there’s a difference between knowing something and understanding something.”
“You have become very wise.” Luna commented. “For one so young.”
I could not help it. I literally could not help it. I laughed.
One hundred ninety three. Not much, but it was something compared to the Princesses. I was much older than the other ponies. It was just kinda funny to hear someone think I was young. I could never stop myself!
“Some live more in twenty than others do in eighty.” I quoted, thinking it a better answer for the pony who could see how old I actually was. “It just matters on how you use it.”
Luna smiled, almost knowingly. “Indeed.”
I clapped my claws together. “Now that the heart to heart is over.” I wiped my forehead, even though there was nothing there. “Let’s carry on with the show!”
The music started back up, and I grabbed Luna’s surprised hoof. I dragged her out to the dance floor. I swung her about, which made her start laughing.
Looking over at the objects watching, I was given a happy reminder.
There was no Orange Door.