Despite her long hiatus, the dreams of ponies were still familiar to Luna. Indeed, in the details they might be unfamiliar, but in general, it seemed that most ponies still held similar hopes and fears as they did a thousand years ago.
When they weren't just dreaming incomprehensible nonsense. Not every dream had to be significant.
Ruby Pinch was dreaming of adventure. She and her friend were creeping through a forest, loaded down with saddlebags and bandoliers, both unicorns streaked with mud to mute their colors.
Luna didn't know much about the dreamer's waking self, but she was reasonably sure Ruby and her friends were older in this dream than they were in reality, both young adult mares here.
They were hunting. Dreams held few secrets for Luna, so it was no difficulty to gain insights into the truths of this dream.
Agent Pincer and her partner Double-Down were trained as well as any pony could be trained, but they were green. This was their first hunt without direct supervision. The rogue timber wolf was far from the Everfree and confirmed to be alone, but normal forests and the average pony weren't wholly capable of handling a predator that could magically recover from terrible damage. Still, the animal was just living, too. It wasn't really malicious.
"Remember, agents. Live captures are good, surviving is better."
Facing a timber wolf would be frightening, of course, but every good hunter had to acknowledge fear, examine it, then set it aside. Being scared was normal, acting on it would be disappointing. Retreating could be a necessary choice, but it shouldn't be done out of emotional weakness.
Wrangling wild beasts wasn't as glamorous as saving the world, but the job needed doing.
They had line of sight on the cave said to be the creature's lair now. A sudden rustle of leaves and a half-alert growl from the cave warned Agent Pincer that the wind had shifted and carried their scent right to the creature.
So much for surprise. She checked on Double-Down, who was already grabbing one of her flash-bangs from a bandolier. Of course Double had noticed the change in wind condition sooner. Her mother was a pegasus, after all.
They appeared to be in silent agreement: It was time to go loud.
They lowered their protective goggles onto their eyes as Double hurled her grenade into the cave entrance. "Fire in the hole!" The loud whisper was mere formality considering they were the only ponies anywhere nearby.
Pincer readied her net-caster. Ideally, they'd capture the disoriented wolf as it staggered out of the cave and that'd be that.
Luna was sure that Ruby Pinch hadn't had a large crossbow a mere moment ago, but that sort of non-linear thing was par for the course in dreams.
Both unicorns ducked and flattened their ears just before a deafening blast and bright flash of light filled the cave. Sure, both of them could technically recreate the disorienting attack by magic, but why waste their limited energy when they could store the same effect in convenient portable form? Pincer didn't know the chemistry of it, but Double-Down rarely mixed up duds.
The timber wolf loudly communicated its pain and anger, yowling and growling. It didn't stagger, however. It exited its lair, nose to the ground, apparently following their scent. Details of the beast were sufficiently indistinct to inform Luna that the dreamer had likely never seen one of the creatures up close, at least not in a calm state of mind. Hopefully, Ruby Pinch only knew timber wolves from pictures and stories.
Agent Pincer took aim with her crossbow and fired. Luna noted that the windlass-pulled design was specific enough to indicate that the dreamer had a pretty clear idea how crossbows could be built. Watching the bolt expand into a weighted net and trap the monster also told her that the projectile itself probably had been dreamed up on the spot. It lacked in detail.
The hunters didn't waste time celebrating, it seemed immediately obvious that the net wasn't going to hold the beast. It was chewing on ropes and in general straining hard enough against its bindings to snap off some branches. Maybe a creature of flesh and blood with more regard for its own body would have been trapped more effectively. The timber wolf didn't have to care.
"So much for Plan A," Pincer grumbled.
"Good shot, though. Time for B. I'm lighting a blue flare."
As the two unicorns turned to flee, Double-Down produced what appeared to be a firework rocket and lit it with her magic. Then she held it steady in her magical grip until it launched.
Luna doubted that this method of launching fireworks would meet parental approval.
The blue firework, Luna gleaned from the dream's reality, was an indicator that the first attempt to trap the wolf had failed, but that the hunters didn't think themselves in immediate danger.
Nonetheless, they were racing through the undergrowth, pursued by an angry timberwolf. Its sight still seemed to be impaired, slowing it down, but it tracked them well enough.
Suddenly, Double-Down caught her leg on something and crashed to the ground with a yelp of surprise and pain. Pincer knew that few unicorns were as surehoofed as her partner, but everypony got unlucky sometimes. The unicorn was already scrambling back onto her hooves, but she was clearly favoring her right front leg.
Double-Down frowned. "Maybe we should have burned it in its cave. Can't risk a forest fire now."
Pincer shook her head. "C'mon, lean on me and we'll make it. If not, fire it is."
Fire didn't have to be magical to hurt timber wolves, which was good, because neither unicorn was particularly skilled at creating fire beyond what was needed to light a fuse. Thanks to one of her mother's old stills, flammable liquid was never difficult to get, and neither were empty bottles, oil-soaked rags or matches that wouldn't go out if the bottle they were attached to was hurled forcefully at a target.
A little basic ingenuity went a long way.
Obviously someone close to the fillies had no real kind of filter regarding what was and wasn't appropriate to teach children. Bon Bon would likely have the same knowledge, but hadn't seemed like the type to teach it to minors.
Pincer ditched her cumbersome crossbow. She could always build another one. It was a little awkward to support her partner, but nothing too bad. Maybe she wasn't as hard to shift as her mother, who really could take a hit and keep on going, but Pincer was still a sturdy pony, and in any case, ponies were never stronger than when they had to help out close friends and family.
It was easy to be a more pleasant pony than her mother, Pincer admitted. She felt she had a pretty reasonable estimate of Berry Punch's flaws. Still, if she had learned anything from the earth pony, it was that no amount of personal pain or weakness was an excuse for letting a pony you loved down in a crisis.
She'd known Double-Down since before the two of them could spell their names. The other unicorn was practically a sister to her, and she could no more imagine a life without at least the occasional dose of Dinky in it than she could imagine life without her magic – she saw ponies managing either scenario perfectly fine every day, and she'd experienced both as a little foal, but she couldn't really relate now that she was older. And if she had to pick between the two, she'd give up her horn before her friend.
Still, she supposed the second thing she'd learned from her mother was to consider the feelings of kinder ponies. Double-Down might be wishing they'd done the low-risk thing in hindsight, but neither one of them would have felt right just burning out the beast without trying to capture it alive, even if it might have spared them some danger. The critter was just living too.
Luna wasn't sure a pair of unicorns would move quite this quickly through a dense forest if one of them had hurt their leg, but apparently the dreamer considered her ability to coordinate with her friend to be beyond compare.
The dream seemed to be coming to an end as the two unicorns successfully lured the timber wolf into a trap, snaring it in a net of heavy chain links. Although Luna thought this would have been a better Plan A, dreams were by nature not planned ahead. It merely showed that the dreamer was confident they could solve problems even if the first try didn't succeed.
It was a magic net, of course. Far too heavy to be launched from a portable net caster, it had been built into an elaborate trap mechanism of Pincer's invention. The timber wolf surely wouldn't escape this time.
"It's quite fitting that spell energy should be entombed in cold steel, so it can be put to use by anyone, not just unicorns."
Considering Pincer clearly wasn't strong enough to have grabbed the animal in her magic and carried it around, the magic item was pretty nice to have for the average unicorn, too.
After lighting a green flare, the captured wolf was being relocated to the Everfree by indistinct pegasi and the two unicorns praised by friends and family for a job well done.
Luna ceased her observation. Whatever worries her mother had, they hadn't disturbed Ruby Pinch's sleep this night.
The dream Luna was observing now was understandable enough. A mare fearing for her foal, in essence, perhaps mixed with a fear of inadequacy.
Obviously, dreams weren't often realistic. They were constructs of emotion, not cold logic. Ponies often took their opinions for facts in the waking world, and some simply weren't well educated regarding the functioning of the Equestrian government. Luna herself was far from caught up on every single thing that changed during her absence.
Therefore, Luna knew not to take details that were unfamiliar to her as in any way educational or indicative of reality, although they could serve as prompts to make her educate herself in yet another facet of civil government, once awake.
Right now, the dreamer was being condemned by a panel of imposing judges, cold and faceless representatives of an Equestria that could not possibly care less for the pony in question.
"In light of these findings, the court judges you unfit to care for a minor."
At least the mare didn't seem resigned to that fate, which meant her self esteem was at least still present, if diminished. She seemed almost baffled, perhaps actually having held some hope the ruling would be in her favor. "This isn't fair! I did my time and went legit before she was born! I quit drinkin'! I got a house an' all. Always made sure Pinchy went to school!"
There was an audience present as well. Again, most of them were indistinct, but their murmuring seemed to generally be in support of Berry, with few exceptions. An older mare with a distinct family resemblance merely scoffed and muttered about Berry being a terrible mother. Perhaps that voice had been louder, once.
"We've determined that custody of one Ruby Pinch will go to her sire, Pan Flash."
There was a stallion now, looking smugly self-satisfied. He seemed barely more than a colt, perhaps because the dreamer hadn't seen him in a very long time.
"What? You can't do that! He doesn't know my filly! He's worse than me!" The mare seemed angry now, but as if by magic, guards materialized to restrain her as she ranted. Still, she wasn't quite as furious or desperate as Luna might have expected. It was measured anger and resentment, as if part of her had already resigned herself to being cheated, despite some small measure of hope to the contrary. "You - you can't tell me I'm no good and then give her to a stranger to drag off into the same slum I crawled out of!"
Her dream was unmoved by the claim. The only apparent response was the wail of a filly. "Mommy! I don't wanna go! I don't wanna leave you and Ponyville!"
The mare seemed certain that she was now a good parent and that her filly loved her, and yet, if the dream was any indication, she had no faith that this would be recognized, as Luna had predicted.
Remaining unseen, the Princess of the Night attempted to comfort and empower the dreamer to steer the dream into a less troubling conclusion. "Do you truly think it will end like this, Berry Punch?"
The mare shook her head. "No, it won't, not if I've got anything to say about it. Can't say I understand why he got the job when I got friends in Ponyville I named as back-up, but ..." She trailed off, then shrugged. "If that's how it's going to be, it shouldn't be hard to do away with Pan for good. Give my friends another chance to fight for Pinchy."
Berry actually chuckled. "He's not gonna expect it, so I should be able to get close enough. Quick jab to the horn, most unicorns don't magic so well with a headache. Pan's a weakling, won't be a problem to do him in."
Although Berry Puch wouldn't be the first pony to enjoy some catharsis through violence in a dream, in this specific case the threat was probably a bad sign. Luna took a little more direct control of the dream and dismissed the other ponies, or what remained of them. "Berry Punch. Nothing has happened yet. This is merely a dream."
This seemed to confuse Berry momentarily. "Wha-what? Oh no. You can't – dreaming ain't evidence! Uh, or confession. It's not that either. You can't lock me up based on this!"
"I won't," Luna reassured the mare. "But tell me, do you truly think yourself capable of such a crime?"
Berry frowned, briefly. "Dunno. Jury's still out on that. I mean, normally I'd worry about getting into trouble, and I don't usually wanna see ponies hurt. I mean, look at a pony and you figure, well, he's probably got parents or friends or foals who'd be awful sad if you do him in. That ain't right. Wouldn't wanna chance making a colt or filly like Pinchy sad."
"Plus, it sets a bad example," she added as an afterthought.
"Most ponies have an aversion to the act itself, in my experience. Most violence, really. An inhibition that is usually only overcome in extraordinary circumstances, or through training." That did feel like a silly thing to point out, but a lot of ponies would have responded with a scandalized denial instead of explaining their reasoning why they wouldn't normally just kill somepony.
Berry suddenly looked proud. "I think Pinchy's like that, too. She doesn't pick fights much. Well, last time she did she tried to shut up some bullies – but only once they started going for her friend. I made her do chores with me. It's no good to just fly off the handle over words. She was losing when Cherilee broke them up, anyway."
She shrugged. "Sometimes I do feel kinda rotten about, feelin' so little about fightin'. Look at Bon Bon, she's a pretty great pony, but she's just messed up from stickin' her neck out. Y'know, always keyed up, survivor's guilt, nightmares, the whole mess. Me? Between goin' sober and Pan's letter, I slept pretty well every night."
"I know of Bon Bon. Her trust is not easy to win, yet you have done so." Luna decided against mentioning that she had only investigated Berry's dreams due to Bon Bon's request. They weren't pleasant dreams, by any measure, but she might have overlooked them while helping ponies whose dreams caused them more visceral terror or despair.
The earth pony smiled fondly. "Yeah. And that – that really means something. We're different sorts, she did government work and protected her fellow ponies. I robbed liquor stores as a teenager and got into fights. But if there was real trouble, you'd have to kill us both to get at our friends. And we got great friends. Wish I'd seen that sooner."
"Would you mind telling me a bit about your life in Ponyville?"
Berry's expression soured into a frown again. "Beg pardon, Princess, but I dunno what that matters. I tried my best, I really did. Never did anything serious to anypony, 'cause bar fights don't count, and my filly grew up right, 'cause of all the nice ponies around her. That Cherilee is a saint, for instance."
Luna tried to offer an encouraging smile. "Please, humor me. Why did you decide to move to Ponyville?"
"Ponyville worked out great, but back then, it wasn't the important part. I didn't mind having a foal. But I didn't want her to be poor, or have ponies look down on her just for bein' from the bad part of town, y'know?" As an afterthought, she added, "Or, y'know, skipping school all the time an' growing up getting into fights. I didn't want that for her either."
"A laudable sentiment," Luna agreed. She conjured up a vision of Ponyville for a more pleasant backdrop. "Walk with me. What did you do?"
"Well, Pan didn't have a job and I didn't wanna do anything to risk getting locked up, so when Pinchy was born I went behind mom's back and begged Granny for help. She lives with mom's brother, his wife and my cousins." Berry paused, sucking on her teeth. "They treated me like I was somepony, just 'cause I was family. Took a chance on me, set me up in Ponyville sellin' wine, later making my own drinks. They took a huge risk for a lowlife like me. But Pan wouldn't leave Las Pegasus, and mom was mad I went to the family for some reason. I was cranky 'cause I wondered why she never asked for help and got us a better life. We had a huge fight."
"That is ... unfortunate. I am sorry." The situation wasn't new to Luna. Although in the waking world most ponies would still rather deal with her sister, some ponies seemed willing to share a great deal of themselves with her in their dreams.
"Maybe Pinchy just charmed the lot of 'em, cause I sure wasn't much to look at. It wasn't goin' to be easy, but at least Pinchy's mom was going to be a workin' pony, and nopony was gonna stop me. At least dad seemed proud of me. He wasn't my sire, but he'd been in my life since I was five or six, I forget. He visited me every weekend the time I was in lock-up. Good sort. Dunno what he saw in mom but I'd probably be a worse mess if she'd raised me by herself."
Perhaps the mare had experienced a need to just tell the story to somepony else. As it stood, it seemed fortunate that one could not really run out of breath in a dream.
"There is, I think, no accounting for taste. It isn't my place to guess at such. But you mentioned Ponyville working out well?"
"Sort of." The earth pony worked her jaw idly for several moments before explaining. "Everypony was really patient with me, but it kept gnawin' at me that I didn't belong. It didn't feel good bein' around all these respectable ponies, so I got to drinkin' again, cause it helped me not worry so damn much about screwing up Pinchy, or my finances, or slipping up and getting busted for, I dunno, threatening to cut somepony. Which just meant whenever I was sober I had another thing to worry about. So I ended up not being sober that much. And eventually, well, that was the new normal, and I had a rep for it."
Berry sighed. "Maybe if I'd stuck closer to Ditzy. She's pretty good at chasin' that sort of thinking away. I guess I feel pretty foolish in hindsight," she all but whispered. "I'm real good at bustin' myself down when left alone. S'horrid."
"I am well familiar with regret, I fear."
Luna was considering her next words of comfort when Berry Punch took a few steps away and squared her shoulders. "Now wait a second, Princess. It's nice of you to drop by, but I'm not real comfy comparin' notes. It's true I ain't gonna win any parenting awards but I think I at least earned a passing grade."
Berry seemed to realize she was about to tell Princess Luna that at least she hadn't failed so completely as to become a world-threatening tyrant, but she braced herself, snorted and kept talking. "Course she isn't perfect, but Pinchy's got a good heart. She knows to share. She's not spoiled, she's never been a bully. She's knows the world is a nasty old place unless ponies are good to each other."
Her voice grew thick with emotion and she lowered her head. "I'm a real blunt instrument, princess, but even at my worst I always had a hug for my filly. I was embarrassing, but I was always there, and I never, ever hit her. Nopony's going to take that away from us. Th-that's the one thing I did more or less alright. I – I didn't do as good a job as I meant to do when I left the city behind. Known a lot of ponies with broken homes, and mom was no picnic to be around. I meant to do better than that for my filly. But she's still going to be a good pony. I haven't completely botched raising her yet."
The implied 'at least I'm not as bad as you' wasn't very pleasant for Luna, but she wasn't wholly surprised. A life like Berry's didn't lend itself to much respect for authority. Perhaps the mare just assumed she was about to be judged by an authority figure?
"I shan't take anything away from you, Berry. We shouldn't dwell on the mistakes of the past. As long as we do not repeat those, t'is quite alright to focus on our successes."
"Tch. Can hardly keep calling it a mistake if I did the same dumb stuff year after year. But there was good parts too, of course." Berry smiled a little and closed her eyes. "I learned to give myself some credit. Help me out here, you're already in my head."
The earth pony obviously wasn't any kind of gifted lucid dreamer, but with Luna's help, she managed to call up a scenario based on a memory.
A sleeping Berry Punch, uncomfortably draped over a couch in the living room – too out of it the night before to get all the way up the stairs and into bed. The morning sun shining onto her through a window. "Ugh. Curse the sun." The earth pony squinted, then covered her head with a pillow, too miserably hung over to want to get up.
A light scrapping sound and the patter of tiny hooves. Ruby Pinch, perhaps five or six years old, nosing a plate along the floor. "Mommy! I heard you wake up. I made you hangover breakfast!"
Berry raised her head from under the pillow and blinked blearily. Hangover breakfast was just bread and honey. Honey was soft, soothing, and usually helped settle her stomach. "Morning, Pinchy," Berry muttered. "You're the best."
She took a quick bite while Pinchy went back to the kitchen for a large glass of water. Getting rehydrated was important, after all. Berry, ignoring her pounding headache, slid off the couch to give her daughter a hug and a kiss. "Should you be tastin' like honey, Pinchy?"
"I made a mess," the filly admitted, ears flattened to her head. "Sorry."
"Hrmm." The earth pony just grumbled and started licking the filly about the head and face. Yep, still tasted like honey.
"Eww, mommy!"
"Yer own fault, silly filly." Her voice still felt rough from the night before. "'m not mad. I'll help you clean up ... later. Mommy needs a little more rest after breakfast."
"Okay! I already ate. I'll get my crayons!" Pinchy was a clever pony. Coloring was her favorite option for fun when her mother had a headache, because it was quiet.
"Sure. Love the company." She had her breakfast, then went back onto the couch, facing the other way to keep the sun out of her eyes and let it warm her back instead. Dozing for a little longer while her filly kept her company with a coloring book sounded just perfect right now. "Wake me in an hour so we can clean up the kitchen. Then we can head to the park to check in with your friends." Napping under a tree while Pinchy played with her friends also sounded perfect. By then, she'd probably be able to handle the noise of multiple foals at play without wincing in pain. After a quick drink to steady her hooves, anyway.
"The park was always nice. There were usually other parents watching too, so it was no big deal to take a nap." Berry watched the recreated scene dubiously. "Not sure Pinchy could tell time by that age, but even before I could just say 'when the short pointer on the clock is on the nine' or something."
Luna smiled. "It is well that you have not lost sight of your achievements in the shadow of your flaws. You've raised a very considerate little pony." She watched the earth pony wander through the scene and point at a misshapen lump of clay on a shelf.
"Check this out. Pinchy made that in pre-school. It's a hayburger made of clay. A clayburger!" Berry looked at Luna expectantly for a moment. "Eh, they probably don't serve hayburgers in Canterlot. Now that she's a little older she asked me to take down some of the pictures she drew for me – a little embarrassed, now. But I ain't budging on the clayburger. That's still on display."
Sentimental value could turn the most common items into treasure. Another truth that hadn't changed during Luna's long absence.
"Are you a good pony, Princess? Do you feel like one?" Berry Pinch was giving the princess a curious look.
"I suppose my sister would say so. Sometimes the weight of regret makes it difficult to agree. It is a hard thing to forgive myself, although I think accepting the forgiveness of others is a start." Luna offered a wan smile. "I have read that if you wish to be good, first believe that you are bad. I suppose all we can do is try to do right."
"Huh, yeah," Berry nodded. "I guess I always used to be worried about not measuring up, y'know. In hindsight that was silly, cause even if it doesn't come naturally, as long as you go through the motions, everypony else will just assume you're a good pony. Fake it 'till you make it. Even managed to do it enough to teach Pinchy right."
Luna wasn't entirely convinced they were talking about the same things, now. "You mentioned your own regrets?"
"I got plenty of those, Princess. For instance, they say the first, what, five years are really important for a foal's development? I can't really recall if I was real good company during that time. Would Pinchy be even brighter if I'd been more intellectually stimulating? Should I have tried to make some unicorn friends sooner just to get somepony with magic experience into Pinchy's life? Y'know, that kinda stuff." Berry rubbed the back of her neck. "I get along well with other ponies, but regret's always good for bein' horrible to myself."
Berry shrugged. "Yet I just don't care that much about ponies I don't know. I've been in a lot of fights, I've been in robberies, and if you ask me about them I just kind of mentally shrug. That's just how it was. I did my time, though!" After a moment, she added, "As I said, I'm glad Pinchy's not like that, because I love her. And when I compare myself to Bon Bon I do feel a little bad about the indifferent attitude – but only because I care about Bon Bon."
"There are a great many ponies who do not readily care about the fates of other, more distant ponies. You are certainly not unusual in this. Not measuring up to the Elements of Harmony in your thoughts does not make you a bad pony." Luna took note of the fact that Berry had only mentioned regrets tied to ponies she valued. She really didn't seem directly remorseful about her past, apparently only having been afraid of discovery and how it would affect her daughter.
The earth pony nodded along. "I'll take your word for it. I guess I used to be worried somehow ponies would figure out I was some kinda criminal or whatever they'd call it and it'd reflect real badly on my daughter." After a pause, she added, "I'm technically just a juvenile delinquent anyway, right? Anything they managed to connect to me, I did time for before I was old enough to go to real prison. Never been tried as an adult!"
"Y'got any idea how much Ponyville is worth? What Pinchy's got there, a friend like Dinky, a great teacher, adults who care ... can't be measured, Princess." Berry rubbed her chin. "Friendship was always real conditional, back where I grew up. Not the genuine article, really. You don't back up your pals one time on account of conscience or fear, or you make a mistake, it's real hard to drop the rep for bein' unreliable, and then nopony backs you up in a pinch. My friends here care about me, not just about what I can do for them. Kinda wish I'd figured that out sooner, too."
The earth pony sat down heavily. "I was doing so well, Princess! I finally wasn't afraid anymore. I'd never been better than the past couple of months. Maybe my past wasn't going to cause any kinda problem for Pinchy after all!" She took a shuddering breath. "Then Pan sends me his stupid letter and now I'm watching myself fall apart. That it doesn't make sense just scares me more. S'like Las Pegasus is makin' a grab for my filly and I gotta know why and put a stop to it. I hate that place so much."
Berry flopped down all the way onto her stomach. "You seen me dream. I got no fears 'cept for my filly and I don't know what I'll do, but I've never been real creative in my problem solvin'."
Luna could feel the desperation with which the earth pony just wanted things to be alright for her daughter, and how little she worried about herself. She resolved to try and influence the situation into the proper paths. With any luck she could be, if not a calming, then at least a restraining presence all around. Night Court business would keep for a little while, in any case. It would feel good to try and directly help a common citizen.
The alicorn approached and sat down next to Berry. She wasn't quite so adept at comforting grown ponies as her sister. "Could you do your Princess of the Night a favor? Should you go to Las Pegasus, try to do something pleasant first. I know you do not seem to have any great affection for your mother, but perhaps visiting your father figure would do you good. He'll be glad to know you've been doing well, surely?"
The earth pony nodded slowly. "Yeah ... yeah. I'll bring a new picture of Pinchy, he'll like that. I suppose that way the trip won't be all bad."
"Exactly. And remember, Berry, trust in your friends. They know what kind of pony you are, even if you cannot see yourself in the shadows of your faults." Luna stood again. "T'is time for this dream to end. Farewell, Berry Punch."