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The forest seemed to be empty of all animal life, providing an environment perfect for plants to thrive in. Amber walked along almost aimlessly, but sure she was going where she was supposed to. There were hundreds of paths through the forest, but there was only one that was real, and she could not have chosen any other. Such is the way the dreaming works.
As the path wound around a corner, she came upon a small lake. Sitting at its edge was a pale purple colt. She ran up to him and grabbed him from behind.
“Amber! Let go!”
“Aww, nice to see you too,” Amber said, but she did as he requested.
Once she let go of him, he turned around to see her properly. “How much time do we have?”
Amber sighed. “Half an hour, then Luna has to do her actual work.”
“Hey, at least we have that, right?” Fox Glove turned back to look over the water.
“Yeah, that is true.” Luna’s solution to giving them more time together was proving to work out well so far, even if they never did get much time together. She had the ability to combine dreams, requiring only that they were asleep at the same time. On this night, they found themselves in Fox Glove’s dreamscape. “Nice mind you’ve got here.”
“Why thank you,” he replied. “Although yours was pretty cool too. I still can’t get over that it was in black and white.”
Amber shrugged. “Yeah, that happens sometimes. Anyway, I’m just glad it’s not like my dreams when I was your age.”
“How come?”
“Because, my innocent little brother, I have no intention of getting to know that side of your subconscious.”
“What are you – Oh, Amber, that’s gross!” Fox Glove covered his face and blushed.
“Ah come on, don’t tell me you think mares have cooties.”
“No, but… we’re not talking about that!”
Amber just laughed. It was good to know that she could still embarrass her brother, no matter how far apart they were. Of course, the journal Luna got him helped with that as well, but there was really one thing she wanted more than any of that. “I can’t wait for Hearth’s Warming.”
“Yeah, me either. Just a few more days.”
In the month since she’d moved in with Luna, she had only seen Fox Glove once, and hadn’t seen her parents at all. But out of the blue, a letter arrived one day, with a formal invitation to Hearth’s Warming dinner. True, there was no ‘plus one guest’ mentioned, so she would be spending her Hearth’s Warming apart from Luna, but it was still too good an opportunity to miss.
“Just wait,” she said, “I’m gonna spoil you rotten with all the presents I got you.”
“That’s great and all, but you coming home is the best present.”
Amber smiled, and pulled him into a sideways hug. “You’re so sweet. But that isn’t gonna help you get any extra goodies.”
“What!?” He pushed her away. “Then just like, mail them to me. Geez.”
“Uh, I don’t think so. I need to get my present too, you know.”
Fox Glove smirked. “Who said I got you anything?”
“I did,” Amber replied. “And it better be bucking amazing.”
They both laughed, and kept joking around. While she would always miss seeing him every day, they figured out how to make things work. She’d managed to find a way to stop living a lie, and hadn’t lost her family in the process. While she still had a lot to learn about Amber Glow and who that was, for the first time she finally felt like she was on the path to becoming complete.