From the Eternal Love of a Sister

by Scootareader

1 - Night Gives Only Shadows, No Sun

It is... night. The only time in which we can be happy.

Not tonight. Not for many moons have we found reason to smile, nor exchange pleasantries, nor find solace in the comforting embrace of the darkness we have been consigned to.

We are miserable.

We have mustered the strength to bring the moon out to greet the resting citizens of Ponyville, and with her majesty present, the stars have also come to keep her company. They are a simple folk, those that live in the sky... they relish the time they are given with which to peer down upon our world, and they do not wish for that which they cannot have.

Oh, how we wish we were so graceful as they.

Since before we can remember, I have been the one in the darkness. No other has taken our vigil, nor have we asked another to take my place. It is our solemn duty.

It is not our place to complain, but... we want other duties. I am the Princess of the Night... that does not make us happy. We wish for a day when my sister will ask us to aid her, to share the light which she sheds upon the thankful ponies of Equestria.

It will never happen.

My task is done to usher in the night. Dream walking every evening is no necessity, but we feel we must do something, anything, to prevent this wallowing in self-pity. Perhaps my dear sister is a more prominent figure... my responsibilities are just as important as hers, however, and so we intend to fulfill them just as expected of us.

And so, we retire once more to our chambers and flare my horn with magic. We close our eyes and feel ourselves depart my worldly body, submerging ourselves into a river of thoughts and subconscious feelings.

To describe a world of dreams is impossible. Everywhere we glance, there is more to see, more to wonder, more to experience. An entire lifetime takes place in moments. Yet... it does not feel so. It feels as if we are swimming, and each memory is the water filling our lungs. We do not enjoy the experience; if we did, we would want to do it every night. A large portion of these evenings is spent simply observing, not interacting as we are expected to.

My sister has the duty of hearing the plight of citizens and erasing their worries; our duty is to find their dreams and make them pleasant. Many worries require a ruler to pass judgment so that the concerned pony may no longer need fret... but happiness can be found in more than simple dreams. Therefore, we feel our duty is redundant, and we needn't risk drowning ourselves in the memories of others so they may awaken feeling more refreshed.

Yet, what else are we to do? Forsake my throne and the ponies of Equestria?

We shake the thoughts from our head and focus on the task at hand. I drift through the dreams of Equestrians and search for a pony who needs my help.

Readily enough, we find a young colt who is galloping fearfully away from an unseen assailant. We observe him for a time, but try as we might, we cannot see the thing which is giving chase. It appears that he would benefit from our aiding him.

Although holding our breath makes no difference, we do so anyway and submerge ourselves into the foal's dream.

We feel the terror grip us, sure and steadfast. Raw, unabated fear trembles through our limbs and causes our wingtips to shiver involuntarily. It rocks us only briefly... but it is a familiar wave of fright. This is a nightmare.

We are galloping abreast of the colt, acutely aware of the sweeping wall of darkness that threatens to swallow us whole. We direct my eyes to the fleeing young pony. “What are thou running from, young one?”

“A monster!” he shrieks to us. We see no monster, but he is convinced that it is real. Our words of reassurance will not save him from this threat; we must take action.

Whipping about, I skid briefly on my hooves and face the darkness. The colt registers shock and stops briefly, unsure of what to do. My horn becomes bathed in a powerful, purple glow, enveloping us. He calls something to us, but even he is unsure what he meant to say, and it dissipates into the air as a call of concern for his fellow pony. Then he turns and continues to run.

The darkness swallows us, bringing a comforting embrace briefly. It whispers sinister secrets into our ears, to join and swallow this tiny colt. We steel our mind and lash out against the darkness, creating a shield of magic and ballooning it outward.

The darkness shrieks and melts away, its final whispers promising vengeance and betrayal before it retreats to the corners of the colt's senses from whence it came. We resisted its temptation, its calling to become the nightmare... just as we always have.

The colt has turned around once more, looking at us with adulation. In this dream world, words not even need be said—we can feel his gratefulness. We address him. “Young colt, why dost thou run from the darkness? It can not harm you.”

“I'm sorry... I was afraid.”

“We are all afraid of things. However, this darkness had no form. It was simply darkness. What terrifies thou so about it?”

“I... didn't know what was in it. I thought there was a monster.”

Ah. Not the dark. “We are all afraid of the unknown, young colt. However, we do not need to run away from it. There must be something which you are afraid to confront tomorrow.”

The colt looked at the ground he had imagined and scuffed his small hoof upon it. “Well... my dad says I gotta start working out for hoofball this year... but I just wanna read instead....”

“And thou fear his answer?”

“Yes,” he answered sheepishly.

“We cannot be there to confront your father, young colt, but you must do this. If he was not happy with the foal he reared, he would have said—and ensuring he knows what you enjoy will help him give his family a better life. Thou must be honest and forthright.”

The colt nodded, seeming to accept most of this.

“We must go. There are others who need our help this night.” Truthfully, I did not feel ready to enter another dream... this one had tested our patience already. “Do not forget what we have told you, and face the unknown.”

The colt smiled and waved, and we broke the surface of consciousness once more. It takes no effort to remain above the landscape of dreams, but to venture down into such things... it is taxing on our magical abilities. We tread the nothingness and observe the dreams of the ponies for a time, imagining to ourselves that we are actually looking for a pony in need.

The young colt will remember perhaps the tiniest shred of his dream in the morning. It did not help him; my intervention eases a troubled pony's mind for one night, no more. Our obligation is redundant, a pointless exercise.

Oh, how we long to be loved, to be seen. The citizens of Equestria know who I am, but not once have we been recognized for what we do.

We are not our sister, and we never will be. We cannot be the picture of benevolence, the level-headed voice of reason that our sister always strives to be.

We are alone, the night and I. Abandoned and shunned by the ponies of Equestria, given the label of sanctuary for call-mares and dark intentions, we are left to giving a pathetically small number of our citizens slightly more pleasant dreams for a night.

This is not the job of a princess. This is not ruling. This is not what we deserve.

I rise to my hooves. It is time to give our sister a talk.

Author's Note:

Finally, after much imagined fanfare and setbacks, we give you the thoughts of Luna as dictated by Scootareader. We hope we didn't do too badly on the whole I/we thing. I = my person, we = my self. Something like that.

--Scootareader

Comments

[tgsb]

First

[TheMyth]

Go on...

[Starlight Nova]

Chronologically, when does this story take place? Before or after Luna becomes Nightmare Moon?

[SplattyHart]

3556090 I believe this is before

[Starlight Nova]

Have you ever considered submitting this story to Equestria Daily? You can find out how to do so here.

[PaulAsaran]

Curious. That feels like a much more 'real' interpretation of dreamwalking. I approve.