I wish, I hope, I dream, I pray

by TNBi

Chapter 7: The Sun, the Moon and the Stars

It didn't take too long for Snowdrop's newly made snowflakes — snow flowers, in her words — to draw everypony’s attention and curiosity inside the factory. All of them marveled at her delicate and exquisite hoofwork, and they gathered to her side, eager to know how she crafted such beautiful snowflakes. Once again, she could find self-confidence from the work she had always loved.

She taught others about her trick — one that was even easier than any method they have been trained to do: all they need to do was repeat a pattern in the manner of flower petals, and they would get a very adorable snowflake. With her effective method applied, the production of snowflakes became even less difficult and time-consuming. Everypony was feeling joyful for themselves, for all of them were able to craft beautiful snowflakes of their own with ease.

But not Cumulo Nimbus.

When Snowdrop apologized to her and Cirrus for what she said and behaved the day before, Cirrus smiled and answered “It’s okay”. But Cumulo only replied with a chilly “Oh”.

In the following next days, Snowdrop couldn’t find a chance to get her to talk; she kept working on her snowflakes as if she cared about nothing else, and she didn’t come to Snowdrop for the new method either. Even when Cirrus talked to her, she would respond rather shortly, unlike the dominating and tart-speaking girl she had always been.

Snowdrop didn’t know how to turn such situation, and she felt rather distressed. She knew at heart that even though Cumulo Nimbus had been talking harsh, she had given her all kinds of help: despite her complaints, Cumulo still helped a lot with her work that required eyesight, and whenever they walked on a road that was unfamiliar, Cumulo would walk in front of her and point out the obstacles on the road — though in a griping manner — so that she could avoid them safely.

The thought of such moments only reminded her of how much she owed Cumulo Nimbus, the more she thought, the guiltier she felt.

Another day had come to its end, and again little did Cumulo Nimbus talk to Snowdrop. She packed up her things silently and walked out of the workshop. Behind her, Snowdrop wanted to call to her, that she wanted to go home together. But when it was on the tip of her tongue, her voice only failed her.

“Hey, don’t worry. She was angry at me for once too, and she’d forget about it in a week.” Cirrus said to Snowdrop as he walked to her side, and patted on her back to give her some relief.

“But it’s all my fault… What if she never talks to me ever again? I don’t want to lose her as a friend.”

“No it’s not. She’s been like this for a while. Maybe she was having terrible dreams in her sleep again,” said Cirrus. He lived at Cumulo Nimbus’s neighborhood ever since they were colt and filly, and he knew quite a lot about her.

“Terrible dreams?” Snowdrop’s ears stood up at this.

“Yeah. There were times when her parents quarreled badly, and when they do, anyone in the neighborhood could hear it. I heard it again just two days ago. She had told me that whenever her parents quarreled, she’d have bad dreams for a couple of nights nonstop.”

“Bad dreams it is…” murmured Snowdrop.

In the evening, Snowdrop took some medicine given by the doctor as usual. Despite her nosebleed and dizziness, all her medical check seemed fine; still, the doctor gave her some medicine for a good rest, in case her symptoms were the results of lack of sleep. Slowly, the medicine took its effect, and she slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

As she opened her eyes again, the scenery of seasonal plants from last time first came into view. Princess Luna was standing there too, looking at her with a smile on her face.

“Good evening, Princess Luna. You’re really quick this time,” Snowdrop said and bowed before her.

“I have indeed discovered some tricks to dreamwalking, but this time, it was your yearning to see me that showed me the path. Are you having something on your mind?”

“Yes, well… Before we talk about that, may I know if it’s going on well between you and Princess Celestia?” asked Snowdrop with concern — when the rumor of the Princesses’ fight finally reached her ears, she was so shocked that her jaw almost fell to the ground: the fight not only left both of them covered in wounds, but also damaged their castle severely, leaving a giant hole on its walls. There was just no way for some normal pony to cause such a consequence.

“It’s been fine, as usual. We did our jobs of raising the sun and the moon, and we didn’t interfere each other.” Luna said with a slight tilt of her head to the side.

“I see…” Snowdrop folded her wing. Somehow, the moon princess’s indifferent attitude reminded her of Cumulo Nimbus again. She then lifted her head and asked, “Princess Luna, can you walk into other ponies’ dreams too?”

“Yes, what’s the matter?”

“It’s Cumulo Nimbus. She’s been having bad dreams, and couldn’t rest well… I remember that last time when I had one, you were able to drive it away from me. Could you help her too?”

“Well… Dreamwalking is not something to be taken lightly. Tell me, what is it that makes you think that I should help her?”

The princess’s question flustered the little filly at some extent; she wouldn’t want to put their friendship at risk for asking something too much from her.

“It’s, well… It’s because you’re the Princess of the Night, just as Princess Celestia is the Princess of the Day. I heard that you both had vowed to protect all the ponies that lived under the Sun and the Moon, so I, um, I think, that, since rest and cure are what your night provides, then… is it also a part of… of your job... to protect the ponies from getting disturbed by nightmares?”

Hearing what she said, Luna fell silent in consideration. At last, she nodded. “It makes sense. I’ll visit her dream soon enough.”

“Thank you for you generous help, Princess,” Snowdrop beamed happily. Seeing that sincere smile on the little one’s face, Luna found herself smiling too. “All right, are you ready for tonight’s surprises?”

“I’m all ready,” Snowdrop lifted her head with full expectation, so Luna lighted up her horn.

“First, it’s Celestia’s Sun. It shines upon the land, and brings warmth to everything.”

Just as Luna finished her words, a gigantic ball of burning fire suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the sky. But at the sight of this, Snowdrop was dumbstruck — she couldn’t help but remember the moments when Luna created the Land, along with all terrible scenes and the searing heat. She never expected that the sun could be a giant ball of fire, and even if it was the thing that brought light and warmth to the world, she would still panic at the thought of this burning mass passing over her head every day — what if it ever fell down?? She guessed that this was the reason why Princess Celestia took charge of raising it every day — so that it would not fall down and cause a tragedy.

“It’s… dreadful,” she said, and hid behind Princess Luna’s side.

“Dreadful? I’ve never heard somepony say something like that before — how about this?”

Her horn glowed again, and the Sun started to move slowly toward the west sky, lowering itself bit by bit. The tones of everything changed along with it: all was covered in a golden color, just like how the Sun was moments ago; meanwhile, the Sun itself turned to a fiery red, as if it had shared its color to the rest of the world.

“Whoa…” Looking at such an incredibly beautiful scene, Snowdrop couldn’t help but exclaim in awe. But then she noticed something: the Sun was about to touch the sea’s surface! “L-look out!!” she cried. She thought the Sun would vaporize the sea’s water on contact, and then turn into a pitch-black stone just like the land.

But to her surprise, it didn’t happen at all — the Sun and the sea seemed to be melting into each other perfectly. As it dipped deeper into the sea, its colors dissolved into the waves, which shimmered glamorously from far, far away.

“That was so fantastic… Why was it so peaceful when the Sun sank into the water?” she asked, wondering the answer.

“Because the Sun actually didn’t make any contact with the sea as you may have imagined — it’s somewhere farther, farther away. You need more knowledge on celestial bodies to understand that — and my night will provide a perfect environment to show you how it works.”

As the Sun sank deeper into the sea, Snowdrop noticed the world was getting dark, as if a giant shadow was gradually devouring all the colors from everything.

Watching the darkness loom over the once colorful world, she was surprised to find that fear was secretly creeping inside her — but still, she remembered her word that she would prefer the darkness to the light. She tried her best to cover that nagging fear inside, hoping that the night princess would not notice.

“Now — look to the other side of the darkness,” called out Luna as the remaining sunlight had finally gone under. She gestured to the east, the place where all the darkness began. There, a rim of silver rose up slowly from the other side of the sea — its light was very pale compared to the sun, but it reassured Snowdrop of her fears to the darkness. She could recognize it — it was the Moon, the other celestial orb Princess Luna was in charge of.

“Now look at the sky above you.”

Snowdrop raised her head to Luna’s words, and looked toward the dark sky as the Moon illuminated it little by little.

Ding!

All of a sudden, she heard something — it was a chime, one that was too familiar to her. As it reached her ears, she noticed a little but shiny dot had peeked out from the once blank sky. It was so tiny — but the light it emitted was already moving the little filly’s heart.

Ding! Ding! Ding! …

One after another, countless dots started to emerge in the sky, coming in so many amazing colors: blue, white, red, orange… Just like all the colors of the land had somehow escaped to the heavens.

Snowdrop watched intently; even her pupils were widened out of thrill.

More and more of the dots popped up with their beautiful chimes; some were scattered, some were dense, and then when all the dots were so close to one another, they formed a glowing long band, stretching all the way toward the sky’s boundary.

“This is the Night that belongs to me, as well as my Moon and the stars. Now what do you think of — hey, what’s wrong?”

When Luna turned around, she didn’t expect to see Snowdrop in tears. The little blue filly just stared at the sky, and streams of tears run across her face.

“It’s so wonderful… It really is! It’s the most glamorous thing I’ve ever seen, it’s beyond compare!”

It finally dawned on her, that one may cry not only out of sorrow, but also extreme happiness. Seeing this awesome scene of the Milky Way and countless stars, she couldn’t control her tears from flowing anymore.

“Oh!” she suddenly shrieked a little.

“What’s the matter?”

“The stars… they’re not hollow at all! But my snow flowers…” she fell silent, feeling depressed. Her snow flowers, the ones she created after a star in her imagination, were still far from the looks of a real star… Let alone she had already witnessed how brilliant the real stars are, she couldn’t convince herself that she might create snowflakes that were equally beautiful.

“Don’t worry,” Princess Luna walked over to the little blue filly, spread her wing, and wrapped her inside.

“The snow flowers you carved, they’re stars, too — the stars that represents the Land. They are, in every way, just like the stars in the sky, and they each are one of a kind. You really should be proud of them — and proud of yourself.”

“...Thank you, Princess Luna!” after thinking for a while, Snowdrop happily returned her princess a grateful hug. Luna, taken by surprise, blushed a little at first, then she smiled too.

The two of them then settled down like before, and Luna started to lecture on the celestial bodies, constellations and their stories for the young filly. For little Snowdrop, it was the best of all her dreams she had ever had in life.

***

Yet… as she woke up from her dream again, the pleasant experiences only emphasized the uncomfortable feeling of her body.

“Cough! Cough!” As she coughed, something fell out her mouth: it felt like some liquid, but had a taste of rusty iron, and that smell and taste kept lingering in her mouth and nose. Then she discovered her quilt felt also strangely wet. She lifted it and wanted to get off her bed, but ended up sprawling on the floor — her limbs didn’t have the strength to hold her weight.

It’s so hot… I feel awful, really awful… What’s wrong with my body?

She wanted to know what was going on, but without her eyesight, she couldn’t even get close. Helpless and frightened, all she could do was crying at the top of her lungs, “Mom!! Help!!”

“Snowdrop?”

In a few moments, Primrose’s hurried hoofsteps approached her daughter’s room. When she pushed open the door, she nearly fainted at the scary scene before her eyes.

Comments

[Novel Lots]

*gasp* Nooo Snowdrop!!!!! ❄ ❄