Stars in the Shadow of Night

by Melody Song

Helping Them

Shadowstar walked alongside the creatures, who were following Celestia anxiously.

"Your name is Thorax, right?" Shadowstar asked the changeling next to him.

"Yes." he answered, then looked over. "Who are you?"

"Shadowstar, the Prince of Dreams."

"I thought that was Princess Luna's role." Sandbar protested, and Luna glanced over, hearing her name.

"When I ascended, it was because I accomplished a great thing while using my special talent in dreamwalking. Celestia named me the Prince of Dreams because of it. Luna is Princess of the Night, though she helps me with the dream realm." Shadowstar explained, and Luna slowed to match his pace.

"Yes, my son is quite good at the magic of dreams." Luna added.

"Son?" Sandbar asked.

"Not biologically. I call Celestia my Aunt because she raised me. Twilight is my sister because I used to foalsit her and I'm dating her brother. Luna and Shadowstar refer to each other as mother and son because they see each other that way." Princess Cadence filled them in.

"What's an Aunt?" Gallus asked, and Luna raised a brow.

"Surely thou art jesting?"

"He's an orphan, Gilda and I found him when we were ten and he was nine. We looked after each other for years." Gabby explained, putting a wing over Gallus. "So, no, he's not joking."

"Here." Celestia carried Ember into a room, laying her on a bed. "Twilight, Cadence, and I will look for a healing spell. Luna, Shadowstar, stay with them please."

The three ponies left the room, and the creatures crowded around Ember. Thorax took off and landed by her side. Pharynx and Ocellus sat down on the other bed. Smolder curled up beside Ocellus, sapphire eyes gleaming with worry. Ocellus leaned on her. Gallus was watching the others, until Sandbar nudged him into a seat.

"Sorry..." he trailed off and kept staring at Ember.

"You have seen this before, haven't you?" Luna asked, and Gallus looked up, nodding.

"When I was nine...I saw my parents die when our house collapsed. I still remember them coughing and gasping for air."

"So that's what happened to them." Gabby said.

"It explains why you hate small spaces." Gilda added.

"Oh, Gallus..." Gabby nuzzled him sympathetically, and Gallus sighed, looking away. Sandbar hugged him gently.

"What are you doing?" Gallus asked.

"It's called a hug." Sandbar explained, and Gallus wrapped his claws around Sandbar in return.

"Don't even try." Gilda shot at Gabby, who turned to her. Gabby shrugged and threw her claws around Gilda anyway.

"Why did you not look shocked?" Luna asked, the question had clearly been eating at her for some time.

"I've seen this so many times myself I'm used to it." Gilda sighed.

"Same here." Pharynx added.

"But she'll be okay, right?" Smolder asked.

"She'll be fine young one." Luna assured the dragon.

"What's going on?" Shadowstar turned to see Spike, rubbing his eyes and clutching his favorite blue blanket.

Luna turned and led him out of the room to talk to him.

"A dragon lives in the castle and yet you doubted our loyalties?" Pharynx asked.

"I don't know why Aunt Celestia didn't trust you. As for Spike, he's Twilight's assistant. I don't know the full story, but according to Twilight, she hatched him from an egg as a part of her acceptance exam to Celestia's school. He grew up alongside her and her brother." Shadowstar explained.

Smolder snorted and stretched out on the bed. She put her head by Ocellus and closed her eyes, tail curling over her legs. Gallus and Sandbar shifted around a little bit before falling asleep. Gilda sighed, eyes closing. Gabby fell asleep, still clinging onto her friend. Thorax laid beside Ember, nosing her gently before dozing off.

"Sorry, this is the first we've had time to sleep in a while." Pharynx apologized.

"It's not a problem." Shadowstar assured him.

"Thank you...for helping us. I used to only care about my brother but...these guys...are like my family now, I guess." Pharynx's body glowed pink. He let out a content sigh before settling down by Ocellus and falling asleep.

"It's strange. I never considered a changeling capable of loving, and yet here are three of them who have shared more love than taken." Celestia said as she entered the room, and Shadowstar smiled.

"Auntie, I know it's not technically night...but do you think I could dreamwalk? I want to see if they really care for each other, their dreams can show me."

"Of course Shadowstar. I think it will work. I'll alert Luna so she doesn't disturb you." Celestia ruffled her wing through his mane before leaving.

Shadowstar lit up his horn and he sat on the floor, sphinx-style. He allowed his magic to wash away the room itself, absorbing the beds and tables and the dresser. Ember too, faded out as Shadowstar entered the realm of sleep. Each of the other creatures were lifted up and arranged in a circle around him. Shadowstar smiled, and used his magic to wake them-not literally, of course. They were still sleeping, but now they would be able to see him before he entered their dreams.

"Shadowstar? What's going on?" Thorax cried.

Ocellus flailed her legs. Gallus spread his wings, surprised he wasn't falling despite being surrounded on all sides by darkness. Sandbar and Smolder yelped and tried to swim through the black. Pharynx, Thorax, Gilda, and Gabby looked around, Gabby reaching for Gilda to be held by the other griffon. Thorax and Pharynx looked startled but Thorax seemed to be the only one freaking out.

"It's okay every creature." Shadowstar soothed, and they froze. "You're in The Void. A space between the Dream Realm and the Waking World. I brought you here, it's alright. In the Waking World you are still asleep in the castle room."

"Why did you bring us here?" Pharynx asked.

"Because I wanted to see for sure if your intentions are true. My mother and I can both dreamwalk, and since she's not here I wanted to do this myself. You see, dreams can show emotions that you hide in the Waking World."

"Wait, where's Ember?" Thorax asked.

"She's unconscious, so she's not really asleep or dreaming. If she is, not of her own free will. My magic can only pull creatures who are sleeping of their own volition into the Dream Realm so I can speak with them. Only my mother can pull anyone in to talk." Shadowstar explained.

"So you're going to crawl around in our heads?" Gilda asked.

"No, I'm going to enter your dreams. I'll be in them, walking with you as a part of the dream. Even though it technically is happening in your head in the Waking World, this is the Dream Realm. And as you'll soon find, the Dream Realm is quite different from the Waking World. It is quite literally in a different Plane of Reality, so you can do things you wouldn't be able to in the real world."

"So you're going to be in our heads...but not in our heads...this is confusing." Sandbar said.

"Just don't over-think it. This will make more sense if you experience it. Ready?" Shadowstar's horn lit up, and they all nodded. "Close your eyes, and I'll send you back to your dreams, then enter one."

They obeyed him, and Shadowstar sent them back. He then willed the starry hallway filled with doors to appear before him. Shadowstar glanced around. He'd changed his perspective on the doors to see not cutie marks, but names. That way he could enter dreams of other creatures. Of course, this would be his first time trying it, but it was for a good cause.

"I'm only trying to help. To help all of us, really." Shadowstar murmured to himself, before pushing open a door with a stiff-letter name scrawled on it.