A Princess' Duty (Luna)
High in the sky, the moon already shone through the cloudless night. I had to fight off a yawn as I struggled up the stairs. Today had been unpleasantly long at work, and I didn’t have time to go pony to relax. Emily wouldn’t have allowed it even if I tried to, She’d demand I let her go pony as well, and I knew she still had those fucking pictures of me she’d taken. The battle to climb the stairs was finally over, and my destination in sight, through the open door into my bedroom, I could see it. Dark blue sheets and pristine white pillows, all freshly washed this morning before my shift at work. The siren song of sleep played in my ears as I unceremoniously stripped off the red and orange work shirt. Tossing my name tag to the side with a flick of my wrist before my legs gave out, and I crumpled into bed. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I almost immediately felt the welcome darkness of sleep overtake me.
Sleep had become rather strange since I turned into the Princess of the night. Like always, I seemed to be in pony form in my dreams. My four hooves stood on the surface of an almost glasslike ocean, stretching as far as my eyes could see. The only light was provided by the stars above me and by what appeared to be coloured dots on the horizon. With a sigh, I settled down and adjusted my wings to get comfortable. It was a lesson I’d learnt the first few nights after I went pony initially. No matter how far I travelled in my dream, I could never reach the lights on the horizon.
There were more than there had been before, the horizon covered in bright colours that blurred together at such a distance. I sighed; on the bright side, I always felt refreshed in the morning. However, these dreams were painfully dull and seemed to match real-time, so I could practically count the minutes until morning. Looking up, I couldn’t help but smile. Even if my nights had become tortuously slow, it wasn’t without its benefits. Above me was an utterly stunning starfield, utterly alien to any that I’d ever seen before. Vast swirling nebulas and galaxies moved in the heavens above me whilst the soft twinkle of the stars gave me light to see. Even with the abundance of light in the distance, there wasn’t any light pollution, granting me an unfettered view of the cosmos. Of all the side effects of taking Pon-E, I couldn’t help but enjoy that part a little. A portion of me wondered if anypony else would experience this, or if it was just because I turned into Luna?
A sudden flash on the horizon snapped me from my thoughts as I squinted to try and make out what had caused the burst of light. In the distance, the usual multicolour blur of lights brightened as I watched a shimmering pink orb burst into life, far closer than the smear of coloured lights in the distance. Steadily it grew in size as it hurtled towards me, a wake forming beneath it as the glassy ocean I stood on was stirred up by the orb. Only for it to slow to a halt a short distance away as I sat in shock. The rough rules I had figured for whatever my dreams had become had been shattered, all the times before they had remained a constant. Now? If my dreams were changing, could that mean this wasn’t just my dream?
“That’s… .that’s not happened before,” I muttered. The only sound amidst the near-total silence was my voice as it echoed out through the vast emptiness around me. The pink orb had stopped moving, allowing the previous stillness to return as the water beneath it returned to its glassy state. Tentatively I stood, my hooves touching the surface of the water, sending tiny ripples outwards from me. I wasn’t sure how much time I spent lost in thought, trying to understand what had just happened. Eventually, I started to move towards the shimmering orb, a soft tugging sensation at my core, as if it was calling out to me.
I wasn’t sure how but I knew this had to be the gateway to a pony’s dream. Which meant that this wasn’t my dream; the fact that I was in the dreamscape didn’t phase me as much as it probably should have. It was something I had suspected almost immediately, but this actually confirmed it. As I drew closer to the orb, I could see a practically black aura wafting from it; the growing blackness threatened to smother the light given off from the sphere. That I could only guess meant that whoever the pony was, they were having a nightmare. Despite my growing concern at the realisation where I was, I wouldn’t let somepony suffer when I was able to help them.
As I leaned forward to touch my horn to the orb, I stopped. Muscle memory and instinct told me this was the right way to enter a dream when I was here. The fact that I had muscle memory in this body raised warnings in my mind. Maybe turning into Luna was leaving more side effects than I’d noticed. I shook my head, now was not the time to get distracted. One of my ponies was suffering, and I would not allow that to continue. My horn touched the glowing orb just as I realised what I’d just thought. Before I could address that, a wave of magic flowed over me as my stomach twisted into a knot, and a surge of pink light forced me to screw my eyes shut.
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When I finally opened my eyes, the whole space had changed. Gone was my familiar dreamscape. The dark star-filled sky had been replaced by what appeared to be a modest two-story house, dozens of colts and fillies sprinting around as their laughter filled the air. I couldn’t help but shudder, this whole experience felt like I was invading someone’s privacy, yet at the same time, I knew this was the right course of action. I wouldn’t forgive myself because somepony suffered when it was within my power to help them.
Casting my gaze across the room revealed some peculiar details; a large banner hung from the ceiling, proclaiming “Happy 6th Birthday Freddy!” It wasn’t hard to guess that the birthday boy...birthday colt? Whatever the correct term was. I could tell that Freddy was the two-tone brown earth pony colt currently sat surrounded by a mound of gifts with a few other foals gathered around him. It was rather weird, in all honesty. The colts and fillies sprinting around barely came halfway up my leg as I stood in the corner of the room.
My ears flicked when I thought I heard what sounded like a sniffle, but from what I could see, none of the foals were upset. Moments later, I caught another sniffle and what could have been a small sob. The sob pushed me to start trying to weave my way through the veritable ocean of party going youngsters, my height and size allowing me to cut a path through the constantly changing tide. The room itself was more extensive than I’d first thought. A small alcove poked out with a large bay window surrounding it. Lying on a pillow in the nook and staring out through the bay window at a different house was a bright pink mare, her mane a tangled mess that reminded me of cotton candy. However, what caught my attention was her eyes, bloodshot and red around the edges, watery trails leading down her cheeks as she watched the other house.
As I drew closer, I could see that the lights in the other house were on, illuminating a much different scene. Humans, older than me, were having some kind of party. I swore I almost could hear the pulsing bass from their music as I saw men and women dancing, drinking and partying. I looked down at the pink mare to try and see what she was looking at specifically, following her eyes to a brown leather couch by the other house’s window. On it, a man and a woman sat, practically intertwining their bodies together. At a guess, I’d say they were roughly in their mid-30s. Beside me, the pink mare’s ears folded against her head as I heard her mutter something I couldn’t make out. Another look at the human’s revealed what had set her off. The woman had just been thrown a small bag of something.
“Enough of this,” I growled, charging my horn to try and dispel the dream. I’d seen Luna do it in the show, so I knew I should be able to do it. The tug of magic in my horn pulsed as I tried to force the dream into something more positive, or at least to prevent what I suspected was about to happen. My horn flashed as I unleashed the magic, trusting it would reshape the dream. Instead, the pink mare’s ears lifted as her head snapped over to me, shuffling away in panic.
“W-what the buck are you! W-where am I!” She practically screamed, quickly drowning out the happy laughter of the foals. I froze, realising that I’d not dispelled the dream at all. Instead, I was guessing that I’d just “woke” her up in the dream. By the time I’d gathered my thoughts, the pink mare looked like she was on the verge of a heart attack based on the pinprick sized pupils and how hard she fought for breath.
“We beseech thee, be still, thou art dreaming.” I started as I gently reached a hoof out to try and calm the mare. Suddenly regretting my size advantage over her, it probably wasn’t helping me avoid freaking her out. Then again, I suspected the old ponish wasn’t helping either, for that matter. “We art Luna, Guardian of dreams. We sensed thine turmoil and refused to allow thine suffering to continue.”
“L-luna? Like Princess Celestia’s sister?” the mare said, seemingly not believing who I was. Whilst her words left me reeling, Who was this mare? Was it possible she was an actual Equestrian? How would someone be taking Pon-E without knowing what Luna looked like for most of the show? “B-but I saw her after she was cleansed by the elements of harmony. She’s small and has a blue mane, not tall like you.”
“Thou hath seen her after the elements’ power? During the first season premiere, correct?” I asked, internally at war with myself. If she didn’t know what I was talking about, that would mean the mare was a true equestrian. Did that mean that I had stolen a princess’ body? What had actually gone into making the Pon-E? Suppose I hadn’t stolen a Princess’ body and just got lucky being turned into an alicorn. Could I be arrested for impersonating royalty? I didn’t want to consider the potential that Equestria was actually real because that just raised more questions. The rapidly building panic attack was thankfully stopped when the mare nodded.
“Yeah, my son and his friend showed me the first two episodes, I think? It gets a little messy after that.” She said, rubbing a hoof against her temple as she spoke, wincing slightly in pain. I guessed by getting a little messy, she probably had fallen asleep, which would explain why she couldn’t remember. If I remembered correctly, episode three was the ticket master, and I couldn’t really blame her for falling asleep during that one. “Oh! My name’s Limelight; I should have probably said that earlier. It’s a pleasure to meet you, your majesty.”
“Truly, a pleasure to meet thee Limelight. We must admit some trepidation about entering thine dream.” I admitted with a soft shrug of my wings. “This the first time we hath attempted such a feat, thine dream appeared near to us in what we believe to be the dreamscape. When we became aware of a presence to thine dream that was not thine own, we were spurred to act. Pray tell, what might be the source of this discomfort?”
Limelight’s jaw dropped as she listened to me speak, looking around at the still ongoing party with utter confusion. The moment her gaze returned to the window, I saw her ears fold against her head once more. “I-i think I can tell why you felt something was wrong with my dream….”
She paused for a moment, taking a shaky breath as I looked out the window. I elected to let her decide when to speak, merely moving so that I was sat next to her. My sheer size quickly provided her support in my most literal sense. I’d seen ponies do this before in the show, particularly Celestia comforting a distraught twilight. So trusting that it would have the desired effect, I reached a wing out to drape over the mare’s side. A small smile crept onto my muzzle as Limelight leaned against my side, using a hoof to pull the wing tighter as she shuddered.
“Do you see the two humans on that couch?” She started, drawing my attention once more to the man and woman. The woman seemed thoroughly out of it. I guessed she’d taken whatever was in the bag. “That’s me, the guy on the left.” Limelight said her voice barely above a whisper. I hadn’t anticipated that she was a man whilst not on Pon-E. It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one flipping gender when on the drug. Although I was unable to stop, a soft chuckle escaping me.
“We art male as a human as well, tis certainly an...interesting change to say the least,” I commented, hoping she wouldn’t take offence at my chuckle. A glance down revealed the remnants of glare on her face fading as she sighed and shook her head.
“That party was the night of our son’s sixth birthday. So maybe that’s what the mess behind us is supposed to be?” We both turned to look at the party behind us, the foals all having descended on the cake I had spotted before, leaving only a few crumbs on the now empty plate. Limelight definitely had seen children on a sugar rush first hand. I had to suppress a shudder at the memory of my sister’s 8th birthday when I’d been asked to help run it. “See the brown colt over there?”
“He showed me a picture of what he looks like as a pony, and well, it seems that my subconscious decided to make this dream accurate.” I looked over to the one that I’d guessed was Freddy earlier. The same foals were with him before; Two pegasi, a blue coat and a green filly, as well as a green unicorn filly. “Those foals with him are his friends right now; his actual sixth birthday wasn’t with them, we had it with everypon- Everyone from his class. That night, my wife and I were invited to an old friend’s party.”
Limelight turned back to look through the window, prompting me to follow her gaze. The scene across from us had taken a turn for the worst. The man Limelight had identified as herself was shaking the woman on the sofa. I could see the woman’s eyes had glazed over, and aside from the occasional twitch, she wasn’t responding. Despite the unfolding scene, the rest of the human partygoers hadn’t seemed to notice, or if they had, they simply didn’t care.
“We were tired from the party, and I suppose the easiest way to put it is that things got out of hand that night.” The pink mare said, her voice weak and shaking as we watched the man lift his wife over his shoulder and stagger for the door. The sound of muffled yelling barely made it past the window, but I could still hear it. “We both had a past with that kind of thing, you know? I suppose we were both too drunk to really know what Kerry was doing. I-i”
I simply tightened the hold my wing had on her as I felt the mare shudder in my embrace. The sound of sniffling grew louder as I felt a wet muzzle pressed into my side. Out of the window, I noticed motion and watched as a car roared off down the street, driven by the human Limelight. Filling in the blanks from there wasn’t exactly difficult. Hopefully, it would spare Limelight the pain of having to say it out loud at the very least.
The sound of the party behind us continued as the world outside the window faded to black. The house opposite us vanished into the oncoming void, leaving us face to face with our reflections. My mane floated lazily in the air, its gentle motion the only reminder that time was still passing. At my side, Limelight remained motionless, sheltering under my wing with her face hidden in my coat. I was at a loss. From what I could understand, Limelight’s wife had suffered some sort of overdose. Limelight had driven her to the hospital whilst drunk. I did my best to hide my face with my mane as I paled; the uncomfortable possibility was that they had been in an accident on the way to the hospital.
I couldn’t bring myself to speak, concerned that if I interrupted her, she’d not start again. The brightly decorated room all around us was almost mocking Limelight’s suffering with its cheerful appearance. I could only curse my failure at controlling this dream. The mare sobbing at my side made my heart ache with guilt. Adjusting my wing to shield her from our surroundings, hoping to give her some peace and quiet. Moments passed in silence, the sound of childish joy contrasted by the muffled wailing from beneath my wing, the wetness of Limelight’s tears slowly moved down my side.
“S-she was the love of my life, and” She finally muttered, barely loud enough for me to hear. I remained silent to allow Limelight to speak, my wing giving her what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze. “And it’s my fault she’s gone… after I lost her, it was all I could do to hold it all together. I know that Freddy thinks that I don’t care, but I do; it’s a nightmare to try and express it.”
Limelight once more fell into silence, leaving me to reflect on what she said as I looked at the dream around us. Could the party mean more than just the day that she lost her wife? Part of my mind started to try and dissect the dream more. The colours of the pony dominated area seemed brighter and more inviting, whilst once Limelight and her wife had driven off, that entire human section of the dream had collapsed. My eyebrows shot up as the pieces fell into place. The stray thought that perhaps this intuition was also coming from my transformation into Luna. Regardless I had a potential path to assist Limelight, and Princess or not, I wasn’t going to let a pony suffer like she had.
“Pray tell, what does thee see when thou look behind us?” I ventured, lifting my wing from the mare as she turned. Absentmindedly I noted how her mane wobbled slightly with her movement. I watched as her pink eyes traced over the room, only stopping to linger on the colt version of her son.
“I-i don’t know, some sort of weird version of my son’s birthday? The last time we really had a relationship, if I’m honest.”
“We do not intend to impose but, perchance this could thine subconscious trying to present a change of course? A new chance to reform parental bonds with thy child through this new experience?” Limelight nodded along as I spoke, practically clinging to my every word. Admittedly, this wasn’t the most revolutionary idea possible. Still, perhaps an external suggestion was what she needed as a push in the right direction. Before I could continue, the mare burst out laughing. She looked up to me, her previously almost hollow looking eyes now glinting with genuine cheer.
“So, princess, your advice is” She was forced to stop and snort back a bout of laughter that threatened to overwhelm her. “Your advice... is to not look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Silence fell between the two of us as Limelight grinned, the tear stains down her cheeks seemingly forgotten as her mood almost completely flipped. “Thou art certain thou are not Pinkamena?”
With a dismissive wave of her hoof, Limelight giggled before turning her gaze back to the colt surrounded by his friends across the room. The gleam in her eyes shifted. It was honestly fascinating to watch her; she was undoubtedly the most expressive pony I had ever seen. Although, I admitted to myself that she was the only other pony I had met in person. If this could even be considered in person. Regardless, I watched as she thought. The subtle twitches of her ears or muzzle suggested she was debating something.
“You know Luna, I suppose as a parent, our task is to make sure our kid is happy, healthy and safe. After I lost Kerry, I lost sight of that task as well. I shut myself off from Freddy when he needed me and failed to connect with him whenever I tried. If what it takes to get my son back is taking a drug to turn myself into a magic pony, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay.” I was a little taken aback as she spoke. Her tone was more akin to a declaration of war than discussing a self-discovery. Limelight looked up at me, a fire practically burning in her eyes.
“Thou art aware that a declaration of intent in a dream is not enough? Actions must back up these words Limelight.”
“Well, yeah, I’m not just going to blow hot air out my ass.” She retorted with a pointed glare at me before hopping to her hooves and looking back at me. “Come on then, let’s go have a look at this party. I wanna see what my brain thinks a party is.”
I remained silent as I followed her, my size advantage allowing me to easily carve a path through the foals whilst Limelight was barely a few inches taller than them. I wondered if she was that size in real life, it would be awkward if her son as a pony was bigger than her, although if he was an earth pony, that wouldn’t surprise me. Our progress was steady, between my measured steps and Limelight’s bobbing and weaving as she practically swam through the ocean of foals with a surprising level of grace. The unsteady course she led seemed to be avoiding the dream version of her son, instead directing us towards a wall lined with photographs. “That is freaky.”
I cocked my head to the side before noticing what she meant. The photographs showed her, another mare and the colt I recognised as her son. All of the photos clearly had been of humans at one time or another, from what appeared to be a trip to Disneyland to a photograph of this party. The glimpses into her past were, in all honesty, bizarre. “Verily, thine subconscious truly has a twisted sense of humour.”
“Say, Luna, have you ever hung out with other ponies in the real world?” Limelight asked as we both shuffled away from the ponified portraits on the wall. I could only sigh at that question.
“We have desired to. However, circumstances beyond our control prevented such an undertaking. Further compounding our troubles is our little sister has an agreement out of us that we would bring her along the next time we go pony.” As I spoke, I lowered myself down, folding my legs how I’d practised in an attempt to be at eye level with Limelight. My height was getting annoying, although if Emily turned into Celestia, at least I’d have someone my size. Then again, Celestia was larger than me in the show, and I was roughly 6 feet tall, over 6 feet counting my horn. Sweet mother of Faust, I wouldn’t want to try to smuggle Emily out of the house if she wound up my size. At least my coat was dark enough to hide in shadows.
“Princess? Hello?” I was snapped from my thoughts by a pink hoof waving in front of my muzzle and a worried-looking Limelight. “You just sat down and stared off into space. Literally, your mane was all over the place. You alright? Worried about your sister? Although I thought you were meant to be the little sister and Celestia was the older sister?”
“We art the elder sister, primarily because whilst we may look like and use the name, we art not the princess Luna from the show. Our name is Neil as a human. Our little sister Emily caught us the first time we used Pon-E.” I sighed and shook my head. “Twas our fault. We weren’t careful enough. However, Emily desires to come with us the next time we go pony, and we art worried for her safety.”
Limelight gently patted my shoulder with a hoof, giving me a look that instantly suggested I was preaching to the choir. It kind of made sense a parent would be used to worrying about someone under their care. The moment lasted for a second before it was broken by the pink mare practically bouncing on her hooves.
“IDEA! Why not bring her to my son’s pony group? They have a meeting this weekend! It’s Tuesday, right? So you’ve got a few days to figure out how to get there. I’ll tell them I’ve invited a friend and you can bring your sister as your plus one! She gets to go pony, in a group environment, so no matter what she turns into, there’ll be somepony to look after her! I’ve already met a couple of my son’s friends, and they were really nice.”
“...Tis an appealing prospect, art thou sure they would not object to our presence? We hath had a somewhat mixed response online when we posted about ourselves.” The urge to jump around and celebrate was almost overwhelming, I’d seen videos of pony get-togethers, and they looked like an absolute blast. Although if I gatecrashed one, I’d hardly be making the best first impression.
“It’ll be alright, don’t worry! How should I contact you with the location and time? I don’t suppose you’ve got an email? PrincessLuna@Moon.Equs?” Limelight was met with a deadpan glare from me. I could barely hold that glare for more than a second before I chuckled and wanted to slap myself for doing so.
“We have an email that thou can reach us at. We beseech thee, do not laugh, tis an account we made before turning into Luna.” Across from me, the pink mare was slowly leaning forward, a grin plastered across her lips in excitement. “This Moonbutt@gmail.com”
“Oh… I was expecting something more dramatic, to be honest.” Before I could reply, I felt the whole dream shake, my horn lighting as I tried to stabilise the dream around us. The party full of foals behind us flickered and faded one by one, the dense crowd disappearing in an instant as the room gradually started to lose the details. Furniture and wall decorations simply vanished in an instant. My magic was barely able to slow down the collapse. My horn burned as if I was trying to lift a building using it.
“What’s happening?!?” The pink mare yelled as she watched the far wall fade and reveal the black void beyond. The foal versions of her son and his friends were next to go. Their tiny bodies collapsing to dust along with the decorations for the party. Limelight looked at me, and for the first time, I saw first-hoof what sheer terror looked like on a pony. Her eyes were watering, her ears folded against her skull, and her coat seemed to slowly be losing its bright pink colour. “Princess?”
“Our time appears to be at an end”, I surmised, the burning in my horn only growing as the room around us fell apart. The small section of wooden floor beneath the both of us was all that remained now, floating amidst an endless black void. In the distance, I swore I could see stars blinking into life as if in response to my presence. As I felt my grip on the dream slipping further, I turned to look at the mare. “Remember to email us the details for the address and time, and we shall see thee and thy son there. Do not be afraid Limelight, this is merely thy mind waking from the dream. We shall not allow anything to hurt thee whilst in our domain.”
Having said my piece, I released the magic in my horn, sending out a pulse of light and practically blinding myself for a moment. When the spots faded from my eyes, I was back in the dreamscape, the water beneath My hooves rippling as I looked around. The pink orb that had been Limelight’s dream was gone. I guessed that meant she must have woken up.
“Did we really just claim this as our domain?” I asked aloud, looking across the now calm waters and admiring the soft twinkle of the stars above me. The lights in the distance were flickering as, one by one, they disappeared, and new ones started to fade in. It was strange to think of this as mine, but part of me thought it was the right thing. I may not be the Princess from the show, but tonight had proven I could enter the dreams of others. Great power comes with great responsibility, it’s cliche, but I felt it was apt in this situation.
“Very well, we suppose this dreamscape is ours then, hardly likely for anypony else to claim it,” I announced to myself as I charged my horn. Gathering magic from myself and pulling it through the dreamscape as the waters around me started to flow away. The lights in the distance gleamed and shone as their colours reflected on the water around me. I could feel the magic building throughout my body, begging to be released. I took one final look around the dreamscape before unleashing the spell and letting the flash of magic flow over me.