The story about how a normal unicorn became friends with the Princess of the Night.
One day, a young unicorn named Buggy Brush got the opportunity to meet the one pony he always felt a really deep admiration for, Princess Luna. Neither of them knows how many things are going to change after that one single encounter.
It was 10 am and after an exhausting night going from one nightmare to another, Princess Luna was laying over her bed trying to sleep. It was a hot day outside, one of those days when nopony even think about going out without an umbrella. That was another good reason for her to not get out of bed. She never had trouble doing her job as a Dream Keeper, she is pretty much able to handle it, no matter how terrifying some nightmares are, but this particular night was a lot more tiring for her than usual.
“Maybe I should reconsider my sister’s suggestion and get some kind of assistant,”she said to herself.
The minutes passed by and she still couldn’t fall asleep, she had too much on her mind. Defeated, Luna decided to finally get out of her bed, put her shoes on and start the day.
“10:22 am, still in time,”she said looking at the clock.
Luna and Celestia agreed to meet at 11:00 am to discuss what they were going to do about a certain situation. After getting out of her room and going for something to eat, she found Celestia baking something. Knowing her sister, she was probably baking another cake.
“Good morning sister,”said Celestia.“How was your night?”
“Exhausting. I don’t remember the last time I felt so drained after helping ponies in their dreams.”
“Do you want me to make some coffee?”Celestia said while levitating a couple of cups.
“Yes, please”
She got out of the kitchen and went to another room to sit at the table where they normally eat. A few minutes later, Celestia arrived with 2 cups of coffee and 2 pieces of chocolate cake. Luna thanked her sister and took a sip from her cup, then she took a little bite of the cake.
“How does it taste?”said Celestia smiling.
“It’s delicious, as always dear sister,”Luna answered while returning the smile. “It’s exactly what I needed to start the day”
“Thanks, sister,” Celestia said before taking a sip from her coffee. “Are you sure that you don’t need an assistant to help you deal with dreams, Luna? I know you can do it on your own, but a little help wouldn’t be that bad.”
“I’m starting to consider the idea. Maybe working with somepony else could be useful after all.”
“Of course it’s useful! Even if they can’t help much with dreams themselves, having company is always helpful.”
“Speaking of being helpful, since we’re already here, I think we can discuss about how we can help raise money for that school.”
“You’re right. Have you had any ideas?”
“Not really, and you?”
“Me neither,”-Celestia took another bite of her cake while thinking.“We should do something to catch other ponies’ attention, to get them interested.”
“Something like what?”
“I’m not sure, maybe offering some kind of prize.”
“A prize? Like cakes maybe?”said Luna jokingly, yet thinking about it, it wasn’t actually a bad idea.
“Anypony can go to a store and buy a cake. We need something unique.”
“True, but not anypony can go to a store and get a cake baked by the Ruler of Equestria.”
“That’s a fair point, but it would still be a cake.”
“I’m sure it would be motivation enough for you,”Luna said giggling while Celestia started to giggle too.“For real now, what other prize could we give?”
“I have no idea. Maybe we should have thought about it before making any promise.”
They both stayed in silence for a short while, thinking what could be a good enough prize to motivate ponies to help with the cause, until Luna had an idea.
“What if we offer a tour of the castle as the prize?”
“A tour?”
“Yes! Just think about it: A contest to help raise money for the school whose prize is a tour of the castle. That would get their attention.”
“That’s a really good idea! And to participate they would only have to donate a few bits.”
“That’s the perfect plan!”Luna said while smiling at her sister, who was also doing the same.“We have to announce it later. The sooner, the better.”
“You’re right. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though, you haven’t even finished your cake yet.”
Luna looked at her sister’s plate and realized she had finished her cake some minutes ago, while she barely had eaten half of hers.
“How in Equestria do you manage to eat that fast?? Did your stomach turn into a black hole while I was on the moon??”
Celestia laughed at her sister’s comment before responding.
“I’m going to get another piece. I’ll be back.”
“Can you refill my cup, please?”
“Sure!”
“Oh, and Celestia?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you, sister.”
Celestia stopped walking and got closer to Luna to give her a huge hug.
“I love you too, sister.”
They announced the contest on the afternoon of that day. Neither of them knew how many changes that contest was going to make for both of them (especially for Luna) and, after 2 weeks, they already had the winner of the contest, winners actually.
A young unicorn and his best friend, a daemonequus (a creature part pony and part demon) were the 2 winners of the contest announced by The Royal Sisters. They won the chance to see the whole castle through a tour guided by Celestia and Luna themselves. It was the night before the long awaited day, and the unicorn was feeling nervous.
“Aren’t you excited?”said the daemonequus. Her name is Darky Spell. She isn’t that different from other ponies: she has a light blue coat, a long, puffy white mane and tail, a long horn, bat-looking wings and a cutie mark of a feather with some ink; and wears a pink shirt, a black choker and a huge red ribbon over her head.
The dead giveaway that she isn’t a regular pony are her eyes. She has an orange left eye and a blue right eye, both so pale that they are difficult to notice at first sight, making her look like if her eyes were completely white. She used to wear sunglasses to hide them and avoid question, until she started feeling more comfortable about them.
“Yeah, of course I am. I’m just a little nervous,”responded the unicorn. His name is Buggy Brush. He has a purple coat, a round jaw (unlike most stallions), a short, yellow mane with a green lock of hair, a short, yellow tail, green eyes and a cutie mark of a brush with some green paint on it.
He always wears a certain necklace, a really special necklace. It has a round, blue and black pendant with a white moon in the middle, looking exactly like Princess Luna’s cutie mark. It makes him feel a little more confident.
“Just a ‘little’ nervous?”asked Darky walking towards him.
He sighed.
“What if something goes wrong? I have wanted an opportunity like this more than anything else. I can NOT ruin this!”
“And you won’t ruin it. How could you possibly ‘ruin’ it?”
“I don’t know. What if I freak out and just freeze in front of her?”
“You’re not worried because of The Royal Sisters, but only because ofher, right?”
“Wha- How did you know??”asked Buggy while he stopped levitating the pencil he was drawing with and turned to look at his friend.
“First of all, I have known you my entire life, I can practically read you as a book at this point; second of all, it’s no news to me how much you admire Luna; and third of all-“she raised her hoof to point what Buggy was drawing “-you are literally drawing her right now… again.”
“Am I really that obvious?”
“Yes, you are.”
“I just don’t want… I don’t want the whole ‘magician’ situation happening all over again.”
“‘Magician’ situation?”asked Darky with a confused look on her face.
“Don’t you remember? When I fell in love with that blue unicorn magician, then one day I tried to get close to her to say ‘hi’ and I just freeze in front of her awkwardly.”
“Oh, yeah. I still remember that. Why did you like her anyways?”
“I don’t know, she was cool,”he answered looking away.“What if that happens again? What if I freeze in front of Luna making her feel uncomfortable?”
“That won’t happen,” replied Darky with a really confident voice. “And remember I’ll be there too. If I see that’s about to happen, I can always kill you to save you from the embarrassment,”she added jokingly, trying to make him laugh and feel more relaxed, yet failing at it.
She noticed Buggy was not convinced yet, so she grabbed his face with her hoof and looked straight into his eyes to make sure he was paying attention.
“Bug, listen. She may be a princess, but she’s still a pony like you and me, and you know that. It’s normal to be nervous, especially in a situation like this. It’s normal to be scared, but don’t let that get the best of you. Everything is going to be more than fine, I’ll be there if you need me, and if I notice you need a little push, I’ll help you.”
After saying that, she hugged him. She knows that always makes him feel safe.
“Everything is going to be fine, Bug. I promise,”she said with a soft, comforting voice.
“I-“he tried to said something, but wasn’t sure how to reply. He was still feeling nervous, but a lot less than before.
“Thank you,”he finally said while returning the hug.
They stayed like that for a little before releasing each other.
“Feeling any better now?”
“Yeah, thank you (again).”
“No problem,”she said while winking an eye.
“I guess it would be good if you go home to get some sleep before tomor-“he was interrupted by the sound of a thunder, followed by rain.
“They didn’t mention anything about rain tonight,”said Darky.
They fell in silent for a few seconds.
“Would you mind if I stay here tonight?”
“Of course I won’t! Sleepover time?” he said smiling at her.
The next day arrived and the 2 friends were making their way to the castle, until Buggy realized something.
“WAIT! I can NOT let her see my necklace!!”
“Why not?”
He didn’t really know how to answer that.
“I just… can’t!”
“Why didn’t you leave it?”
“I forgot. I thought wearing it would help me feel less worried as always, but I forgot she could notice it!”
“Ok, wait here. I have an idea,”Darky said before teleporting herself away. Teleportation is something only the most skilled of magic wielders can use, and Darky was no stranger to magic. She came back a few seconds later.
“Here-“she gave him an orange-green scarf.“She won’t notice your necklace if you cover your neck with this thing.”
“You’re a genius, Darky. Thanks”
She gave him a smile as an answer.
After walking for some more minutes, they found themselves in front of the castle. Waiting for them at the entrance were Princess Luna and some royal guards. Celestia was supposed to be there too, but she wasn’t able because of some not-related last minute problems. Buggy was already nervous with the idea of The Royal Sisters, Darky and him being alone during the tour, but now they were going to be only Luna, Darky and him. Darky was noticing he was getting nervous again, so she pulled him closer to her with her wing and whispered:
“Everything will be fine, I’m here, Bug.”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and answered with a subtle smile.
“Greetings, young ponies. Welcome to the Canterlot Castle!”said Luna, walking towards them.“You must be Darky Spell and Buggy Brush, right?”
They both bowed to her, as a sign of respect.
“Greetings, your majesty. And yes, he’s Buggy Brush and I’m Darky Spell, and we’re honored to be here today,”Darky answered, taking control of the situation. She was also feeling nervous, but she had to stay calm or she wouldn’t be able to keep her friend calm.
“Come with me. Let’s not waste time,”said Luna, turning around to tell the guards that it was ok to let them pass.
When they crossed the entrance to the insides of the castle, Darky noticed Buggy was walking a little slower, so she pulled him closer to her again, this time keeping her wing over his back to make sure he wasn’t being left behind. They walked like that for a long part of the tour while Luna was talking to them and Darky responding for both.
Eventually, Luna stopped talking about the castle and changed the subject a little, asking Darky a more personal question.
“What about you, Darky? I’d be interested to know more about you.”
“Me? Well em…”her mind was in blank. She was not expecting that question. She may feel more comfortable since she and Luna were talking for a while at this point, but that didn’t mean she was ready to talk about herself.
“Well, I’m just a common daemonequus Canterlot resident, nothing special.”
“I haven’t heard much about daemonequus before, aside from being half demon and half pony.”
“That’s probably because my species is not from anywhere near here. We are from far beyond Equestria.”
“How did you get to Canterlot then?”
“That’s kind of a long story.”
“I’d love to hear it.”
Buggy was listening to their conversation, but it eventually got overshadowed by the sound of his own thoughts. He hasn’t said a thing since the tour began, not even his name, since Darky introduced them both. He was too scared to just intervene in the conversation, but he couldn’t help feeling left out.
“And you, Buggy Brush? Tell me about you.”
Luna’s voice took him by surprise and, since Darky took her wing off his back a few minutes ago, he just continued walking without realizing it, until he bumped into Luna.
“I- I’m sorry!! I d- didn’t- I-“he quickly took some steps back. He felt really embarrassed, like if he was completely defenseless in front of her.
His face went completely red in a matter of seconds. Darky quickly realized he was unable to get out of that situation by himself at that moment, so she walked to him and embraced him with her wing a third time in a desperate attempt to calm him down. Luna noticed Buggy was starting to freak out, so she also tried to calm him down.
“It is fine! It was just a little accident, it’s ok!”she said while looking at him, who was trying to avoid her eyes. He could feel the tension all over his body.
“Bug, it is ok buddy,”whispered Darky with a really soft, reassuring voice. Buggy tried to rise his head again, but he was still avoiding looking at Luna’s eyes.
“I- I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright, don’t worry,” Luna answered. “Now, tell me about you.”
“I… am just a normal Canterlot resident,”he said, trying to think in something more to add.“And I like to draw.”
“Oh! That’s pretty nice! Maybe one day you could draw something for me?”
“O- Of course!” That was the last thing he said before falling in silence for the rest of the tour.
“I’m sorry,” whispered Darky to him, making sure Luna wasn’t listening. She felt guilty for taking her wing off him and putting him in that situation.
“Please, don’t let me go,” he answered to her. He knew it was not her fault, and he didn’t want her to feel that way. It was not her responsibility to take care of him, but he needed her support, he needed to feel her wing protecting him. He was not able to continue without that.
The rest of the tour passed faster than expected, so they (and with “they” I mean Darky) decided it would be good to go home and rest, instead of staying a little longer like it was supposed. They said goodbye to the princess and made their way home.
“Are you ok?”asked Darky to her friend, who was looking to the ground trying to hide his face.
He didn’t answer anything.
“Let’s go home, Buggy.”
After the tour finished, Luna couldn’t help but feeling worried for that young unicorn. She noticed he wasn’t feeling alright after that little situation. She was walking through one of the hallways back to her room when something on the floor caught her attention, something little and sparkly.
“It’s getting late. Maybe we should go home and keep looking for it tomorrow.”
“No. I need to find it. I won’t be calm until I find it.”
“I know, but we have been looking for hours. Are you sure it didn’t fall off inside the castle?”
“I don’t even know anymore! And even so, there’s no way we could enter there again, they won’t let us pass.”
“Bug-“ she walked closer to him to wipe a tear from his eye“-I promised you we would find it and we will, no matter where it may be, but the night is already falling and I can tell you are exhausted.”
He looked up from the floor to meet her eyes. She was right, they have been searching for hours and it was indeed getting late. Late and cold. Maybe it was time to rest.
“C’mon, let’s get back before it gets even darker.”
“Can I sleep with you tonight? I don’t really want to go to my house.”
“Sure”
And with that, Darky Spell and Buggy Brush cease the searching to go get some sleep. Darky could have easily teleported them both back to her house, but she knew Buggy would still want to look for the necklace on the way back, and being honest, so did she. She knows how important it is for him.
Once they arrived at her house, Darky went to the kitchen to get some tea while Buggy went straight to the bedroom to get some rest. Darky lives alone, but with how frequent they sleep in each other’s house, they both have 2 beds in their rooms. He laid in bed looking to the ceiling for some minutes, unable to sleep, when Darky arrived. She didn’t say anything, she just turned on the lamp and turned off the lights of the room to peacefully lay on her bed after such a long (and stressful) day. She then noticed her friend was still not able to sleep.
“The first thing we are going to do tomorrow is look for it inside the castle.”
“But how are we going to enter? Do you really think they will believe us if we tell the guards about the necklace when they never saw it?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t care either. We are getting that necklace back, no matter where in Equestria it is.”
The certainty in her voice made Buggy felt hope about finding it again.
“Thanks, Darky.”
“Don’t even mention it. Now try to sleep a little, ok?”
“Ok. I love you Darks, good night.”
“Love you too, Bug, good night.”
It passed a few minutes and Darky was already snoring, and soon after, Buggy fell asleep too.
Winds. The only audible sound in the middle of nowhere was the one of the winds. There were long black trees in any direction you could see. It was completely dark and any possible light that could come from the moon was covered by those huge trees.
He was alone in the dark in the middle of what seemed to be a forest. He felt scared, but it wasn’t the kind of fear you’d feel if you were in the Everfree forest, it was even worst. Buggy decided to light things up using his horn and after that he started running. He didn’t know why he was running; he only knew he needed to run. Suddenly he stopped, he heard something, he felt something. The ground was starting to shake and then he noticed that a giant purple smoke-looking creature was taking shape just behind him. Buggy’s magic was not trained to fight, since he had never been in a situation like that before (in real life at least), so he thought the best idea would be to flee.
He started running again, even faster this time, as fast as his 4 legs allowed him to run, yet the creature only seemed to get closer and closer, so he thought maybe he could miss it by running between the tightest clumps of trees. He changed directions from right to left over and over, but it didn’t work, the creature still managed to follow his trail, until, without noticing, he ran into a dead end.
“I think this is it,”he said to himself, and in that moment, he heard an echo, one that seemed to come from every single direction.
“STAY AWAY FROM HIM.”
Buggy recognized that voice. Suddenly, a hole opened between the tops of some of the trees, making the moon visible. It started to shine brighter and brighter until the blue alicorn princess popped out from there, flying towards them and finally landing between Buggy and the creature. She looked at it and, without a second thought, blasted it with a laser beam.
It certainly was the biggest laser beam he had ever seen. He knew alicorns were powerful, but he was still really impressed. The creature dissolved into a bunch of purple smoke clouds that dissipated quickly, yet the relief didn’t last much before the ground started to shake again. Another, even bigger, smoke creature appeared from the ground, taking Luna with one of its extremities.
Buggy was scared, he couldn’t do anything against the other creature, he could do even less against this one, but he could not just stand there doing nothing.
“HEY, YOU, SMOKE BEAST!”he yelled at it,“I can accept you terrorizing me, but you can NOT treat a princess like that!!”-he started to charge his horn-“Even less Princess Luna!!!”
He did his best efforts to shoot a laser beam to the creature.
It wasn’t even a quarter of strong as Luna’s, but it was as strong as he was able to shoot. The huge creature didn’t seem to have a scratch from the attack, yet he “looked” at the unicorn, released Luna and dissipated into thin air. The forest seemed less dark now and the moon and stars were fully visible in the sky. Luna flied down landing close to Buggy, who was just realizing who was in front of him. With the whole situation, his brain didn’t have enough time to process Luna’s presence yet.
“Thank you, Buggy Brush.”
“No, thank you for saving me-“he lowered his head“-and sorry for getting you into this.”
“Buggy, it’s my job to get into pony’s nightmares, you don’t need to apologize.”
He stopped for a second to think. Luna noticed he had a confused look on his face.
“You know this is a dream, right?”
“I… guess? I was suspecting it. I’m just confused about why did that monster leave when my laser beam didn’t seem to disturb it at all.”
“The creature disappeared the moment you stood up for me, the moment you stopped feeling scared of it. It probably knew it could do nothing if you are no longer afraid of it.”
“Do you think that?”
“Of course! Is this the first time you see that thing in your nightmare?”
Buggy tried to remember if he saw it before, and he noticed an interesting pattern.
“No, it’s not the first time. Thinking about it, I think that creature appears in my nightmares every time I’m stressed, or anxious-“he lowered his voice“-or upset.”
“Which one of those 3 do you think made it appear this time?”
“I don’t know,” he said looking away. “Would it make sense if I say maybe the 3 of them?”
“The 3 of them? Would you like to talk about it?”
Luna’s job is to help ponies with their struggles inside of their dreams, so understanding said struggles better helps her to help them, yet Buggy wasn’t sure if he really wanted to talk about that kind of things with her. He met her for the first time just some hours ago and he “messed it up”, he was a little scared about making a fool of himself a second time.
“I’m not really sure. Sorry”
“It is fine. I won’t force you if you don’t want to.”
Luna looked back to where the monster was. Some of the smoke was still there. Her face had a look of confusion as she was remembering the appearance of the purple smoke monsters.
“There’s something weird about that thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“It seemed a little… familiar.”
Now Buggy was confused too.
“Have you seen it in another dream before?”
“I guess I have.”
Luna was sure she saw something like that before, yet it couldn’t be right. It couldn’t be that, right? There was no way it could have gotten into his dreams. She got rid of that creature a long time ago, but the similarities between that and these creatures were hard to ignore. It seems like the monsters they just fought were some sort of Tantabus.
“It reminds a lot of something I had to face a long time ago. A creature of pure nightmares and hatred.”-She got a little closer to him-“Is that monster usually that big?”
“I may be wrong, but I think it isn’t.”
The Tantabus used to get bigger and stronger whenever Luna felt worse about herself, when she hated herself the most, and if this situation is similar to hers, then it can’t mean anything good.
“How did I never notice your nightmares before?”she asked with a little of sadness in her voice, that made the unicorn worry. She wasn’t sure if the question was for him or for herself.
“I don’t have them so often, and most of the times I have one, they’re short because I usually wake up in fear.”
“Do you remember the very first time you saw it?”
“Not really. It must have been years ago. All I know is sometimes it seems to be bigger than other times, or more hostile, never as big and hostile as this time anyways.”
“I was afraid of that.”
“Why? I mean, it just happens when I have nightmares, so I don’t thing it is something really important… right?”said Buggy with a mix of worry and confusion.
“It is important. That creature seems an awful lot to the Tantabus. A nightmare beast that used to torment me in my dreams and got more powerful when I felt more guilt and… self-hate.”
Buggy didn’t know how to respond to that, he just looked at her in shock. He always admired her because of how much she passed through her life, but he didn’t know about this. He could assume why she would feel guilt, but the idea of her hating herself was painful, so he felt a little glad knowing it was a thing of the past. At this point, he knew Luna realized what was wrong here.
“Buggy Brush, can I ask you something? Are you… mad at yourself right now?”
He didn’t really want to answer that question, but he had no other option.
“Yes, a little.”
“Why?”
He took a deep breath.
“I… I was really looking forward to the tour yesterday, I was really excited about meeting you, so excited that I ruined everything, as always, making things awkward for everypony. I just felt awfully bad for that, and even worse knowing I made my best friend feel bad too. I know she felt guilty for what happened, and I didn’t want her to feel like that, she doesn’t have to take care of me and yet she does. She doesn’t deserve to feel bad. And, if it was not enough, I lost my necklace, the most valuable and important possession I have ever had. I’ll hate myself forever if I don’t find it. And… and-“he tried to continue, but he was slowly starting to tear up while talking, and he didn’t want to end up crying in front of Luna.
She was trying to process everything he was saying. She didn’t know he wanted to meet specifically her, she had no idea of his admiration towards her. Some of the things he said, “ruining everything, as always”, “making things awkward for everypony”, made her feel bad since she knows those feelings, but when he said those words, “hate myself”, she couldn’t hold it any longer and a tear fell from her eye. She got closer to him and hugged him with her wing to comfort him.
He didn’t notice her tearing up, since he was looking to the ground to avoid her eyes.
“I’m really, really sorry, princess. I didn’t want any of this to happen. I’m sorry.”
“I am the one who is sorry for not realizing about any of this sooner.”
Buggy’s feelings were conflicting. On one hoof, he has not felt this vulnerable before in front of somepony other than Darky, and he didn’t want to drag Luna into all of this, while on the other hoof he felt nice, her hug was making him feel better somehow. He never thought before he would be in a situation like that with her.
“You don’t have to apologize,”said Buggy once he finally managed to speak once he stopped crying.“Thank you, I really needed that.”
“No problem, Buggy.”
Suddenly she remembered something, she has seen his necklace hours ago in the castle.
“Do you think that you can come see me at the castle tomorrow? I guess I found the necklace you mentioned in one of the hallways.”
“Really?? Oh Goodness, I’m glad it’s there!! I had no idea in what other place could it be. I’ll be there tomorrow as soon as I can.”
“Alright then. I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow.”
Luna started flying when she said that. Buggy’s dream was not the only one she needed to visit that night.
“Farewell, Buggy Brush.”
“Goodbye, your highness.”
The next day, Buggy was not only going to get his necklace back, something else was going to happen, something he never even thought about that was going to change his life forever.
It was the morning after that nightmare. Buggy just opened his eyes and the first thing he did was making his way to the castle, not without explaining Darky the whole situation, of course, how he met Luna inside of his dreams and that she found the necklace after they left the day before. Darky offered to go with him, but he knew she was still tired after all the searching they did. He told her to stay there and relax, that he would be fine, and that’s what she did, she stayed at home, drinking some morning coffee while listening to some music while Buggy headed to the castle.
He was a little nervous, that’s no news, but he wasn’t as quite as nervous as the day of the tour, probably because of the conversation he had with Luna just some hours ago. He felt a little intimidated and defenseless again, but her hug made him feel comfortable, it made him realize Luna understood what he was talking about, those feelings. She understood him, and that made him feel something really special.
He was getting close to the castle and the memories of what happened during the tour were coming back to his head. In moments like this he would really like to feel the protective wing of his friend over his back, but he couldn’t depend always on her, he had to do this on his own. He stopped walking, took some seconds to breath and calm down and continued his way until he arrived.
Just like the other time, Luna was waiting outside of the castle alongside some guards. She came closer to him to greet him. Buggy bowed to her without saying anything. He was still trying to figure out what would be the most adequate way to say hello.
“There is no need to do that, Buggy Brush,”she said with a calm and soft voice.“I’m glad to meet you again.”
“I- I’m glad too,” he responded nervously.
Luna told the guards that he was allowed to pass, but unlike the day before, this time she didn’t go ahead, instead she tried to walk at the same speed as Buggy and a little closer to him. He seemed nervous, and his friend was not there this time to help him with it, so she tried to make him feel as comfortable as possible. He noticed Luna had to slow down to follow his pace, so he tried to walk just a little faster. They remained in silence during the time they were walking, it was not an awkward kind of silence though, Luna knew he was a little shy after all.
Eventually, Luna stopped in the middle of a hallway where she met with one of the royal guards who levitated a little red box to her. She walked towards Buggy again and gave him the box with the necklace inside. He opened it and in that same moment a huge smile took place on his face as he put it on again.
“OH, SWEET CELESTIA! I WAS SO SO SCARED OF NOT FINDING IT AGAIN!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!”
Luna couldn’t help but giggling a little while he was prancing of happiness. It was the first time she saw him smile and she surely was happy of that. She turned her head to the guard and nodded at him, and the guard proceeded to leave them alone.
“Buggy Brush?”
“Yes, your Highness?”he said still smiling.
“I wanted to talk with you about something.”
“Yes? What is it?”
Luna took a breath before responding. Buggy seemed to be fine, but this time she was the one who was feeling a little nervous.
“I have been thinking about what happened last night in your dream and about what you told me.”
He was so happy about getting back his necklace that he completely forgot that happened, and after remembering it his smile turned into an expression of concern. He didn’t know in what he had gotten himself into by telling her all of that, but whatever it was, he was not sure if he was ready for it.
“You know? You remind me a lot of somepony.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. Somepony who also had those same struggles you have and passed through the same things you are passing through, but in a different way.” -she paused for a second and looked away-“Somepony who also needed to learn to accept herself.”
He just looked at her without knowing what to say.
“You remind me a lot of… me.”
She took some more steps toward him.
“I know how you feel, Buggy, and how hard it can be sometimes.”
He looked to the ground.
“But it is always a little easier if you share those feelings with somepony else.”
“I know. Darky always tells me that.”
“So, you and her have talked about it before I suppose?”
“Yes, we have. She’s always the one who talks sense into me, and aside from that, I have another friend who also helps me with it whenever she cans.”
“I’m glad to hear that you don’t have to deal with it alone.”
“Yeah…”
Suddenly Buggy felt Luna’s wing grasp his chin to lift his head, so his eyes could meet hers.
“I want to help you with that too.”
He was not expecting that at all.
“W- wait, what do you mean?”
Luna took another breath before answering his question.
“After what I saw in your nightmares, I have been thinking about… something, to help you I mean. Some way I could help you using the knowledge from my own experiences.”
“I’m not sure I understand.”
“Buggy Brush,”-she released his chin and took a couple of steps back-”You know whoTwilight Sparkleis, don’t you?”
“Of course I know. How could I not know one of the Elements of Harmony?”
“Then you know how she ended up being one, right?”
He doubted for a moment before responding. He wanted to make sure he was saying the right thing.
“Yes. She was sent by Princess Celestia to Ponyville to organize the Summer Sun Celebration and to make some friends, then Nightmare Moon came back after a thousand years and they defeated her using the Elements, saving you in the process.”
“That’s correct.”
Buggy was confused. Where was Luna trying to get?
“Excuse me, your Highness, but I don’t understand. What does it have to do with this situation?”
“My sister, Celestia, was Twilight’s mentor, not only from the School of Gifted Unicorns when she was younger, but her mentor in the ways of Friendship.”
Luna walked a little further into the hallway, Buggy following her, until they both were standing right in front of a window with the image of Twilight and her six friends.
“She knew Twilight needed to learn a lesson. She needed to learn the true value and importance of Friendship,”she said looking at the window, then turned her head to look at Buggy again.“Something similar happens with you, but not with Friendship, since I can clearly see you already understand it, but with another really important thing: self-love.”
Buggy, who was still looking at the window, turned his head at her.
“You need to learn how to accept yourself as you are to truly defeat your inner demons. That’s why I wanted to ask you something really important.”
“What is it?”He asked with a mix of calm and nervousness in his voice.
“Would you like to be my student, Buggy Brush?”
That question made him lose contact with the reality for a moment. What was going on? Was he still sleeping? Was all of this just a dream inside of his head, or was it truly happening?
“W- what? I… I don’t get it. Princess… y- you…”
“Yes, I’d like you to be my student,”she said firmly, but with a soft voice and a little smile,“if you accept, of course.”
“Of course I do, I just… don’t know how to react to this. I wasn’t expecting- *sniff* -I was not ready for this.”
His voice cracked. Buggy had tears on his eyes, but this time they were from happiness. He felt a little overwhelmed by emotions, he was not expecting that at all. Going to the castle to get his necklace back and returning being Princess Luna’s student? He couldn’t wait to see Darky’s reaction when he told her.
“It is fine, and I’m more than happy you accepted,”said Luna while she approached to him to wipe one of his tears with her wing.“I may not be as experience as my sister when it comes to teaching, but I hope I can still help you in a way.”
He wiped his tears and tried to articulate an answer.
“Thank you, your Highness. I’m really, really grateful for this.”
“Don’t mention it, and you don’t need to call me ‘your Highness’ all the time, you know? You can just call me Luna.”
“Wouldn’t that be a little… disrespectful?”
Luna shrugged with her eyes closed as an answer.
Once Buggy had completely calmed down, she explained to him how being her student would work. It was not like being Celestia’s student, not even close. Since it was something more personal and more related to self-reflection, Luna thought the best way to help him would be to reunite with Buggy at least thrice a week in his dreams, so she would be able to talk with him, analyze him a little further and share some experiences with him, like some kind of psychologist, and if he needed something or wanted to tell her about his progress, he could write her a letter. He was fine with that idea (of course he was), so it was sealed. They kept talking for a while until it was almost noon. It seemed like all the nervousness and shyness Buggy had had disappeared, being now more open and enthusiastic. They were having a good time, but it was time to go, he didn’t wanted Darky to get worried about him taking so long.
“One more thing: Remember, there’s no deadline for the letters, so no pressure about it.”
“Ok, I promise not to stress about it,”he responded smiling. “Wait, before I go, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Did you know the necklace was mine? When you found it I mean.”
“I suspected so.”
“How?”
“Well, you were clearly trying to hide something yesterday under your scarf. It has been a lot hotter this last weeks, and a pony wearing a scarf with this weather it’s not something really believable.”
He didn’t think of that.
“Oh, that’s a fair point.”
She giggled.
They both said goodbye to each other and parted ways until their next encounter. Buggy was still processing everything that happened that morning, while Luna was going to get some well-deserved sleep, feeling happy and a little nervouscited (as a certain pink pony would say) about what was going to happen next, but she was sure of one thing: She made the right decision.
A couple of days passed since Buggy became Princess Luna’s student. The only pony who knew about it at the moment was Darky Spell. If he was going to tell somepony about it, it was obviously going to be his best friend. She was extremely happy for him when he told her, they even began to prance together.
Today, unlike the past few weeks, it wasn’t that hot in Canterlot, it was a rather cool weather with a gray sky and some light wind. The perfect kind of weather for a walk, so Darky and Buggy were going to their favorite donut shop.
“I can’t even remember last time we went to Sugarhooves’ shop. I wonder how she’s doing.”
“Sunrise told me she was doing fine around a week ago that I asked her about Mrs. Sugarhooves.”
“Wait, ‘Sunrise’ as in Sunrise Goldhearts? Our friend?”
“Yeah!”
“But she lives in Cloudsdale. I had no idea she knew about that donut shop.”
“She didn’t exactly know. She was just passing by one day and she asked me for a recommendation for a shop to get a snack. She went there and met her and I guess they kinda became friends.”
“Why am I not surprised? Good old Sunrise befriend every single creature she meets.”
“Haha, fair enough. Sometimes I wish I had that skill too.”
“Same here.”
“We should all gather together one of these days, don’t you think, Bug?”
“Yeah. I mean, geez, I don’t remember last time we were all together.”
“I guess it was when we gathered for Heart’s Warming Eve, like 3 months ago or so.”
“I can’t believe it has been that long.”
“Me neither.”
“I’m going to be honest, while I really miss spending time we six together, I guess maybe what I miss the most is seeing Foggy Bismuth.”
“Oh, why that?”
“Well, I talk with Sunrise from time to time through letters, same with June Griffon, Zweet Beatz and I are always in touch and you and I practically see each other every day, but I hardly ever have a chance to talk nor see Foggy and I miss her.”
“Maybe we should pay her a visit later this week. I want to see her too.”
“Wait, now that I remember, didn’t you tell me a while ago you had a little crush on her?”
“Why do you think I also want to see her, silly? ;3”
They both shared a laugh.
They kept talking and laughing while going down the street. This kind of weather always makes them nostalgic for some reason, and they sure have a lot of good memories to talk about, either of their whole group together or only memories of them both.
They were almost at the shop when they spotted a really familiar face.
“HEY YOU TWO!!”a lavender pegasus yelled from the distance.
She was their friend Zweet Beatz. A lavender pegasus with an orange and white mane, an orange tail, one pink left eye and a purple right one, a couple of drumsticks as a cutie mark and her classic purple sweater.
“HEY ZWEET BEATZ!!” Buggy responded also yelling, followed by Darky. They approached to her.
“how’s it going guys? i heard you two won the tour contest thing. how was it?”
“It was, eeh…”-Darky and Buggy exchanged looks for a second remembering how that day went-“Interesting, mostly good.”
“’mostly’? did something happen?”
“Let’s just say I’m still not the best when it comes to remain calm.”Buggy answered looking away while blushing a little.
“oh, shoot!”
“Don’t worry though. Everything turned out well at the end. Pluuuuus-“he walked a little closer to her“-I have some really exciting and interesting news to tell you~”he said smiling at her.
“what is it? what is it??”she replied excited. Zweet Beatz is a few years older than Darky and Buggy, yet her energy and excitement are the same of a young filly sometimes. That’s something all of her friends always loved of her.
“While you two talk, I’ll head to the shop and buy our donuts. Same flavor as always, right Bug?”
“Yes! Thanks Darks.”
“Don’t mention it Bug.”
“ok! now tell me the news!”said Zweet while flapping her wings in excitement.
“Ok ok. So, as I mentioned, the tour didn’t go exactly well per say, starting with…”
He told her everything that happened in the last few days. The little “incident” when they were in the castle, how he lost his necklace, the nightmare he had and how Luna saved him and, of course, how he became THE student of the Princess of the Night herself.
“NO WAY!! YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!”
“Well, I am~”
“OH SWEET CELESTIA!! THAT’S MORE THAN AWESOME BUGGY!!”
“I KNOW, RIGHT?!”he replied with his biggest grin possible.
“so what does it mean?? what does it entail??”
“Oh, I write her letters whenever I need to tell her something important that happened in my day that made me either reflect a little about myself or feel bad. Also, we meet at least thrice a week inside of my dreams to talk about that kind of stuff (Which means we will be meeting tonight. First time after I became her student.)”
“wait, if that happened just 3 days ago, how many letters have you written her until now?”
“Only one, but I’ll write another one before this night.”
“uuuh… why? i mean, you are going to see her in your dreams. couldn’t you just tell her there?”
“Yeah, but I have my reasons.”
She processed what Buggy said for a second before giving him a certain look that made him feel a little intimidated.
“oooh, i see.”
“Zweet Beatz, what are you insinuating?”he said with a deadpan voice.
“me? nothing at all! it just seeems to me that maybe you’re trying to do some ‘moves’ with the Princess, huh?”
He blushed completely.
“Wait, w- WHA- NO!!! NO NO NO!! What in Equestria made you think that??”
She giggled.
“common, Brush! do you really think i didn’t notice your crush on Princess Luna yet?”
He blushed even harder. Zweet and him were always really close friends, not as much as Darky and him, but she is that other pony that also helps him whenever he doesn’t feel alright. Even though, he never told her about his crush on Luna. That was a secret only Darky knew.
“Alright. I guess there’s no point in denying it.”
“lol”
“YET, that doesn’t mean I’m going to try something with her!”
“why not?”
He sighed.
“Zweet Beatz, let’s be real here, she’s a PRINCESS, an alicorn princess, one of the rulers of Equestria and one of the most important and awesome ponies that ever existed. What makes you think that I, out of all ponies, will even have a chance with her?”
“hold on. what do you mean by ‘out of all ponies’?”
“I mean,”-he looked away- “I’m… well, me.”
“aaaand? what’s wrong with you being you?”
“It just wouldn’t work, ok?”
“Buggy,”she said with a more serious tone in her voice.“What the hay do I care if she’s a princess? Isn’t she a pony too like we both?”
“I mean-“
“Didn’t she offer you help because of how much she related to you in the first place?”
“That’s true.”
“Then?”She gave one step towards him.“’You being you’ is NOT, and never was nor will be, a disadvantage, that’s bullsh*t. You are a nice pony, why wouldn’t you have a chance with another pony?”
“Because I… I don’t… know.”
Zweet Beatz has a duality only her closest friends know. She may seem an extremely layback and relaxed pony on the outside, but whenever she’s talking serious, her aura takes a full 180° turn, being even a little intimidating sometimes. She, as well as Buggy, struggled with a lot of troubles before in her life, some of them still follow her, so she wouldn’t tolerate him being so hard on himself. One of the reasons why she helps him whenever she cans.
“I think you may be right, Beatz.”
“of course i am!”
“But then, what do you think I should do??”
“just try to befriend her at the moment. one hoof at a time, boy.”
“B- but I was already planning that.”
“oh…”
“…”
“…neat then! keep doing that then!”
“Aye aye, captain!”he answered jokingly.
“Buggy!”he heard suddenly. Darky was walking towards them while levitating a bag.
“DONUTS TIME!!”
“Just hold on a minute, Bug. Remember, only 1 donut, the rest are for the movie afternoon.”
“Fiiiine”
“I also brought you some, Zweet.”
“aaw, you didn’t have to, but thank you so much!”She grabbed a little box of donuts with a huge grateful smile.
“We have to go now. Nice seeing you Zweet Beatz!”
“Take care, girl! And thanks for the talk.”
“same to you both! and remember Brush, one hoof at a time.”
“I won’t forget, thanks.”
“;3”
“So, what did Mrs. Sugarhooves tell you? How’s she doing?”Buggy asked while they both started walking.
“She told me a lot of things actually, so I’ll tell you later after the movies.”
today Darky and I wanted to go for a walk around Canterlot, and since we also wanted to get something to eat so we could enjoy even more our movie marathon, we decided to go to our favorite donut shop. In the way there, we met with an old friend. Do you remember when I told you I talk about my struggles with Darky and another friend? We met with that friend, Zweet Beatz, and she and I talked about some stuff. She made me feel a little more confident about myself, basically telling me that I was no less than any other pony (but in her own style, of course) and that made me feel happy. It was something little maybe, but it really meant a lot to me. The rest of the day was really good too, I had fun with Darky and we are about to have a sleepover at her house. I really loved today and I’m genuinely happy right now (and of course, I’m excited to see you tonight in my dreams).
~Your faithful student, Buggy Brush”
Luna smiled to herself after reading the letter. She still needed to get used to have a student now. Something at the very end of the scroll caught her attention. It was a drawing of a blue alicorn with an ethereal mane, it was her. Then, she suddenly remembered something she told him the first time they met:
“Maybe one day you could draw something for me?”
She smiled again, letting out a little giggle this time while contemplating the drawing.
It was very early in the morning and Celestia was surprised to find her sister, Luna, in the kitchen making breakfast for them both (or at least trying to).
“How is it that you’re up so early? I just raised the sun a few minutes ago!”
“Oh! Good morning, dear sister. I’m just in a good mood this morning, so I decided to be the one making breakfast for both of us this time.”
“That’s good to hear,”responded Celestia smiling before noticing what Luna was baking, then her smile turned into an expression of concern.
“What are you trying to bake again?”
“What do you mean with ‘trying’? I’m obviously baking a cake!”
She was interrupted by a *ding*, indicating the cake was ready.
“Just in time!”
She rushed to the oven, took out the cake and rushed back to Celestia with a huge smile on her face, showing both her excitement and how proud she was of her creation.
“Oh! That looks ehm… delicious,”Celestia said nervously looking at it. Cakes were not supposed to emit smoke.
Luna flew to the table while levitating 2 plates and some utensils, then proceeded to cut the cake (or, again, she tried to, accidentally splitting a knife in half in the attempt).
“That was not supposed to happen…”
“…”
“… Whatever.”
Then she proceeded to cut the cake into 8 slices using her magic.
“I don’t even know why we still use knives.”
After witnessing that, Celestia was straight up scared to eat the cake.
“What are you waiting for standing there, Tia? Come here, let’s taste it!”
“Y- yeah, going.”
She took a sit and grabbed a fork using her magic. She looked at her plate, then looked at her sister, who was already eating (and seemed to be enjoying it). Celestia took a deep breath and finally ate a little bite of her piece of cake. She was surprised it actually didn’t taste that bad despite its appearance.
“Wow! This isn’t bad at all!”she said with her mouth still full of cake.
“Thanks! I always knew I was able to bake wonders too,”Luna replied, still feeling proud of herself.
“So, how did your night go? Looking at you I may guess it was fine.”
“It indeed was! It was still a little tiring, but good none the less.”
Celestia couldn’t help but notice a pattern. Luna was more energetic than usual this morning and, lately, she seemed a little… happier.
“I haven’t seen you this enthusiastic in ages, sister. Is there any particular reason?”
“What do you mean?”
“You have been a little more… cheerful these last couple of weeks.”
“I have been a little more motivated, that’s all,” she said while levitating some more cake to her mouth.
“Is it related to your new student?”
“It may be.”
“Oh, dear sister. Just, look at you, having a student of your own now! I’m so proud of you.”
Luna blushed a little.
“Thanks, sister. It still feels surreal sometimes.”
“I know. It takes some time to get used to it.”
“Yeah, but I would say it worth it.”
“It totally worth it.”
Half of the cake on Luna’s plate was gone, but somehow Celestia, even starting to eat after her sister, managed to have already eaten her entire piece.
“Can I have some more cake?”
“Of course! I knew you would love it!”
She happily levitated more cake to Celestia’s plate and one more slice for herself.
“You know? I have been thinking a little about your suggestion.”
“What suggestion?”
“The one about having an assistant for my night duties.”
“Right. I’m glad you’re considering the idea. Do you have somepony in mind?”
“Not really, not yet. I’m not sure about what kind of assistant I would like.”
Luna always did her royal duties alone, since before her banishment until her return when she started to go through dreams. She wasn’t sure what qualities somepony needed to be a good assistant.
“How do you choose your assistants?
“Usually are the guards the ones who interview ponies to choose them as assistants, but I’m not sure if this situation would be the same.”
“Why not?”
“Well, for one thing, the guards hire assistants for we both, but I have never had a personal assistant to help me in that way; and for another, if they’re going to help you, they’ll have to enter to the Dream Realm, which means you’ll probably need to teach them how.”
“Oh… You’re right. I never thought about that,” -Luna looked down thinking- “I can not teach how to navigate through dreams to anypony, I’ll have to be careful with my decision.”
She looked up again to meet her sister’s eyes.
“What would you do to know who is adequate for the position if you were in my place?”
Celestia looked away to think for a couple of seconds before answering her.
“It would have to be somepony responsible who I can trust.”
“Responsible, huh?”
“Yes. They would also have to be fully aware of what they’d be signing in for.”
“Mhm”
“Somepony supporting, somepony you know will have your back.”
“Okay”
“And it’d be even better if it could be a friend.”
Luna was writing down all those things in her head to make a mental list of possible choices.
“Oh, and somepony who is truly willing to help, of course.”
“Alright, so it would have to be somepony trustworthy, aware of what they’re doing, supporting and willing to help.”
“Exactly!”
“Let’s see…”
Some seconds passed.
“Still no idea?”
She sighed.
“No, I’ll have to think a lot about this.”
“Take it easy, sister. You don’t have to make a decision right away. Maybe we can keep thinking about this together later while we eat some donuts. What do you think?”
“It would be okay. Thanks sister”
“No problem,”Celestia replied smiling.
“Heh, funny you mentioned donuts. The way you said it reminded me a little of Darky Spell.”
“Who is that?”
“My student’s best friend, the daemonequus lady.”
“Oh, right. I’d like to have the chance to talk with her someday. We have never seen a daemonequus in Equestria before, let alone Canterlot.”
“True. She and I talked a lot the day of the tour, and we have talked a few other times after that as well. She’s a really interesting pony.”
“I can already tell. By the way, I just realized you never told me the name of your student.”
“I didn’t? How did I forget about doing so? His name is Buggy Br-“she stopped talking for a second as her eyes widened.“Wait, that’s it!”
“That’s what?”
“I know who could be my assistant!”
“That’s great, sister!”
“I don’t know how I didn’t think of it before.”
“…Will we still have our donuts afternoon?”
“Oh, yeah, sure.”
“Yes!!”
Celestia jumped up to her sister to hug her, ending them both in the floor.
Darky was struggling to get her thoughts in order after what her friend told her. He sure has done a lot of crazy things in his life before, but never something like this and so out of nowhere.
“Why do you even want to??”
“Because just think about it. Don’t you think it’d be the perfect opportunity to get to knowherbetter? Like, yeah, I’m her student, we have seen each other in my dreams sometimes, but maybe being closer to her in the Waking World, in an environment where we don’t just focus on my problems, emotions and stuff, maybe we could become, you know, friends.”
Darky looked at the window, analyzing the situation.
“I don’t know, Buggy.”
“All we know is that they’re recruiting new guards in the castle. We are not even sure if Solar or Lunar guards. And, even if we knew it-“she turned her face and looked at him“-you have no idea about how to be a guard or if you would have the requirements for it.”
“I… guess I didn’t really think of that.”
“What was your plan for it then?”
“I don’t know. I just hear of it yesterday and I was thinking of going to the castle and maybe just…”
“… Yeah?”
“…Just ask for the position?”
“Buggy…”
She closed her eyes and put a hoof on her forehead while leaving out a sigh.
“I just don’t want to let this chance go.”
“You’re doing this because of what Zweet Beatz told you, aren’t you?”
“No! Or I mean, maybe a little, but not really.”
“I don’t think this is what she meant when she told you the whole ‘befriend’ thing.”
Buggy looked away, embarrassed of himself and his poorly planning about all of this.
“This is something that can potentially change your entire life in more aspects I think you can realize, Bug. I just don’t want you to take such an important decision without really thinking it through. For example, what if being her royal guard actually makes you become less close to her? Because of the need of being professional and all that shit, changing the dynamic you already have. And that’s only one aspect. And being something so serious, I don’t think you can just casually say ‘this is not for me’ and leave it that easily. You understand what I mean, right?”
“Yeah, and actually, I think you’re right.”
He dropped next to her in the bed, looking to the ceiling.
“This was a terrible idea.”
“I wouldn’t say ‘terrible’, just poorly planned.”
“Whatever, I don’t know why did I even think of that.”
“As I said, I don’t really think it’s a bad idea, Bug. Let’s see-“she let her body fall on the bed“-What do you know about guarding?”
“Well, I guess I kn-“
“Aside from the fact that they guard.”
“Oh… Well, first of all, stop reading my mind.”
“Hehe”
“And second…”
He thought for a moment.
“They have to be always ready for action.”
“Ok, that’s true, I suppose. Define ‘action’ though.”
“You know, defending the princesses and everypony when danger approaches. Maybe using lances and shields and, being a unicorn myself, using magic.”
“That sounds right actually.”
“The only downside is that my magic is really weak, my offensive magic at least.”
“There should be some kind of training for that, or in any case it’s probably not completely necessary. After all, it’s not like pegasi and earth pony guards shoot laser beams, so it’s not mandatory maybe.”
“Do you think you could perhaps teach me?”
“How to shoot laser beams?”
“Yeah! Yours were always kinda OP.”
“Heh! I guess they kinda are.”
“Don’t you remember that one time when we were little and you accidentally obliterated that one hill with one single laser beam because you sneezed?”
They both shared a laugh.
“Luckily there was nopony nearby. I wouldn’t want to accidentally send somepony to oblivion by just sneezing.”
“Powerful sneeze.”
“Ok, we’re losing the point here.”
“Oh yeah, sorry.”
“I can try to teach you though, if you want.”
“To sneeze??”
“No, you dummy!! To shoot laser beams!”
He giggled before the two broke into laughing again.
“Of course, then.”
“Alright. So, aside from that, what else does a good royal guard need?”
“Hmm… Loyalty.”
“Of course.”
“I suppose I have no trouble with that.”
“I’m more than sure you have no trouble with that,” she answered looking at his moon-necklace.
“Wait, I just realized something.”
“What is it?”
“What even is the different between Solar and Lunar guards? Aren’t they both supposed to protect the princesses after all?”
“I suppose the day shift and night shift and some of their duties, aside from being mostly assistants of Luna or Celestia.”
“You mean like being assistants of both, but mostly of one of them, right?”
“Yes, I guess at least. Aside from that, I don’t think there’s many differences.”
“I heard some of them are bat-ponies, but I don’t know how much of that is true.”
“Oh, you mean like Thestrals?”
“Like what now?”
“Thestrals. Mythological creatures with the body of a horse, bat-like wings like mines and skeletal bodies.”
“I suppose it’s kinda like that then…? But I doubt they have skeletal bodies, if they are even something I mean.”
“Probably they don’t. We would have heard of it before, I suppose, if they exist, of course.”
“True.”
“So, what else?”
“Hmm… I don’t know. I guess that’s all I can think of. Being always ready for action and being loyal to the princesses and to Equestria.”
“Being honest, I have no idea either, so we can work with that at the moment. Going with first thing, how physically skilled you think you are?”
“Wait, what?”
He looked at her with confusion.
“You said guards should always be ready for action and, even if we train hard enough for your lasers to become a good defense and attack, you’ll still need physical combat skills.”
“B- But lances…”
“Still.”
“Oh...”
“I guess neither of us is actually that skilled in that way, huh?”
“Not at all.”
Darky is not bad at all when it comes to fighting with magic, after all, she was the one keeping her friends safe alongside Foggy Bismuth when that changeling invasion happened during the Royal Wedding. As a daemonequus, offensive magic always came natural to her, but she never tried to fight without her magic.
“Maybe I should ask June to teach me some moves. I mean, she knows some stuff about fighting.”
Darky looked away to think for a second.
“A little unrelated, but don’t you think it’s a little ironic that the only friend we know who doesn’t wield magic yet is a skilled fighter is the marefriend of the most pacifist, love-it-all girl we know?”
“Yeah, it’s a little ironic, but to be fair, June and Sunrise are complete opposites in a lot of ways. I think maybe that’s one of the reasons why they’re attracted to each other.”
“I think you’re right.”
They fell into silent for a moment, thinking, until Buggy broke the ice.
“This is stupid.”
“What?”
He brought his hooves to his face.
“This whole thing. Even if we think about how to be a guard, even if I knew EVERYTHING about it, it wouldn’t change that I’m just not prepared for that.”
“…”
“I mean, I didn’t even think about the fact that I could end up being a Solar instead of a Lunar guard, not only not helping to my objective, but maybe even making it harder. And, as you said, that would completely change my entire life. I don’t even know if royal guards have houses or if they live in the castle!!”
“Bug…”
“I didn’t think this through at all. This whole idea is absolutely stupid, no matter from which angle you try to look at it.”
“…I think you may be right, it’s not really a good idea, sorry, but don’t you think you are being a little too hard on yourself?”
“No, I’m just being realistic right now.”
“I know, but I mean, you’re making progress, don’t you think?”
He looked at her again, trying to understand what she was talking about now.
“Bug, a few weeks ago you wouldn’t even have considered that idea. You would have been too scared to even think of it.”
“I… yeah, you’re right… I think.”
“After you became Luna’s student, you have certainly left that fear behind, at least most of the time. Don’t you remember one of your first dream-sessions when you almost gave yourself a nightmare because of how nervous you were of going to sleep? And now, while you are still nervous, you keep it under control.”
He tried to remember all of his dream-sessions with Princess Luna and Darky was right. He felt so scared the first times, but after talking more and more to her, his fear was slowly disappearing. He wanted to be her guard to become closer to her, to get to know her better and to become friends, but he never realized that, through his dreams, that was already happening. Even if he had only had some few sessions, he felt somehow… closer to her.
“Oh gosh, you’re absolutely right. How could I not realize?”
“You see?”
“Not only that, but that I’m also already becoming her friend!”
“Wait, hold on.”
“Through my dreams, I meant.”
“OH, that’s true! I didn’t think of that either!”
“Now I feel dumb, gosh. I was overstressing myself trying to think on a plan for something I’m already doing without even realizing.”
“I do that kind of stuff all the time as well. Let’s face it, toasters are smarter than us both, pal.”
They laughed.
“Thanks for talking some sense into me, Darks. As always, I mean.”
“No need to mention it, Bug. You know I’ll be always here for these things.”
He hugged her and naturally she embraced him back with her wings.
“So, abort Operation ‘Royal Guard’?”
“Yeah, but I still want you to teach me how to laser-sneeze.”
“Fair enough, I will one of these days.”
“Do you have any plans for today, by the way?”
“Not really.”
“Want to go to nearby the Royal Castle then to see if we can see who the new guards are going to be?”
“Sure. We can find a place to eat there too.”
“Oh yeah!”
“Do you think they will make a ceremony or something for the new royal guards?”
“Hay if I know, girl. I think we both made it clear that none of us know a damn about royal guards.”
“Except from the fact some of them are Thestrals?”
“Of course.”
And they kept laughing and talking about random stuff while making their way through Canterlot streets.
The two friends were having lunch at a table outside a restaurant a few streets away from the Canterlot Castle. It was nothing fancy, the daemonequus was eating some salad while the unicorn chose to just eat a hay sandwich. It was the first time ever they went to that restaurant, despite it was not new, and they were already in love with the food and planning to go eating there again some other day. They spent a good while walking in circles on the streets earlier that day, looking if they could see who was going to be the new royal guard (or new royal guards) out of curiosity, until they got hungry and decided to go on a break.
After finishing their food, they just chose to sit on a nearby bench, not to keep “spying” on the castle, but just to relax a little. It was a pretty beautiful day after all. It just took a couple of minutes before they found themselves drawing all sorts of things in the white, puffy clouds with their hooves like a couple of children. They always enjoyed that kind of childish games, it helped them to disconnect from reality at least for a moment. When they were finally done with it, they continued chatting like they were doing the entire day, refusing to go home. There was something about the not-so-cold breeze, the peaceful silence of the streets and the beautiful sunset taking place that was just mesmerizing for them. One of those moments you’d wish to save forever and re-live again and again.
It was getting dark, the few ponies walking around were going either home or to attend some business somewhere else, the streetlights were being turned on and the two friends eventually were left alone, just looking at a beautiful, starry sky at the calm, quiet night. Even with the streetlights, it was still dark, so Darky decided to light up the ambience a little with her horn.
“Something like this would be perfect for a moment like that in my mind.”
“You mean under a peaceful night sky with both your horns as the source of light, just enjoying a quiet moment?”
“Exactly. I mean, maybe I’m being too cheesy, but the idea of both our lights mixing in the complexity of the dark, contemplating one of the prettiest sights Equestria has to offer, her hoof over mine and my head over her shoulder, being able to feel our heartbeats synchronizing together, it’s just… so perfect.”
“That’s not cheesy, that sounds really beautiful.”
“Heh, thanks… I just wish I could find the courage to tell her one day.”
“You will one day, Darks. I know you will.”
“I hope you’re right. Sometimes it’s just so hard being around her, not being able to tell her how much I love her, how much I want to spend the rest of my life with her, together, waking up everyday feeling the warmth of her body against mine, hearing her soft, calm breathing while resting my head on her delicate fluff.”
She pauses for a couple of seconds.
“Oh, sweet Celestia. We really are a couple of hopeless pieces-of-shit romantics, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we really are.”
They both shared a laugh. It was hard to notice due to the light, but while they were laughing, a tear was falling down Darky’s cheek.
“Darks?”
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing. Thinking about all of those scenarios got me kinda emotional, you know? I’m fine though, I promise.”
He responded her with a hug.
“I love you, girl.”
“I love you too.”
“It really is a beautiful night, isn’t it? I mean, not that that’s something new, not at all, but something about it tonight it’s just wonderful.”
“It really is, Bug. I wish I had my camera right now to take a photo of the sky, but I’m sure my heart will remind it forever anyways.”
“Well thank you both for the compliments.”
They were not expecting a third voice incorporating into their conversation. It took them by surprise, but it was far from startling them. They turned around to find the blue alicorn with starry mane behind them. She seemed quite happy to see them, especially after hearing them saying such wonders of her work.
“Goodnight,Princess,”they said almost at unison.
“Good night, Buggy and Darky. I have been looking for you for a while.”
“You have?”
“Yes, indeed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”-Even though he wasn’t sure what was he apologizing for-“What can we help you with, Princess Luna?”
She took some steps towards them.
“I wanted to talk to you, my dear student, about something very important.”
“Yes?”
“Wait. Excuse me, Princess, do you need me to go somewhere else for a moment while you talk or there’s no problem with me staying here?”
“There is no problem, fair Darky.”
“I guess it’d be better if we three go to one of those tables over there, to be more comfortable as we talk,”said the unicorn while pointing at one of the tables of the restaurant some meters away from them.
Luna had no trouble being standing while talking to them, but they were not going to allow that. They crossed the street and each one took a seat.
“So… What did you want to tell me, Princess?”
She put her hooves together over the table as if she was in the middle of a professional meeting.
“Buggy Brush, I have been teaching you for just a few weeks by now, and you have proven me already to be a wonderful student.”
He blushed after hearing those words while Darky was looking at him, feeling really proud of her friend. As she said to him some hours ago, he really went far during this short period of time.
“You have become somepony I can trust on; you became a friend. And that is why I wanted to propose you something.” -She lowered her voice a little- “Something that would actually be more like a huge favor to me, if you could.”
She just realized the kind of bomb she was about to drop on him without any previous warning. She had been thinking the entire day how she’d ask him this, yet not for a single moment passed through her head how it would be from his perspective. She knew Buggy would do anything to help her, he told her himself during one of their dream meetings, but this was something bigger than anything that could possibly go through his mind the moment he said that. She was starting to feel a little bad about this but…
“Princess? Is everything ok?”
Her student’s voice brought her back to Equestria. She got lost in her thoughts and started to space out.
“Yes, yes, excuse me.”
“It's okay. So, were you saying? You wanted to propose me what?”
“Yes, I wanted to…” -she took a breath while reorganizing her question- “If you were able to and ONLY if you were able, I would like to ask you what you would say about the idea of… being my assistant for my night duties?”
Darky couldn’t help but let out a gasp upon hearing Luna’s question to Buggy. He was just frozen in place, probably trying to distinguish if he felt asleep over that bench while looking at the clouds or if this was really happening and Luna was actually sitting in front of him, asking him to be her assistant.
He tried to reply something, but all the thoughts came to his mind at the same time and came out of his mouth as incoherent noises. Luna was already expecting something like that from him, yet she didn’t have an answer to that ready, so she just gave him some time to get himself in order.
“I don’t know what’s going on. Give me a second, please,”he said as his head descended to the table putting his hooves over his head, while looking straight to the moon symbol in Luna’s neck regalia.
“If you want to do it, I can fill you in all the details so you can take a proper deci-“
“Yes. I’d love to.”
“To hear the details?”
“No, to be your assistant. I would really love to.”
Luna wasn’t expecting him to react so calmly.
“Would you like me to tell you the details of it right now?”
“No. I’m still processing what’s going on. I’d prefer to hear it later, but yes I want to.”
“Well, if you are alright with it, then it is fine. Thank you a lot, Buggy Brush. What if you go tomorrow to the castle so I can t-“
She was interrupted mid-sentence again, this time by the unicorn pouncing towards her to give her a hug. Now this is a reaction more fitting for him, even though she’d rather if he wasn’t crushing her bones. For being somebody who calls himself ‘weak’, he could be really strong when he gets excited.
“It is ok, Buggy Brush. I am happy you liked the suggestion this much, but I will have to kindly request you to allow me to breath.”
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry!! I’m just so so so so so SO happy!!!!”
He hugged her again, not so strongly this time. Darky Spell was giggling at all of this while tapping her back hooves on the floor with excitement.
“Oh, by the way, Darky. My sister said she would love to talk with you someday and ask you a few questions about the Daemonequus Kingdom.”
“For real!? I’d love to answer her doubts then! I can go tomorrow if it’s ok.”
“It would be wonderful. Can I request you a little favor as well, by any chance?”
“dude, you have been hyperventilating all the way here. you better get your shit together.”
“I know I know! I’m just really so excited and so nervous!!”
“we know, but you literally seem like you’re going to explode.”
“Can you really blame him? This is something huge, Beatz!”
Darky looked at the unicorn, both smiling from ear to ear.
“Not everyday you get asked by the Princess of the Night herself to be her personal assistant!”
“EXACTLY!”he replied while prancing in his place with his eyes closed.
Darky and Buggy were heading to the castle as the Princess requested them last night, when they came across their friend Zweet Beatz, who decided to accompany them the way there. They gave her the whole context of what happened the night before. She was more than happy for them, yet somepony had to be the one keeping them calm.
After several minutes of walking, they arrived.
“you two better tell me how everything went next time we meet, ok?”
“Don’t worry, we will,”responded the daemonequus before hugging her, Buggy joining the hug soon after.
“Take care, Zweet.”
“you too, you royal ponies.”
The three of the giggled as Zweet Beatz took flight.
Not being the first time they entered to the castle, the royal guards already recognize their faces, just allowing them to walk in. Unlike most of the times they went there, this time there was nopony waiting for them outside, luckily Darky still remembered the layout of the castle, most of it at least.
“Where do you think we should go?”
“The most logical place would be the Throne Room, I suppose. If they are there, then bingo. If they aren’t, there should be somepony we could ask for their whereabouts.”
“Good point. Do you remember how to get to there?”
“Sure thing!”
When they arrived to the Throne Room, the two Alicorn Sisters were waiting for them as they expected, but they were not alone, there was another alicorn in the room. A young purple alicorn with an indigo mane with some pink stripes was standing next to Celestia and, at her side, was standing a little purple dragon with green spikes, holding a scroll and a feather. Neither Buggy nor Darky had met the other two in person, but they are well aware who they are.
“WOW.”
“OH, SWEET CELESTIA!!”
“Yes?”
“No, sorry, it was an expression.”
She giggled.
“We are sorry, we were not expecting this at all.”
The two then proceed to bow to greet Celestia and Luna.
“And I assume you must be the Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle, right?”
“Yes, I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you,”responded the mare with an evident face of excitement.“I haven’t met a daemonequus before in my entire life, so the moment Princesses Celestia and Luna told me about you, Darky Spell, I just had to meet you in person. I have so many questions for you!”
Imagine one day meeting a world-famous alicorn Princess who saved the world a dozen of times and she being the most excited in the room about meeting you. Yup, that was kind of what Darky was going through at that moment.
“It’s a real honor for me as well to meet you, Princess Twilight, and-“He couldn’t help but let out a little squeal“-It’s a real, REAL honor too to meet you,Spike, the Brave and Glorious.”
The young dragon seemed a little surprise somepony out of the Crystal Empire knew him by that name. He was flattered. The unicorn was shaking his tail in the air in excitement.
“Can I have your autograph?”he said with the biggest smile while giving him a paper sheet.
“Sure! What’s the name?”responded the dragon also with a sincere smile of his own.
The three alicorns and the daemonequus couldn’t help but giggle.
“THANK YOU so much!!”Buggy said while prancing after looking at the autographed paper. He was definitely putting that on his wall that night.
“Anything for my fans,” he replied with great pride in his voice. Twilight looked at him with a smile before rolling her eyes.
“So,” started saying the tallest alicorn “I’m glad you accepted my invitation, Darky Spell.”
“Thank you for inviting me, Princess. I will be more than happy to answer any doubt you may have about the Daemonequus Kingdom and about how I arrived here.”
While Celestia and Darky were talking, Luna got closer to Buggy.
“So, my dear student, are you ready to be filled in what it means to be my Royal Assistant?”
“Yes! I’m so ready,”he answered barely holding his excitement.
“Alright then. Follow me, please.”
He turned to see Darky again before parting ways and both waved their hooves at each other, Darky winking an eye at him and him replying with a smile.
Luna and Buggy walked through hallways, corridors and staircases until reaching one of the highest balconies of the castle with a plain view of the sunset taking place in the distance. It was a breezy, fresh afternoon in Canterlot.
“Well, first things first, thank you again, Buggy Brush, for accepting helping me with this. It really means a lot to me.”
“No problem, Princess Luna,”he replied looking at her before looking into the sky.“It’s the least I can do after how much you have helped me, you know? So, if I can repay that favor in any way, I’ll do it.”
She smiled and looked at him.
“You really are a good friend, Buggy.”
She contained the urge of giving him a hug. They might be friends by now, but she still wanted to keep a little bit of professionalism in this. He just blushed at the compliment and turned his eyes back at her with a huge, warm smile.
“Alright.”-She cleared her throat-“To be able to help me with my duties, you are going to need a part of my magic.”
He was confused. Can magic be splitted into two ponies? And wouldn’t that leave her with less magic? Luna could read those questions passing through his mind just by looking at his confused eyes.
“Do not worry, I won’t actually lose a fraction of my magical powers or anything like that. I just need an object to canalize my magic so I can ‘clone’ a certain amount of it in it.”
“An object? Like, any object?”
“Well, I have not done this before, so I assume it could work with at least most objects.”
After thinking for a little, the unicorn looked down to his necklace.
“What about this?” he said rising it with a hoof.
Luna looked at it with a smile.
“Perfect! Would you hoof me your necklace?”
He took it off and gave it to her. She looked at it for a moment while levitating it, then she closed her eyes to focus while her horn started to glow. Her eyes opened suddenly, they were completely white and shining brightly, and an equally bright stream of magic was directed to the necklace, also causing it to glow before falling into Buggy’s hooves. He was looking at the entire process while trying to understand what was happening, and then Luna’s horn stopped glowing and her eyes went back to normal.
“Are you okay?”he asked worried, getting closer to her.
“Yes, do not worry.”
He put the necklace on again and could already feel it’s magic inside.
“Wait, but, how do I use it? I’m terrible at magic. I can barely levitate stuff!”
“You only need a little bit of magic to use the necklace, since you would be using my magic. I will still have to teach you a couple of spells.”
She looked at the sky again.
“You still know how to levitate stuff though, so, just as a little test of it, what if you attempt rising the moon?”
His jaw dropped and his eyes widened. She couldn’t be serious, could she?
“Just focus on the necklace to trigger its magic, and then try to focus on the moon,”she said while rising slightly the moon so he would be able to see it.“You think you are able to do it?”
“I’m not really sure, but I can try.”
He closed his eyes and his horn started to glow, as well as his necklace. He grinded his teeth and closed his eyes with even more strength. Eventually, the moon moved a little, but then it stopped again as the unicorn reopened his eyes panting with exhaustion.
“Sorry,”he said embarrassed while looking at the ground.
“You did well, Buggy,”she replied while rising the moon by herself.“You cannot expect to master it completely when you have not done anything like this before. The fact you managed to move it, even if it was just a little, is already good enough.”
He looked at her again, feeling better after hearing that and replying with a little smile.
“So… What’s next?”
“Since we just proved that the necklace in fact works, the next step would be to guide you through the Dream Realm. I will teach you the spell for that later, but this time, I will be the one taking you there.”
“Wait, is the Dream Realm like outside of the dreams? To put it in a way, some kind of hub for them?”
“Yes, you can say it is kind of like that.”
She pulled him closer with her wing.
“I will teach you how to navigate through it, going in and out of the dreams, and, before having to face nightmares, I will teach you how to deal with them as well.”
Her horn started to glow again.
“Having Nightmare Night been not so long ago, some children are still having nightmares, and I am sure they will not mind if my assistant follows me inside their dreams.”
He couldn’t help but smile every time she called him her assistant. He did an attempt to canalize his own magic into the necklace to help Luna getting into the Dream Realm. Even if he didn’t know the spell, he wanted her to know he was willing to do his best to be the best Royal Assistant Equestria has ever seen. She smiled at him before both of them appeared in a dark, huge place full of glowing bubbles with every kind of dreams inside them.
A really young griffon was sitting in the middle of a classroom in one of Cloudsdale’s Elementary Schools. She was new in the city, her parents and her just moved there a few weeks ago and she still needed to get use to the change. Moving from a more hostile and colder environment where griffons barely even talk to each other to a place where everypony seemed so energetic and friendly was kind of difficult for her to adapt to, especially due to how shy she was. Being the only one so drastically different also made her feel more insecure. Despite all of that, she was doing great so far academically speaking, getting really high grades since the moment she started. She may be young, but she was pretty smart.
On her desk, her notebook was covered in doodles of everything she had been seeing since the moment she moved: some ponies flying around, some drawings of random places in the city, she even saw a pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail! She didn’t even know manes could be naturally like that! She also wrote some words all around the pages, a few of the thoughts coming to her mind lately. Kindness, clouds, family, weather, rainbow and friends, the last word being the main thing in her mind since the moment they arrived. She never got to make friends back in Griffonstone, she never knew how.
Eventually her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bell, it was lunch time. She picked up her lunchbox and sat on the floor outside not so far away from her classroom. She rather eating there where less ponies reunited so she could have a moment of peace. Meanwhile all the pegasi were heading to the lunch area or just walking around. Everypony seemed to have a group or at least one friend already, except for her. She opened her lunchbox to find a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, her favorite. Her face lightened up as she gave a bite to it, closing her eyes to enjoy it more. Her expression was the pure definition of happiness.
“You really love peanut butter and jelly, don’t you?”
A voice pulled her out of her fantasy as she realized a young pegasus with a light pink coat and a messy brown and pink mane was standing in front of her with a little, yet sincere smile. The griffon didn’t know how to react, so she just looked at her without saying a word.
“Is it ok if I eat here with you?”asked the filly. She got a nod as a reply and sat down while humming a little.
“You’re June, right?June Griffon?”
June nodded again.
“Well nice to meet you! I’m Sunrise Goldhearts.”
Sunrise extended her hoof at her as a friendly gesture which the young griffon replied by grabbing it with her claw and shaking it softly. Really softly. She already knew Sunrise. The most upbeat and happy pony in her entire class, basically everypony’s friend and one of the few ponies in her class to already have gotten her cutie mark.
“You’re new around here, aren’t you? Have you been enjoying Cloudsdale so far?”
“Y- yes,”she practically whispered to her while not even looking at her.
“I’m happy to hear that. How are things from where you came from? I have never been outside of Cloudsdale.”
“Well… um, Griffonstone is… … different.”
“How different?”
“Very.”
The filly kept looking at her with curious eyes that June couldn’t continue avoiding due to how purple, big, and beautiful they were. She knew that answer was not going to be good enough to satisfy her curiosity, so she thought of another way to describe it.
“It is not as friendly as here.”
“Oh no!”
The pegasus didn’t expect that as an answer.
“I thought it was a really friendly place too.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re really nice and sweet and you’re from there.”
That comment made the young griffon blush as a little, shy smile appeared on her face.
“Maybe everygriff was just not having a nice day.”
“Everyday?”
“Yeah. Maybe because of the weather. It can affect everycreature’s mood when the sky is sad.” -She looked through a window- “Today is sunny though, meaning the sky is happy,”she said with a big smile.
The filly’s extreme positiveness made June giggle a little. She was just a happy pony enjoying every little thing in life, like any filly, colt and even grown-up ponies should do.
Minutes passed as they were chatting and eating, eventually June’s short answers became longer, and her shy whispers became more confident, even at the point of laughing audibly at some of the things Sunrise said. She made her feel comfortable being herself. Suddenly, lunch was over, the bell rang again indicating the start of more classes.
“Thanks for eating with me, Sunrise.”
“There’s no problem, Juney.”
June smiled. She couldn’t believe how just like that she had met somepony she could call her friend. She had finally made a friend.
“Sorry?”
“Huh?”
“I never said that.”
“Said what?”
“That I was your friend. I never said I was.”
The griffon was confused.
“W- wait, what do you mean??”
“What even gave you that idea?”
“B- but you said that we were friends now. You even told me a few minutes ago that you were going to show me around the city and-“
“Oh geez, you really can’t distinguish when somepony is just feeling pity towards you and when they actually want to be friends with you.”
Tears started flooding her eyes. Why was she being so mean to her all of a sudden?
“Ha, you are really funny, you know? What made you think I would want to be friends with somepony like y-“
“Wait, no. Stop.”
“…”
“Shut up. Just…”
June closed her eyes as the entire world around her stopped.
“This is… not how I remember this. This is not how it happened."
"This is…”
She opened her eyes again. She was in her room, laying on her bed. No longer a child, but a grown-up griffon. The tears were still falling down her cheeks. She sat down and wiped the tears, then looked at the picture on her table of her and the pink pegasus. Of course that was not how it happened. Sunrise was, is and always will be her best friend and soulmate. In fact, they even have been dating for some years by now. Why would she even think she would act that way?
“Geez, I may be more tired than I thought I was. My mind is starting to play tricks on me again,”she said to herself while rising her claw to her forehead.
She looked between the things on her table and her eyes stopped on a little blue box with a pair of rings turned into necklaces in the inside. She has been thinking about it since the moment she got them about 2 months ago. She decided today had to be the day when she finally put the fear behind and gave the next step. It was going to be something simple, she invited her beloved to eat outside as they have done a lot of times, and then she would surprise her when she expected it the least. Nothing bad could come out of that plan, right?
June repassed the plan in her head over and over again, analyzing every possibility she could think of. It was going to be something little, there was no way of messing it up. She could not mess it up. Yet, between all the possible things going through her mind, there was still one she didn’t have an answer ready for: What if she said “no”?
The idea was stupid, wasn’t it? Why would she? She was her marefriend after all, her companion. She loved her… right?
She stroke her hair with a claw.
“Cut it, June! Why am I even so worried about this?? Is Sunrise! I have known her basically my entire life! Gosh!”
She left out a sigh before standing up.
“Maybe a little snack will do the trick.”
The griffon went to her kitchen and grabbed a bag of peanuts. She always kept snacks at home ready for this kind of situations. While eating them she grabbed her phone to check her messages. Nothing new to see. She then sent Sunrise a message reminding her of her date, and she replied almost immediately as cheerful as always. June smiled at her screen.
“I better get ready.”
She left the half-eaten bag of peanuts over her bed and ran to the bathroom to take a short shower. Not only to be fresh and clean, but to clear her thoughts and worries a little. After it she brushed her mane, put some perfume on and equipped herself with the little box and her phone, then headed to her door. She stopped at a mirror in her hallway to look herself one last time before going out.
“I’ve had better days, but I don’t look bad at all,”she said with a reassuring smile to her reflection before leaving her house.
“I’m ready for this.”
The griffon flew down going really fast until she got to Canterlot, where she and Sunrise planned to have their date. She didn’t want to jumpscare her in case she was there already, so she stopped a street before the place and walked the rest of the way. She got to the restaurant in a couple of minutes, but the pegasus was not there yet. She was sure on her way though. She shouldn’t be too far away by now.
She started playing with her feathers a little to calm down, yet the more minutes passed, the more anxious she got. It was unusual of her to be late for a date. What if something happened to her? She was a few minutes away from flying back to Cloudsdale to check if she was in trouble when the mare appeared flying at her.
“Oh my Tia forgive me I overslept!!”said the pegasus clearly out of air. Did she just fly the entire way from her house to here nonstop?
“Hey, it’s fine Goldhearts,”replied the griffon with a relieved smile.“A beauty like you need to get as many hours of sleep as possible.”
She giggled at the compliment.
“So, you’re starting with the flirting game this early, aren’t you?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t like it, we all know you do. Your cheeks can’t lie to me.”
And indeed they couldn’t, since she was blushing already.
“You’re so silly, Juney-Boo.”
“Yeah, I guess I am.”
They both shared a little laugh.
“Then, are we doing this?”
“We are so doing this, girl!”
June quickly went to one of the tables outside the restaurant and pulled out a chair for Sunrise, then one for herself, and they both sat down waiting for the waiter to ask for their dishes. Both ordered something light, since the pegasus wasn’t used to eat heavy dishes and the griffon had already eaten before, so she was short on appetite.
Not so long after, they came back with their dishes and both marefriends ate them while talking as they usually do, yet June couldn’t stop thinking about what she was about to do.
Before they were ready to go, she decided it was time. It was now or never.
“Sunrise.”
“Yeah, deary?”
“I have been wanting to tell you something for a while now.”
“Oh! Alright, what is it?”
She took a deep breath to calm down, yet, her head started to feel fuzzy, like if suddenly she wasn’t able to fully focus on her own words. She did her hardest of efforts to do so anyways.
“Listen, babe, Sunrise Goldhearts, we have known each other for so many moons by now and you have always been there for me, and you know I always will be here for you too.”
Sunrise realized where this was going and her expression changed to something unreadable. June continued talking.
“I love you more than I think I have ever loved anycreature in my entire life, and waking up everyday knowing I have you to rely on really means the world to me.”
She took out the box she had been carrying all day and lowered her sight at it.
“I could not see myself with any other creature in all of Equestria, since you are my source of happiness. So Sunrise, I have been meaning to ask you,”-she rose her sight again-“would you marry m-“
She was no longer there. Her seat was empty.
“Sunrise? Girl, where did you go?”
She stood up to look around, but she couldn’t see her anywhere, there was nopony nearby.
“Maybe she went to the bathroom, maybe there was something bad with the food,”she said as she saved the little box again.“I better go see if she’s ok.”
She tried to make her way to the bathrooms, but her head was so dizzy that her eyes couldn’t figure out where it even was, until, eventually, everything faded to black and grays at her eyes and she lost her balance, falling down.
“Sunrise?? Sunrise, please, where are you?!?”
She got no response from her. All she could hear was a distorted laugh coming from behind her. Her anxiety started to get worse and worse.
“Why did you leave me!?!? Come back, please!! I BEG YOU!!!”
Still no answer, but the laugh started to get louder.
“What did I do wrong?!? Please give me another chance!! GOLDHEARTS????”
She buried her face in the floor as she embraced her head with her claws. The laugh now came from above her as well, and eventually from in front of her, and from any single direction. It was surrounding her, mocking her. It was deafening. She was too scared to even try to open her eyes.
“I’M SCARED!! DON’T ABANDOM ME, PLEASE!! I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT YOU!!!”
She started crying desperately as her entire body was shaking when suddenly, all the noise stopped and a light from the sky invited her to look up.
“Calm down, dear June.”
That light seemed to come from the moon. The only thing lighting up the entire abyss. And that voice seemed awfully… familiar.
From the moon appeared the silhouette of a pony, a young unicorn to be specific. He descended from it and gave her a reassuring smile. It was one of her friends. The student of the Princess of the Night.
“Buggy? Is that you?”
“Yes, June. It’s me,”he said while getting closer to her.
“What are you doing here? What’s going on?”
“I’ll give you a little clue.”
He stomped one of his back hooves, dissolving the black voidness and turning it into a calmer, stary, yet dark sky.
“Wait, I… think I get it.”-She wiped her tears with her wings-“I’m sleeping, aren’t I?”
“Bingo.”
He hugged her to calm her down and give her a feeling of safeness.
“How are you here then? I didn’t know you were able to go through dreams like this.”
“I’m still in training actually, but it’s the first time I’m doing it alone.”
“Hey, that’s awesome then!”
“Thanks, pal.”
She looked down.
“This is not the first nightmare you have had about this, is it?”
“No. I have had these since the moment I started thinking on it, but they have never been this bad.”
“I see. I’m sorry I couldn’t intervene earlier.”
“It’s ok. I’m glad you did at least.”
“June, you know she wouldn’t do -nor say- any of those rude things she did in your dreams, right?”
“Yeah,”she replied while playing with her claws a little embarrassed.
“Then why do you think she would? She’s not only your marefriend, she’s your best friend. She loves you like nopony else.”
“I know, but, it’s just that…”
She lowered her voice and, without rising her head, looked at him.
“Do you really think she should say 'yes'? I know she loves me, Brush, but… she deserves somepony better than me.”
He placed a hoof over her wing-shoulder.
“June, what are you talking about? That’s nonsense!”
“That’s how I feel, at least.”
“That makes absolutely no sense, Juney.”
“Buggy, she’s kind, funny, the purest pony I have ever met, for Celestia’s sake! And what am I?? Compared to her, I’m noth-“
“You’re also kind, and fun to be around, and creative, and skilled at a lot of things, and a really loyal and thoughtful friend.”
She looked around again.
“Do you think that?”
He rose her head up again with his hoof to see her eyes.
“I don’t ‘think’ that, dear, I know that. I have also been your friend for years. I think I have knowledge enough about you to say it with all certainty.”
“I… don’t know. I believe you, but I just…”
She sat down and so did he.
“You said it had to be ‘now or never’, didn’t you?”
“Not really, but I thought so to myself before. Really, really strongly.”
“You thought about it strong enough for me to hear apparently.”
“Heh, I just hope it was the only thing I thought that strongly since you entered my dream then.”
They shared a little laugh.
“Why now, though?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why do you want to do it now?”
She sighed.
“I’ve had these rings for almost 3 months by now I think, and I haven’t reunited the courage to do it yet. I guess I’m just too scared if I don’t do it now, I won’t do it, ever.”
“I think you might be putting a little too much pressure over yourself, honey. I have never been in your position, so I can’t say I know how you feel, since I don’t, but I know that this is a huge step in anypony’s life, and, because of that, it must take as much time as it requires to.”
“But, am I not just making all of this wait longer for no reason?”
“Nope. You’re not.”
“…”
“Do you feel ready yet?”
“I think I just proved that I don’t.”
“Then that’s it. You still need time to feel ready for that step, even if it means having that box over your table another couple of months. It’s perfectly fine.”-He leaned closer to her and placed a hoof behind her back, bending over a little to see her face more clearly- “She loves you, and she always will, no matter how much time passes. She wouldn’t be happy to know you’re passing through all of this because of forcing yourself to be ready for it. She would also want you to take it at your own pace and, when you finally feel truly able and confident enough to take that step, then do it.”
She looked at him with a little smile and hug him.
“Thanks Buggy.”
“It’s ok, Jun. In fact, just tell me whenever you get a nightmare like this again so I can come faster to kick its ass.”
She laughed.
“How am I supposed to tell you from inside the nightmare, you dumb pony?”
“I don’t know. That’s not my deal, that’s yours.”
“Isn’t that literally your deal now though?”
“Oh shut up, you!”
They broke one final time into laughter before they were lightened up once more by the moon, from where the silhouette of an alicorn with stary mane wonk an eye at them. Then, she woke up. For real this time.
“You did well, my assistant.”
“That was surreal! And I feel so happy now that I got to help my friend!!”
“It is a wonderful, gratifying feeling. I know.”
He smiled at her as a reply.
“Just one thing for the next time.”
“Yeah?”
“Maybe try thinking of a more… original entrance. Moon silhouettes are kind of my thing.”
Your Faithful Student, Buggy Brush, Chapter 10: An Exhausting Night
From between the trees of what seemed to be the Everfree Forest echoed the gallop of a pony, running as fast as his hooves allowed him to. The moon was high in the sky, its glow being denied by the highest trees and the fog, making the ambience darker and harder to navigate through, of course the amount of logs, branches and mud didn’t make it any easier. The pony was suddenly stopped by a log getting in his way, making him trip and fall. The trees started to get closer to one another, making a big circle which limits were denoted by an intensely dark shadow. This movement at least allowed the stallion to have a clear view of the full moon, a bright and really beautiful moon. The pony was trapped there, he knew that, until out of nowhere one of the trees started to grow bigger and bigger in the shape of a brush that then let a drop of paint fall, turning into a pony.
“Do not fear, my friend,”said Buggy as he walked towards the frightened earth pony.
He didn’t seem much younger than him, maybe a couple of years. His mane was an absolute mess and you could see the fear in his eyes very clearly. He was shaking as he looked at the unicorn with confusion.
“W- who are you?? You’re not Princess Luna.”
“I’m not indeed, but I’m her assistant.”-He extended a hoof to the pony as a gesture of courtesy and to help him get up, yet this didn’t seem to notice-“The name is Buggy Brush and I’m pleased to-”
He couldn’t finish the sentence before being interrupted by a noise from the outside of the circle. It didn’t sound like anything you’d hear in a forest, yet being the Everfree, you never know. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be touching the ground, as they heard no hoof steps, but the sound of something going fast enough to cut between the wind. The 2 stallions froze trying to locate the source of the noise.
“You heard that too, d- didn’t you??”
“Yes, I did hear it.”
The young pony’s gaze got lost as he started staring at the view. Buggy Brush tried to remain as calm and comforting as Luna taught him and, with decision in his eyes, he walked towards one of the barriers of the circle while lighting his horn. He wasn’t entirely sure from where the noise came from yet, but they weren’t going to find it out by standing there trying to guess.
“What do you think you’re doing??”whispered the earth pony.
“Getting to the bottom of this.”
“It’s dangerous!”
“Don’t worry, we are in a dream. Whatever it is, it can’t hurt us. I’ve got this.”
With his horn fully lightened, Buggy walked to the edge of the circle, but, as soon as he placed one hoof outside of it, the wind started to blow with an unnatural strength. It didn’t have a specific direction, it seemed to be coming from everywhere and going everywhere. The trees grew taller and taller until the top of them were too high to be recognizable by their eyes, and the moonlight disappeared once again, leaving them in the shadows with just a green source of light coming from the unicorn’s horn. This was odd, he had been in some nightmares before, but nothing quite like this. This just felt… different.
Before he could react, the other pony jumped at him, hugging his back legs. He was shaking even harder than before, even making Buggy shake. He tried to hide his own uncertainty to calm him down, then the noise started again, this time coming from somewhere above them.
“Ok, whatever you are, we’ve already had it with you! Come out now or else!”
His attempts to intimidate the mysterious creature fell flat as nothing changed. He then challenged them again, and once more, lighting even more his horn this time like if he were charging a laser beam.
“I tried to warn you!”
He took a step back closer to the other stallion before he shot a laser beam. It was time to see if Darky’s training about the matter was worth it. He was sure it was going to bounce everywhere until it hit its final target and, if it somehow ended up going back down, he preferred it hitting him than the other pony. You can’t feel pain in dreams after all, right?
The laser went from one tree to another over and over again, until it went away between a bunch of them. That didn’t seem to have affected whatever entity was surrounding them in the slightness. The two of them looked at each other and Buggy tried to give him a reassuring smile that the earth pony could clearly see was fake. He felt so bad for having gotten somepony else into this.
Suddenly, the noise grew stronger and it sounded somewhat faster.
“Shit,”exclaimed the unicorn as quiet as possible so his friend wouldn’t hear his preoccupation.
He wasn’t sure how to handle this, but he knew they should run away from there. If they were lucky enough, the creatures would either stop following them or get lost between the density of the forest. He grabbed the other pony’s arm to make him stand up and started running, letting him go after some steps so he could run in 4 hooves. He ran really fast, it was a little hard for Buggy to keep up to his pace, but he managed to.
Just as they were afraid of, the thing was following them. It wasn’t circling above them anymore, now it was chasing them. They tried turning abruptly many times so the creature would get confused and lose track of them, but it was still there, behind them.
After running for a long while, Buggy’s legs were tired and he had to stop to catch a break. When he did, he realized he wasn’t being followed anymore, the creature was gone, but so was the other pony. At some point of the escape they should have started running in different directions, resulting in them being separated now. He was alone, in somepony else’s nightmare, completely surrounded by darkness.
“Hello? Somepony??”he yelled waiting for an answer, only getting his own echo as one. The only good thing about this is that not being constantly chased by something, he had some time to think what to do.
“What even is this? This doesn’t feel like any nightmare I’ve been before. This feels so… real.”
He looked down at the necklace on his neck.
“Shouldn’t this give me total control over dreams and nightmares? Maybe I should do the spell once more?”
He did the spell Luna taught him again and tried to change the scenery. Nothing changed. He tried to bright up the entire forest up and disappear every tree. Nothing changed. Even with his mentor’s power, he wasn’t able to do a thing in order to affect the nightmare. He was completely powerless in the middle of what seemed to be nowhere. He wasn’t even sure he was able to wake up, yet he could not try it leaving the other pony trapped here.
He had rested enough to regain his stamina, so he started running again, this time looking for the owner of this nightmare. Despite his horn still being lightened, this time it was more difficult to see, and he started feeling as if the trees were also moving in different directions. It was an absolute chaos in the darkness, slowly becoming darker and darker and him getting more and more lost in nothingness itself. He tried looking in every direction, but nothing he could see made sense. There wasn’t even any noise anymore aside from the one of his hooves and he felt like if the silence itself was deafening. It was an infinite maze constantly shifting, no starting nor ending point. After some minutes that felt like hours, he started to feel watched, somepony or something was watching him and, distracted by that, he tripped and fell. Once he stood up, he couldn’t keep running, one of his front and one of his back hooves hurt, so, while still being afraid, he tried to behave like if he wasn’t, ready to shoot a laser beam to whatever it was that tried to hurt him, until…
“Buggy Brush!”
The calling of his name made him jump. Even though it startled him, he couldn’t be more relieved to hear that voice.
“LUNA! Thank hoofness you’re here!!”
“What is going on? I felt something unusual in this nightmare and I came to check. I knew you were here already, but I could not find you, and I am unable to stop whatever it is that it is happening!”
“I’ve tried it too! I even used the spell again in the necklace like you taught me, but for some reason it isn’t working!”
Luna didn’t answer, she noticed something. She felt a presence too, she couldn’t tell from where it was coming, but she was sure they were being watched. She looked everywhere trying to find anycreature in the darkness, but didn’t find anything.
“We need to get out of here and find the pony who this nightmare belongs to.”
“I thought you were able to just locate them with your magic to appear wherever you need.”
“I normally am, but my magic is not working here.”
She turned around and opened her wings.
“Hop on!”
“What?”
“We’re going to fly to the top of the trees. That should make things easier.”
He jumped to the alicorn’s back.
“Hold tight. We are going to go as fast as I can.”
With those words, the Princess blasted off in a vertical line. Buggy has never gone at such speed before in his life and Luna certainly haven’t tried to in a long time either. He was sure if she kept accelerating, she could easily make a Sonic Moonboom.
The trees didn’t seem to have an end since, no matter how high they flew, they couldn’t reach the sky. They only knew they were moving since, at that point, they couldn’t see the ground either. After a good while they finally came out between dark blue leaves at the very top of the sky, being showered in the moonlight once again. They were too high to be able to see anypony on the ground, so they needed to find a way to find the dreamer. That is when Buggy noticed something that quickly pointed out with his hoof.
“What is that?”
“What is what?”
“The trees, they’re darker over there, you see?”
“Yes?”
“Those are way darker that the ones below us.”
She focused her look on the spot.
“You think the pony could be over there?”
“Maybe not the pony, but whatever creature it is that is messing with this nightmare.”
Luna noticed more trees around that area were getting darker, like if they were forming a path, chasing somepony. The unicorn noticed too and, after a quick exchange of looks, she flew again as fast as her wings allowed her until they reached the darker tress, then started to descend diagonally to intercept them.
Once closer to the ground, they could see clearer and they were right, there was the pony and there was the creature, finally visible for them. It was a shadow-looking smoke beast without a consistent shape and it seemed to have some… stars? This was awfully familiar. There was no way it was that, was it?
Buggy suddenly, in an adrenaline rush, felt the urge to do something.
“I’m going to jump at it.”
“WHAT?? Why would you do that??”
“It’s a dream, I can’t get hurt, right?”
“I think…?”
“Alright then. I’ll shoot a laser beam at it to distract it, so you could take it by surprise and finish it.”
“Are you sure about this?”
He did his best efforts to stand up on her back.
“Yes!”
He then started charging a laser beam and, with all his strength, he jumped at the monster while shooting a laser beam at it to catch its attention, landing just in front of the earth pony. He looked straight at it while Luna, from behind, was ready to send it to oblivion.
“Behind me, now,”said the unicorn.
The pony did as he said and he levitated his necklace in front of him, creating a magic force field, then Luna, with a single laser beam not only obliterated the creature, but half the forest behind of them. The monster finally was gone, the noise was gone as well, the only thing remaining being the darkness. Buggy made a final attempt at correcting that and tried to change the landscape once more, this time succeeding at it, vanishing every single tree around them. Just three ponies standing below the moonlight.
“Now this is better.”
The earth pony bowed to Luna and thanked both of them for saving him from the smoke entity, she answering with a genuine comforting smile.
“What’s your name by the way? You didn’t tell me earlier.”
“Oh, right. My name is Donut Glaze. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“It’s a pleasure for me too! That was kind of an interesting first meeting, wasn’t it?”
Donut laughed at the comment, finally being able to feel relieved.
“Well, that was intense.”
“Intense is quite the understatement. Even if it was a dream, my wings are sore from that much flying.”
“Thanks for helping me with that.”
She giggled covering her mouth with her hoof.
“Why are you thanking me? You are the one willingly helping me with my duties.”
“Yeah, but that was supposed to be my nightmare to solve this night, and you had to come and save me from it.”
“I could not have done it on my own.”
“Ok, let’s say we’re even then, or we are going to be doing this for the rest of the night.”
They shared a laugh, then went into complete silence.
“Did you notice anything strange with that monster, by the way?”
“Now that you mention it, yes, I did.”
“It looked really similar to the one you told me about time ago.”
“The Tantabus?”
“Yes, that one. And I’m sure it must be the same that manifested in my nightmares that time too.”
“It could be.”
“Should we worry?”
She took some seconds to think.
“The sun should be rising up soon and there are no more nightmares to tackle tonight. What if for now we just rest and try to relax a little? That really was one of the most exhausting nightmares we both have had to deal with, a little break would be nice. What do you think?”
“I 100% agree with that. We should get some donuts though. The entire thing really made me hungry and made me start thinking of donuts.”
“How is any of what happened related to donuts?”
“Donut Glaze”
“What?”
“His name, Donut Glaze.”
She giggled once more.
“Did somepony mention donuts?”said the alicorn’s older sister coming from behind the throne.
“Is there really no more nightmares for us to deal with tonight? It’s barely midnight!”
“I know. It seems to be a rather peaceful night this time, way more than the usual.”
“Should we worry about that?”
The princess giggled.
“Not everything has to be a reason to worry about, Buggy Brush.”
“Heh, you’re right, sorry. It’s just that it’s the first time since I’ve been doing this that we finish the job so early. There’s a good amount of hours yet before sunrise.”
“Is not that something good?”
“I think so. What are we meant to do now, though? Is there anything else I could help you with?”
After thinking about the question for a moment, she shook her head from side to side.
“Oh…”
They kept walking down the castle hallways in silence, until Luna stopped and took an unexpected turn to another path Buggy had never gone through before. He stopped and looked at her, like waiting for an instruction from her to follow. She just pointed at the corridor with her eyes without saying a word.
“Where are we going, Princess?”
“You will see, my friend.”
That answer didn’t solve any doubt for him, but he continued following her as she had a confident smile on her face. Wouldn’t it be faster for them if Luna just teleported them there? That would probably ruin the expectation of the scenario though.
After some more turns and stairs, they reached a tall, elegant looking door with a moon symbol on the middle. He felt hesitant towards opening it, so he took a step back and looked at the Princess. She pushed the door with her magic revealing a dark room, dark enough for the unicorn to not be able to see anything besides from what the reflect of the light coming from the slightly less dark hallway fall upon. One of the few things he managed to see, and the one that caught his attention the most, was a huge, fancy moon-shaped bed. Luna walked into the room to the middle of it, lighting it a little with her horn.
“What is this place?”asked the unicorn.
“This is my bedroom, Buggy Brush.”
He blinked at her confused.
“Or, as I like to call it,” -she levitated a little remote and, pressing one of its buttons, turned on a big screen, showering the room in a dim, blue light- “my Recreational Sanctuary.”
He looked at the screen. It seemed like some kind of menu of a videogame console. Thanks to the screen’s lighting he was able to distinguish some other items of the room as well. A few drawers, some disks, cartridges and controllers. He saw at least 3 Game Colts on the floor, some empty cans of cola and a dark, purple hoodie. Luna took off her crown and the rest of her royal regalia and levitated the hoodie towards her.
Once she put on her hoodie, she walked towards some of the group of disks. She picked one and put it into the console, then sat down in front of the screen, grab one of the controllers and connected a second one. She turned to her assistant and patted the spot next to her for him to sit.
“What are you waiting for?”
“I… don’t know. I’m just confused.”
She giggled.
“Since we still have some hours before morning, I thought it would be nice to just enjoy of some relaxation and fun. The last couple of weeks has been filled with exhausting nights, I think we have earned it.”
“I think you’re right. It’s just that…”-he walked towards her in a shy manner-“Me, your assistant, being here in your room. This seems kind of… I don’t know, personal? Like I shouldn’t be here?”
He sat next to her and picked up the other controller, looking at her instead of at the screen.
“I have not invited anypony here before aside from my sister. Not because it is something I am embarrassed about, I am not, but because this is kind of my special place. I wanted to share it with you.”
She turned at him.
“Unless you do not feel comfortable with it?”
“No no, I do. I really do.”
She replied with a warm smile which he also returned, then the both of them looked at the screen.
“Besides, I think you will like this game.”
The menu of the game showcased 7 ungulates of different species and some shadowy creatures. It seemed like some kind of fighting game. Buggy wasn’t really that much into the fighting genre, yet the artstyle certainly caught his attention.
“Have you ever played it before?”
“No, but I think I’ve heard of it at some point. It seems fun.”
“And it is.”
Luna selected a dragon-looking character as her fighter while Buggy picked a unicorn whose general vibe and curved horn reminded him of one of his friends. He had no idea how to play, so he asked Luna all the doubts he had while they fought their first match, quickly grasping most of the mechanics of it. At some point during their third match, the unicorn felt something pulling his tail and it made him jump. Luna paused the game as the two turned to see what it was. It was a little, friendly looking possum. The Princess softly put her controller down as she opened her hooves to hug the little creature.
After a few seconds, Buggy recognized the little animal too.
“Oh, so this must be Tiberius, right?”
Luna nodded and the possum looked at the unicorn with curiosity.
“Hi little guy! It’s nice too finally meet you, Princess Luna has told me a lot about you. I’m Buggy Brush.”
The possum walked towards him and, trying to mimic what she did before, the unicorn opened his hooves to hug Tiberius, who jumped at him, accepting the hug solicitation.
“Heh heh, you’re fluffy.”
“I think he likes you.”
The possum walked towards his mother again and settled himself over her starry mane. Luna then picked her controller again and, asking Buggy if he was ready, resumed the game.
After their sixth match, the alicorn’s stomach was grumbling, so she paused the game once again, went to one of her drawers and retrieved three bags of snacks, opened them and poured them all into a bowl she then placed in front of them so they could eat as they play.
“So, have you been enjoying this?”
“The game?”
“No. Being my nighttime assistant.”
“Yeah!” -he levitated some snacks- “It can get a little exhausting sometimes, but I have really been enjoying it a lot.”
“I am glad to hear that then.”
“It feels really rewarding to be able to help all those ponies with their fears, especially when some of them turn out to be some of my friends.”
“Oh, how many times have you came across your friends during your missions?”
He tried to remember.
“I think no more than 4 times. I’ve came across my friend June at least twice, and I’ve came across Zweet Beatz once, then the next night I went into her dream again just to check on her.”
“That is really considerate of you.”
“Thank you.”
They went back to silence, with just the sound of the buttons, the game, and the snacks in their mouths filling the room. It didn’t last long as Buggy broke the ice one minute after with a question of his own.
“Have you been enjoying it?”
“Of course I have!”
“Am I really helping you much with this? Do you think I’m doing a nice job?”he asked in a lower, doubtful tone.
Without pausing the game, nor either of them breaking eye contact with the screen, Luna began talking in a reassuring voice.
“Buggy Brush, you are doing a more than excellent job. While you still have a lot of things to learn, the help and support you have given me, both have made dealing with nightmares a lot easier and, sometimes, even a litttle funner.”
“For real?”
“Yes. I should have listened to my sister long ago all the times she suggested me to get an assistant.”
He looked at her with a smile for a second, forgetting they were still playing and the game was unpaused, when…
“Hey! That was cheating!”
“No, it was not. You got distracted,”she responded with a smirk on her face.
“But you distracted me!”
“You asked me the question.”
“Because you asked me one first!”
Luna laughed.
“Stop whining and accept your defeat.”
“C’mon, cut me some slack! I’m still learning how to play and you have already beaten me seven times!”
“Have you been keeping count?”
“Yeah! So I know how many times I have to beat you for us to be even.”
“Like if that was ever going to happen,”she replied in a sassy, confident tone that Buggy took as a challenge.
“Oh ho ho, that sounds like a war declaration to me.”
A malicious grin took place on her face.
“You are so on.”
The two of them kept playing for a while, but with a serious feeling of competition now on the air. Friendly competition, of course, occasionally picking on each other as friendly banter. Even the little possum seemed to have gotten fully into the action of the game. After about an hour and a half, they stopped for a break.
“Counter?”
“You 14, me 5.”
She broke into laughter.
“Yeah, laugh now. This isn’t over yet, buddy. After this break, I won’t hold anything back!”
“What? You want me to beat up you even more, you say?”she managed to say between her laughter.
“Ha ha, very funny. We will see who laughs last.”
Once she calmed down, she sat again, wiping a tear caused by the intense laughter, then levitated another bag of snacks and poured it into the now almost-empty bowl, also bringing 2 cans of soda.
While they rested, Buggy took the chance to look around Luna’s room, now spotting something he didn’t notice before. In one of the walls there was drawing he quickly recognized. It was the drawing of her he sent her in one of his letters many moons ago. He couldn’t help but to smile at that.
“Thank you, Buggy.”
He looked at her, still smiling.
“I do not get to do this kind of things so often, and it has been really fun playing with you.”
“Even when I’m bad at the game?”
They shared a laugh.
“You are not bad, you are still learning.”
He looked down at his controller.
“Thank you for inviting me, Princess Luna.”
“I said it before, and I will say it again. You can just call me Luna.”
“Ok then, Luna.”
She smiled at him.
“So, are you ready for round 2?”
“Damn yeah, I am! Are you ready though?”
“To beat you up once more? You can count of that!”
“Oh, we’re about to see that!”
They both engaged into their gaming position once again.
“Princess Celestia? May I talk with you for a minute?” asked Buggy Brush through Celestia’s bedroom’s door after knocking. It was already night, and she was just about to turn-in. He was going to help Luna in the Dream World, but taking advantage that she was still getting some things ready, he decided to go ask Celestia something he has been wanting to know for a good while.
“Of course. Come in,” she responded in a soft voice.
He opened the door and entered to the room slowly. Celestia was lying on her bed, levitating an almost-empty cup of tea. They have seen each other a considerable amount of times by now, but he had never been alone with her before. That made him feel somewhat intimidated. He was trying to remember how he formulated in his mind the question he wanted to ask her, but feeling nervous wasn’t making it any easier to remember. Celestia, both realizing that and knowing how nervous he can get through what she heard from her sister, decided to break the silence in an attempt to make it easier for him to speak his mind out.
“So, what did you want to talk with me about, dear Buggy? You have been in the castle many times, yet this is the first you have come to talk with me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry about that, Princess. I think I…”
She giggled.
“There’s no need to apologize. In fact, it’s a very pleasant surprise!” she said with a smile.
“Ok. So, I came here to ask you a little something…”
“…Well? What would that be?”
He took a deep breath.
“I… wanted to ask you… since when has Luna been dealing with all of her emotional struggles?”
Her expression and position changed the moment she heard that question. She settled down the cup of tea near an empty plate with some cake stains, then she accommodated herself in a way she could have a better view of the young unicorn. That gesture made him feel like he screwed it up somehow.
“WAIT no no! That sounded terribly bad! I’m sorry, I-“
“It’s ok, it’s ok. I get what you’re trying to ask,”she said to calm him down.“Why don’t you take a sit so you’re more comfortable while we talk?”She pointed at a bean-shaped couch not so far from her bed as she said that.
Buggy was not really planning to stay for long enough for him to need to get comfortable, but he was too nervous to say ‘no’ to the literal Princess of the Sun. Besides, maybe that would actually help him to calm down.
“I mean, she had told me one or two things about it before, but I wanted to know from an outsider’s perspective. Not because I don’t trust her, because I REALLY do, but because sometimes it’s difficult to notice those things in ourselves the moment we start feeling them and, being you the closest pony to her there is, I figured you would know. You grew up together after all.”
“Yes, we did, and you’re right. I’d like to know what she has already told you first, though.”
“Alright, so she told me when you both were younger, she sometimes felt like… less. Less special. She told me she obviously loves you, yet sometimes she couldn’t help but feel like she wasn’t ‘good enough’ compared to you, or like you were a lot more fun or interesting than her. That would be all the way back before you two were even princesses, I think.”
Celestia looked at the side while listening, remembering those days. She already knew all of that, she remembers trying her best to make her little sister feel special without addressing the issue directly. She never liked to face those kind of situations, but she didn’t want her dear sister to feel bad about herself. It was so long ago, yet it affected her that much that she can still remember it vividly.
“Well, that would be true. We were both just two little fillies back then. We were still going to Magic School, so my studies kept me a little busy, but I still noticed how her behavior passed from a happy and cherish girl, to a façade to pretend everything was ok.”
“So…what did you do?”
Celestia, turning again her eyes to the purple pony, kept talking.
“I did what any sister would do and tried to cheer her up. I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I was too scared to talk to her about it, so I used other methods to show her extra affection, so she would feel valued.”
“And did it work?”
She sighed.
“No, it didn’t. At some point she realized what I was doing and tried to convince me that she was fine, but I knew she wasn’t. Years passed when I noticed she was feeling actually better about herself, she was starting to feel genuinely happy again, but that didn’t last long since we became princesses not so long after that. I assume you already know the rest of the story from there.”
He nodded. Luna told him how she struggled with depression and other problems for many years, but he didn’t know it was for that long in her life. His face denoted a sad expression that was taking place while he was listening to the story.
“I wish, I REALLY wish I could have helped her more. That I could have done something. If only I wasn’t that coward back then and I confronted the problem when I first realized, she would never-“
“Celestia, don’t say that.”
She looked at his eyes and, in that moment, Buggy realized he just interrupted the literal Goddess of the Day. He already started to speak, so there was no way back, he thought.
“I’m really sorry to interrupt you, Celes- your Highness, but you shouldn’t do that. Thinking about what you ‘should have done’. It’s not good for you, it won’t change anything and it will just make you feel worse about it. You said you did your best and I think that’s what matters. Nopony can ask for more than that.”
Celestia gave him a little smile. He still couldn’t help feeling stupid for cutting her mid-sentence. As Celestia said, they haven’t talk in that way before, and he sure wasn’t leaving a good first impression about his manners. He felt a little relieved to see her smiling though.
“Just from this little exchange, I can already tell you’re a really good student, Buggy Brush.”
“Huh?”
“My sister has been telling me some things about you, but even if she didn’t, just listening to you I can clearly see you have been taking her teachings to heart.”
He blushed a little.
“Now, going back to your original question, that is indeed the first time I remember ever noticing Luna’s self-esteem struggles.”
“Well, thanks for telling me, C- your Highness. If I’m being honest with you, I’m really happy she feels a lot better nowadays.”
“Me too.”
“In some way, I’d have liked being able to help her before somehow, but I suppose there was no way for me of doing so,”he said while standing up and walking towards the door.
“You really love her, don’t you?”
He froze and his eyes went wide. Celestia’s question caught him completely out of guard. From where the hay did that question even come from?? He slowly turned his body, looking at her again, trying to get something coherent out of his mouth between all of the chaos that question just caused inside his brain.
“W- WHAT?? What do you mean by that?”
“I mean if you love her.”
He tried to look at anything except at her eyes to avoid her from noticing how hard he was blushing in that moment, but he failed at it.
“I- I mean, of course I do, but in a friend way. In the way a friend loves another friend. Just like that!”
“Hhmmm…”
“What do you mean by ‘hhmmm’??”
Buggy forgot for a second with who he was talking to, since that was the kind of situation usually one of his friends, like June or Zweet Beatz, would put him into. Because of that he didn’t realize he just raised his voice to the princess and, in the moment he did, he was already starting to think what he would do during the next thousand of years of banishment.
Celestia stood up and walked towards him, staring directly at his soul while opening her wings. He was so dead.
“OH GOSH. I- I’M SO SO SORRY, YOUR HIGHNESS. I SWEAR I DIDN’T WANT TO YELL AT YOU, THAT WAS NOT MY INTENTION AT ALL. I PROMISE I WON’T DISRESPECT YOU EVER, **EVER** AGAIN. PLEASE FORGIVE ME, I BEG YOU, I-“
He was cut by Celestia’s laugh. At that point he had already walked backwards to a wall and cuddled in the floor, absolutely terrified and at the verge of crying (the latter being a thing Celestia didn’t notice). He stood up again while trying to calm his heartbeat. When Celestia finally managed to stop laughing, she spoke.
“I’m so sorry, I just couldn’t help myself from doing that.” She laughed a little more.
“Gee, Princess! You almost gave me heart attack!”
“Forgive me for that, dear Buggy Brush-“she wiped with her wings the tears she got from laughing“-but in all seriousness now. Don’t think I didn’t realize the way you act when you’re near her.”
The way this alicorn was able to read right through him left him speechless.
“So, I’ll ask you again, do you love her?”
He looked at her eyes for a second, then looked away again.
“Just be aware that, if the answer is yes, I’m probably going to have to kill you.”
His position became tense again as he let out a little squeal. Celestia realized a little too late after the little joke she just pulled him through, he was probably still a little scared of her.
“That was a joke. Remember, I may be old, but I have also been young like you, and I have also passed through that kind of situations.”
He wasn’t sure why, but after short consideration, he felt like he could actually trust her to tell her his true feelings towards Luna. Maybe it was because she is a literal Goddess, a creature full of wisdom and knowledge; or maybe because something in the tone of her voice and in the way she speaks gave him motherly vibes, even after she almost scared him to death. He knew he could trust her.
“…Yes, your Highness. I love Luna, and I mean, I really REALLY do,” he finally answered, looking at the princess.
“Very well then.”
She lowered her head and closed her eyes as her horn started glowing, making a weird sound like if it was charging some sort of futuristic weapon.
“Princess, what are you doing?”
She didn’t answer. He started slowly taking some steps back again.
“Princess, what are you doing?????”
“Don’t move, please, or this will be more painful than it should be.”
That’s it, his heartbeat didn’t even recover from a moment ago and now it was going crazy again.
“Farewell, Buggy Brush. It was a pleasure to meet you.”
“PRINCESS CELESTIA, WAIT-“
“AaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-“
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!”
Once again, Celestia started laughing her flank off. She was laughing so hard she was barely able to remain standing, so she took some steps back and fell into her bed, crying from the laughter. Buggy, meanwhile, was trying to confirm if he was still alive or if either a laser beam or a heart attack had already taken his soul out of his body.
“Don’t worry, Buggy, your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank *huff* you. *huff*“
“With one condition.”
“Y- yes? What is it?”
“I’ll keep your secret as long as you go to the kitchen and bring me another piece of cake,”she said while levitating the plate to him.
“Ok, Princess Celestia. Right away.”
“You can just call me Celestia, dear. After all, I think eventually I’ll be your sister-in-law, won’t I?”
“Celestia!”
“Exactly!!”
He facehoofed while walking away to the kitchen. How can that pony manage to switch between being that goofy, and that intimidating just at the blink of an eye?? He was going to need a glass of water.
