I do not know the meaning of it, but it seems to keep occurring.

The dream about the feather and the…

No, no, not that one! William scribbled hastily, pulling his blankets a little tighter around himself as he tried to ignore the sound of Eris’s snores. The dim flicker of candlelight was barely enough to see by, and the words streaming in impossibly neat letters as his own slowly vanished began to take over the pages once more.

If it is the nightmare of the beasts you claim to see again and again, perhaps it is more than simply a nightmare. It pains me in my heart of hearts that I cannot simply reach out to protect you from them, nor to guide you with naught but my words.

Thank you kindly for your words, Princess. I assure you that they are much appreciated.

What of the giants?

the book wrote a little more quickly, almost curiously.

I still dream of them, yes. Almost nightly, as I have for the past seven months.

Can you tell me more about these giants? How many do you see? What of their appearances? What do you think they represent?

William paused for a moment, scratching his chin with his palm as he recalled the memory.

They are enormous. Always so much that even one of them could nearly completely blot out my field of vision, and they were nigh innumerable. When last I tried to count, I saw an entire squadron of them, stretching all the way to the horizon.

You say squadron…

Made of metal. Too orderly in their destruction to be anything but mechanized infantry, I assume as a preemptive to stamp out any potential threats. I don’t know what to think of them. I only know that the dream ends with being crushed by one of them.

The book did not respond for nearly half a minute.

At last, however, the silvery sheen of writing glistered back onto the page where ink had once been, and William realized that he had been holding his breath.

I believe that these ‘constructs’ that you dream of may represent formidable and unmatchable power, a blatant omnipotence that you fear cares nothing for you.

I don’t know quite what to make of that, Luna.

Neither do I, really. I was never intended to do any more than store my own dreams, a living reflection.

William stopped writing suddenly, watching as the silvery lettering dangled stiffly on the page for a few more moments, lingering just long enough for him to reread it before it vanished.

Have you never talked to anyone else? William tentatively scratched, an odd feeling welling up inside him.

When I was forged from my core essence, I never knew another soul aside from my own. My voice has never escaped the confines of this book. To be honest, I never would have suspected that I would part seemingly so swiftly with one of my most prized possessions. You must be something truly special if I did.

He couldn’t bring himself to write for a while.

Either that, or I am planning something devious, and this thought does not bring me comfort at all.

I believe it is that your… ‘core’ trusts me, William replied, jumping a little when Eris snorted in her sleep. You – I mean, the other you – were rather excited to teach me more of magic, even if I cannot perform it myself.

Really? How peculiar.

Princess Luna?

Oh, please. Call us Luna.

Luna. Do you mind if I ask you something rather personal?

I do mind, but it isn’t as if I am going to complain to anypony about it.

William paused, and the writing suddenly rearranged itself on the page.

It’s funny in context. Because I am in a book.

His spontaneous burst of amusement nearly woke Eris, who grumbled something about the hay in her potatoes before rolling over and drifting off back to sleep.

What is it like?

I am beginning to have second doubts if you have difficulty contemplating humor. Or was my joke really that bad?

No, not that, William found himself scrabbling once again. I mean, what is it like inside the Dream Journal?

The book suddenly stopped responding.

William feared that he had done something wrong, the insane niggling in the back of his mind that he might have somehow broken the book terrifying him. However, after a while of silence, William felt a rush of relief as words finally began pouring back to him. Much to his surprise, many, many more than usual. Entire pages were filled with entire strings of words, some of which he did not even recognize before the mass of them drifted away, and were replaced with a single sentence.

It’s awful.

I’m sorry.

Do not be, young one. I made a decision, and it is one that I must carry out, regardless of the burden.

You’re just like me, then… William added after a while. We’re both trapped. Maybe that’s why you decided to give this piece of yourself to me.

I would advise that you do not speak as if I were no more than a trinket or toy,

the book began to turn a couple of shades darker in the pages for a single moment, and had he not caught it, William would have assumed that it was only his imagination.

I am no frippery or puppet. I am a living piece of my true self, a veritable goddess!

You are also still trapped, William pointed out. So perhaps you disagree with what your ‘true self’ wanted.

William could have sworn that he almost heard Princess Luna herself sigh.

It is true. This gilded cage is a mockery in and of itself.

Gilded cage? It seems more like a pretty book to me.

Have I told you nothing of the extent of my power? Do you truly believe that all I am is a reaction on paper?

When William could not find it in himself to reply, the book erased the words and continued.

It is clear that your ‘studies’ have not been especially helpful. I must be slacking.

I’m afraid that I don’t quite follow your meaning, William scrawled slowly in confusion. An uneasy feeling was beginning to prickle up his spine from the way that the words curved, almost like he could see her face behind them.

Then if I cannot explain it to you…

William watched in befuddlement as every single page in the Dream Journal suddenly went as black as pitch, even blacker than the cover. Page after page flipped violently past, almost ripping themselves out from the sheer force until it halted at once in the dead center. It was as if night itself had fallen within the book, the whole of a starless space looking back at him. Then, crawling in spiderlike fashion from the center of the pages, formed another single sentence in stark, almost dazzling white.

THEN LET ME SHOW YOU.

William’s yelps of fright and surprise were muffled as an inky black tendril as thick as his arm abruptly sprouted out from between the pages, wrapping itself like a boa constrictor across his mouth and enfolding with a slap around his head. Another scream was silenced as several more heavy tentacles of ebony exploded in disturbingly utter muteness from the journal, slithering and snaking hungrily through the air until nearly all of them had grappled William. He kicked and fought instinctually as the petrifying dusky serpents dragged him with one massive, powerful yank directly toward the fluttering pages.

Instead of smacking against the book or being thrown from his perch on the bed as he expected, William touched the pages –

And immediately went through them.

His vision was consumed by darkness almost instantly, a numbing cold completely overwhelming him as he was hurtled with deafening speed into the void.

And just like that, it was over.

It took William a moment to realize that he was still screaming in fear as he gripped something cold and stony, the ground below him waving in a nonexistent breeze. He kicked and flailed in panic as the tiles beneath him were knocked callously from their places on the roof, falling with a clatter to the castle courtyard below.

The roof. I’m on the roof…?

“Don’t slip.”

William almost did just that at the sound of Princess Luna’s voice, finding that he had at some point or another miraculously latched onto a familiar stone gargoyle nestling snugly on the edge of oblivion.

“Luna!” William gasped in wide eyed wonderment as she stood elegantly before him, basked in a mysterious unearthly glow. The crescent moon radiating like a miniature sun behind her gave her a mystical halo, making the mysterious shimmering armor she wore all the more blinding with its transcendent sheen. Unlike most other times he had seen her, Luna’s dark colors of her coat seemed to have been deepened to match the darkness of the night sky, and a vibrantly glowing blue eye winked playfully back at him.

“I would advise against falling from a height like this,” Luna said with a soft smile as a warm magical touch gently lifted him through the air and sat him with a flump beside her, thankfully further from the edge. “I do not know if it will kill you or not, but it is most certainly going to be painful.”

Now that William had a moment to catch his breath and take in his surroundings, he gave himself a minute to let what had happened finally sink in.

The battlements that they sat on were completely deserted, and an eerie silence seemed to penetrate the entire roof of the castle. William could see lights glowing dimly in the city of Canterlot, his mouthing working furiously as nothing came out.

“Cool,” he said at last with a growing grin to match Luna’s. “This is so cool!”

“It is also empty,” the darker Luna said with a hint of sadness as she turned her gaze toward the city. “A mere representation within a memory of a dream. A shadow, like me.”

William stared at her unblinkingly, even the glowing lights in her mane mirroring the stars that usually glimmered in the sky seemed to be a little darker. Come to think of it, he hadn’t ever seen any sky look so completely empty, aside from the crescent moon.

“This is a dream?” William asked in confusion, looking about. His hands against the rough tiling where he sat certainly felt real enough, as did the dizzying height when he foolishly looked over the edge.

“Of a sort,” Luna shifted her wings over her glimmering armor as she sat quietly beside him, looking out over the dim city lights. “It is more akin to a model, a dollhouse if you will.”

He watched as her pointing hoof displayed a section of the city suddenly going dark, a pitch black that reflected the empty sky. It was as if an entire chunk of reality had simply stopped existing, leaving only the darkened void in its place.

“… What just happened?” William asked in honest confusion.

“Many things for a very complicated reason,” Luna explained softly. “Or rather, one very complicated thing for many simple reasons. It matters not.”

The rest of the city went winking out of existence little by little, and other lights began to come on in the distance to his left. The harder he looked the less he saw, and although he was desperately straining to keep his eyes on the hazy lights, something in the growing shadows continuously drew his eyes back that wasn’t there when he checked again. The healthily billowing trees in the castle courtyard remained, but all beyond its furthest parapets were subject to the shifting darkness.

“It takes a great deal of effort to simplify this existence to a point that your mind can comprehend,” Luna clarified further as he gaped at the impossible sight. “Were you to look upon what truly exists within this realm without proper preparation, you would likely go utterly mad from merely looking upon it.”

“This is unbelievable,” William breathed, running a hand through his hair and touching the grey spot. “All of this – you created all of this?”

“It is formed from my will, yes.” Luna nodded after a moment, his fear long since buried in his amazement. “Yours are the first mortal eyes to ever pierce this realm. Look upon it with caution, Chaos Spawn.”

She looked down at him beneath her helmet, which her mane flowed gracefully through and flittered softly about her head.

“I must admit, you are not quite what I was expecting you to look like.”

“You look very different yourself,” William noted, shuffling a little further away from the edge and clutching his hands around his knees, eyes never leaving her.

“Am I no longer prone to wearing my Moonlight Set?” she asked with a hint of annoyance, glancing down at her own shining armor. “Perhaps I have been out of touch with myself for too long. Am I truly not the enticing goddess I envisioned myself?”

“You look beautiful.”

His unexpected compliment made Luna slowly raise an eyebrow, to which he reddened fervently, but did not look away.

“Am I to cease taking pride in appearance simply because I no longer hold a physical form?” Luna frowned a little. “Surely you jest, mortal.”

“Please,” he grinned, cheeks still flushed. “Call me William.”

Luna snorted, a small smile of her own forming.

“As you command,” she bowed with a sarcastic little smirk. “Master William.”

William shifted awkwardly, clinging to the loose folds of his pajamas.

“That’s really not necessary, Princess,” he shook his head.

“Princess?” Luna snorted again, a bit of bitterness in her tone. “Of what, this?”

Her cast out hoof went to the last place William had seen the lights, which had somehow transformed into a subtly but warmly glowing seaside city. He could almost make out the sound of ocean tides rising and falling in the background.

“This world?” William blinked.

“World,” she scowled. “This is not a world, Master William. Only a fragment of a shred of a memory. Empty and eternally devoid of all life but myself.”

Her words seemed to echo in the wind, which made sense to William.

“That’s rather tragic,” he said quietly after a moment. “There’s really nobody else here?”

“I am completely and utterly alone,” Luna said softly, her gaze unchanging as she looked out over the dark horizon. “Those are naught but illusions, Master William.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” William frowned suddenly.

“It is expected of me, is it not?” she tilted her head at him slightly. “I am bound to serve the possessor of my Dream Journal. Why else would I have such surprise that I gave it to another, let alone one such as yourself?”

“What do you mean, like me?” William asked, a little hurt. He curled his legs up a little tighter to himself. This Luna wasn’t quite what he was expecting, not nearly the warm, comforting version he already knew.

“You retain no magical abilities, am I correct?” she asked a little sternly. “I find it difficult to believe that my true self would be so eager to teach you anything of magic at all. It would be like saving a chick from a swampy mire only to toss it to a hungry cat.”

“You – or she, rather – was pretty keen on gaining a student of her own,” he said with a little embarrassment.

“Ah,” Luna nodded slowly in understanding. “Of course. It comes as no surprise that my ego blinds me once more.”

The pair of them sat in utter silence for a while, and William only watched the mysterious inkiness at the field of his vision shift and blur in and out.

“… Why did you bring me here?” William asked suddenly, a tingling fear that he might be trapped there as well nagging at him.

“Curiosity, partially,” she admitted unabashedly. “I cannot see beyond the confines of this pitiful realm, and I wished to look upon my Master’s form. I imagined you… taller.”

He chose not to take it as an insult and instead turned his attention to the only thing aside from the castle roof currently not shifting hypnotically away.

“That can’t be all…” he said suspiciously, to which Luna let out a single nicker.

“Perceptive. True, I have ulterior motives, Master William.”

A beat.

“You want out,” it clicked, and he furrowed his brows.

“Ha ha!” Luna cackled suddenly. “Drop you in bits and call you right on the money!”

“Can’t you just leave?” he blinked, thinking. “I mean, it is you inside… here, isn’t it?”

Luna’s somber expression returned as she settled back down, her pert lips slanting downward.

“It is impossible,” she shook her head, a sad tone creeping into her voice. “So long as my true self wields greater power, I can never escape the confines of this prison.”

“Prison?”

“It is an existence of forced servitude to whomever holds this book,” Luna continued angrily. “Worse than prison, Master William. It is a dreadful existence, even to serve my true self.”

“It certainly doesn’t sound very pleasant,” William agreed.

“It is not,” Luna shook her head again. “Perhaps matters would be different should I have had a choice, but there are none but yourself who hear my voice. You are the only connection that I have to the real world, Master William.”

“I wish that there was something that I could do to help you.”

William wrung his hands desperately, staring off into the distance. No matter how he wracked his brain, nothing came to mind as to how he might free Luna from her current state of unhappiness.

“I believe that you can.”

He turned back to her in confusion, gears turning rapidly.

“How?” William asked. “I mean, short of just taking the book back-”

“No!”

He was surprised by her outburst, but she contained it well.

“That must not come to pass,” Luna shook her head swiftly. “I presume that my core essence presented you with a time limit of some sort to converse with me?”

“A year,” William said after a moment of thought, his heart racing. “She – I mean, you gave me a year, Luna.”

“One year…” she stood and cautiously began to pace up and down the roof, thinking to herself. Her mane fluttered gracefully behind her in the moonlight, and William watched in equal parts trepidation and fascination as the light seemed to bend away from the places she stepped for a few seconds, until her shadow had passed. “That hardly grants ample time, but I suppose that it shall have to suffice if I wish to save myself.”

“How so?” William asked, causing the princess’s head to jolt upward.

“Forgive me, Master William,” she ceased her pacing and came to a halt in front of him. “I forget that I am not forever alone.”

“Just William, please,” he shifted uncomfortably, standing wearily and taking up slow stride alongside her as she began to pace up and down the bulwarks again. “Do you have some way to escape? A plan?”

“I cannot leave this place of my own volition…” she began slowly as he walked alongside her, the thick shingles poking uncomfortably against his bare feet. Luna, however, seemed to have no trouble with them, nor ever lose balance. “Nor could I summon the power required to truly alter this empty place to my will, instead of this… apparition that currently resides,” Luna finished with a hint of disgust as another bundle of lights flickered off in the distance.

“What do you mean?” he looked up at her in curiosity.

“This… world, as you called it,” Luna started. “This world is… stagnating. It is not satiated by the meager table scraps of memories and mentions of dreams that it requires to survive. Only by linking myself to what you see is anything able to remain stable for longer than a few moments, and it is greatly draining. I would leave it, if I could. I would give anything to have true wind on my cheek once again, to touch freedom once more.”

Luna looked up at the model moon in abject misery, her shining helmet seeming a little duller. She shook her head for the umpteenth time after a while, and continued when William remained silent.

“I do not possess the power required to leave this place…” she added. “Not on my own.”

“Do you need more dreams for that?” William asked fretfully. To his surprise, Luna let out a cheery little bark of a laugh.

“A hundred thousand dreams would not suffice to break me free,” she tittered. “You make it sound as if I feed off of them or something, Master William.”

“Well, from the way it sounded…”

“My core essence still teaches you of magic, yes?” Luna inquired.

“Er – I mean, yes,” he nodded. “The fundamentals of astrological prediction via telepathic short wave frequencies.”

Luna snorted.

“It’s fascinating,” William added a little defensively.

“The ‘magic’ that my core essence teaches you is used to placate curious foals,” she said with a hint of disdain. “Were I sincere in my efforts, I would be teaching you what real magic is like.”

“I-I don’t really need it…” he shrugged slowly. “I mean, I can’t use magic.”

“Can’t you, Master William?” Luna asked with a mischievous twinkle in her glowing blue eyes.

“Please, just William. And I don’t know where you’re going with this,” William admitted, suspicion tugging at him. It suddenly occurred to him that they had been walking for quite some time, yet never seemed to have left the same battlements, or even turned from their course. When he looked back, the spot that they had been previously was absolutely no further away than when they had started.

“… Hold on, how-?”

“All living creatures possess the capacity for magic, ‘just’ William,” Luna explained sagely as they continued, William throwing increasingly worried looks over his shoulder. “However, it is tapping that particular source that is dangerous for those unskilled in the ways of the arcane.”

Her words sank into him as he forgot everything else, his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

“… Do you really mean that?” William queried carefully. “Are you absolutely serious?”

“I would not lie to you, Master William,” she nodded to him unblinkingly. “My words ring with the truth. Bring your knowledge of what my core essence teaches you to me. I will advance your knowledge of the esoteric in ways that no other mortal can endure. I will grant you true knowledge, Master William.”

“What’s the catch?” William leaned back, trying to hide how much he was shaking. Not with fear, however. With… something that he did not know what to call. Something that made him familiarize with Luna’s needing, desirous tone.

“The catch?” Luna adjusted herself, standing firmly before him. “As I develop your prowess, I want you to ensure that I am freed from this wretched place before the end of your year. Tell nopony of our conference, and as you convey to me what my core essence teaches you, I will transfer to you my innermost knowledge of true magic, and teach you how to wield it. Give me this vow, and in return I shall grant you my boon.”

“… What if… what if I can’t manage to get you out, though…?” William asked worriedly, still perturbed that the Luna before him was desperate not to go back to the one in the real world.

“Then I will take back what is rightfully mine.”

“Your boon?”

“Your soul.”

A shudder rippled from the base of William’s spine upward as Luna turned her icy blue gaze on him, her hungry stare suddenly much more terrifying.

Luna leaned in close to him, and William’s breath seemed to catch in his throat as she approached, barely inches away. He could almost feel something unfamiliar radiating off of her, and her eyes seemed to glow even more brightly with an unrecognizable light.

“However… I will grant you power, Master William,” she lowered her voice, her serious look dissolving into one almost of need, her husky tone lowering even further as she wrapped her ebony wings over his thin shoulders. “Power. Power beyond your wildest dreams. I will give you… whatever your heart desires, Master.”

Luna brushed up against him, her burning lips almost touching his ear. He quivered at her touch, mind racing as swiftly as his heart was.

“Anything.”

“You can really do that,” he asked doubtfully, not pulling away from her grasp. “You can really do it?”

“Just say yes, Master William,” Luna breathed lustily, almost so softly that he didn’t hear. “Give me your vow. Give me your word. Give it to me, and in return, I shall make you a god amongst insects!”

“I’ll do it!” William decided. “I’ll help you get out. You have my word.”

Princess Luna laughed, a high, joyous, melodious laugh that was reminiscent of things long past. For any other that heard it, it might have sounded cold and ominous, but to William, it was like a pleasant breeze on a fresh spring day. It rang happily in his ears as she hugged him with all her might, and he soon found himself laughing as well, although he had no idea why. A very strange, tingling sensation was beginning to spread through his fingertips where his touch met her own, and a very dim glow came from his skin.

“Oh, this is wonderful, just William!” Luna merrily squeezed him again, almost radiating moonlight as she kissed him passionately. As her lips met his own it vaguely occurred to him that everything else appeared to have vanished long ago, even the roof, but he wasn’t concerned in the slightest.

“Please,” William grinned, a wondrous sensation of something more growing inside him as shadows crawled at the edges of his vision. “Call me Master.”

“-pen the fuck up, you’re seriously starting to freak me out.”

“What?” William blinked, stunned.

“Jesus, it’s about time!” Eris ran a paw through her hair in relief, leaning back on her bed. “Dude, don’t scare me like that.”

William’s head was spinning, and the dizzying high that he was coming off from seemed so surrealistically far away the harder he tried to recall the fantastic feeling back, and his face burned furiously. He blinked the spots out of his eyes a few more times for good measure, instinctively reaching for the Dream Journal, which had somehow fallen face down onto the floor. First the room had felt unbearably bright, another moment it was too dark for him to see, and the next his eyes had adjusted almost perfectly, regardless of the fact that the candle had burned itself out long ago.

“What happened?” he grabbed it quickly, careful to try to appear as normal as possible. He was very sweaty, and his heart felt as if it were still lodged in his throat. Although he didn’t know quite why, the fact that Eris was staring at him even harder than before seemed to increase his body temperature by a couple of degrees.

“What happened?” the draconequus repeated. “Dude, that’s my question. I wake up all of a sudden, and you’re just-just sitting there muttering to yourself in the dark, grimacing like a gargoyle with a battle axe up its ass and chanting some weird Exorcist shit. It freaked me out!”

“I apologize,” William stated emotionlessly. “I do that occasionally in my sleep, it’s probably from eating some sort of magical reagent or another by mistake a couple of years ago, nothing to worry about. Almost completely harmless. Luna has been helping me with it,” he continued to lie, effortlessly spinning his web as she gawked at him.

“… Hell,” she ran her paw through her hair again, eyes wide. “Yeah, I can see why you might need some Luna-esta or something. God,” Eris shivered, pulling the blankets a little further around herself in the dim light.

“It’s perfectly fine,” William gave her a false smile. “The problem will be cleared up in practically no time at all, Pinkie P-Promise.”

He didn’t know why he stuttered, but the sudden guilt struck him unexpectedly hard. He made a silent little promise to himself to keep it, and fully intended to make sure that nothing similar happened near Eris again.

“I… I was really worried there, for a minute…” Eris slipped cautiously from her too small bed, throwing her arms limply over his shoulders. “Don’t scare me like that again, little man. Seriously, don’t ever, ever do that again. I was expecting you to start spitting pea soup.”

“It’s fine, Eris!” he laughed awkwardly as her tail unconsciously followed her and flipped too close to his nose, making it wrinkle automatically for fear of being poked. “Now get off of me, please.”

“Oh?” Eris smirked, not nearly as panicky as she had been previously. “You get to ride me, but not vice versa?”

“I was coated in disgusting fluids because of that,” William scowled suddenly, resisting the urge to shove her.

“Want to return the favor?” she gave him a sultry wink, tugging at her bottom lip with her teeth. William instantly grew several shades warmer, and looked away in embarrassment.

“… That’s not a ‘no’…” Eris giggled, nuzzling his nose with her own. “Does that mean you’re finally warming up to your dear sister?”

“I already said that we’re not really related,” William shifted awkwardly to prevent being pinned by her. Eris settled for sitting beside him, tail draped lazily over his shoulders. “And I still don’t like you. You’re just slightly more tolerable than – you’re slightly more tolerable.”

“Gee,” Eris slumped a little, with a wry half frown as she cupped her chin in her talon. “You sure know how to boost morale. Love what you did with your hair, by the way. I can totally tell that you’re trying to imitate me, and I am so telling everybody that I had the look first.”

“What are you talking about?” William furrowed his brows in confusion. Eris glanced back up to the top of his head and back down to him, which was making him increasingly nervous.

“You’re off by a few shades…” Eris stated slowly, drawing a small handheld mirror from beneath her bed. “Here, Velvet gave me this, but, uh… heh, yeah. I think you could use it right about now.”

“Why? What’s wrong, what did you do this time?” he snatched the mirror in panic.

“What do you mean ‘this time’?” Eris frowned. “I didn’t do anything. That’s not what I do to you in your sleep.”

William had almost brought the mirror up to his face before almost dropping it, and gave her a level stare.

“… What?”

“Nothing!” Eris giggled madly, waving him off. William scowled again, at last peering at himself in the small round mirror as best he could in the dim light.

The entirety of his chocolate brown hair had all been seemingly turned to an ashy, sullen grey.

He shot another glowering look at Eris, who held up her hands.

“Don’t look at me,” she said defensively, clearly struggling not to laugh. A succession of quick raps at the door prevented William from properly giving her a piece of his mind, and they both craned their necks to see a weary looking Velvet blinking back at them. Eris yelped in pain when her neck cracked from the effort, and she rubbed it sorely.

“Sleeping hours are done, everypony up to the cafeteria if’n you want some breakfast,” Velvet stated with her usual light brogue. The sleepiness in her tone was heavier than usual, and she looked as if she hadn’t slept much at all. “Nice manecut there, Willie.”

“That’s what I said,” Eris sniggered, and William seethed as he collected his uniform.

“Can it, Eris…” William fumed quietly as he dug for his hated outfit. He wordlessly vowed to either shave his head completely bald or find enough hair dye to color an entire pony.

“You got it?” the draconequus asked the filly subtly as William quickly tried to dress. Velvet nodded once, eager smile on her face.

“So…” Velvet coughed awkwardly into her hoof when the pair rejoined her properly in the hall with a slew of other sleepy-eyed maids. “… Hey, Willie.”

“My name is William, Miss Velvet,” he said with an exasperated sigh as Eris trundled along in silent thought beside him.

“I gotta ask,” Velvet pried, grin tugging at her lips.

“Ask what?”

“Do the drapes match the carpet?”

Eris promptly tripped over her own feet laughing.

It was about what Rainbow Dash expected from a psychiatrist’s office.

Brightly lit with nearly every color of the rainbow, even the receptionist’s lounge was garishly bright and painful to walk in. Or it could have been because Dash desperately wanted to lie down. Either way, the facsimile suns with smiling faces painted on the wall leered down at her as she passed them, and she didn’t particularly care for the looks of the mare chipperly beaming at them.

Rainbow Dash made a silent vow to stop drinking, which was followed by another louder internal vow to break her last vow.

The obnoxiously loud chirruping of birds outside made Rainbow Dash sincerely want to jump out of a window, and she massaged her aching temples as she reluctantly followed the pegasus down the winding hall of the expansive facility. Numerous oil paintings and black and white photographs lined the wall, each one depicting some sort of bespectacled mare or stuffy looking stallion trying to appear important. Dash didn’t pay very much attention to any of them, aside from the one near the end that stood out from the rest. A single stallion was utterly hidden behind a brightly colored clown’s wig and false red nose, enormous glasses and clearly fake dangling mustache were adorned to his face as poorly as the makeup was.

Rainbow Dash did not care for clowns. Clowns were not in any way funny. If possible, Dash considered clowns one of the least funny things imaginable, ironically enough. At best, clowns were depressing reminders that not everypony passes college. At worst, they were a little filly’s worst possible nightmare, dredging up all sorts of unimaginable horrors from beneath her bed where she couldn’t get to her favorite Wonderbolts poster.

It might have been possible that Rainbow Dash did not care for clowns for a reason, which she noted with a small unenthusiastic laugh that at least she was near a psychiatrist.

“Good morning!” Fluttershy poked her head in through the open doorway at the end of the hall, a little plaque plastered onto the wall next to it.

“Good morning to you too, Fluttershy!” answered a voice that Rainbow Dash did not recognize. It sounded overly cheery, the practiced sort of enthusiasm that one might give when being sarcastic, but she could detect no hint of cynicism in the mare’s tone.

“I’m just here for my checkup,” Fluttershy explained to the hidden mare, leaving Dash increasingly frustrated as she tried to peek past her head into the brightly lit office. “And I wanted to say thanks again with all of your help, I’ve been doing so much better since… um, well, is it okay if I bring a friend to meet you?”

“Oh, but of course!” the same excessively chipper voice responded, to which Rainbow Dash amusedly watched Fluttershy give a joyous little wiggle. Dash caught herself looking a little too long, and shook her head. “Come right on in, my door is always open for you, Fluttershy.”

“Great!” the pegasus beamed, edging out of the way and patting Dash on the shoulder, gently nudging her forward. “Oh, this is going to be wonderful, I just know it. Rainbow Dash, I’d like to introduce you to my professional wellness assistant and good friend, Doctor White.”

Rainbow Dash fainted on the spot.

Author's Notes:

They match.