Luna, Princess of the Night, sat as still as a statue on the balcony of her chambers in Canterlot. The only movement from the princess was the flow of her star-filled mane and the steady motions of her chest as she breathed. She had her eyes closed, the princess busy with other matters than the world of the living. Matters of dreams.

Within the dreamscape, Luna's wings carried her through Equestria. All around her were ponies dreaming peacefully. Her eyes fell on them with the care and concern of a loving ruler, making sure all was well but leaving them to their fantasies. Here in Baltimare one pony was dreaming of proposing to his marefriend tomorrow. In Vanhoover a young filly had a mind full of hope for her birthday coming up. A stallion pony in Manehattan was dreaming of a cute mare who lived down the street, and Luna steered her spectral form away from him, unwilling to see dreams of that caliber.

And with the happy and peaceful dreams, of course Luna saw the nightmares. Not a night went by when she didn't spend much of it cleansing the fears of ponies. Sometimes her work was subtle, sending thoughts of joy into the dream to dispel it and put the dreamer at ease. Other times though, the nightmares were so intense, or were recurring nightmares with no relief in sight. For these cases, Luna would enter their dream directly to confront the dreamer and help them face their fears. So often these dreamers were young fillies and colts, for children are easier to frighten than an adult and their young minds run away from them with such things.

This night as Luna travelled, she saw many nightmares. Her horn glowed silver-blue in the spectrum of the dreamscape, and for most she could dispel the nightmares simply. Children especially, their dreams were oft of monsters, and these were quickly dealt with. However, as Luna neared Ponyville, she sensed a darker nightmare brewing. She folded her wings and drifted down to the dreamer's sleeping form, the darkness of a nightmare wrapped around her. Frowning, Luna's horn glowed and she entered the dream.

The alicorn opened her eyes and beheld a playground. Dozens of young fillies and colts were running around playing with each other, laughing happily. A swing set, climbing bars, a teeter totter, a sandbox, all gleaming bright and painted in pastel colors. The sun was bright overhead, the grass warm under her hooves, and the air sweet with a light breeze. Most ponies would consider it a perfect day, and the perfect site for a group of children to play with each other.

“It’s the Princess!” Luna looked down as the children gathered around her hooves, cheering her name and jumping in excitement.

“Princess, come play with us!”

“We’re playing hide and seek!”

“No, play with us, we’re on the swings!”

Luna was confused as she looked among the children. The darkness she had sensed around the dreamer spoke of an awful nightmare, yet these children were as happy as could be and the dream was a paradise.

“I would be delighted to join all of you, but I’m afraid I have urgent business.” Luna smiled at the children, meeting each of their eyes. “Perhaps I can play with you later once I’m finished?”

To her surprise, the children were not disappointed at all. They ran off to resume playing, nodding in agreement and thanking her for visiting. Luna watched them go and looked around the scene again. The dreamer could not possibly be among them. Eyes scanning the horizon, Luna saw something out of place in this dream world and knew she had found what she sought. She turned and slowly walked over, her hooves padding on the bright green grass.

On the outskirts of the playground was a single large tree. While the rest of the playground tapered off into an endless flat plain of grass, this tree stood on a hill, a dark shadow surrounding its base. A filly lay curled under the tree, her eyes closed and her tail wrapped around her body as if she were sleeping. Luna’s curiosity grew as she neared, and she tilted her head and leaned slightly to examine the filly from another angle.

The young filly was stark white. Her coat, mane and tail were so white they put her sister’s coat to shame, and Luna had trouble telling where the mane and tail began and the pony ended. She could barely even make out where this pony’s eyes and mouth were, closed they blended in perfectly. Luna stopped a few hooves in front of her, and the filly stirred and looked up at her. Her eyes were white on black.

“P-Princess Luna?”

“Hello to you, my little pony.” Luna bowed her head and smiled softly. She knelt on the grass before the filly, drawing her hooves under herself. “Who are you?”

“…Nopony.” The filly sniffed and turned her head away. “Nopony special. You shouldn't talk to me.”

“I had little choice. I sensed fear and despair in your heart, and your dreams. I came here to aid you.” Luna looked back at the distant playground full of smiling, happy colts and fillies. “I must tell you, yours is one of the most interesting nightmares I have seen in some time.”

The filly shifted on the ground. “No it’s not. There’s nothing interesting about me.”

"That's not true. All ponies are of interest to me, especially when I see dreams such as these in their hearts." The filly didn't respond to that, and Luna turned her head back to look down at her. With no reaction to that rebuttal, she tried to change the subject and get a response from it. “Why do you lie here alone? Should you not join your friends?”

“They’re not my friends!” The filly's response was sharp and immediate, and Luna was taken back by it. The filly glared at the ground and stomped a hoof on it. “They don’t want to play with me, and I don’t want to play with them!”

“Why not?”

The filly’s face softened and she lowered her head again, her mane falling over her face. Luna drew her head down closer.

“Why would you wish to be alone?”

The filly didn’t answer for several seconds. When she did, her voice was such a soft whisper Luna could barely hear her. “Because I am alone.”

“And why do you say that?” Luna reached out her magic and brushed the filly’s mane out of her eyes. The filly's eyes looked up at her, and Luna smiled. “Do not fear. Tell me, why do you huddle here?”

“…because they’re special. And I’m not.”

“Not so,” Luna said. “Why would you think such things?”

“Everyone else has such special cutie marks… and I don’t.”

Luna nodded in understanding. Now it made sense; this was a dream she was quite familiar with. “Do not despair, little one. Everypony gets their cutie mark in their own time. You should not think you cannot be with them just because you have yet to receive yours.”

“I have my cutie mark already." The filly's response surprised Luna, but she wasn't done. "I wish I didn’t. I’d rather be a blank flank than have a cutie mark like this.” Luna narrowed her eyes slightly, hiding her confusion. She had encountered many dreams, some very odd and fantastic, but her role was to offer guidance and comfort. This filly did not need to know Luna’s lack of understanding. Still, she found her curiosity intensified. What type of cutie mark could a pony have that they would rather have no cutie mark at all?

“May I see?” Luna peered at the filly’s flank, and the filly slowly moved her tail out of the way.

On her pure white flank was a single, featureless black dot. Luna moved her head slightly to make sure she wasn't missing any details, but she wasn't. It was merely a dot of black on white.

“That is your cutie mark?” Luna looked back at the filly's face.

“It’s a stupid cutie mark,” the filly said, her tail falling back to hide the dot. “It’s a useless cutie mark.”

“Is that so?”

The filly pointed her hoof at the crowd of children in the playground. Luna drew her head back up and turned to look.

“She got her cutie mark helping her mother in the kitchen, when she found she loves baking. He got his cutie mark for writing a book report and found he loves writing. And she got hers when she accidentally made a cloud rain and decided she wanted to be a weather pony.” The filly lowered her hoof and made a face, black and white eyes narrowed. “I didn’t do anything to get mine. It just appeared one day. I didn’t do anything special to earn it, and it doesn’t mean I have a special talent. I don’t.”

Luna shook her head. "That isn't quite how cutie marks work, my little pony. A cutie mark is a sign you have found what you love. You must have received it for something."

"Oh yeah, I did something." The filly rolled her eyes and swung a hoof through the air. "It's not something like baking or writing though. I bought out all the seats in a restaurants so I could eat my lunch there alone, and all the other fillies and colts wanted in but I laughed at them."

"I... I see." Luna looked back at the playground to hide her expression, a combination of perplexion and disapproval. This filly didn't need lecturing, that wouldn't dispel this nightmare. "You lorded your money over your fellow children and liked it. And you received your cutie mark for that?"

"Yeah. Stupid huh?" The filly shook her head and laid it down on the grass, closing her eyes. "They're not all that special anyway. Who wants to be a baker or a writer or a weather pony? Those are stupid jobs anyway, and their cutie marks are just as stupid as this one."

Luna examined the filly's face. "You don't believe that."

"How would you know?" The filly snapped at her.

"This is your dream," Luna reminded. The filly looked embarrassed and turned away. "Tell me this, then. Would you rather your own cutie mark be more special, or theirs be less special?" Luna asked.

"What's the difference?"

"I think you know."

The filly growled slightly and glared up at Luna. "Aren't you supposed to make me feel better? You're just making me angry."

"My apologies." Luna bowed her head in submission. "Then, what would make you happy?"

"I... I don't know!" The filly got to her hooves. "Just... give me a different cutie mark!"

"That is beyond my power. Even in the dream world." Luna was telling a half-truth. She could conjure an illusion of another cutie mark, and this nightmare would end and the filly would be at peace. But if her job dealing with nightmares was that simple she'd find her nights completed quickly. The nightmare would certainly return until her fears that spawned it were confronted.

"So I'm stuck this way." The filly sat back on the ground, sniffing. Luna saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes. "This is just what it is for me. My so-called 'special talent' is being rich."

"You are too hard on yourself." Luna reached out a hoof and gently wiped the filly's eyes. "You place too much value on your cutie mark. Do you really think it is all that bad?"

“Look at it!” The filly shouted at Luna and stood, turning to show Luna the black dot again. “What does it even mean? That’s not a cutie mark at all! What kind of special talent is it to be rich? Is that something worth having a cutie mark for?”

“Perhaps not,” Luna admitted. “But you should not hate your cutie mark just because you do not like it. Many ponies get cutie marks they do not understand, or do not like. But a cutie mark does not define who you are.”

“B-but…” The filly turned her head. “I thought having a cutie mark was the most important thing ever.”

“Yes, the day a young pony receives their cutie mark is often celebrated. But, let me ask. Those ponies out there with creative and interesting cutie marks, do they have but one talent?”

“What do you mean?”

“The filly with the spatula and spoon cutie mark, do you think she can only ever be a baker and do nothing else? The colt with the quill and paper, is his life set to one of writing?” Luna gestured her head towards her own cutie mark. "Does your Princess do nothing with her time but raise and lower the moon?"

The filly slowly turned around to face Luna again. “No…”

Luna smiled. “A cutie mark is a sign of a pony’s special talent, it is true. But it does not define who a pony is, or force them to a live a life they may not want. Every pony is free to be who they want to be. Perhaps your friend with the baker’s cutie mark will become a teacher, and the colt with the quill and paper a mailpony. It is their choice.Your cutie mark may be a mark of wealth, but there is still such potential in that. Rather than make other ponies feel un-special, embrace what makes you special instead.”

“I... I guess I never thought about it that way.”

"Start, then. If you must throw around your wealth, throw it at things other ponies will appreciate it for. They will appreciate you at the same time, for allowing it to happen." Luna tilted the filly's head up. "Remember, little one. You speak to one who has experience in matters of isolation. Your burden is only as heavy as you let it become, so lighten it before it becomes too much to bear."

The filly blushed. "I guess compared to you, this isn't much of a problem at all, is it?"

Luna watched, her smile growing, as color began to come into the young filly, and the black dot of her cutie mark began to change shape. The darkness of the nightmare was receding, the dreamer finding peace. As Luna saw the dreamer’s true cutie mark appear from the dot, she understood what she was afraid of.

A cutie mark with no meaning. A cutie mark for doing nothing worthy of receiving one…

Luna stood and looked down. The young filly, her coat, mane and tail now in full color, looked up at her and slowly smiled.

“So… there’s still time? To find out what’s special about me, and what I want to be?”

“Of course. There is always time. Some ponies are quite a bit older than you before they find what they truly want to be.”

The filly slowly stepped forward and stood on her hind hooves, hugging Luna’s torso.

“Thank you, Princess.”

Luna bowed her head and lifted a hoof to put it around the filly.

“You are welcome, my little pony.”

“Do you have to go now?”

The part of Luna’s mind that connected back to her physical body examined the world around her. The night was not yet half done, and the night court of Canterlot was not often active.

“Soon, yes. But not right yet.” Luna looked back at the playground of laughing children and smiled. “I was asked to play hide and seek earlier. Would you join me in taking up the offer?”

“I… I said some mean things to them.” The filly looked at the ground. “They may not want to play with me.”

“Then the first thing to do is apologize.”

“…okay... I'll try.”

Luna turned to face the playground and looked back, gesturing the dreamer forward. Stepping up beside her, Diamond Tiara followed Luna back to the playground, the tree behind them fading into nothingness.

Author's Notes:

This story arose from a simple question I pondered - why kind of cutie mark is that to have? What kind of "special talent" is it to be born into wealth? And when I kept thinking it over, these ideas came to me, and I put them to paper, so to speak. I hope you enjoyed it.