Moss Moon and the Lunar Spring, Epilogue

EPILOGUE

3 Weeks Later

>Rain is falling in Hollow Shades.
>Through the trees glow the orange lights of little houses, where little bat ponies live, hidden in the forest.
>In her grandmother's old study, Moss Moon sits at the work table, making poultices for the village bats.
>Grandmother had been terribly angry when Moss Moon had shown up at her door, asking for lodging.
>She had been even angrier when Moss Moon had informed her that the orphans would be staying with them as well.
>Moss Moon had simply explained that she would never again be braving the trip to the Lunar Spring, unless the orphans were allowed to remain.
>Begrudgingly, Grandmother accepted her new tenants.

>The orphans occupy the majority of Moss Moon's time.
>Upon her arrival in Hollow Shades, she had found them quarantined in the militia barracks.
>They had been causing a great deal of trouble for the locals, stealing food from the market and eating fish from the ornamental ponds.
>"If they're not there to be eaten, why are they there at all?" one bewildered filly had asked her, after Moss Moon had arranged for their release.
>Now, after a few weeks, they seem to be adapting well enough to their new surroundings.
>Having spent their entire lives in a cave, they are endlessly fascinated by the outdoors.
>Some of the younger ones refuse to believe that they were not simply in just a bigger cave.
>Caring for them all is still nearly a full-time job, but the older foals help lighten the load.
>Hex, Nightstone and the others are getting older.  They might even be getting their marks soon.  Perhaps then they'd be ready to shoulder the bulk of the responsibilities.
>Until then, though, Moss Moon devotes herself to their care.  Teaching them, feeding them, making sure they are clean and healthy.
>In what little spare time she has, she busies herself making simple medicaments for the villagers, selling liniments and potions for small profits.
>Even this simple business makes her more money than she ever did in the Stronghold.
>There's no time to read the old books, to research, to think about much of anything, really.
>But she still thinks about him.
>Every night, before she goes to sleep, she burns his face into her memory.
>She never wants to forget what he looked like.  What he sounded like.
>The way he held her.
>The way it felt to love someone, and be loved in return.
>She knows she is ugly.  That the other bats look at her with mild disgust at best.  At least in Hollow Shades they will tolerate her presence.  But she will never be accepted by them.  She will always be alone.
>That doesn't hurt as much anymore, though.
>Because there was someone who accepted her for who she was.
>No matter how brief the time they shared, it was as if they had lived a lifetime together.
>Even if he was gone, his presence remained.  In her mind.  In her heart.
>It gave her a kind of strength that she'd never known she could have.
>She had always thought that strength came from pain, from suffering.
>She had never realized that strength could come from love as well.
>Moss Moon is exhausted from filling orders.  Her eyelids flutter as she works, and she yawns widely, fangs catching the candlelight.
>Rain drums the windowsill outside.
>Just a nap.  A small nap.
>She lays her head upon the pages of a book.  A ponderous tome filled with knowledge, now purposed as a pillow.
>Resting her small, sturdy body against the table, she falls quickly into a deep slumber.
>Her dreams have always been vivid, but lately they have seemed even more colorful, more exuberant.
>Now in every dream she has wings, she can fly, she can soar -
>She sails above beautiful islands, vast snowy plains, farmland tinged golden by the afternoon.
>Every dream is beautiful, every dream is relaxing.  The Goddess, Queen of Sleep, is watching over her, the ever-faithful servant.
>But the dreams are always empty of one thing.  The one thing that would give her endless peace.
>Every night Moss Moon has prayed for the Goddess to grant her this one boon, to let her see him again, and every night she has been disappointed.
>Until tonight.
>When Moss Moon steps out into the forests of her dreaming, into the land of bright supernatural colors, her heart leaps when she sees him.
>Anon, tall and broad, standing by an oak tree, watching her with a smile on his face.
>It is the first time she's dreamed of him since he vanished.
>Immediately she bounds toward him, just as he runs to her.
>They join in a tight embrace.
>He feels so warm, so real.
>She doesn't want to let him go.  But she wants to see his face.
>Moss Moon looks up at him, into his kind eyes, and feels his hand brush her cheek, scratch her ear.   She shivers with delight.
>"Look, look Anon!" she says, beaming, spreading her wings wide.
>"They're amazing," he says, gently brushing his fingers over the thin membraneous skin.  "Can I see you fly?"
>Utter joy fills her as she leaps into the air, flapping her wings, gliding from tree to tree.  Anon laughs with her.  Grins as he watches her pirouette.
>He embraces her again when she lands.  Kisses her ear.   "Beautiful," he says.
>"What do you want to do now?" Moss Moon asks, pressing her hooves into his shoulders, looking up once more into his face.
>"I want you to wake up," Anon says.  His voice is thick with emotion.
>She is taken aback.  "N-No," she says.  "I - I don't want to wake up.  You just got here."
>"Wake up, Moss Moon," says Anon.
>"No, please, no, I don't want to, Anon, please, stay with me, please -
>"Wake up - "
>Already she feels the dream breaking apart, the colors fading, the vision darkening.
>She begs.  Please, Goddess, why?  Please, let me stay with him.
>She didn't want to wake up again just holding her pillow, please -
>Rain, drumming the windowsill.
>Moss Moon's eyes flicker open.  Tears run down her cheek.  A choked sob.
>Then a hand, resting on her back.
>She spins in her chair, heart pounding in her chest.
>There he is.  In the flesh.
>Anonymous, an utter mess, covered in soot and smoke and blood.
>But Anonymous, alive, and beside her once again.
>He smiles weakly down at her, as she throws herself against him, wrapping her forelimbs tight around his body, crying against his stomach.
>His hand alights gently on her head, fingers twining with her mane, his other arm sweeping her into a tight hug.
>For so long he had wandered through the darkest part of the Dreaming.
>Thinking he was forever lost.
>Then seeing the golden light, the golden dream of the one he loved.
>Followed it, until at last he stepped through to the other side.  Emerged alive and breathing, at the side of his companion.
>"How did you find me?" she asks.
>"You showed me the way," he replies.
>They hold each other tightly.  Two lovers, together again in the forest of green shadows.

THE END