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Author's Note: The tale herein is set some time after the events of Dreamscape.

Dreamscape: By Light of the Crescent Moon

-o-O-o-

The thin sliver of a crescent moon hung high overhead, its silvery arc casting the world below in the faint glow of its pale light, the wan illumination giving rise to subtle shadows which danced and frolicked with one another amidst the darkness. Fine clouds, waltzing a slow meander across the starry expanse of the midnight sky, threatened occasionally to block out the moon. But any effort on their part was fleeting as they carried on their way.

In the grassy meadow below, sat and reclining against its soft earth beneath the sheltered canopy of a lonesome tree, it was easy to simply rest in silence and enjoy the subtle beauty of the night. With the mare currently curled up beside him, eyes closed as she seemed to doze peacefully with her head across his lap, Graeme knew the scene was near faultlessly complete.

Graeme could think of no other being with which such a setting could have been so perfectly defined.

The night was seemingly made for her.

Perhaps it was because she was a creature borne of the night itself, or that she was the architect and shepherd of the night-fallen cosmos in her own reality? Either way, Graeme couldn't help but find her elemental radiance all the more apparent when midnight itself enveloped her.

Her majesty in such circumstance was easy to behold, and night impossible to deny.

"Whilst We appreciate the attention paid to detail," Luna began softly without opening her eyes, "We do not oblige thee to hold thine own dreamscape in such starkly rigid kinship with reality purely for Our benefit."

Graeme chuckled. He should've known she wasn't actually asleep, no doubt actually just focussed on the world around her; listening; feeling. Obviously that also included not just himself, but also his thoughts. She'd become incredibly adept at reading him when she wanted to, though he wasn't quite sure precisely how she managed it.

He resigned himself to simply looking back up at the moon's graceful arc, "It all reminds me of you."

"I am here with you." she pointed out with some amusement.

"'A pale reflection of your beauty is all this world will ever be in presence of your splendour'." He quoted, voice gentle and sincere.

Luna opened an eye to regard him. Graeme kept his expression inscrutably neutral, his own sideways glance meeting her own, trying to gauge her reaction.

A broad smirk parted Luna's lips, quickly turning to a light, mellifluous giggle, "You are laying it on pretty thick this evening. What is it that thee seeks?"

"Seeks?" Graeme feigned an arrow to his heart, "Thou dost wound me, oh princess of mine dreams. Must We have a reason to lavish thee with mine compliments?"

"Doth." she corrected teasingly, "And no. However, it is Our experience..." she trailed off, leaving him to figure out the rest of the implications all by himself.

Graeme rolled his eyes theatrically.

"So, you want for nothing?" her eyebrow piqued.

Graeme took on a ponderous expression, "Well..."

Luna tutted and shook her head disapprovingly, not for a moment losing her smile, "We thought as much."

There was a brief pause, Luna noted, and Graeme seemed quite unsure of himself. As those few moments melded into one, Luna found herself pondering precisely what it could be that he wanted to ask for. If he was experiencing such trepidation, how serious was the magnitude of the request he desired to make?

The knock-on effect on the princess of the night was a sudden flare of mildly anxious concern, lest the favour be something beyond her ability to grant.

"I was kinda thinking..." Graeme rubbed the back of his neck, "You visit me here, all the time. Could we perhaps..." he paused, thinking to rephrase, "Is it possible for me to visit your dreams?"

Luna lifted her head fully, sitting more or less upright in that peculiar way that only a four-legged creature could, with her legs and hooves still tucked comfortably beneath her. The question he'd posed hadn't even been something she'd contemplated, much less entertained. So she had to put in some serious thought before she could even fathom an answer.

Whilst she thought about it she decided to pose a question of her own, "Why are you asking for this?"

"We spend so much time here," Graeme gestured to the entire landscape all around them, derived almost entirely from the world of his origin and his memories of it. It was an alien world to Luna, although not an unpleasant one. Certainly, she enjoyed it; the chance to lie beneath unfamiliar constellations, ones which she herself hadn't designed, and in the presence of welcomed company.

"I'd just like to see your world through your eyes, for once." Graeme went on, "It's a part of who you are, after all. So I'd like to see it."

Luna gave it a moment or two of quiet thought, "Humans have no inherent magical abilities, as far as We are aware."

"True." Graeme conceded.

"That makes things rather difficult." Luna pointed out. Magic was the mode by which she visited the dreams of others, after all.

Graeme nodded, seeming a little downcast.

"However..." Luna went on, "Thy own calls across the Void summoned Us to this place without the aid of magic. So We see no reason why you couldn't be taught."

Graeme's eyes lit up. He was about to say something, but Luna interrupted him.

"It could be possible. But it will take considerable practice." She recalled her own early sojourns into the realm of dreams, countless centuries earlier, and how many years it had taken her to master. She did have the advantage of the inherent magical capacity for dream-walking - it was, after all, a large part of her make up as princess of the night. But she hadn't had the advantage of an experienced teacher, something that Graeme definitely would have. "You would have to master wakeful dreaming."

"Sounds like a challenge."

"Less-so than most would imagine." Luna admitted, though that by no means meant it was easy, "You have conquered more challenging tasks." She looked up at the sky, filled with countless complex constellations and dazzling points of light. His dreamscape was a testament to his creativity and willpower. Perhaps it was even an indication of the potential he engendered?

"Was that a compliment?" Graeme smirked.

"It was a statement of fact."

Graeme chuckled, "Perhaps then I could reach you whilst you sleep."

Luna settled her head back across his lap and closed her eyes once more. Graeme reached out with his hand, resting it atop her poll and running it back down through the ethereal starlight waves of her mane.

Luna's sigh of contentment was unmistakable, "We would not object to more time spent together."

Graeme's response faltered when a streak of light drew across his sky from one horizon to the other. A shooting star. It caught him completely by surprise.

He looked down upon the mare beneath his hand, "Was that your doing?"

Luna only opened one eye, soothed as she was under Graeme's gentle ministrations She allowed it to look upwards, just in time to sight another shooting star as it appeared, following almost exactly along the trail of its predecessor, "It was."

"Tampering with my sky... Tut tut." he admonished playfully.

Luna looked to him instead, amusement clearly alight in her eye and expression. She resettled herself against him, closing it again, "To make Ourself a part of thine dreamscape is all that We desire."

Graeme leaned forwards, placing a gentle kiss atop her forehead, "That you did, many moons ago."

A smile crept across Luna's lips, a peace-filled silence surrounding the pair in its comforting embrace. Graeme kept running his fingers delicately through her mane.

He looked up at the stars, hoping the night would last forever.

-o-O-o-