Dreamstrider

by OkemosBrony

Chapter 14

I take a deep breath and try to focus. All sounds start dying down, and the I stop feeling the wind blowing my mane. I can feel the magic inside of me well up, and before long, I feel connected to the ambient magic all around me.

I can feel some pain coming from a ways away, so I stand up and try and figure out where it’s coming from. After slowly turning around, it seems to be coming from in front of me and to the left. Slowly but surely, the feeling is getting stronger and stronger as I continue walking. The anxiety and nervousness I’m feeling about this is so intense that I don’t even notice the tree that I run face-first into.

Great. That feeling was so hard to lock onto, and now I’ve lost it. After a few minutes of closing my eyes and trying to get back into the right mindset, I finally manage to hone in again on the feeling and continue in the same direction that I was before. Before long, I find myself in a small clearing with a few puddles of mist. The feeling of pain is pretty strong, and I can’t pinpoint the exact location like this, so I close my eyes again.

While I can’t exactly sense where the pain is coming from, I do have a better feeling of where it is now. Moving as slowly as I can as to not break my concentration, I go in the direction of the pain. Eventually, I end up at what I think is the dream, so I open my eyes and look down. This is definitely it.

Deep breath, Aurora. First time Dreamstriding by myself, so no pressure. Not like there are demons in this poor pony’s dream that I need to defeat without Luna’s help. Guess the only thing I can do is go in and try.

I place a hoof in and go inside, gently floating down to the ground. A bit of dust kicks up when my hooves hit the ground, and I look around to see a bunch of houses in two straight rows and one house at the end of the street I’m on, looking out over the rest of the town. It appears this is everything there, without anything else beyond the houses. There’s a cool wind that blows through and nearly gets some dust in my eyes, which reminds me that I need to try and distance myself from the dream. While I do manage to warm up a little bit, I’m not able to do it as well as Luna did it for me when I was in that one colt’s dream.

“Hello?” I call out. My voice just echoes off the rocky walls of the canyon we’re in. “Anypony here?”

The door to the house at the end of the street creaks open, which causes me to snap my head there. My eyes meet with whoever is behind the door, but it just slams shut as soon as they see me looking at them. Could they be the dreamer? They’re probably pretty scared, which would explain why they closed the door so quickly. My best lead, I guess.

I walk up to the house and knock on the door, but I can’t hear any movement from the other side so I knock again. “I know you’re there,” I say to the door. “I saw you when I was in the street.”

There’s a long pause, then some hooves trying to softly trot over to the door. “Who are you?” a mare’s voice asks shakily.

Shoot. How do I introduce myself? Do I tell her I’m a Dreamstrider? Do I tell her there are demons in her dream? Whatever I say, I probably need to be really convincing, because she sounds like an adult. If she’s an adult like she sounds like, she’s probably like most other adults I know and doesn’t think I’m able to help her.

“Who are you?” she demands, louder and more intense this time.

“I’m Aurora,” I blurt out. “I’m here to help.”

“Help?” she repeats. She opens the door quickly, then looks down at me and frowns a little in dissatisfaction. “You’re a kid.”

“So?” I ask back. “You need help, don’t you?”

She cranes her neck and appears to be looking behind me, then opens the door a little more. “I don’t know how you plan to help, but you can come in.”

I walk up the few steps into her house, and the door slams shut almost as soon as I walk in, nearly taking a few hairs off my tail. She moves quickly into the other room, and so I follow her. She’s sitting at a table, fiddling with her hooves. When she hears me walk in, she looks up, her purple mane with a bright blue stripe in it bobbing as her head snaps up.

“So.” She narrows her eyes and studies me. “What exactly is a little filly doing here? And why does she say she plans to help?” She does the look behind me thing again, and now I can tell that she’s looking at my flank. “And why do you still have your Cutie Mark?”

“I, uh…” I’m not sure which of those to answer first. Those first two questions I always ran over in my head when I would pretend to be a Dreamstrider, but that last one is just so odd. Why wouldn’t I have a Cutie Mark?

I’m just standing there for a little bit, so she gets up from the table and stands over me, staring me down. “Answer me, Aurora.”

“You need help, don’t you?” Her glare just hardens a little bit. “There’s something here upsetting you, isn’t there? You’re having a nightmare.”

“A dream?” She smiles, then steps away from me. “Of course, a dream! That explains everything!” With a huge smile, she turns back towards me. “So I just need to wake up, right! So…” She concentrates, but nothing happens. “How is it exactly you’re supposed to do that?”

“I have to help you,” I explain, taking a few steps closer to her. “There’s something here giving you the nightmare. Do you have any idea of what it is?”

Sighing, she sits at the table and places a hoof on her forehead. “Yeah. I think I know exactly what you mean.”

Guess that saves me some trouble of having to figure out what’s going on here. “What’s the nightmare, then?”

After just looking down at the table for a moment, she shakes her head. “Those ponies, the rest of the ones in the town.”

“Why? Why are they giving you a nightmare?”

“This is…” She pauses. “Our Town. I talked some ponies into coming here, lured them with false hope and empty promises. Took advantage of those who were suffering and tried to warp them to my own twisted ideals.”

I sit down across from her. “What did you do?”

“I took their cutie marks.” She looks back at mine. “That’s why I was surprised to see yours. I thought Cutie Marks divided ponies, fostered egotism and narcissism. But Twilight Sparkle showed me the way, showed me that it was only my own egotism and narcissism I was nurturing. She chased me out, and then I looked inside myself and saw only hatred. She took me in, and little by little has helped me chip away at all that anger which was building up inside.”

Wait, she knows Princess Twilight? And lives with her, too? I guess this means that the clearing this dream was in is Ponyville in our world.

“How are you here, by the way?” she asks. “You weren’t one of the fillies in the village, and I’ve never met anypony named Aurora before. And you knew this was a dream, as well.”

“You know how Princess Luna can enter our dreams at night?” She nods. “Well, I can do that too. And I’m here to help you.”

“Send a little filly to help me,” she laughs. “So what is it you need to do? Quick spell and leave me to a restful night’s sleep, is that just it?”

“Just give me a minute,” I tell her while waving a hoof at her. Clearly whatever demon is in her mind is a malevolent demon, I can tell there’s a lot of pain in her mind. She knows this place well, so it’s a specific thing that’s giving her a nightmare, not just a general feeling of dread. Her fear is specific. What was it Luna taught me about P sounds? That’s right: specific, preying. They’re preying demons. Now I remember.

“I know what to do now,” I tell her. “They’re a special type of de...creature that likes to prey on your fears.” She seems pretty upset, so telling her she has a demon in her mind probably isn’t the best move.

“Okay.” She stands up and walks around to my side of the table and extends a hoof down. “My name’s Starlight, by the way.”

Starlight, that name sounds familiar. I think I’ve heard a little bit about her as Princess Twilight’s new student! Wait, so we’re basically in pretty similar positions since I’m Luna’s student and she’s Princess Twilight’s. I wonder if we’ll cross paths again in the future.

I take her hoof, and we walk to the front door together. Nervously, she opens it and steps out into the street and just looks around. It’s still as empty as when I was in the road, so I’m wondering if there really are any ponies in her dream. If it’s a whole town’s worth, I don’t think just one demon would be able to copy all of them so she would recognize them and scare her.

“Come out!” she yells. “I’m not scared of you anymore!”

The doors to all the houses in the town open up, and lost of ponies with identical mane styles, cutie marks, and smiles all step out, every hoofstep in unison with each other.

“Starlight!” a mare with a dark and dull purple coat and a mane done up in a bun yells at us. “Give us our cutie marks back!”

“Go!” Starlight demands, pushing me forward towards them. “Do whatever it is you said you could do!”

Since that mare is the one that yelled at us, she’s probably the demon. I get the spell ready in my head, and when it’s done and I add the part specific to preying demons, a bright blue beam of magic shoots out of my horn and hits her, but it does nothing.

“What was that supposed to be?” She steps down into the street, and the other ponies do the same as her. “Starlight, you’ve gone too far! She’s just a little filly, don’t lie to her like you did to the rest of us!”

“You said you could fix this!” Starlight hisses at me.

“I thought I did!” I did everything Luna told me to do; I figured out the problem, I used that information to figure out what demon was in her dream, and I cast the appropriate spell. A preying demon can only take the form of one thing or pony, and she’s the only one that’s spoken up, which means she has to be it.

“Run!” Starlight yells, grabbing my hoof and practically dragging me out of the town.

“Slow down!” I yell back.

She growls, then lets me go and continues running. I have to give it everything I have, but I’m able to at least not lose sight of her. She ducks behind a big rock, so I run behind it and nearly fall down because of how tired I am.

“Who are they?” I manage to get out between deep pants. I’m really winded from having to run so fast, so I just sit down.

Poking her head out from where we’re hiding, she looks around and then back at me. “They’re the ones I manipulated and lied to,” she says. She’s breathing heavier than normal, but she’s not quite as bad as me.

“What did you tell them?”

She looks at her own flank, and her Cutie Mark looks like it’s the exact same one as the rest of the ponies in the town. I don’t quite think I noticed that until now. It’s just two black bars making an equal sign.

“I told them…” She trails off, then just shakes her head. “Told them that being special and different was bad, and that I could cure everything that was going wrong in their lives by removing their Cutie Marks and the special talent that came with it. And in my hubris, I kept them and proudly displayed every Cutie Mark I had removed. I thought it would remind them of everything they had gone through and all the pain and suffering they brought, but it just made them realize that I was a false prophet and reminded of how much they enjoyed being unique and special.”

“You displayed them?” I ask. “The thing giving you nightmares likes to disguise itself as things, so it could be disguised as their Cutie Marks! And it locates something in your mind that you’re afraid of, so are you scared of those ponies or something?”

Slow, sad nodding is my answer. “Yes, while I did come back here and they did forgive me when I apologized, I’m afraid that they did not truly mean it. I suppose that thing could be masquerading as the Cutie Mark Vault…”

“Let’s go, then!” I try and grab her hooves and pull her up, but I’m not strong enough to be able to pull a full-grown mare up without her putting some effort in as well.

“Whatever gets this over with,” she groans, getting to her hooves. “Why did Princess Luna send you, anyways? Why didn’t she come herself?”

“This is, uh…” I blush and try not to look at her because she’ll probably get mad. “Obviously I have to learn how to do this by myself, so this is my first time doing it without her.”

I can hear her start to groan a little bit, but then I look back and she’s just taking a few deep breaths. I can feel the magic around her is kind of tense, so she’s probably trying to keep herself from blowing up in my face.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

After taking a slow and deep breath, she nods. “Yes, I have some anger management issues, as you have probably figured out by now. And this is as much a test of my patience at having a little filly come protect my dreams as it is a test of your powers.”

Ouch, she’s definitely being kind of rude right now. But I guess I should just keep my mouth shut; she seems really upset by all this, so I probably shouldn’t be fighting her.

“Up here.” She points ahead towards a path up the mountain. “That’s the way to the Vault.”

We walk a little bit up the hill, and a cave entrance comes into view not that far in front of us. She sends me in first, then looks around to make sure none of the townsponies followed us before coming in herself.

A bright blue light nearly blinds me when I turn around to look in the cave, and only once I squint my eyes can I make out the individual little boxes with all sorts of Cutie Marks in them.

“Horrifying, isn’t it?” Starlight asks, going up to the Vault and putting a hoof on it. “And to think there was a time I saw beauty in this.”

The light dies down, so I walk closer to it and start studying it. “I didn’t even know it was possible to remove a Cutie Mark.”

“It was an old spell, one I had to search hard for.” She picks up a stick that’s just lying there on the ground with her magic, then twirls it around a little. “I told them that it was one of Meadowbrook’s enchanted items, and that’s how I was able to remove their marks.” Sticking the staff in the dirt, she walks back up to me and looks at it. “But it’s just a stick. I wouldn’t be able to remove their Cutie Marks if I removed my own, so I had to lie and pretend it was the Staff of Sameness that was doing it.”

I point to her flank, which has the same equals sign the other ponies in town had. “So then why’s your Cutie Mark the same as theirs?”

After quickly licking her hoof, she rubs it on her flank and causes her Cutie Mark to start running. “It’s painted on.” I think I can see a little bit of blue start to appear now that her painted-on Mark is starting to disappear.

“Hey!” the mare from earlier calls from outside the cave. “She’s in here!”

“Go, quick!” Starlight panics, pacing nervously in place. “Do your thing on the Vault!”

Powering up my horn, I quickly face the Vault and try to concentrate through all the noise of the other ponies yelling things at Starlight, a lot of those things being words I would get in a lot of trouble if mom or dad ever heard me use.

When the spell is all done, I fire it off at the Vault and look at it, waiting for something to happen. But nothing does.

“You said you knew what you were you doing!” she yells at me, the veins in her neck starting to pop. “You...you...moron! You came in here and you messed everything up, and now whatever this creature is is probably going to destroy my mind because you aggravated it! Yes, I’ve been having nightmares about what I’ve done, but you decided to come in here without knowing a single damn thing about what you were doing and making all these big promises and not even once making a difference, because all you are is a little—”

“That’s enough,” a stern and familiar voice announces from above us. When Starlight looks up to see who’s talking, I turn around and wipe the tears from my eyes so she can’t see that I’m about to start crying. At least I’m trying to help, she didn’t have to be so mean to me.

“Princess Luna?” she asks in disbelief as I can hear wings flapping down to the ground.

“First things first, I believe you owe my student an apology.” I can feel a hoof on my shoulder which turns me around, and Starlight looks down.

“I’m...sorry,” she mumbles. From the look on her face, she really is sorry she yelled at me.

“Second, Aurora: you are close to the demon here, but you were incorrect that it was either Sugar Belle or the Cutie Mark Vault. Do you have a third guess?”

I look around the cave we’re in, and weirdly enough, all the ponies that were running at us are frozen in time and not moving. She’s right; I can tell that we’re close to the demon, but I can’t figure out exactly which one it is so I shake my head. “No, I don’t have any clue what it could be.”

The Staff of Sameness is engulfed in magic the same color as Luna’s as it’s pulled out of the dirt and levitated in front of my face. “Not even this?”

I point my hoof at it. “The demon’s that thing?” I’d think a demon would like to take the form of something other than a plain old stick. I certainly would if I could transform into anything I wanted.

“Yes,” she nods. “Now, would you like to try to repel this demon one last time?”

Not even saying anything, I start to prepare the spell for a third time. This time, when I cast it on the Staff in front of me, it morphs into what looks like a big lizard with six legs and scurries out of the cave.

“Did it work?” Starlight asks worriedly.

“Yes,” Luna confirms. “That creature was a preying demon, which can enter your mind and look for specific things you are afraid of. It found this, and so it transformed into the Staff of Sameness and created this dreamscape to frighten you.”

“This doesn’t frighten me,” she asserts. “It makes me feel awful about what I’ve done, but it doesn’t scare me.”

“Interesting.” Luna turns to me. “Do you have any idea why the preying demon would choose that form and this location, then?”

“No, I thought preying demons only targeted fear, not regret.”

“Exactly,” she smiles. “Starlight, are you not afraid of yourself?”

“What?” she asks, almost like she didn’t hear Luna right. “Afraid of myself?”

“Yes. It wasn’t Meadowbrooks or some other magical force that removed all their Cutie Marks, it was you. You were the one who deceived them, you were the one who took advantage of them, you were the one to remove the one thing that made them feel any sort of self-worth.”

She sniffles and wipes a tear from her eye. “You’re not making me feel really good about myself, Princess.”

“You’re afraid of all the hatred inside of you,” she continues, seemingly not hearing Starlight. “It took the form of the Staff of Sameness because it symbolized the fact that you, by your own hoof, hurt so many. There was nopony else to share the blame.” She walks up to her and puts a hoof on her comfortingly. “Starlight, I know you returned to Our Town and reconciled for your actions, and I know they forgave you. Twilight Sparkle is teaching you to let go of your hatred, to not let it define who you are as a pony. View this moment not as shameful, but as an opportunity. You realized you were filled with hate, you realized your views were hypocritical because you kept your own Cutie Mark, and you shut it all out. Anything that disagreed with you, whether it was another pony or yourself, you silenced. You’re not like that anymore, Starlight Glimmer. You are not consumed by the hatred that once dictated your every move.”

Starlight looks at where the other ponies were, and it’s now just the empty mouth to the cave. “I’m not exactly sure you’re right about all of that, though,” she admits.

“You admitted you had a problem and you want to change.” A warm smile grows on her face. “Those are the two most important steps in changing who you are.”

She tries to put her head down, but Luna puts a hoof under her chin and brings it up again. “You really think I’m redeemable, even after seeing the Cutie Mark Vault for yourself?”

“There is good inside of you,” she assures her. “Do not forget that. The path to redemption is long and difficult, though rewarding. Believe me, I know.”

“You can’t change what you’ve done, but you can change what you’re going to do,” I add in. “Strong ponies aren’t strong because they never make mistakes, they’re strong because they learn from them and move on.”

“Thanks,” she says, but it still doesn’t quite sound like she believes us.

“You should speak with Twilight Sparkle if you still feel this guilt,” Luna suggests. “You greatly offended her by trying to destroy your friendships, yet she still forgave you and took you in. Perhaps she can enlighten you on the goodness inside of you that you do not seem to be able to see, because she clearly is able to.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she replies quickly, almost as if she doesn’t want to hear us talk about how she really is good on the inside.

“We must go, but we wish you luck on your journeys.” Luna motions her head to the exit and starts walking out, and I follow behind her.

“Well?” I ask meekly, giving her a worried smile. “How’d I do?”

“You did...well.”

“You paused. That means I didn’t do well, does it?”

“Well, as you know, you did not do perfectly. I did follow you, and you did well; you found the dreamer and from the spell you cast were correct in identifying the demon, but were incapable of finding it yourself. Granted, it was hiding in a strange place, but you should have been able to find it yourself by focusing and looking for the magic that demons give off.”

“So does this mean you’ll let me Dreamstride by myself or not?”

“You will not be able to Dreamstride entirely by yourself. I will do as I did now, following you while you try to do so yourself. But unlike this time, I will let you know that I am present. I will simply observe and help you on the things you are lacking in.”

Well, I didn’t completely fail, so I guess it’s not all bad. Still, I didn’t do as well as I had hoped to do.

“You are relieved for the night,” Luna says, looking up at the gray mist that is the sky. “It is getting quite late, so you must be tired.”

Now that she mentions it, I really am. “Thanks for stepping in, by the way.”

“It is no problem,” she replies warmly. With that, she jumps up and before long disappears into the mist and out of this dream. I do the same, and before long, my hooves touch back down on the cold grass of the forest clearing. She’s about to take flight and go monitor all the dreams of Equestria, so I turn back towards Canterlot Cave and just start walking.

Comments

[Dlaf rferg]

That stick was very unassuming. Starlight wasn't carrying it around, none of the dreamers were using it to zap Starlight's cutie mark, it was just buried in the dirt?

I call bs if Aurora was supposed to find an unassuming stick in the mud (unless she was supposed to find Luna OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH)