Dreamstrider

by OkemosBrony

Chapter 25

Aurora Borealis
Head Dreamstrider

Even though it’s probably the millionth time I’ve looked at it today, I place my new name plaque back on my desk that looks out over the Dreamstrider wing’s common area. Luna got the orrery up and running, and the planets and moons in it are slowly moving, imitating what they do in real life. The curtains for the window behind my desk are wide open, giving me an amazing view of the city of Canterlot and the rest of Luna’s wing of the palace. I take a sip of my tea as I look up at the sky, where the moon is starting to rise. Thanks to Luna, I know that it’s a waxing gibbous moon, which means that demons will be at their strongest in a few days when it’s a full moon, but so will the Dreamstriders’ magic. Then they’ll both start getting weaker, making our jobs a tiny bit easier. Compared to the demons we won’t get any stronger or weaker, but the ones that do need to be stopped will be fewer in number and not as quick to get away.

School starts tomorrow, and it’s really weird to think that I won’t be there. Snowy started a few weeks ago and Dew Drop a few days ago, so it feels like when I was really little again when they would go off to school and I would stay at home with mom. But instead, I’m the one who’ll actually have a real job she needs to go to. It’s funny how I was both the last one to go to school and the first one to stop going there. And it only took me ten years to go from being born to being the head of a government agency, too. Bet that’s got to be some kind of record.

I finish up my tea, so I go back into the Head Dreamstrider’s quarters and activate the self-cleaning enchantment on my mug before placing another tea bag in it and pouring some boiling water over it. Another thing I love about this place is my new room. It reminds me a lot of Luna’s quarters, but just the main room she has. There’s a fireplace on the wall on the left when I come in, with a couch and a few chairs facing it and a coffee table in front of them. My bed, almost identical to the one I had in my old room here at the castle, is on the opposite wall. There are a few dressers throughout the room, and off the far wall is a small library that isn’t very wide but goes up a few floors and my super luxurious bathroom. I got all my stuff moved in yesterday and spent the night, and when I decided to try out the shower this morning, I thought I was going to get so relaxed that I would just melt. I’m going to have to try out the bath, which is almost the size of one of those above-ground pools that so many ponies in Coltlumbus have. Why anypony needs that much room for a bath is beyond me, but I’m not going to complain.

I feel a little bad, honestly, because of how nice everything is. I looked through some of the individual quarters for the other Dreamstriders, and while nothing in there is low quality by any means, it’s nowhere near as nice as what I have in here. Their rooms are about as big as the room I had elsewhere in the castle, but it’s split into a bedroom and a study. They have a bathroom of their own as well, but nothing in it is as big or as nice as what I have. Still, it’s way better than anything I’ve ever seen outside the castle, so if I had to live there, I wouldn’t even think of complaining.

It will be a little disappointing that I won’t get breakfast with Luna every day since I’m here, but it could be worse. The new Dreamstrider she’s going and getting will be here soon, though I don’t know if I’ll always be up to see him in the mornings. And Luna did say she’d drop by every now and then to join us, so it’s not like I’ll never see her again. I’m also still working kind of closely with her to learn all about demons, which is the thing I’ve decided to focus on right now. It’s weird not to have to do all those other lessons and instead focus on just one thing. Sure there are a ton of different types of demons and a lot of things to know about each and every one of them, but I’m just learning about demons. Not divination, not spellcasting, not teablending, just demons. It’s fascinating, the first time I’ve really been interested in a subject. Sure I always liked school and Dreamstriding, but something about learning about demons makes me more excited than ever before. I’m even starting to make friends with some of them, too. I’ve got two playful demon friends now I named Pankratz and Lettenhove, after characters in a book I loved when I was little.

I wonder when she’ll be back. She left a few hours ago, but I don’t know how far away Baltimare is by chariot. I’ve never even been there, but I hear it’s about as far away as Fillydelphia is, but south instead of north. Maybe she’ll be back soon? It was dark when I came here in her chariot, but I don’t remember what time we arrived. And even then, Coltlumbus is closer to Canterlot than Baltimare is. Guess she’ll show up when she shows up.

Guess I should practice my Demon in the meantime while I’m waiting, so I walk to the other side and sit down before pulling out a small notebook and a pencil. Writing Demon is definitely the part I’m weakest in, so Luna suggested that I start keeping a journal in Demon to try and practice. It’s definitely helped me and has made me more confident in writing, but I feel like there are mistakes I’m making that don’t get corrected because this is my private journal. There’s not really much in here right now that I wouldn’t want anypony else to read, but the mere thought of keeping a journal makes me want to keep it to myself. There may not be anything private in there now, but I can’t speak for the future.

Writing in Demon is still slow for me, so I’m only about a paragraph into my writing when the door to the Dreamstrider wing opens. I break out of my hyper concentration I was using to write, and can now see that any sunlight that was left in the sky when I started writing is gone, replaced by bright silver moonlight. Luna smiles as she walks in, a colt about two years younger than me following her.

“I knew you couldn’t resist sitting behind that desk and surveying your department,” she winks. “I can tell you’re enjoying your first taste of leadership.”

“Yeah,” I mumble as I start blushing. She walks up to my desk, and I close the notebook so she can’t read what’s inside. She’s made me start writing everything to her in Demon, and she always makes so many corrections that it looks like she just spilled red ink all over the page. I don’t need her doing that to my personal journal.

“This is Moonlight,” she says, gesturing to the colt next to her, who gives me a weak wave. “Moonlight, this is Aurora. She will be your overseer, but as she was just in your position a few years ago, you will be able to approach her with any questions you have and she will answer them to the best of her abilities.”

“Good to meet you, Moonlight. You excited to start Dreamstriding?”

“Kinda nervous,” he replies quietly. “Is it hard?”

“Not super hard, no.” I had to think about it for a moment, because while there were some difficulties, there wasn’t anything extremely hard, and if there was, it wasn’t for very long. Getting trapped by Luna in a ritual was probably the hardest thing, but I figure he can find out about that one by himself. I actually did it once again over the summer with Luna’s help, and it’s really not that bad when you know what to do. And when you don’t try to cry your way out of it.

“You may choose any of the rooms here,” Luna says, pointing all around the room. “The guards shall be bringing up the rest of your things momentarily, and I have duties that I must attend to. Aurora, will you be able to help him settle in?”

“Can do,” I say as I raise my mug. She nods, then leaves the room into the hallway.

“What’s Princess Luna like?” he asks weakly, taking a seat on the other side of the desk from me.

“She’s really nice. And she’ll help you if you ever need it, too. Just make sure to think things through, because then even if you fail, she won’t get mad and will just help you improve.” I laugh nervously. “I failed once because I didn’t really think, and she was pretty mad.”

“What happened?”

“I can tell you later,” I dismiss. I only get one first impression as his boss, so I don’t want to admit the mess I made with the silvertongue demon just yet. “So Moonlight, tell me a little about yourself.”

“I’m from Baltimare. I’ve got a little brother two years younger than me, and then a baby sister who was just born a few months ago.”

Younger siblings, and a sister who’s just a few months old? That’s got to be rough. Being the youngest of my sisters by many years was almost nice for coming here, because in a few years I wasn’t going to be living with them anyways. And I never really grew up alongside either of them like he probably did with his brother, so it’s not like I was missing somepony that was always there with me.

“Have you ever been to Canterlot?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “I don’t even think I’ve ever been outside Baltimare.”

“Not even to visit family?” I ask.

“Why would I have to travel?” he asks. “All my family’s from Baltimare.”

Well, guess it wasn’t just Coltlumbus where I was the only pony I knew whose family lived all across Equestria. I always thought the ponies I knew back home were weird for having all their family so close by, but maybe it’s my family that’s the weird one.

“Well, are you excited to be living here? Lots of ponies dream about living in Canterlot and at the palace, so you’re getting to do something only a hooffull will ever get to. Plus, you get to go to Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. You learn some really cool stuff there.”

“I hear it’s really hard there. Is it?”

“I got good grades there, and I learned almost nothing about magic before I came here. It’s not as hard as ponies say it is, and both Princess Luna and I are here to help you. But go to her first, she’s kind of been studying magic longer than I have.”

He laughs a little. That’s a good sign, I suppose. He doesn’t seem quite as nervous as I was when I was starting my lessons about Dreamstriding. Maybe having me, somepony who’s actually gone through what he’s going to go through, helps. Now he just has to follow in my hoofsteps, not follow in the hoofsteps of Princess Luna like I had to.

“What will I need to do to Dreamstride?” he asks. “Princess Luna tried to describe it to me, but I still don’t understand it.”

“You have to…” I stop and think for a moment; while I know exactly what I want to him, I don’t know how to put it into words that somepony who’s never done it would understand. “Basically, every Dreamstrider has a connection to the dream world, and you have to use that to get there. Don’t worry if you don’t know what I’m talking about, because I’d be surprised if you did. Luna and I will help you get started with that, and don’t worry if you don’t make a lot of progress to start. Took me a few months to even be able to get into the dream world, and even longer to be able to do it consistently.”

“I’ve never felt any connection,” he says quietly. “Are you sure I can do it?”

I smile a little bit, because I’m pretty sure I asked the same exact thing when I first came here to Canterlot. “We can be certain of it. We share a lot of similarities in our magic, and so when you’re in the dream world, your dream feels familiar to us. Luna even brought me by your dream once, and it feels like mine and hers. Do you remember feeling something weird that nopony else felt a few months ago, by any chance?”

“No,” he shakes his head.

I take a sip of my tea. “That’s what it feels like. Another Dreamstrider was born not long ago, and we all feel a flush of dream magic when they’re born. That’s what it felt like to be in your dream, and it’s what it feels like to be near Luna’s.”

“You were in my dream?”

Shoot, I didn’t mean to tell him that. Now I gotta think of something to say. “Uh...yeah. Just for a little bit, so Luna could show me what it felt like to be in a Dreamstrider’s dream.”

“Have you ever been in one of her dreams?”

“Come to think of it, no. I’d really like to go in one of her dreams and see, but if she doesn’t need help then you’re not supposed to go into somepony’s dream. And Luna is a very private pony, so I imagine she wouldn’t like us going and poking around there.”

“Would she know?”

“I think? We can wipe ponies’ memories of dreams, but she probably would know how to stop us or reverse it. I don’t want to risk it, I have a good relationship with her and don’t want to throw it away.”

“You can erase ponies’ memories? I always thought that was something only possible in movies.”

“Sometimes even I don’t even believe everything we do. So much of what we do is a lot easier than it sounds though, and you’ll love it.”

The door at the other end of the Dreamstrider wing opens and Sveta walks in, carrying a tray with tea leaves, a kettle, and mugs in her magic. She places it on my desk without a word, then turns around and starts walking out.

“Wait!” I yell before she can get to the door.

“Yes?” she asks while turning around. Her voice doesn’t sound quite as aggressive as it normally is. Wonder what’s caused this change in her.

“This is Moonlight,” I say to her. “Moonlight, this is Sveta. She’s one of Princess Luna’s guards, you’re going to see her around a lot. Sveta, this is our newest Dreamstrider.”

She gives us a quick nod, but then before he can say anything to her, she walks right out. I guess even though she seems to be growing friendlier with me, she’s still her old self.

He picks up the mug and studies it. “Why’d she just give you some tea?”

I can see a little note on the tray, so I pick it up and notice that it’s in demon. “It can alter your magic and make it easier to Dreamstride and do things in the dream world. I recognize this blend, so if you want you can put some tea in the mug and pour some water in it and wait for it to cool down. I just have to read this real quick.”

While he starts doing what I tell him, I look at the note. It looks pretty hastily scribbled, so she probably has a lot that she has to do and just wanted to tell me this really quick.

Aurora, please assist Moonlight with trying to Dreamstride tonight. I know he will not be able to as he is only a beginner, although it will be good for him to start thinking about how to enter the dream world.

“Moonlight?”

He looks up from the tea, which is now half full of boiling water. “Yeah?”

“Choose a room that you want to put your stuff in. I’m going to be helping you a little bit tonight with starting to Dreamstride.”

“Already? But I haven’t learned anything about magic or done anything to prepare!”

“Dreamstriding is something that’s natural to us, you don’t need to do any of that. You’ll need to practice sure, but otherwise it’s just getting in touch with your magic. Going to Princess Celestia’s is mainly so you just understand how magic works, because you’re going to use it a lot in Dreamstriding. And like, we use divination a lot, but some of the other stuff like transmutation is basically useless to us. Luna or I can tell you what’s the important stuff you learn at school and what’s the stuff that you just need to learn to pass the class.”

“Alright,” he says uneasily as he puts the mug on my desk and looks around the office. He points to the one in the absolute middle on my left side, which would be the right as you walk into the office.

I put my tea down on my desk and stand up, taking one of his bags in my magic. “Let’s not waste any time getting started, then.”

Comments

[vampnyx]

Aurora Borealis Head Dreamstrider

Now I'm very excited