Chapter 3
Every pony who has ever dreamed has visited the realm of Somnius, even if they never realize it. Unique amongst the Realms, Somnius is both a place and a state of being—dreaming minds inhabit this layer of the Dreamrealms and, like a pearl in an oyster’s shell, each sleeper's mind appears, encapsulated within their own dreams. There are those who believe that these dreams will sometimes drift close to one another, with elements from one dream crossing through to the dream of another.
If there is a way for a traveler to visit Somnius directly without first traversing the Gloaming, I do not know of it. I suspect there is none, for the dreaming minds of Somnius are themselves nestled in the Gloaming like coins in a pouch.
For those who wish to travel to the Gloaming, it is simply impossible to describe with any degree of accuracy, for its countenance varies according to those who visit it.
There are millions of dreamers who can be found in the Gloaming. And it is here that those who hunt among dreams stake out their grounds.
On the Dreamrealms, A Study by Lucid Dreamer, revised translated edition, 127 A.F.
Stars of all colors winked and shimmered beneath her hooves as far as Trixie could see. They were scattered, though not uniformly, with dense clusters here and there with large gaps of darkness between. Her mind insisted that she was looking down at the night sky, and she felt a moment of intense vertigo, as if she were somehow falling into the stars themselves.
“Remain here,” Luna said, the sudden sound of her voice breaking Trixie out of her developing panic. “Do nothing, Approach nothing. I shall return momentarily.”
And, with that, the Princess of the Night flew off into the star-field, directly towards a star that was shimmering a fitful, worrying red. She touched her horn onto the star and, a moment later, she vanished, causing Smidgen to let out a fearful squeak.
Trixie herself wasn’t feeling much better. Floating above a vast field of stars was so much worse than being similarly suspended in the field of blue-grey nothingness that made up the Threshold of Dreams. Maybe because the stars acted like points of reference, making everything seem to spin dizzily around her.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on getting herself under control. Her pulse slowed as she began regulating her breathing. Slowly, she began to calm, her muscles relaxing and her jaw unclenching. And, as her nerves unwound, she mentally chided herself for getting so worked up in the first place. It wasn’t as if the Princess would put them in any danger—
“Trixie...”
Her eyes snapped open. The voice had been so soft, she wasn’t sure she’d even heard it.
“Did you say something?” she asked Smidgen, who only shook her head in response.
Trixie looked down at her trembling friend. Only her eyes, wide and frightened, were clearly visible in the near-total darkness of the Gloaming—the rest of her was indistinct and shadowed. Trixie leaned in and pressed herself against Smidgen’s side, smiling as she felt the other mare immediately begin to relax.
Still, there was more she could do to distract her friend while they waited on Luna’s return. Besides, there was something she had to know. “Say, Smidgen. That shadecloak was a neat trick, but you're upsetting the balance of our friendship."
Her quip had the desired effect of distracting the other mare from her fears, but it also had the unintended side-effect of making Smidgen look extremely worried. With her ears down, she said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"
"After all," Trixie broke in loudly. "I'm the one who's supposed to be the boisterous showoff who charges ahead while throwing caution to the wind. You, on the other hoof, are supposed to be the sensible one, who takes every precaution and does everything by the book." Trixie sighed and gave an exaggerated shake of her head. "I'm afraid that's going to cost you on your annual friendship review. You may just lose out on that promotion you've had your eye on."
Smidgen's smile was bright enough to make even this place cheery. "Well, I'll just have to work extra hard to make up for it, won't I?"
Trixie grinned bumped her friend with her shoulder. "How did you figure that out, anyway?”
“Oh, um. It’s described in the book I’m reading now. ‘Spells and Cantrips of the Dreamrealms’.”
Trixie pouted. “I haven’t read that one yet. I’m still stuck on ‘On the Dreamrealms, A Study’. I’ve never read anything so dry and hard to follow in my whole life!”
Smidgen giggled, and Trixie could feel the last of the tension flood away from the smaller mare. “I know what you mean. Some of these books… I don’t know how useful it is having the translated version when it was translated centuries ago. I think that’s why I didn’t do the shadecloak properly.”
“Is it difficult to do?"
Smidgen shook her head. "Not really, though I guess it's hard to do right. There's a specific weave of aether you need to use, but otherwise it's simple enough."
Trixie grunted at the mention of the aether. Supposedly, the stuff permeated the Dreamrealms, but Trixie couldn't be sure it even existed. According to Princess Luna, that was because it was by its very nature completely intangible to those unfamiliar with its use. Supposedly they’d eventually get to actually see what they were trying to work with as they practiced.
"Weave and will," Trixie muttered.
"Weave and will," Smidgen agreed, and they shared a laugh.
It was one of Luna's phrases to explain how to work with the aether itself, grabbing the invisible mist in their imaginations, spinning it into threads and weaving it into patterns, then using their will to merge that pattern onto the malleable environment of the Dreamrealms. It was how dream wards were made, one painstaking layer at a time.
Getting distracted and losing the concentration needed to keep the pattern going was a major reason why Luna kept scolding Trixie on the sloppiness of her wards. She shook her head, not willing to allow herself to dwell on setbacks that were, she was certain, just temporary.
"I've read about this place, though," Trixie said. "At least the book is good for that much. Apparently, what we're seeing is called the Gloaming, which is a representation of what actually exists in the next realm deeper, which is called Somnius."
"They aren't the same place?"
"No. It's..." Trixie's muzzle twisted. Like many things in the Dreamrealms, it was hard to nail this place down with an accurate description. "There are two ways into Somnius. The easy way is to just dream, and you'll end up there, but you won't be able to travel outside of your own dream. The other way is to go through the Gloaming. It's like..." She frowned, thinking for a few seconds. "It's like we're on the surface of a really clear lake right now, out in the open air. We can see what's under the water, but it's really it's own world. At least, I think that's pretty close."
"Near enough," Luna said from behind them, causing both mares to yelp in surprise. "Furthermore, this place resembles a field of stars because I choose for it to. Some imagine it as a field of flowers, or as butterflies fluttering over a field. Observe..."
A look of intense concentration crossed Luna's face, and suddenly the stars all around them began swirling and spinning. Trixie let out a little mewl of distress, and she could feel Smidgen shiver at her side. It was as if the whole night sky began to quickly rotate, the stars gathering together and coalescing into a single solid mass.
"Evening Star, one of the original Dreamguard, preferred to imagine a grand tree," Luna said, her voice somewhat strained.
The world shimmered before them until, much to Trixie's surprise, they were standing in midair above a massive, prismatic forest, bathed in moonlight. The leaves on the trees glowed, mostly white shading to blue, but with the occasional greens, blues and the rare orange here and there.
Luna let out a satisfied grunt and a sharp nod. "That was over a thousand years ago. Today, I have more dreams to protect than could conceivably fit into a single tree, no matter how large."
"Those are all dreams?" Smidgen asked, her voice sounding awed.
"Indeed. It is these dreams we are to protect. When the time comes, I shall have each member of the Dreamguard weave their wards over specific populations in order to keep out those who would prey upon the dreamers."
Smidgen shivered again, and Trixie joined her. Luna had already told them about some of the creatures they might encounter here, and none of them sounded very pleasant. They ranged from the large number of simple and almost mindless creatures that would latch onto a dream in order to siphon some of the light from it, to bodoks, baku, dreamwraiths—and many, many others—who could actively prey on dreams—or worse, the dreamers within.
Luna must have seen their reaction, because she gave a reassuring smile. “Have no fear. Most of the truly dangerous creatures were eradicated over a millenia ago. Those that remain know better than to hunt here now. Even before I returned, my sister did an… adequate job of keeping the most dangerous creatures away. Most of what remains are the simple pests.”
“If you say so, Princess,” Trixie said, eying the forest below her hooves uncertainly.
“I show you this now only to plant the seed in your mind. The Gloaming is still far too dangerous for you to visit unsupervised.”
Trixie frowned at that, immediately forgetting her earlier fear. She looked down at the forest below and couldn’t help thinking that it didn’t look that dangerous.
“What about when you vanished earlier?” Smidgen asked. “We were alone then.”
“For a short time, yes. I had to deal with a nightmare.”
Trixie perked her ears forward. Actually entering another pony’s dream sounded fascinating! “When will we get to do that?”
Luna laughed. She actually laughed at that! Trixie’s jaw clenched even as Luna answered.
“Many, many years from now, if ever,” the Night Princess said. “Not many ever achieve the level of discipline needed to enter another’s dream.”
“I’m plenty disciplined, Princess!”
Dark features turned down into a disapproving frown. “Perhaps not as much as you think, Miss Lulamoon.” Luna held up a hoof as Trixie started to protest. “Nay, I mean no disrespect. You are coming along as well as I could have ever hoped. But to enter another’s dream… To enter the fabric of somepony else’s mind, and still retain your own sense of self? ‘Tis something that far more ponies fail at than succeed. And the results of failure can range from embarrassing to tragic.”
“Tragic? I don’t understand.”
A haunted look came over Luna’s features as she looked away. “Should you fail to keep your sense of self intact, then you become part of the dream, yourself. Your mind will fit into whatever role the dreamer thinks of for you. In the case of the average dream, you may just find yourself in strange circumstances. In the event of a nightmare, you may find yourself at the mercy of terrible monsters. Or, worse, as a monster yourself, unable to stop yourself from committing horrible acts.” She drew in a deep, shuddering sigh before continuing. “The truly unfortunate can find their minds forever altered, unable to escape the dream’s role for them even while awake.”
Trixie shivered at that. Maybe she could wait a bit before giving it a try...
“Keep in mind, most dreams when viewed with the waking eye can range from the silly, to the ominous, to the outright terrifying.” She winked, then, a smirk crossing her muzzle. “And, sometimes, a dream will simply be erotic. Those tend to be the most embarrassing ones in which to lose your sense of self.”
Smidgen let out a little “eep!” the moment Luna used the word “erotic”. Trixie could feel the heat of the blush radiating off of the little mare.
“Speaking from personal experience, Princess?” Trixie asked, trying on a smirk of her own.
Luna laughed again. “Alas, no. Though, in the distant past I have had to rescue more than one Dreamguard trainee from such a dream. One such was Evening Star, of whom I spoke earlier. For weeks afterwards, she couldn’t walk past avocados without blushing.”
Trixie’s face went blank as her imagination went wild. Next to her, Smidgen let out another little “eep!”
“After tonight, your training will change,” Luna said, either not noticing or ignoring the effect her words had on her two students. “From here it becomes much more difficult. I have no doubt that you will both make me proud.”
Trixie couldn’t help but smirk. Of course she’d make Luna proud—it was a foregone conclusion. After all, she was Trixie Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful.
At that moment, she decided to double down, to work harder than she ever had before. Smidgen had surpassed her—briefly!—with that shadecloak of hers, and she would let her friend have that little victory. But from here on in, she was determined that it would be Trixie in the lead, every single step of the way.
Failure, she knew, was not going to be an option.
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Yay it dropped. Glad to see it out on the ol' fimfic finally.
I saw this and I got super excited cuz I justfnished up chapter 15 of
Pride can be useful if it motivates. But Trixie is going to have to be careful, she has it in spades. I'm enjoying this adventure into the dreamrelms. :)
I love your characterization of Trixie. Fun, interesting worldbuilding.
Keep it up! You're doing really well! ^-^
Such an interesting guide of the oniric
Glad to have you back Hoopy. Sad to hear that you have joined us in the depression club
A nod to DwarvishPony's The Dreamguard, right?
It's like a dream come true! ...But without the avocados!
(Trivia time: Avocados--especially the skin and seed--can be toxic to equines >
8087127
Actually, I've never read that one. It's going straight into my read-later list, though!
8087675 Huh.
This is a cool depiction of the Dreamrealm can't wait for more!
Oops! I spelled that mare first time!
I say nay to that!
horizoneducational.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/failure-option.jpg
8087439
Trivia : Acording to some texts, taste and texture of avocado is simmilar to semen
Hard to confirm that but I hate that bland tasteless flour paste
8105987 I... have no interests in finding out if that's true.
After all, avacados are gross!
(Classic comedic reversal of expectations! A basic form of paraprosdokian! Truly, Alondro is a profound mad genius!)
Failure is the default option.
Like the net of a trap!
8268677
That's a pessimistic attitude to have.
Hmmmm, Trixie and Smidgens' friendship is cute