//------------------------------// // Deleted Scene: Nightmares and Dreamwalking // Story: Return to Gravity Falls: The Equestria Chronicles // by Arkansandragon //------------------------------// Extra: Nightmares and Dreamwalking (Part 3) Looking at the other dream doors, Luna debated leaving them and returning to the waking world to inform Celestia of her findings. But then it occurred to her that she had no idea how well humans remembered their dreams as opposed to ponies, and in addition, the three she had visited were not in good health, making dream recall even more unlikely. Better to visit all of them, she decided, heading to the door covered in colorful stickers. Upon entering this dream, she had to squint her eyes at the bright spectrum of colors. She strongly suspected that some of the colors here would only be visible to bees and master painters. The place looked as though a child’s toy chest and a yarn factory had met in a Sonic Rainboom. Luna stood atop a hill overlooking a vast rolling plain dotted with ponds. A forest loomed in the distance, and many creatures wandered the land below her. The scenery was entirely woven from different colors of yarn: the ground, the plants, the water, the sky, even the sun and clouds. All of it was yarn. The various animals roaming the place, on the other hoof, were all living plush dolls, but there was no sign of the dreaming human. A sudden scream caught her attention, and she saw a human filly riding out of the woods atop a plush pig. It appeared the alicorn had arrived just at the beginnings of a nightmare. The child was wearing a blue sweater with pink writing on it and matching blue skirt. Save for the longer mane, she looked identical to the human colt. So, the niece and nephew are another pair of twins. Interesting... Then Luna noticed the cause of her distress. Racing out of the woods behind the filly was a pack of timberwolves--but there was something odd about them. Studying them further, she realized that the creatures were not made of wood, but clay. Meanwhile, the filly had turned around backwards on her mount and was now shooting bolts at the wolves from a crossbow, and she seemed to have good aim. But than again, this was her dream... “Die, you black magic monstrosities! Die!” she yelled, firing bolt after bolt at the creatures. Although the bolts destroyed them on impact with small glittery explosions, the timberwolves simply kept reforming. Luna made a mental note to ask about her “black magic” comment as she soared towards the chase. As she flew, she noticed that the plush animals had disappeared, and the ground was quickly changing from yarn into soft clay. The ground shifted under the plush pig, miring it. As the filly noticed her pig’s trouble and saw the wolves closing in, she pulled a strange grappling hook from inside her sweater sleeve and fired it at a passing cloud overhead. “Grappling hook! Works every time!” she boasted in triumph as it pulled her towards the cloud and out of reach of the clay monsters. Except it didn’t. The rope snapped halfway up, and she fell, shrieking, towards the swamp of clay and the waiting timberwolves. Luna’s magic quickly caught her, and carefully deposited the startled child onto her back. It felt odd having a rider, but the filly was not heavy to carry. “Are you alright?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder. The filly yelped in fright, only saving herself from a fall by grabbing handfuls of Luna’s mane. But the expression slowly changed to one of concern as she studied the alicorn more closely. “What happened to your face? You look terrible.” The dreamwalker blinked in confusion, and seeing this, the filly conjured a small mirror and held it up. Luna sighed, realizing that although her muzzle was healed, it was still covered in blood. “Do not worry, it only looks worse than it is. One of your uncles hit me,” she said simply. “I made the mistake of startling him while I was inside his dream.” “Was it Juxqfoh Vwdq? He does like punching things...” There was another unknown word. But she did recognize the sound for the beginning of “Stone Clearing”’s name. “Actually, no, it was your other uncle... Ford?” The filly looked up in confusion, having been distracted by Luna’s mane, “Huh? Juxgfoh Ford? You must have snuck up on him pretty good to get punched. Usually he likes shooting things.” She went back to gently combing her hands through the stars in the alicorn’s mane, “How do you get your hair to do this? It’s like you’ve got the real night sky in here...” she trailed off, her eyes wide in wonder. “Hm, yes, I noticed,” Luna said wryly to the comment about Ford. At the filly’s question about her mane, she only chuckled softly. Then a puzzled look crossed her face and she said, “You do not seem surprised to find me in here. Why is that?” “Trust me,” the filly said, waving a hand dismissively, “I’ve seen much weirder things than a flying unicorn before, and you did save me from that nightmare. Plus, if you were an evil dreamwalker, both my juxgfohv would have kicked your butt.” She peered at Luna thoughtfully for several moments before adding, “I still don’t like unicorns as much as I used to, but you’ve got wings, so you’re not really a unicorn, are you?” Luna decided not to correct the girl’s boast about her uncles. Instead she nodded at the clever observation of her species, “I am called an alicorn. But tell me, child, what caused this dislike of unicorns?” “It's a long story, but the short version is I used to be obsessed with them. Then I actually met some and they turned out to be total jerks.” “I’m sorry to hear that. But do not worry, many unicorns here in Equestria are quite pleasant folk. Now, young filly--” “Call me Pdeho.” Luna blinked, her brow furrowing in concentration. Unlike her uncles, the filly’s name had no physical translation*. It was not representative of an object or place, so the meaning was harder to puzzle out. The closest she could get was a feeling of love. Not the romantic kind, but rather... She shook her head. She could guess at the filly’s name later. There was a more pressing matter right now. “Little one, I need to you to listen carefully to me. This is very important.” The girl stopped toying with the night-sky mane again and sat up straighter, focusing her full attention on Luna’s face. Satisfied, Luna nodded and continued, “There is a rescue party coming to find you. Friends of mine are looking for you all, to help you escape the forest.” Landing on a nearby cloud, she let the child slide off her back, and then conjured a three-dimensional map of Equestria, as well as a picture of Twilight and her friends. “You and your family are somewhere around here, and you need to reach these castle ruins,” she said, highlighting those areas on the map. Gesturing to the photograph, she continued, “These mares will be expecting you at the ruins. They can get you to safety from there. Do you understand?” The child nodded, thought for a moment, then asked, “Why are you telling me though? Couldn’t you tell the others in their dreams?” “I have told your uncles already,” Luna said, “but I do not know how well humans remember their dreams, and both your uncles and your brother are ill from your time in the forest. So I intend to tell all of you, to be sure that at least one remembers my words.” “That makes sense, I guess... But you should hurry, I don’t know how long you have left before they wake up. I’ll try to remember at least!” The alicorn nodded. “That is all I ask. Will you be alright once I leave?” Pdeho smiled, pointing to the ground below. “I think I’m good.” Her dreamscape had returned to the yarn covered world with its living plush toys. This time a winged pig flew up to greet her, and she climbed onto it’s back, waving goodbye. “Good luck!” Luna smiled, and turning to leave, found a door already open for her. She stepped through, and found herself back in the star filled realm of sleep. *According to http://www.behindthename.com (which is where I found the meanings for Stan, Ford, and Luna's names), Mabel is the "Medieval feminine form of Amabilis", which means "loveable".