The next morning, Midnight returned to tell his friends that Starlight's former village had been attacked. Their friends Double Diamond, Night Glider, Party Favor, and Sugar Belle would be coming along with all the refugees of the village as Midnight had volunteered Ponyville to take them in, and would be discussing the matter with Mayor Mare. Some available houses would be paid for by the crown to give the refugees a new home, for as long as they wished.
It would be a while before they arrived in Ponyville all the way from Manehatten via train, but in the meantime...
Over at Sweet Apple Acres, in the Cutie-Mark Crusaders' tree/clubhouse...
"Hear ye, hear ye!" Apple Bloom announced while sitting at a podium in the clubhouse and tapping on the side, "This meetin' of th' Cutie-Mark Crusaders is now in session. Who wants t' do roll call?"
Her friends all exchanged looks but gave small smiles as Rumble said, "Pretty sure we're all here, Bloom."
"Yeah, Apple Bloom, what's this all about?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Oh nothin'..." Apple Bloom shared a smile with Twinken and gave him a nod.
"Except for this letter from Babs Seed!" Twinken levitated the letter which had the drawing of a pair of scissors at the bottom, the handles red and shaped like an apple, "She's gotten her cutie-mark!"
"WHAT?!" everypony excitably crowded around to get a closer look at the letter, Apple Bloom saying, "She says it's a pair o' scissors."
"So... she's good at cutting stuff?" Scootaloo guessed.
"Of course! She was always fussing with her bangs and tail!" Sweetie Belle flicked her mane, "I'll bet she grows up to be a celebrity stylist!"
"But... if she's gonna be cutting manes," Button Mash brought up, "how can she run the Manehatten branch of the CMC?"
"Well not Babs!" Scootaloo answered, "She can't be a Cutie-Mark Crusader if she's gotten her cutie-mark!"
"Says who!? Just because she's gotten her cutie-mark now she can't be a Crusader?" Twinken gave Scootaloo quite the stink eye, "That sounds kinda like Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo!"
"Hey! Don't compare me to Diamond Tiara!" Scootaloo shrank back defensively at Twinken's remark.
"Well, I'm glad she's happy, but I sure wouldn't want to be up to my flank in mane hair all day," Sweetie Belle commented, "Can you imagine getting stuck with a cutie-mark you didn't like?"
"No, or..." The question struck a chord in Apple Bloom she'd never knew was there, "At least, Ah hadn't."
"Don't worry, Apple Bloom, most of your family has apple related cutie-marks," assured Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah, yours probably will be as well," shrugged Rumble. "I mean, what's not to like about apples?"
"There's the core," Scootaloo brought up.
"And sour apples," Button Mash added.
"And rotten apples," Rumble joined in.
"Ahem!"
They looked to see Twinken and Sweetie Belle giving them looks that read 'really?'.
"What?!"
"Not helping," clarified Sweetie Belle as she pointed out how Apple Bloom was shivering with all these worries she'd never even considered!
Later that night...
As Twinken nestled down into his bed, Faerie Tail smiled at her son with a loving wonder. Although Midnight and Twilight had invited her to live in their castle, Faerie Tail chose to go live with Twinken over at Sweet Apple Acres, and she was given a warm welcome from the Apples who declared her one of their own. Getting comfortable, Twinken smiled sleepily up at her as she stood at his bedside.
“Night, Mom,” Twinken whispered as Faerie Tail gently kissed him.
"Sweet dreams, baby..."
He closed his eyes and was soon soundly sleeping. Faerie Tail stayed lingered in the doorway for a moment, as the silvery blue light of the moon shone down through Twinken's bedroom window, giving the colt an otherworldly glow, like he was some angel from on high.
“Such a beautiful scene, almost like a painting,” she whispered softly.
“Heard that,” he mumbled sleepily.
She giggled sweetly, just like she had done many times before in the past, especially when Midnight used to do something funny (with her reminiscing the Pumpkin Pie fiasco which ended with her and Ignitus having to remodel the kitchen). She gently closed the door and made her way to her bedroom, passing Apple Bloom's room. What Faerie Tail missed was that Apple Bloom was tossing and turning in a troubled sleep.
Meanwhile, Twinken was in the dream realm and waiting for Luna, and he found himself in a dream version of his room, the album of dreams on his desk, his own version of finding specific dreams of those he knew so he could enter their dreams and help if they were having nightmares. Princess Luna was running a little late, but Twinken understood his teacher probably had other duties to attend to before she arrived to resume their lessons.
“Doesn't she have other dream-walkers to assist her?” he mused as he carefully flipped through the pages of his dream album, seeing the dreams of his friends and family like moving photographs. This was how he felt at ease in looking over dreams, whereas his teacher used a hallway of doors where each one led to a specific pony's dream.
“It seems an awful lot to look after all of Equestria's dreams by herself..."
“That's why were here though, isn't it, young Twinken...?"
He jumped five miles into the sky with a YIPE and landed in a comical crash! Luna had walked up behind him and had spoken over his shoulder in a regal tone that hid a mischievous side.
“Don't do that!” he complained, glad this was a dream so that didn't really hurt. “I hate being scared like that!”
Luna chuckled sweetly, “I apologize for my delay. I had to check on something before I spoke to you about your next task.”
“Task?” Twinken echoed.
“Yes,” Luna looked serious. “As you fully become a Lunar Pony, your dream-walking powers will grow, and so you must learn to vanquish nightmares and calm the sleeping minds of those having them. And so, I have the perfect task for you, my dear student. Several ponies close to you are facing nightmares tonight and it is up to you to help them with whatever worries or troubles are twisting their dreams into nightmares."
“Yes, Princess,” Twinken nodded but then realized something that he asked, “Um, can I ask...who these ponies are?”
“That, I can't tell you,” Luna raised a brow. “If you are to become a true Protector of Dreams, you must learn to find nightmares and who's having them on your own. I will however leave you a clue as to the identity of your friend who is having trouble sleeping - You go to school with them.”
Twinken began to ponder the clue and of who he'd be close to that went to school with him, and he immediately thought of his fellow Crusaders.
"Remember what I have taught you thus far, my dear student," Luna began to fade away, "No matter how bad they seem dreams cannot hurt you, and you must not only convince the dreamer but help them understand why they are having these bad dreams in the first place."
"W-wait! Luna!" Twinken tried chasing after his teacher but she had fully disappeared although an echo of her voice remained a short moment.
"I believe in you, Twinken...!"
And just like that, Twinken was alone again in his dream-room and sighed, starting to feel the pressure of the task before him. But he got it together and said, "No need to worry, Twinken! Your teacher beleives you can do it and she wouldn't give you this job if she didn't. So then..."
He looked back to his album of dreams and will the pages to turn until he reached one that had a photograph with Rumble's name above it. It showed Rumble flying with Thunderlane, who wore his Wonderbolt cadet uniform, obviously giving his kid bro some pointers in flying. At first, Twinken thought Rumble was fine... until he saw something flash on Rumble's flank and he saw a cutie-mark that showed a briefcase and abacus!
Almost immediately the dream looked like it was going sour as Thunderlane stopped and seemingly told Rumble to land, and Rumble looked upset.
"Well, here we go..." Twinken concentrated, and he felt the powers of the dreamscape take him away...
He soon found himself in Rumble's dream, and looking around it looked like a boring old office building. The hallways were dull and depressing, and there were boxes stacked upon boxes and a quick look inside showed Twinken they were full of mathematical problems, figures, basically anything math- or money-related to business, and if that weren't enough they were well beyond the kind of arithmetic he and his friends did in school with Cheerilee.
"Get to work, Rumble."
"But Thunder, please! I don't know how to do math problems like these!"
Twinken looked down the hall and watched as Thunderlane, wearing a full Wonderbolt uniform stepped out of a room and said without looking back, "Your cutie-mark means you're job now is to be an accountant. You're not a colt anymore, so from now on you're gonna work and earn your keep. So get cracking and all this work had better be done by the time I get back! To think this would wind up being your destiny, such a joke..."
Thunderlane stomped off, passing Twinken without a glance as though Twinken were a ghost, which made sense to him since he wasn't a part of this dream.
Is Rumble afraid of math or...? wondered Twinken, trying to understand what was the cause of Rumble's nightmare. He had to think on this carefully because dreams weren't always so clear in their meaning, whether they were caused by a restful and peaceful sleeping mind or one troubled by their waking worries.
He hurried down the hall and looked into the room where he saw Rumble was close to tears. He was sitting before a desk covered with a mess of all these facts and figures regarding numbers and they didn't make sense not merely because they looked too advanced but they didn't make sense period. Some of the mathematical symbols were familiar to Twinken but most of it all looked like gibberish. As Rumble squirmed in his seat, struggling not to cry, Twinken sat on the floor beside the desk, feeling powerless.
He wasn't sure what to do now. He wasn't experienced enough to force a bad dream to turn good, so his only option was to help Rumble figure why he was having this bad dream, to begin with. But what was it?
Then... Twinken thought back to the Crusaders' meeting in the clubhouse earlier today, how Sweetie Belle mentioned her worry of winding up with a cutie-mark she didn't like, and how Scootaloo and Button Mash seemed to think Babs couldn't be a Crusader anymore because she had her cutie-mark now.
Then it hit him as Twinken realized what was going on here, That's it!
He stood up, still unnoticed by Rumble and then fully immersed himself into the dream, becoming a part of it. He had to work quickly before Rumble's dream affected him or his presence had some kind of bad reaction, "Rumble! Are you okay?"
At first, Rumble didn't notice his friend but then he seemed to snap out of his fretting as he looked in shock to see, "Twinken! Wh-what're you.. Oh! Twinken, I-I don't know what to do! My cutie-mark says I have t-to do all this work and Thunderlane was so cold and-"
"Rumble!" Twinken grabbed Rumble's hoof and got his friend to look him in the eyes, "What's wrong? Don't worry about the work here, just tell me... what's wrong."
For a few stunned moments, Rumble looked stupefied until he uttered out, "I... This... this isn't... what I want!"
"Say it, Rumble, say what you do and don't want," encouraged Twinken.
Rumble furrowed his brows and jumped onto the desk, "I don't want to do all these dumb math problems! All this stupid paperwork! I don't want to be an accountant, and I don't want this awful cutie-mark! I wanna fly! I wanna be out there in the sky, with Thunderlane, doing all those awesome tricks and stunts and racing and being the best I can be!
"And if I can't have that, well I'd rather be a blank-flank for the rest of my life than be a number-cruncher for the rest of my life!"
The, the papers all started to flap and flip about in the air, and then, two both colts' amazement, the papers seemed to fold themselves over and over... until they looked like origami pegasi! They smiled as the origami pegasi began to fly around, neither of them noticing the walls of the office around them fading away to reveal a clear, sunny sky, and then the paper pegasus fliers all zoomed off and turned into clouds that retained their flying pegasus shapes. Only now, they were cruising along, as clouds do on a nice and awesome day, and both colts felt themselves lying down on cool green grass.
"Twinken...?"
The young unicorn peered over to Rumble, whose gaze was fixed to the clouds above them, "...Are you really here or...?"
"I'm here, Rumble," Twinken assured, sitting up, Rumble getting up too as he looked bewildered at his friend, "I'm still learning about dream-walking from Princess Luna, and the only way I could help you get out of that bad dream was by realizing what's troubling you."
"...It's what Sweetie Belle said today," it began to dawn on Rumble, "I... I want a cutie-mark, but... what if it turns out to be something I don't want? Something entirely different from what I want to do? I don't want to be stuck with a cutie-mark that has nothing to do with what I want to do with my life!"
"It doesn't matter," Twinken responded, Rumble giving him a confused look. "I mean, think about it, Rumble, does a cutie-mark really mean that's all you gotta do with your life once you get it? I mean, look at Rarity - Her cutie-mark is three gems but she's a fashion designer! Blueblood's mark is a compass rose and he designs airships, and Miss Cheerilee's mark is three smiling flowers but she's a teacher, not a gardener.
"So a cutie-mark isn't the whole of your self, just a representation of one part that makes you you! So even if you got a cutie-mark in one thing, it doesn't mean you can't have other goals or interests that don't relate to your cutie-mark. So think about it, Rumble... Don't worry about your cutie-mark, just think: What do you want to be?"
Rumble gave Twinken a ponderous look and then considered it a moment... and then Twinken stepped back as Rumble appeared to grow up into a stallion before his very eyes and was garbed in a full Wonderbolts's uniform! Smiling, the stallion-version of Rumble smiled and took flight! He did a back-flip and made a Sonicboom while flying to his heart's content.
Smiling, Twinken thought, My work here is done... before he faded away from Rumble's dream.