//------------------------------// // Chapter 13 // Story: Through the soul of friendship // by ShieldStar //------------------------------// Through the soul of friendship Fanfication by ShieldStar 13 Star Lance was a unicorn, her coat is a soft gold and her mane and tail are a light purple with a stripe of an equally light blue. Reed notice that her armor was different that the pervious guards. The armor was light and breathable but covered more that the royal guards’ armor did. It almost looked like a pony wetsuit woven with black and silver metal. “More exactly I am your appointed Dream guard for the next few nights.” Reed opened the door and went inside. “And what exactly is a Dream guard? I thought Princess Luna said she couldn’t enter my dreams because of the unfamiliarity of my mind.” “She did, that is why she assigned me, to monitor you dreams. If you are to have a vision of the darkness again I am to view it and wake you if your health becomes at risk.” “Ah, how are you going to view the dream if you can’t enter my dreams?” “I will be using the same projection spell Princess Luna used.” Star Lance entered the room after a respectable time for Reed to get ready to sleep. “How do you know all this?” “Princess Luna informed me after you had left the Princesses’ study. I then teleported here to you room to meet you before you slept.” “Teleportation must come in handy.” “Sometimes but it takes a lot out of a unicorn.” “Really? Interesting, I wouldn’t have thought it, but now that you say so it makes sense.” “How so?” “In order to move from-. It’s really science-y and would take all night to explain fully. In short it takes a lot of energy to undo yourself and redo yourself in another place through time.” Reed said as he climbed on to the bed. “Close, very close, but as you said it would take time to explain and rest is needed.” “Heh, no argument here. Goodnight Star Lance” Reed lay there for a moment, “Star lance, would you mind thinking of a one word name, a climate, and a type of weather?” “Umm, ok. May I ask why?” “It’s a way I fall asleep.” “Ok, uh, Oak, an old forest, and a thunderstorm.” “Hmm, ok.” Reed closed his eyes and immersed himself in to his own world. Star Lance case her spell and projected Reed’s dreams in a corner. Then she laid down by the window and watched his world unfold. ~~ At first Star Lance saw only disjointed images and heard bits of sounds from the spell that let her experience the dream. Then a scene blurred together, and a forest took shape. Star watch Reed play out a story in his mind’s eye. Saw a human different than Reed take form then the switch to the perspective of the human. “~once upon a time there was a boy named Oak. Oak was lost in the forest of tears….~” Reed’s voice narrated the story as Oak wondered as attack, wounded, survived, found a town of griffons, healed, was driven out, ran, fell, found dragon, and then the scene started to repeat. As Reed drifted off to sleep. Star marveled at the detail of everything. The dialog, the sounds, the colors, all of it seemed so real. Star felt as if she were watching through an open window. There were some differences in the dragons and griffons than from the ones she knew but then the dreams started. The since Reed had created faded and was replaced with a cave reed was climbing through and waterfall and fell down the cliff into the river. He resurfaced and was swimming in flowers. Equations of momentum and logic reasoning twisted and swirled in loops. Ideas of problems and solutions flowed as quickly and the river Reed had fallen in. Then shadow like mist swirled in, creating figures clawing at Reed pulling at him. The since changed to the room they were now in a swirling mass looming over Reed in a corner the shadow moving and twisting. Reed sat bolt upright with a cry of alarm. “Reed what’s wrong? What was that thing?” Reed sat perfectly still, staring at the corner where the figure was. Star Lance looked at the dark corner, there was nothing. “Star… can you get a light?” Star Lance lit her horn with a spell and filled the room with a warm light of periwinkle. Reed stares hard at the corner and blinks once. Taking a deep breathe Reed exhales and a feeling of calm washes over Star. “The down side of hyper-active-imagination is nightmares are just as real as the good stories.” “What was that?” “I never know the shadows move wrong, thing aren’t suppose –“ “No, not the nightmare, I saw that. The thing you did after, the projection of peace.” “Huh? What do you mean?” “When you took a breath and exhaled it felt like a comfort or peace spell. But you don’t have magic.” “Hum… we’ll have to ask the princesses about it, tomorrow.” And with that Reed lay back down and star saw a kinder story unfold, no narration just a scene of fields a river, a forest, and a mountains in the distance. Star watch the peaceful scene change as Reed drifted off to sleep. She thought she heard a kind of chat repeated over and over, it would change now and then, like somepony or someone reading through a list of poems. She could only make out a few words, but one was repeated over and over. Solus. Solus. Solus. Solus.  Then towards the dawn there was a shift, a swirling like the shadows, and everything sharped and became a vision.