It finally worked. Celestia found the seam between the realities that night and slipped smoothly into Silent Brook's dream. Perhaps what had helped the stallion most of all, was a good rest with April's calming presence, or maybe Celestia was getting back into practice. The very next day after April had slept over, Celestia joined her friend again in his bed, and this time it worked! She found herself inside the dream.
"Hello? Is anypony there?" called Silent Brook somewhere in the distance. There was a tremor of fear in his voice, clear despite it being muffled.
Celestia hid herself. It never paid to be too hasty in these things, Luna had been very insistent on that fact. Observe first, act later. Now that she felt the dreamscape around her once again, the alicorn quickly remembered the long-unused skills. It was easy to be invisible in a dream. Once she was convinced that she was well hidden, Celestia went in search of her friend. It wasn't a particularly big place and the style reminded her more of Canterlot than anywhere on Earth. It was a villa, richly decorated with tapestries, intricate carpets and paintings. The air was dry and warm, and it smelled of a desert. The furniture was old, polished wood. Mahogany, if the alicorn had to guess. Here and there were touches of the modern human world: a television, a phone. Speakers. Electric lamps and switches, skillfully hidden or made to blend with the environment. She looked around, but didn't linger. Silent Brook was elsewhere.
The mare concentrated for a moment and felt for her friend. In moments she found him and twirled around to look at a particular door. Compared with the other furnishings, it was out of place. Where the rest of the house followed a particlar style, this door stood out with its metal surface and an impressive-looking lock. She opened it and looked down a dark, stone stairway. It reminded her too strongly of an open grave. Celestia blinked and forced her mind back to stillness. Her own careless thoughts could manifest in this place. She had to keep them under control. Silent Brook's would be hard enough to deal with, without adding some ancient alicorn nightmares to the mix. She descended into the cellars. The rich carpets gave way to bare stone floors, wall hangings to spider webs. The furniture was no longer beautiful.
There, in a small room, under a solitary electric bulb - Silent Brook. His legs were chained together and a heavy, metal collar linked him to the wall. There was a bucket in the corner. It was probably how he had been held, Celestia thought and her heart went out to her subject, her friend. Despite his miserable condition, she still didn't reveal herself. Something told her that the real nightmare hadn't started yet. She walked to the pony and stood protectively before him, even if he couldn't see her. It wouldn't be very long. Silent Brook was whimpering quietly and staring at the wooden rectangle of the door. Celestia had just walked through it, but now it was closed. She didn't even bat an eye. Things in the dream world were always a little ephemeral.
The alicorn jumped a little as it burst open. There was hideous laughter and slow, deliberate footsteps. The stallion shuffled into the corner, as far out of the circle of dim light as he could. The chain rattled as he trembled, pressed against the walls.
"Wakey, wakey, plaything," the voice purred. "It's time for you to sing."
Celestia tried to see through the gloom, but the darkness was absolute. She looked back to Silent Brook, who had his eyes closed and was shaking his head. Maybe it was time to end it?
If she did, the nightmare would be back the next night. She could not guard the stallion all the time. She had to give him the key, but the moment was not quite there yet. The nightmare wasn't ready. The mare let her eyes slide shut and focused inward. She was a part of the dream, which meant that the dream was also a part of her. She should be able to see how it went and there had to be a place where she could insert a hoof and nudge it in another direction. No grand gestures, however much she wanted. No bursting into flame and making the monster blow away like dust. No vengeful goddess, shielding her subject with her wings made of light.
Something smaller...
Suddenly Celestia saw it, the place where she could change things. She blinked her eyes open and went to stand beside Silent Brook. The monster emerged from the shadow with a mad cackle. It was human, but not entirely so. It walked on hind legs and held a gleaming knife in a twisted parody of a hand. The features were mostly human, but the teeth were not. Absolutely nothing should have teeth that pointy, the mare thought. Or eyes that yellow and slitted! There was a dark hole, oozing something unidentifiable, where its chest should have been. The thing should not have been alive with a wound like that. She could see why Silent Brook was caught again and again by the same nightmare. It shuffled forward with a limp and the alicorn noted that. Perhaps a slight premonition? She had to remember - everything was controlled, given life, by the stallion. The monster was only in his imagination. He said he broke his tormentor's leg and kicked the other one...
Ah! Of course. He had joined both of his tormentors into a single creature. The mare smiled. Even as terrified as he was, the stallion was giving himself hints. The creature was already defeated. It had the injuries to prove it. Maybe, with more time, he would have realized that it was only a dream, but she could speed things along. She was still invisible when she leaned down to put her muzzle next to his ear. She spoke the words, but they made no sound. They arrived in Silent Brook's mind like thoughts, without the intervention of his ears.
"I kicked him and broke his leg. Kicked the other in the stomach."
She watched her pony closely. His expression froze for an instant as the message settled into the forefront of his mind. His lips twitched as if he was repeating it silently to himself, but he was looking at the monster with the knife and his eyes quickly filled with new fear.
Then she whispered to Silent Brook again: "I beat him and escaped! I'm not here!"
Her friend had averted his gaze away from the monster, but now he looked at it again, in confusion. It froze uncertainly, mid-stride, while it was advancing on the pony.
Once more, Celestia spoke, this time lifting her head to stare defiantly at the creature. "I'm home with Saul and April! This is a dream!"
Of course Silent Brook didn't hear her, but the monster did. It lowered its foot and took a hesitant step back. Silent Brook straightened up. "This isn't real!" he said suddenly. "This is a dream!"
Everything went black.
Celestia woke up when Silent Brook sat bolt upright in the bed. Her wing, laid carefully across his flank slipped off. The alicorn stretched a little and smiled to herself. She really was good at it, once she found her way into the dream! Luna would undoubtedly be proud of her. She looked at Silent Brook, who was breathing heavily and staring into the distance.
"Feeling better?"
His incredulous stare turned to her. "W-what happened?" he asked plaintively.
Celestia pushed herself partly upright and laid a gentle hoof on his. "I succeeded."
"But," the stallion mumbled, "b-but you weren't there! It was just the nightmare all over again, but then I suddenly realized it was a dream and woke up!"
There was faint light coming in from the street lamp and the Princess smiled happily, certain that he could see her. "I beat him and escaped. This is a dream. I am home with April," she said.
His eyes went even wider. "That's exactly what I-" he began, the his hooves flew to his mouth. "How did you-?!"
The mare chuckled happily. "Not everything we do is flashy, Silent Brook. Sometimes a Princess must use a gentle hoof." He was still confused, so she explained. "I simply helped you realize what was already there in your mind, Silent Brook. You knew it was a dream, but terror kept you from remembering. I merely whispered a few words to you in your dream. A name."
"April," the stallion sighed.
"Yes. Undoubtedly you would have remembered in time. Friendship can be a powerful link."
He sighed and his shoulders sagged. "So this is it? No more nightmares?"
Here, the mare had some bad news. "Unfortunately it is not that easy, Silent Brook. You will not be free from this fear. The nightmare will return, but you will remember on your own, in time. It will be easier each night. It will happen more and more often, until you defeat it completely."
The pony nodded. "Thank you, P-princess."
For once, Celestia didn't mind the honorific. The authority and power the title carried might help the stallion defeat his demons next time, when he was alone again.
"You know," he went on, a little uncertainly, "I thought I'd see you in the dream. Or something."
Celestia shook her head. "That would have worked for tonight, but it would not have lasted when I left. Your thoughts must find their way out for themselves. Now that I have shown you a path, it will be easier to walk the next time."
She wasn't sure he understood, but Silent Brook didn't ask more questions about what had happened. He yawned and lay back on the bed. "W-will you go back to the sleeping bag now?"
The mare considered it. Then she shook her head and settled back down. "There is still some time until morning and the nights are chilly, Silent Brook. You do not mind?"
"No, of c-course not," he replied.
"Good night, Silent Brook."
The stallion shuffled into a comfortable position. Maybe he ended up a fraction of an inch closer to the alicorn, or maybe it was just her imagination. She hadn't lied. The warmth would be welcome and the sleeping foam on the floor was hard on her bones. Silent Brook only had a mattress, but it was infinitely more comfortable.
"Good night, Princess," he whispered back. "And thank you."
She put her wing on his flank again, more out of habit at this point than anything else. She missed her 'Rawsthorne-pillow' and in the dark, one warm body was pretty much like another.
"P-princess?" the stallion asked a little uncertainly.
"Just in case."
He paused. "Oh. T-thank you."