Silver sat inside his dream, carefully crafting the world around him as he chatted away with Scarlet, “So this is like the ski lodge you used to visit when you were a foal?”
The mare nodded, “It's close enough, not perfect but you’re doing a great job with it.”
“So is every day just going to be a literal dream vacation now or are we going to go back to some of the adventures?”
“Well I’m having you build this place for a reason, I was kinda hoping to have a nice big snowball fight and then end the day with a nice comfy rest in front of the fire.”
“Stuff you liked to do as a foal?”
“Stuff I loved to do as a foal,” she corrected
“Well, if that’s what you want to do then that’s what we’ll do, though I can’t promise that we’ll actually be able to have real snowball fights, I don’t think I’m that good at making dreams yet.”
“Then this is good practice I’d say. Worst case, it doesn’t work, we just skip right to the end and snuggle up by the fire, maybe share some more stories.”
“You sure you don’t want me to make some big yeti to chase us around the forest?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t know about you, but that run in with the Sasquatch the other day was a blast.”
“You have a weird definition of fun, you know that right?” she teased.
He shrugged, “What can I say, we can do whatever we want in here and nothing can actually hurt us, might as well make it a high energy adventure through whatever crazy scenarios we can make up.”
“I dunno, that kind of sounds a little extreme, I think I’d like to just stick to the snowball fights and warm cuddles by the fire today.”
“Suit yourself,” he replied with a smile, making a few small adjustments to the dream. A few trees here, some snow banks there, and before long the two were standing just at the edge of a small snowy clearing surrounded by tall pine trees.
Silver glanced around at everything, from the small cozy cabin to the wilderness he had just created, a smile spreading across his face, “aaaaand there. I think everything should be all set now.”
Scarlet looked around at the snowy wonderland that Silver had made, trotting off of the wooden deck and into the snow with a smile. As she stepped onto the snow, she stopped and turned back toward him, “Alright well it looks like snow, but it definitely doesn’t feel like snow.”
Silver raised an eyebrow, trotting to the edge of the deck and leaping onto the snow. With a soft thud he landed on the hard surface, not even sinking into it. He looked back up at her and laughed, “Okay well I guess that’s the problem. It’s like concrete.”
“Room temperature concrete too.”
He nodded, “Cuddle by the fire time?”
“Cuddle by the fire time.”
The two started toward the rustic lodge, trotting through the open door and laying down on the comfortable cushions in front of the stone hearth. As if on cue the fire sparked up, casting a warm glow over the two.
“I got that nailed down at least.”
The mare let out a chuckle “Thank God for that. So I’m perfectly happy hanging out here for a little while, but you got me thinking. What if we go explore some dreams in a little bit? I might have done some exploring of my own before you fell asleep and I think I found some cool ones.”
“You mean it? Because I’m totally happy just sitting here and relaxing. As much fun as the crazy dreams are, you do kinda have a good idea with just taking it easy every so often.”
“Why not? Maybe it’s not how we spend the whole day, but we can definitely end it with a bang.”
Silver smiled, “That sounds like a blast, so where do you have in mind?”
“Going on some big adventures eh?” came a voice from behind the pair, surprising them for a moment.
Silver turned around, his ears perking up at the voice, “Stanley? Hey what’s up man?”
“Oh not much, I just wanted to stop by and chat real quick.”
“Well chat away,” Scarlet added.
He nodded, “Well firstly I just wanted to say thanks for offering a place to stop by and rest. I wound up chatting with my friend the other day and it turns out he’s staying in a village out in Arizona.”
“Arizona? What part?” Silver asked, “I’ve got a lot of family up there.”
“It’s a spot overlooking the Grand Canyon, I guess it’s a popular place for ponies over there. My buddy said it’s been growing a bit and it seems like they’re actually doing quite well for themselves.”
“Huh, well I can’t say I’ve been up that far, but I bet it’s got to be such a beautiful place to set up a village, hopefully they don’t get chased out of there when stuff starts winding down.”
“Hopefully not. A lot of them are following that vision to a T, don’t even want to reintegrate with the rest of the world apparently. It’s going to wind up being a rude awakening when the National Park Service service decides they don’t want a bunch of ponies squatting in their park.”
Scarlet raised an eyebrow, “A bunch of ponies following the vision too eh?”
He nodded, “That’s the way it sounds. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure how well that’ll go, but I’m curious to see how it goes.”
“Well let us know how it goes, maybe we’ll come over for a visit sometime.”
“You guys think you want to?”
“Probably not for a while,” Silver replied, “I’m still getting settled in at Scarlet’s, I don’t think I’m ready for a big vacation just yet, but maybe once I’ve had some time to figure out what I actually want to do going forward.”
“But thanks for the heads up, we’ll definitely let you know when we are ready for something like that,” Scarlet added.
“Hey no problem,” he smiled, “if anything I should thank you guys for giving me a place to stay, even if I didn’t need to use it.”
“Ponies help each other out after all,” Scarlet replied with a smile.
“That they do, which is why I want to return the favor. If you’re ever in the area let me know, I don’t really know what I can do, but I’d love to host you guys.”
“You really don’t have to,” Silver replied.
He shrugged, “Yeah… but I want to. Consider it my treat… I know I can’t really offer much, but hey, it’s the least I can do.”
Well we appreciate it. I can’t promise you that we’ll be able to stop by soon, but when we can we’ll definitely drop you a line.”
Stanley smiled, “Thanks again you two, sorry if I interrupted your dream. I just wanted to stop by and thank you, it sounds weird but you’re some of the only friends I have.”
“It’s no trouble at all, hope the move goes well,” Scarlet replied back.”
With a nod, the yellow night pony vanished, leaving the pair alone by the fire again.”
The yellow night pony dug through his bag and awkwardly fished his phone out, letting out a drowsy yawn as he slid it over to his father. It was just barely sundown at this point, and Stanley was still waking up a little. Bags of clothes sat in Stanley’s old room, and a small bag full of some of Stanley’s most prized possessions sat near the door. Another box of random odds and ends that the human had decided to salvage and hold onto for later sat in the garage.
“So I know this is probably a pain for you to use, but hopefully the voice commands can at least make it a little easier.”
Stanley let out a laugh as his dad popped the prepaid SIM card into the phone, “it’s funny, I used to have to help you guys with your phones and now here you are helping me with mine. A little bit of a role reversal.”
“I guess it’s payback eh?”
“Maybe?” Stanley shrugged, “Well hopefully this will be the only time either of us have to deal with this.”
The human nodded, “It should be. I’m not a tech whiz like you, but I think I’ve picked up enough to get this going,” He adjusted his reading glasses and quietly flipped through the phone’s menus, giving the night pony a small nod as he adjusted a few of the settings, “Alright, you should be good to go.” He showed his son the screen, “All you have to do is say that and it should start up. Hopefully you’ll never have to use it, but if you do then at least you won’t have to fumble around with it.”
Stanley smiled, “Thanks Dad, I appreciate the help.”
He nodded, “Of course, it’s the least I could do to help you out.” He glanced over toward their bedroom, turning his gaze to the pink Pegasus who was sitting in the living room, “Aurora, I’m going to go get the car started, could you do me a favor and grab the travel bag? I left it in the room.”
The mare nodded, “Sure thing Val,” stopping to give Stanley a small hug before she made her way to the bedroom , “Are you all ready to go?”
“Yeah, I think I’ve got everything I need— which isn’t really much,” he paused for a moment. “Can I be honest with you for a moment?”
She nodded, “Of course, what is it?”
He shuffled his hooves around before looking her in the eyes, “I still feel really bad about never coming to see you two once things settled down. I could have but I didn’t… and I don’t know, I just feel guilty about it.”
“You don’t need to be, trust me. The world’s been so crazy lately,” She gestured to herself, “So don’t be so worried about it. What’s important is that we’re all together, and we’re all safe.”
He smiled, “I love you mom, and I promise I’ll dream walk to you if I can. I don’t think I can’t do this with dad, but at least I won’t have to be so far away from you. Maybe we can even chat every week or something?”
The mare smiled, “I’d love that. Now I don’t know if you need to grab anything else, but why don’t you go grab your things and meet your father out by the car, I’m sure he’s antsy to get going, and I’m sure you are too.”
He nodded, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t, it’s exciting to think about.”
“Of course, it’s a big change in your life, and it’s a little exciting for the two of us too.”
Stanley trotted out into the evening moonlight, “Hey dad can you give me a hand with the door here? I still haven’t figured out how that works with hooves and I’d rather not scuff up your paint trying.”
Valentino gave the night pony a quick nod before stepping over and opening the door, helping the stallion into the back seat, “All this time spent doing the same thing for your mother and you’d think I’d be used to it by now, I guess it’s hard to adapt sometimes.”
Stanley nodded, making himself comfortable and covering his head with a wing, “It’s all fair enough, now I don’t know if I’ll be the most talkative pony during the ride, I’ve always spent the nights just peacefully wandering around, thinking about stuff.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t take it personally.”
“Glad to hear, I definitely owe you two a nice breakfast or dinner or something, it’s the least I could do.”
“That’d be wonderful,” Aurora answered back as she trotted up to the pair. “I’m all ready to go Val, you can go lock up whenever you’re ready.”
He nodded, “Sounds like a plan, you get all settled in and we’ll be off in a minute. I need to stop and get gas, do you want me to grab either of you anything to drink?”
The mare smiled, “Just some water if you can, but make sure it’s the kind that has the pull up cap, the other kinds are just so annoying to try and fiddle around with.”
He nodded, “Can do, how about you Stanley?”
Stanley sat up in his seat and peeked out of the window, careful not to scratch the interior with his hooves, “I think I’m all good, thank you though.”
The human nodded, “Sounds good, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Feeling a sense of excitement, Stanley couldn’t help but smile as he thought about the trip that they were all about to take. As strange of a turn as his life had taken, he couldn’t help but feel as if it was at least starting to resemble something of how it used to be before ETS, even if it was only for a brief moment.
