A Sparkle in the Dreams
Written by iAmSiNnEr
Chapter 1
Equestria has thousands of dreams and all of them have something in common. They all are unique to the pony who creates their dreams. To dream is natural. What are not natural, however, are nightmares. Nightmares are the bane of dreams, their complete opposite.
Luckily, somepony keeps the nightmares at bay, and she has done so, for a very long time. Eventually, she grew tired and desired to stop. But there needed to be another to take her place,for the dream realm had always needed a defender. And thus, that pony set out to train the one that would take up her mantle and defend the dreams of Equestria.
Twilight had been extremely busy that day, doing her duties as the Princess of Equestria. Celestia had left instructions on how to run the country, but she was sorely unprepared for the large amounts of administrative work that she needed to do.
Not only that, but her first day in the Day Court had also been trying for her. Several nobles had pestered her to bring Celestia back as the monarch. Luckily, Celestia’s ever-present faithful assistant, Raven Inkwell, had been with her, helping her with all the tasks. If not, she would have gone mad.
Twilight couldn’t wait for the first Friendship council meeting the next moon. She needed her friends. Spike had already gone on her instructions to help settle a diplomatic meeting between the Griffons and Dragons to settle some border disputes, and she was lonely.
Sure, she had the staff of the castle, but most of them avoided her eye contact and always bowed to her whenever she spoke to them. Twilight had already tried to tone this down, but they insisted it was customary. The only ponies who would speak to her normally were Raven and Fancy Pants.
She had amused herself with small talk with Fancy Pants, but he had his duties as the Royal Advisor and had to eventually excuse himself for his duties.
As Twilight sorted through her paperwork, she groaned. Another form requesting Celestia to be reinstated as the monarch, again. She really needed to clarify that Celestia and Luna were the ones that wanted to retire, not that she made them do it.
“Princess Twilight?” A guard poked his head through the door.
“Yes, Steel Wing?” Twilight replied.
“You forgot to lower the sun and raise the moon, your majesty.”
Twilight blinked. For a second, everything was quiet. Then, chaos erupted.
“I forgot to lower the sun and raise the moon!” Twilight yelped and scrambled to her hooves. In her haste, she kicked the table leg and it broke. The papers on it dropped to the ground, flying everywhere.
“Oh Celestia, no!”
“Here, let me help, Princess.”
“Nonono I can manage by myself!” The end result was Twilight covered in paper and her guards trying to stifle their laughter.
“What’s there to laugh at, I don’t see anything,” Twilight grumbled as she lit her horn and gathered the papers into a neat pile. Hearing Twilight, the guards immediately stood to attention and kept a straight face.
Once she had repaired the table and placed the papers back, she lit her horn once more and remembered what Luna had taught her.
“To raise the moon, just simply give it a nudge. Alright, I got this!” Twilight gave the moon a small nudge with her magic, and the moon began to rise over the horizon as the sun began to set. Once the moon had risen, Twilight relaxed.
“Alright, time to consult the list of duties by Luna!” Twilight declared. She summoned the list from her storage and gave it a look. She was immediately surprised by the list. Or rather, a letter.
“Twilight,” she read out. “You have a lot to learn about governing the night. Thus I have decided to give you lessons on how to dream walk and more. Enter the dream realm, I will be waiting there. Yours Sincerely, Luna.” Once Twilight was finished reading the letter, she rolled it up.
“I have to enter the dream realm. No worries, no worries,” she mumbled. She lit her horn and summoned the magic that she had gotten from Luna. Her world dissolved around her and all she saw were the stars of the night. She gazed at the wonder of the dream realm, jaw open.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” a voice said behind her. Twilight spun around and saw the night alicorn standing behind her.
“Luna!” she cried out. Luna waved.
“Hello, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight almost bowed, before collecting herself. Luna chuckled. “You may ask any questions you have, Twilight.”
“I have so many! Oh, where do I start!”
Luna laughed. “Still always the same, aren’t you, Twilight?”
Twilight blushed.
“Go on, ask away,” Luna urged.
“How can I govern the dream realm, Luna? I mean, I still need sleep.”
“That’s simple,” Luna answered. “Now that you have the powers of both the sun and moon, you no longer need to sleep.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really?” she asked. Luna nodded.
“Yes, but you can choose to sleep at any time you want. Even if you do not need sleep, it is a good thing to take a break. You can delegate some of your tasks to Celestia’s old assistant, she is more than capable enough.”
Twilight nodded. Luna lit her horn. “And now, to begin your first lesson.” Dreams represented by doors began to appear slowly, one by one.
“Why is there so little?” Twilight queried. Luna smiled.
“It is barely after sunset, Twilight. Very few ponies will be asleep just yet.”
“Oh, I get it now. So how exactly do we… dream walk?”
Luna grinned. “Now that is the fun part.” Waving her horn, the first door opened. “That pony is having a small nightmare, now let’s see how you do without any instructions.”
“But-but I don’t know how to-”
“No buts!” As she said that, Luna shoved Twilight into the door with her magic.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” Twilight screamed. Luna was falling next to her.
“It is a dream, Twilight! Imagine a surface beneath you and it will appear!” Luna yelled. Twilight continued screaming. “Oh, for the love of-” Luna grumbled. She imagined a cushion below them and they both fell onto it.
“Oomph!” Twilight let out a small sound. Luna looked at her disapprovingly. “I’m so sorry Princess for panickingIswearItriedtothinkclearlybutthen-” Luna covered her mouth with a hoof.
“First of all, Twilight, I am no longer your princess. Second, “ Luna looked at Twilight. “This is some pony’s dream. I’d rather you not scream in it. You’ll give them more nightmares.” Twilight looked below them.
“Are they dreaming about falling forever?” Twilight asked. Luna nodded.
“You are correct. I have not seen it very recently, but some ponies do get this dream sometimes.” Luna also looked down. “It is also a hard nightmare to correct, as the pony keeps falling further away from us.” Luna looked directly at Twilight. “So how would you fix a nightmare like this?”
Twilight considered the question. “Well, first, I would get them to stop falling. Next, I would transform the nightmare into something that they would like.”
Luna clapped with her hooves. “Very good, Twilight! But how are you going to do this?” Twilight hesitated.
“Well, we’ll need to get to the pony first. But how?” Twilight wondered.
“It’s a dream, Twilight. Just imagine a portal or some teleportation.”
“Oh. Right!” Twilight closed her eyes and the next moment they were falling along with a blue-colored stallion.
“AHHHHHH!” The stallion was screaming louder than Twilight had screamed. Twilight covered her ears.
“Does he have to be this loud?” she grumbled. Closing her eyes again, she imagined a bouncy surface made out a cotton candy below them. It appeared and the stallion bounced off it and landed safely onto a floor that had just appeared next to the cotton candy cushion.
The stallion looked bewildered. He had just been falling. What happened? Twilight chuckled at his expression and lit her horn. The setting began to change. Instead of an empty sky, it began to mold itself to the stallion's nicest dream. The stallion's filly appeared and a park began to form.
Twilight smiled. A job well done.
"Good job, Twilight, considering that this is your first try." Luna commended.
"I had a great teacher," assured Twilight.
"Of course." Luna smiled. "Onto our next nightmare then?" Twilight grinned.
"You read my mind." A door appeared, and Twilight stepped towards it.
"Twilight, that's not-" Luna began. Twilight stepped through the door. "The door we're supposed to go into," she finished. She facehoofed. "She's gone into the wrong dream." Luna sighed. "Better go get her then."