Stepping out of the small and simple shower, Scarlet dried off her mane as best as she could, brushing a few long strands out of her eyes. As much as she loved growing it out, the hair was beginning to get in the way more often than she liked.
“You know Silvie, maybe we could go get a mane cut sometime?” She called out into the cabin.
“You think?” The stallion replied from his place on the bed.
“Yep. Yours is getting a little long too, so we’re both overdue for that kind of thing.”
“Probably not a bad idea then. You think somepony in the village could do it? Or would you rather stop by some salon and see if some human could do it the next time we’re in town?”
“Well given how we got sent off to the vet, I’m sure they’d just send us over to some groomer if we tried that. My mom could probably do it though.”
“Think she’d be up for that?”
Scarlet poked her head out of the bathroom and laughed, “Hon, she’d probably squee in excitement if I asked her. You know how much she loves having us around.”
“Aren’t you worried that she’ll try and dig out the embarrassing family photos?” Silver countered with a grin, “because I’m fine with that too.”
A twinge of embarrassment filled Scarlet for a moment, but she didn’t let her body language betray that to Silver. Instead her lips curled into a devious grin as she stepped forward, “I’m fine with that but you better bet I’ll work overtime to embarrass you even more.”
“Mutually assured embarrassment, got it,” he nodded, “So should we give her a call now or wait until tomorrow?”
“Wait until tomorrow,” Scarlet answered as she flopped onto the bed, “I’m too tired now, plus I’ll just stop by before work tomorrow.”
The stallion smiled and made himself comfortable as Scarlet curled up next to him.
“I didn’t realize we were ending the day with some before bed cuddles.”
“You thought we’d jump right into sleep? Please. I’ve been on my hooves all night and now I just want to hear how yours went.”
“Boring as usual,” Silver admitted, “But I did make a new friend.”
“Oh?” Scarlet asked as she looked up at him, “Go on then. What’s his name, what does he look like, and what on earth is he doing up at night?”
“Well he’s short and red, and has a bunch of black spots all over him. Your guess is as good as mine for why he’s up so late, but he made for good company all the same.”
For all of the cute rational things that Silver normally said, this was a rare exception that completely threw Scarlet for a loop.
“He’s got black spots?” She asked, amazed. “I didn’t realize ponies could have spots.”
“Oh? He’s not a pony,” Silver burst out in laughter.
Scarlet furrowed her brow and sat up in bed, “Hang on, what now?”
“He’s a ladybug, Scarlet.”
The mare paused for a second and then playfully punched Silver on the side, “You’re a real comedian, you know that?”
Silver couldn’t help but flash a goofy grin, “What can I say, I try my best!”
“So work was boring is what you’re saying.”
“Yeah, pretty much. I did get ahold of an acquaintance that might be able to help me with some stuff though,” Silver admitted, earning another confused glance from Scarlet.
“Oh? I didn’t realize you had the time to chat with friends.”
“He’s another pony that I run into in the dream realm sometimes.”
“Uh-huh, so what’s he going to help you with then?”
“Well…” Silver gave her a nervous look, sparking a stream of questions in her mind over what on earth he’d be so hesitant about.
“Well?” She pressed on.
“Well, Duncan’s been having trouble on the weekends. Said he needed me in to help keep an eye on the yard when he can’t.”
“So what he’s asking is for you to work seven days a week?” She asked in an almost frustrated tone.
“Yes, but—“
“But that’s way overstepping.” She continued, “You’re an employee not some junkyard dog that he can just order around.”
“That’s what the friend is helping me with.” Silver cut her off, explaining the situation.
“Huh?” Scarlet asked again.
“Yeah. So this pony I befriended in the dream realm was looking for work and said he’d be up for this kind of thing. So he’ll be riding down here in the next few days.”
“He doesn’t live around here?”
“Not exactly…” Silver trailed off, “he’s kinda in New Jersey.”
“So there’s no guarantee that he’ll actually show then?” Scarlet replied with a sigh.
“Hey, just trust me,” he reassured her, “Duncan knows how important our time together is and I made it clear to him that I’m not able to work those days.”
“And if this pony doesn’t show up?”
“He will. Trust me.”
This was a huge what if, but against her better judgement, Scarlet simply shrugged it off and instead cuddled up even closer to Silver.
“I’ll trust you. If it means we can keep our weekend time together then I’m fine.”
“You know, I’m kind of surprised that you don’t have to work weekends either, aren’t those supposed to be the busier days?”
Scarlet rolled her eyes, “They are, but the humans get those days.”
Silver’s expression perfectly matched what Scarlet felt about the whole situation, making her wonder if he had thought about this before.
“That’s totally unfair,” he blurted out, “Like I get that you’re set up for the night shifts, but they can’t give you better hours?”
“Remember what I said yesterday, they don’t think I can hear them. So, while They’ll never admit it around me, it’s pretty obvious that the human staff there gets treated better than the token pony.”
Silver nuzzled up next to her, “Well at least we both lucked out on having weekends off then.”
“I don’t even know why it bothers me, it’s not like I’m ever expecting it to be some big fancy job that I’ll excel in.”
As much as Scarlet didn’t care about the job, she knew exactly why it bothered her. She still had pride in her work and she’d be lying if she said that seeing the humans getting preferential treatment didn’t strike a nerve with her.
“Okay, not true,” she admitted, “It’s a pride thing I guess.”
“Which makes complete sense,” Silver reassured her. Letting out a long yawn, he made himself more comfortable, “So why don’t we hit the hay and get to the fun dream stuff.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” Scarlet smiled as she curled up under the warm blanket.
Silver opened up his eyes and stood up. As much as he hoped that the dream would have stayed the same, it was now some entirely different scene. Gone was the comfy library he had carefully crafted, and in its place was a brisk wintery village. While beautiful, it wasn’t his dream, and he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t disappointed that he couldn’t show Scarlet what he had made.
“What’s with the hold up?” Scarlet asked as if on cue.
“Huh?” Silver absentmindedly replied.
“Don’t tell me you forgot,” she dramatically said as she trotted up close to him, “I believe you promised me a little fashion show.”
As her grin grew larger Silver remembered what he had agreed to, and his expression dropped into an embarrassed grimace. “Do we really have to?”
“No,” Scarlet countered, “I don’t have to do anything except enjoy the show you said you’d put on.”
As much as Silver was loathing it, he couldn’t help but smile. “You’re evil.”
“The worst!” She proudly beamed, “So how about it then? Wanna make a catwalk or should we pop over to my dream and I’ll try and make one?”
“I uhh…” Silver started to stammer out. Nervously glancing around, his silent prayers were answered as the dream shifted into a comfortable grassy clearing inhabited by a large ethereal stag.
Without any hesitation, the two night ponies broke into their oaths, the strange recitations having become second nature to them at this point.
“Saved by the bell,” Scarlet teased as the Warden of Peace turned around to greet them.
“Hello, I’m sorry for intruding on your dream unannounced, but I believe there was something that my Sister wanted you to show me?”
Silver looked up at the warden and slowly nodded, “Yes actually. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t forgotten, so I’m glad you stopped by.”
“Mhmm,” he nodded and turned towards Scarlet, “Now as for you miss Moon, If you don’t mind I’d like to chat with your stallionfriend alone for a little while.”
The mare looked back at Silver for a moment before nodding. As she vanished, Silver couldn’t help but feel a brief sense of longing before his curiosity took hold.
“We’ve been observing you for a while now,” Psychic Calm started, “and Yinyu’s been sharing some of your discoveries.”
“Oh? She’s been saying good things I hope?”
“Yinyu has her own… particular way of saying things. But she hasn’t shared anything bad. To get right to the point, I’m intrigued by what I’ve seen and heard.”
“Then that was you earlier, wasn’t it? In the dream I mean.”
He nodded, “For a brief moment, but I didn’t stay long.”
Silver slowly nodded, “So, what I did really isn’t normal?”
“Indeed, but not in a bad way. Of all the sleeping minds we keep watch over, a few have stood out as ponies that can use their magic in exceptional ways.”
“Like Josie?” Silver blurted out. “She was the first night pony right?”
Silence filled the air for a few moments as Psychic’s gaze trailed off for a moment. The warden’s disposition didn’t outright change, but the dream around him shifted in a few small, but noticeable ways. The clouds in the air grew darker, and small rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance. Silver wasn’t anywhere close to being a psychologist, but the change in tone gave him the distinct impression that Josie wasn’t a popular topic amongst the wardens.
“Yes.” He replied, “She’s one of those ponies that’s landed on our radar.”
“Is that good or bad?” the stallion asked with a hint of hesitation.
“That doesn’t concern you,” he deflected, “But I believe you do have something to show me?”
“Right, the dream within a dream.”
Silver wasn’t happy with the deflection, but knew better than to try and press a dreamwarden for more information. The most that would get him is either a flat out no or depending on the warden, some severe over the top punishment. In that moment he thanked whatever higher power was looking down at him and making it so he almost never had to deal with Sha’am, the Warden of Death.
Returning to Psychic’s request, Silver took a seat in the grassy meadow and closed his eyes. The gentle sounds of nature seemed to grow even louder as he focused hard on his magic, clearing his mind to the point where he hit that creeping plateau of magic before dropping into his second dream entirely. The main thing he noticed above all else was that the sensation of doing this while asleep was a lot less jarring than when he projected into the dream realm while awake. Those same sensations were all the more vivid and real while asleep too, and almost gave Silver this comforting sense of homeliness compared to when he visited while awake. In stark contrast to his earlier disappointment at his dream having faded, he was overjoyed to see that this one had stayed almost exactly as he had left it.
“Interesting,” came the voice from beside him, “this is very interesting.”
“That’s what Yinyu said,” Silver replied as he stood up. “So what exactly is this place?”
“Your subconscious mind.” The warden answered.
“Wanna run that by me again?” Silver raised an eyebrow, “Because I’m not clued into all the psychological stuff that you are.”
“This is your subconscious, a part of your mind that’s not quite awake or asleep. It’s essentially a dream within a dream, one that you’ve somehow managed to enter.”
“Right… so this is like, a deeper part of my psyche?”
“More or less,” he looked around at the cabin and then directly at Silver, “How did you figure this out?”
“You mean to tell me you don’t know?” Silver asked astonishedly.
“I have an idea, especially after watching you do it in person, but I don’t know the actual process.”
“Well, it’s kind of like what I did to get in here in the first place. While awake I mean.”
“Mhmm, so you tried projecting into the dream realm while inside of a dream?”
“I guess? Basically, I’ll sit down and meditate to get here while I’m awake. Just for kicks I tried to do that in here to see what would happen…”
“And you somehow tapped into the subconscious part of your mind rather than the dream realm itself,” he finished for Silver.
“Right… so the next question is: what does this even mean? Like is it good, is it bad?.. this dream stayed the same as I left it, while my other one cleared out like normal.”
“What it means is that this dream doesn’t fade as quickly as the rest, because it isn’t being interrupted. However, that doesn’t mean that things won’t change.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He gestured towards the portrait of Scarlet that Silver had summoned, “This is not the same portrait that my sister described, for instance.”
Silver took a closer look at the portrait, immediately noticing that both the size and pose had changed significantly from what he had conjured up.
“So things will stick around, but they might change? Yinyu mentioned that my emotions were a lot stronger here, does that have anything to do with it.”
“More than likely,” Psychic answered. “Things you create and summon might stay in place, but your subconscious mind could change and affect them depending on what they are. You care a lot about your marefriend right?”
“Of course, I love her to death,” Silver responded without any hesitation.
“Then that would explain why the portrait changed but the location didn’t.”
So, that’s why Yinyu wanted me to make this place?”
“Correct. It was to test a theory, a theory that you just proved.”
“That this is a persistent dream?”
“You’re on the right track now.”
Silver couldn’t help but grin as his head filled with a thousand different thoughts about what this might mean.
“You sure seem happy about this.”
Silver looked back up at the warden and nodded his head excitedly, “Of course I am! Do you know what this means?”
“I might have an idea. But humor me, what does it mean?”
“It means I can have a place to store all of my ideas that probably won’t ever go away. You don’t know how good that is, do you?”
Psychic grinned, “I can think of a few reasons why that might be good. So what do you have in mind with it then?”
Not even knowing where to begin, Silver grabbed onto whatever stray thought he could think of first. “Well for starters, I’ve always wanted to find a way to use my magic to help others. This gives me a better way to do that.”
“Oh? What do you think you can do with this then?”
“A lot of things. I’ve really wanted to help others, and this could be a big classroom where you could learn anything anytime. There’s no language barriers, and no real limitations on what can exist as long as you have enough creativity to make it.”
“And what about those who can’t visit it?”
“You mean people out in the real world?”
“Yes. What about the people in the waking world that can’t visit your dream?”
“Well to tell you the truth, ever since ETS happened I wanted to try and make the most of my situation. I’d love to help make the world a better place out there, but I’m just one small pony. There’s honestly not a whole lot that they can do with this,” Silver admitted, “but maybe there’s things I can still do to help?”
“Like what?” The warden pressed on.
“Well, one pony can’t change the world, but a bunch working together might be able to spark those flames of progress, right? I have friends out there who want to do the same kind of thing. Are always inventing all of these crazy inventions and keep wanting to do all of these crazy experiments someday. I don’t think that any pony will ever really give them the time of day, maybe I can use my dream to help visualize things. Test out what looks good, what doesn’t, and then somehow relay that back to them or have somepony else do that.
“Are these friends ponies?” he asked.
“Yeah, but they’re not dream walkers. Well, at least one two of them isn’t. They’re a trio of ponies trying to make the world a better place, and I’d love to try and do my part in here.”
“That’s a huge ambition though, don’t you think?” The warden asked again.
Silver slowly trotted around the cozy cabin, letting his words run through his head again. Turning back to face the dreamwarden, he nodded, “It is. An impossible one if you’re more of a pessimist, but that’s what I want to try and do. That vision showed us what we could do if we all worked together, and even though I didn’t agree with all of it, I still think it had some good merits.”
“Like using your newfound magic to help others?”
“Exactly.”
Psychic considered this for a moment before meeting Silver with a warm smile that seemed to hide more behind the surface.
“You really want to help people, don’t you?”
“In any way that I can, even if it’s just spreading joy and fun in here.”
“Would you mind if I shared some of this with the others?”
Silver raised an eyebrow at the warden’s question. While innocent enough, it implied that there was something more than just a surface level fascination with what he had discovered. A few scenarios ran through his head, but seeing no real bad sides to it, he simply shook his head.
“Go ahead. Just as long as I’m not in trouble or anything.”
For the first time in his entire life of dream walking (as short as that had been so far), he heard one of the wardens let out a genuine laugh that almost broke through the imposing facade that they all wore.
“You’re not in trouble at all. That said, I’d like to keep an eye on you, maybe even stop by from time to time.”
“To make sure I don’t get into trouble?”
“More like to take progress reports.”
“Are there lessons attached to these reports?”
“Some tutoring can be arranged if you’re seriously interested in that kind of thing.”
Silver could feel his excitement bubbling up to the surface again, and with that he excitedly nodded his head, “Sign me right up!”
The warden smiled again and gave a short head nod before vanishing, “I look forward to seeing you again in the future, Silver Eclipse. Take care.”
The warden vanished out of the dream, leaving Silver alone once again. That solitude was short lived however, as the cheerful voice of the mare he loved called out from behind him.
“About time you two finished up, I was getting bored stuck in my own dream.” Scarlet trotted up and glanced around at the facsimile of her cabin that Silver had painstakingly put together, “You know, when I suggested you craft your own catwalk for your little show, I didn’t expect you to recreate our house.”
Silver let out a laugh and shook his head, “Oh I have so much to tell you Scarlet.”
“You can tell me after you uphold your end of the bargain,” she teased with a sly smile.