//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Celebrations, Evaluations, and Explorations // Story: Night Terrors // by TikiBat //------------------------------// The rest of the morning had gone by in a flash, and much as Painted Skies had predicted, the foals had enjoyed their afternoon swim. Orion, who had clearly been very tired, still wanted to play with his new friends more and despite his best efforts he just couldn’t muster the energy to stay awake, much to the adult’s humor. Silver had carried him back inside and had thanked Painted for spending the day with them and sharing some of her world’s history, and the two had reunited with their own families shortly after for a noon meal before the night ponies would settle down for bed. The day’s excitement had improved Silver’s mood considerably, but now with everything settling down, he started feeling fatigue settle in again. He didn’t know if it was the mental exhaustion, or the physical exhaustion from running around town all day— or maybe even a combination of the two, but he knew one thing for certain: he was completely exhausted, and he couldn’t wait to snuggle up with Scarlet after their long day. Getting ready for bed, Silver finished pulling the drapes in their bedroom closed, and had extinguished all but a few candles close to their bed. He let out a long, drawn-out yawn and stretched his back. A few loud cracks rang out in the small room, followed by a content sigh from the stallion. “I dunno about you, but I can’t wait to snuggle down for bed.” Scarlet looked up from her notebook with an unmistakable look of pure glee carrying across her face. “I bet, it sounds like Orion had a really good day with Starry and Painted’s foals.” Silver softly chuckled. “He had such a great time, and it makes me happy to see. He’s going to be crushed when they leave…” he looked up at her again and smiled. “But I have a good feeling he’ll see them again sooner than later.” “You think so?” Scarlet replied, trying to play ignorant. “Mhmm,” Silver reiterated. “I’m not a gambling stallion but I feel like it’d be a real safe bet. You think I haven’t noticed how excited you’ve been?” “I’m always excited,” She replied, looking back down at her notebook, though it was clear that she wasn’t exactly working on anything in it. “Yeah? Well, there’s two things I’ve seen you get this excited about, and unless we’re expecting another foal then I think I know how your meeting went today.” Scarlet let out a laugh and closed her notebook. She hopped up onto the bed and snuggled up close to Silver, laying a wing across his back. “It went really really really good!” “Yeah?!” Silver started to raise his voice into an excited tone. “So you’re in?” “I can’t really say anything for sure, because there’s some things I’m not supposed to talk about right now… but I have a really good feeling about it, and I think you were right!” Silver pulled her into a tight hug. “Oh my gosh, I’m so proud of you. When do you think you’ll hear back for sure?” “Probably this weekend for whether I’m in, and then another month for the visas and other approval stuff to go through,” Scarlet said, leaning into the hug. “That’s great. I know you’re going to get in for sure,” He paused for a moment as an idea hit his sleepy mind. “So how about we do something fun to celebrate?” “Like what?” A sly grin crossed Silver’s face. “Maybe a fun little dream date night? We could go run around a few dreams, maybe go off on a few big adventures, then maybe end the day by snuggling up together somewhere?” “That sounds great…” She paused. “But… what happened to taking things easy for a few nights?” “Oh, guess I didn’t think about that,” Silver replied. “Doesn’t mean we have to do anything wild though.” “Maybe we could cuddle up together if you want?” She offered. “I dunno about you, but I’m always happy with that.” As much as Silver would have rather made up some big celebration for Scarlet, warm cuddles in a nice dream were always a good alternative. “I can live with that,” He agreed. “But first, I should probably do the responsible thing and have a warden look at me first… just to make sure everything’s okay.” While the fun events of the day had cut through the mental haze quite a bit, with his thoughts drifting back to the dream realm, it’s effects became more apparent. As much as he wanted to just hope it’d solve itself and go away on its own, he knew that the smarter option would be talking with a warden about what had happened and how to rectify it. “Wanna just head right to bed then?” Scarlet asked, breaking through his thoughts. “Because we could do something else if you wanted,” She replied in a soft whisper. Silver briefly considered what else Scarlet might have been suggesting, but decided that a nice relaxing sleep with the mare he loved was the best option right now, as much as he might want to find out whatever else she had in mind. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and nodded. “Let’s get some rest right now and see where the day takes us…” he paused. “Then once we know what’s wrong with me we can do more…” He added with a grin. She smiled. “You’re so cute when you try to flirt, you know that?” Silver blushed but held his ground. “Did you ever consider that that’s all a part of my plan?” “Yeah, and you’re still cute. So why don’t we snuggle up and you can go see a warden about what’s wrong, then we’ll know how long I have to think up something fun for us to do. Sound good?” “Oh you’re going to think up something now? What happened to just cuddling together in a dream?” “We’ll still do that!” She replied with an adorable flap of her ears. “You passed on choosing where though which means it’s my turn to think of something.” “Right…” Silver looked off to the side. “Why do I feel like you already have something in mind?” “Because I probably do,” She teased. “It won’t be anything embarrassing though. Maybe just a nice date night under the stars.” Silver smiled. “And nothing else?” Scarlet shrugged. “I guess that depends on how the night goes… just something to think about.” Silver gave her a kiss and pulled their blanket over them. “A date night under the stars sounds wonderful. Maybe you can teach me more about the stars too?” She smiled. “I love you, Silver.” Silver pulled her close. “I love you too Scarlet. See you in a bit.” Silver nervously looked around as the large stag-like form of Psychic Calm, the Warden of Peace, stared down at him. He had been mostly silent during his evaluation, his stoic face betraying no real emotion one way or another. To say that the silence was deafening would be an understatement, and Silver genuinely didn’t know what to expect going forward. He knew he didn’t really have any reason to be anxious— or at least he thought he did, but the cold untelling stare just ate away at him and only made the minutes stretch into imperceptibly long eons.  “Try to relax if you can. You’re going to stress yourself out and complicate things.” The warden of peace finally spoke.  “I am relaxed,” Silver lied, though the assurance was more to convince himself than the powerful dreamer who could read his thoughts.  “You’re not,” Came his simple reply. “I believe I know what’s amiss.” “Oh?” Silver breathed a sigh of relief. “What is it then?” “Your magical channels— they’re strained.” “They… are?” He nervously gulped. “So umm… what does that mean?” “You said you pulled a non-dreamwalker through the dream realm and into your dream?” Silver nodded. “I don’t know how I did it, I just panicked and wanted to get out of there.” “Doing that put undue strain on your magic, and your body simply wasn’t designed for that, or at least it wasn’t used to it.” “I see. So that explains the mental fog and exhaustion then?” Psychic Calm’s expression didn’t change, but he gave a short nod. “Indeed.” “And what you’re saying is that had I worked my way up to that kind of magic instead of just instinctively channeling it then I would have better prepared my magical channels for that kind of strain?” “More or less,” He confirmed. “That kind of magic is very strenuous though and I would advise you not to try it again, at least unsurprised.” “Otherwise I risk burnout…” Silver concluded. “Gotcha,” He paused for a moment and replayed that dream’s events in his mind again. “So how long is this exhaustion supposed to last then?” The warden kept his trademark stoic demeanor as he conjured up a comfortable couch for Silver, which didn’t surprise Silver in the slightest. The warden waited for him to take a seat before continuing. “At least a couple of days. If you hadn’t been better trained to harness your dream magic then it’s hard to say how long you would be out. You’re rather lucky in that regard.” “I see,” Silver nodded. “So what do I need to do right now then? What are my limits, can I dream walk like usual? Craft dreams?” he paused for another moment, thinking about the time they were going to spend together today. “Can I spend time with Scarlet?” “Your limits are no strenuous use of your dream magic. So no crafting, no big adventures, and if you must dream walk, please limit it to close friends and family. Those dreams take less effort to seek out and as such they’ll put less strain on your magic.” “And after a few days I’m okay do do that again?” Psychic nodded. “You can do whatever you wish after that, though again, I would advise you not to practice higher stress magic unless I or one of my brothers or sisters are present.” Silver perked up. “So I can still work my way up towards that?” “When you’re in a safe dream that can be better contained,” He clarified. “Just until you’re more adept at it.” “I understand,” Silver replied.  “If there isn’t anything else you need then you’re free to return to whichever dream you wish.” “Just heed your warnings,” Silver finished. “Thanks Psychic, I appreciate it.” The warden gave him an indifferent expression, but Silver knew that he didn’t mind helping him. “Have a pleasant dream.” The serene field that Silver had sat in shimmered for a moment before fading away into a starry void, leaving him alone in the open dream realm. Not entirely sure of where to go, Silver made his way to Scarlet’s dream and smiled as he stepped forward into the cozy space. A bright starry sky sat overhead and a lush grassy plane stretched out into the distance. In front of him there was a nice cozy blanket with a telescope nearby and a basket of food not too far away. “Everything go well?” Scarlet looked up from her spot on the blanket. “Yeah,” Silver replied, taking a seat next to her. “Can’t say it wasn’t nerve wracking, but at least it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.” “So what’s the diagnosis then?” She asked with a hint of concern carrying in her voice. “Acute magical exhaustion,” Silver simply replied. “It’s not as bad as it sounds though. Psychic said that I just need to take it easy for a few days and not do anything too crazy, and then I should be good.” “So what caused it then? Just that stuff with Sapphire and pulling her to your dream?” Silver nodded and reached for a particularly juicy looking mango sitting at the top of the fruit basket. “I instinctively channeled more magic out of fear than my body was used to, so it just got worn out.” “And I’m guessing that taking it easy means avoiding making big complicated dreams and going on big adventures?” She shifted into a more stern tone. Silver weakly smiled. “You told me so.” “That’s right I did,” Scarlet stuck her tongue out. “You’re lucky you’re as adorable as you are, otherwise I’d be asking one of them to put you into a dreamless sleep for the next few days.” “Well thankfully Psychic said I’m okay visiting dreams of ponies close to me,” He smirked and leaned close to her. “And I’d say you’re the closest pony to me so that shouldn’t be an issue at all.” Scarlet rolled her eyes and laughed. “You’re cute. I hope you know that.” “Not as cute as you are though,” Silver countered. “This is your day after all, you’re the one that’s going to get to go work in another world again.” “I’m the one that might get to go work in another world again,” She corrected. “Let’s not count our eggs before they hatch.” Silver nodded. “I know you’re gonna get it though, I just have a good feeling about it.” A small smile crossed her face. “I have a good feeling about it too… I’m just being dumb and superstitious.” “It’s not dumb, it’s tempering your expectations,” Silver added. “So how about we just make this a nice relaxing dream and then we can really celebrate when I’m all better and you know for sure on everything.” Scarlet smiled. “I’d really love that.” Silver looked around at their surroundings. “So what’s on the agenda today?” Scarlet pointed up into the sky and then down to the blankets. “We sit here, have a nice picnic, and then tell stories under the stars until we decide to do something else.” “What kind of something else?” Silver asked with a curious look on his face. “Guess you’ll have to find out.” Scarlet replied with a smirk. Bright colors danced in the air as Scarlet conjured up an aurora for the pair to watch. Their dream date had been relatively tame and filled with lots of stories, cuddling, and even a few more romantic moments. Time had stretched into an eternity, but that’s what Silver enjoyed about these kinds of dream dates in particular; it let him spend more time doing what he loved with the mare he loved. All good things would come to an end however, and before he realized it, he found Scarlet’s dream fading around him, and the familiar starfield of the dream realm surrounding him again. It took him a moment to get his bearings, and realizing that Scarlet must have woken up, he let out a small, sad-sounding sigh. Not wanting to just sit around in the open dream realm and wait for himself to awaken, he hopped back into his own familiar dream. Right away, something felt off as he stepped into Somewhere, but he didn’t quite know why. For a split second it almost seemed as if other dreamers were present, but it was like no other presence he had ever felt before, and that just made him feel even more confused. He thought back to Sapphire’s nightmare and the fact that this dream was where he had fled back to, and supposed that maybe it was just some weird lingering emotion giving him a bad vibe— especially after going through the odd ordeal that was that strange fever dream. This place was technically his subconscious mind after all, so it was far more susceptible to being affected by strong emotions than other dreams were. As he glanced around the dream, something strange and unusual caught his attention; a tall stone gateway nestled on the rocky shore beneath one of the metal catwalks that surrounded the bay. “That’s… weird,” He said aloud. Hopping up into a hover, he gently flew up to it and rested a hoof against it, twitching back as he felt something that he could only think to describe as a cold shock. “What… are you?” He wondered. Shaking his head he channeled his magic towards the gateway to dispel it, but found that for some weird reason it didn’t react to his will. He raised an eyebrow and stepped around it, eyeing it’s smooth, irregular surface. Unsure of what was amiss, and not really having the energy to deal with it for now, Silver simply shrugged it off and assumed that whatever was wrong had to be caused by his magical exhaustion. If that was the case, then it would be a few days until he could do anything about it anyways, and if it wasn’t really causing trouble then it wasn’t worth the effort of stressing over it. Having nothing else to really do, he simply sat down and closed his eyes, ready to drift back into wakefulness like he often did. The moment he closed his eyes however, the sound of voices deep in conversation suddenly assaulted his senses.  He opened his eyes and rolled them, letting out an annoyed sigh that was quickly stifled when he was who his intruders were.  “Eclipse?” Morgana shouted over to him.  He stood up and dusted himself off, nodding in their direction. “Morgana, Koruk, it’s good to see you two.” “What are you still doing asleep at this hour?” Morgana asked with a playful tone carrying in her voice.  “I imagine he was just about to get to that,” Koruk replied.  “What he said,” Silver let out a weak chuckle. “What are you two up to here?” Koruk shrugged “We’re going to go nightmare hopping, and Somewhere is the easiest place for both of us to meet up in.” “You’re welcome to join us if you’d like,” Morgana added.  Silver smiled and shook his head. “Thanks… but no thanks.” “Oh come on Eclipse, you have to live a little,” She countered. “Doctor’s orders,” Silver replied with a shrug. “I’m supposed to be taking it easy right now and running through my greatest fears this late in the day doesn’t exactly sound like my idea of fun.” “Was our last adventure really that bad?” Morgana raised an eyebrow. “Mhmm,” Silver flatly answered. “Running through a dark forest full of spiders when you knew I was deathly afraid of them was not my cup of tea,” His eye twitched for a moment and his hooves started to tremble. “I can still feel them crawling over me…” “It was all just a dream though— an illusion that you could have used to transcend your fear.” “What wasn’t an illusion was the Warden of Fear having to dispel that nightmare. Because we jumped into a pair of telepathic twins’ shared nightmare at your urging without knowing what would happen.” “Only because Athena and Apheta had given us that opportunity,” Morgana protested. Silver shook his head. “I’m not mad at you, but what I am saying is that we need to do things a little more carefully otherwise we run the risk of getting hurt for real.” The nightmare obsessed mare held up her hooves and nodded. “I apologize for acting so rashly then. You were right about everything.” “You’re not wrong in believing in Phobia Remedy’s teachings,” Silver clarified. “So don’t let our past missteps discourage you,” He briefly paused and turned his attention back towards the strange gateway on the shore. “I’m probably going to be gone soon, but you two are free to stay.” Koruk followed the other stallion’s gaze and looked on with a look of curiosity carrying in his face. “That’s new, isn’t it?” Silver raised an eyebrow. “What?” “That gateway,” Morgana stepped forward. “Looks spooky, I like it.” “What is it?” Koruk asked. “Doesn’t really seem your style…” “Oh, that,” Silver shrugged. “I… I don’t actually know what it is… It just kind of showed up here.” “Just kind of showed up?” he pressed. “Mhmm,” Silver nodded. “Wish I could say more but… it’s just kind of there.” “What’s behind those doors?” Morgana inquired, the telltale glimmer of an idea clearly carrying in her voice. “What secrets are you hiding away from us?” Silver trotted up and hesitantly held out a hoof. “I… I don’t know, it wouldn’t open for me.” Silver gently rested his hoof on one of the large wooden doors, and as if on cue a loud creak screeched out from it accompanied by a slight rumble. With a final tremor, the two large doors slowly swung open, revealing the incomprehensible chaotic mess of a dream that Silver had seen in his frantic escape. More alarmingly, this dream was disconnected from the rest of the dream that should have been behind it. “I…” Silver looked on in astonishment. “This— I don’t know how—” he started to shut down as the fear that accompanied his first visit started to flow through him. “The dream realm?” Koruk asked in confusion. “I dunno,” Morgana replied. “Something about it seems…” “Very off.” Silver finished for her.  He didn’t quite know whether it was the weird visuals, the crushing fear, or the mysterious circumstances behind it’s origin. But something about this dream seemed very off, and Silver was more than a little leery of investigating further. Taking a closer look from a safe distance, the eerie floating islands and swirling clouds immediately stood out to him. Surprisingly enough though, the sky’s unnatural shifting color had dimmed into a dark night sky with alarmingly dim stars. If this was part of the open dream realm, then it was certainly a place he had never encountered before, and needless to say he wasn’t all that interested in going in. “Looks… interesting,” Morgana noted. “Like a whole other world.” “Isn’t that every dream though?” Silver replied. “This is very clearly different from just another dream, Eclipse,” She shook her head. “Maybe,” Silver agreed. “But I really think we need to close it and ignore it for now. It’s clearly something that’s beyond what we’ve dealt with before and—” Koruk shook his head. “And what? You want us to just leave the mystery behind?” “Didn’t we just talk about not messing with things we didn’t know about?” Silver protested. “We did…” Morgana started. “But maybe he’s right. It doesn’t look all that dangerous to me, and believe me. I know dangerous dreams.” “This clearly isn’t a normal old dream though…” Silver shook his head again. “I’d rather not mess with things we know absolutely nothing about if that’s alright with you.” Ignoring his protests, Koruk trotted forward through the open door, making Silver’s eyes widen in surprise. “Hey, wait!” He began. Koruk suddenly flinched back in shock, holding his hooves to his head and letting out a loud scream. “Shit!” Morgana cursed.  The two leapt in towards him, but to their genuine shock and surprise, they were met with laughter. “See? It’s not that bad,” Koruk wheezed out in between a fit of laughter. Silver scowled and picked himself up off the ground. “That’s not funny.” “I agree,” Morgana said, surprising Silver with how she didn’t outright jump to her friend’s defense. A strange eerie feeling began to well up inside of Silver, and he could have sworn that he heard a faint whispery voice calling out from the void around him but he couldn’t make out the words. The other thing that concerned him is that he didn’t feel the usual pull to the waking world that often signalled the end of a dream for him. In fact, in some weird way he almost felt as if he had crossed into the waking world, but obviously he hadn’t… at least that’s what he guessed. A strange and mysterious gateway couldn’t really bring him into another world… could it? Assuming it was just his nerves and exhaustion getting the better of him, he shook his head. “Let’s get out of here.” “Aww, I’m sorry Silver,” Koruk apologized. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” “Let’s go, Silver coldly replied. “We can talk about this later, but for now I want to avoid this… at least until we can figure out what it is.” Morgana glanced over to the door and nodded. “Come on Koruk, he’s right. We can explore it more later.” Silver ushered the pair out with a wing and tried his best to pull the doors closed. However, much to his own annoyance, no matter how hard he pulled against the wooden doors they just simply wouldn’t budge. He let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, here’s the deal. None of us touch this, look inside of this, or even step inside of it until we can get the rest of the group together… and maybe even a warden.” “But…” Morgana and Koruk both began to say in unison. “No buts,” Silver sternly replied. As if to emphasize his decision on the matter, he conjured a reinforced metal box with a large no symbol overtop cartoonish depictions of the pair, and dropped it overtop of the gateway with a loud thud. “It’s a little dramatic don’t you think?” Morgana replied. Silver shook his head. “It gets my point across.” Koruk nodded his head. “We understand. Neither of us will mess with this until you give us the go ahead. Okay?” “Good,” Silver gave a weak smile. “Now you two get along and go have your nightmare adventures, we can chat more about this with the rest of the group later.” They nodded in unison, and Morgana conjured up a dream gateway, no doubt leading to one of the many nightmares she often had at the ready. “Thank you Eclipse. Have a good night and I hope you feel better soon.” “Thanks Morgana,” Silver replied, softening his voice into a more neutral tone. “You two have a good night too.” As the pair vanished, Silver was once again struck by that same uneasy feeling that he felt inside the gateway, and for a very brief moment he could have almost sworn that he heard a faint laughter echoing in the distance. Perhaps though it was just simply his own nerves getting the better of him… as the dream started to fade away from around him, those thoughts quickly vanished for the time being. Silver opened his eyes and let out a soft yawn, blinking a few times as he was greeted by a few kisses from Scarlet. “Gee, took you long enough,” She giggled. “I thought you ditched me for another dream adventure or something?” Silver sat up and returned a few kisses. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”