//------------------------------// // 30: Learning to Walk // Story: The Night's Shining Armour // by Appleody //------------------------------// Chapter 30 Welp, never thought I’d be admitting this, but Twilight’s slumber party was actually quite tolerable. Not only was it pretty interesting, but it kinda proved that most of the Elements don’t actually hate me anymore. Apart from Applejack, but I’m not sure if she just distrusts everyone she doesn’t really know. The only real bad part, was when the dares went a little too far towards the end. Loony and Sunny seem to love pushing each other’s buttons sometimes. It just comes out of nowhere. Speaking of Loony, it was nice of her to lend me her bed once again. It’s always comfortable sleeping at her side, no matter how cramped. Not to mention the slightly more interesting dimension she brings me to. Her presence is exactly why I’m currently sitting in a glowing corridor, surrounded by steadily increasing numbers of doors. This is both a blessing and a curse to be honest. A blessing, because Loony is going to appear soon and want to do something with me. A curse, because that thing doesn’t involve resting. I could just wander off and find a place to rest alone, but that would probably be considered impolite. Especially because she likely wants to catch up with me. That reason alone was why I was sitting exactly where I appeared, staring at a blank space in the wall, waiting for my Loony’s door to inevitably appear. After the average waiting time of around ten minutes, her usual door appeared. The moment I could make out her familiar mark, I couldn’t help standing up in anticipation of her arrival. I know she’s going to be really active and want me to do things, but I’m still eager to spend a bit of time alone with her. All those other ponies were a bit much. Without much fanfare; the door swung open, admitting one dark blue pegacorn to the vast corridor. She immediately locked eyes with my eye sockets and smiled. “Ah Eclipse, punctual as always.” Due to lacking a true mouth, I just nodded and said, “yeah, I guess.” Really wish I could smile back. As our initial greeting concluded, Loony began scanning both ways down the corridor. After a light hmm, she surmised, “it seems there are many dreams for us to attend to tonight.” Following her gaze, I too eyed the many doors filling out the space. “There are a few doors around here.” Huh, suppose that means she’ll be a little too busy to do stuff with me. I’m actually a little disappointed. Oh well, there’s probably a good corner around here somewhere to laze in. Just wish this place wasn’t so bright all the time. “Well, I’ll wish you luck then.” Just as I finished speaking, Loony turned back to me with a metaphorical light bulb above her head. “Hmm, thou can easily traverse dreams, can thou not?” she started to ask. “Yeees.” uh-oh, she’s gonna give me a job to do. I don’t know anything about this place. Other than it contains dreams, obviously. With the mostly rhetorical question answered, Loony took a step towards me and held out a hoof. “Well then, would thou be interested in learning more about Our nightly activities?” “You look at dreams and stuff, right?” From the way Loony slightly frowned, it was clear she did a little more than that. Seeking to mitigate any damage, I continued on to say, “well, I’m sure there’s much to learn.” “Indeed, there is,” Loony agreed, latching on to my second statement. “Not only do We observe Our subjects’ dreams, but We actively affect them to improve their general wellbeing.” As she spoke, she started to sound increasingly proud of her work, going so far as to puff up her chest. She then turned and walked over to a nearby door. “Now then, come, We shall demonstrate to thee on one of thy close friends.” The door in question held a familiar pattern, one of three blue gems. Huh, Rarity. Wonder what she dreams about? Clothes most probably. As she reached the door, Loony stopped and patiently gestured in its direction. “After thou.” Heh, shouldn’t it be mare’s first? Following her invitation, I approached the waiting entrance, shoe raised ready to pull the handle. Right at the last moment, I couldn’t help a slight feeling of wrongness creeping into my chest piece, causing me to hesitate. Loony cocked a brow at my pause and commented uncertainly, asking, “Is something the matter?” “Is it really okay for me to see her dreams? Isn’t this stuff sort of… private?” I know I’ve been in pony dreams before, but at the time, I didn’t realize they represented actual real pony’s psyches. Loony just smiled kindly at me and said, “Our subjects trust us to watch over the night in all things. We believe they be willing to trust one as close to Us as thou.” After hesitantly tapping the blank dream floor with a fore shoe, I relented and began opening the doorway to Rarity’s brain. “Okay, you know ponies better than me.” I mean that’s a given. Saying that, she has been a bit out of the public domain for the past thousand years. Ignoring that final niggling thought, I began observing the familiar room that lay before us. The inside of one carousel, if I wasn’t mistaken. That was pretty expected to be honest, but at the same time there isn’t anything extraordinary around. Just the store and a slight humming sound. “Hm, I was expecting something a little more… dream-like in here.” Other dreams I’ve been to, all had something that made them slightly unreal. This just seems… normal. That earned me a light titter from my close friend. “Not all Our subject’s dreams are so surreal. Many are mundane with only slight hints of fantasy.” She then decided to begin gently nudging me through the door with her muzzle. “Now come along, this dream will be perfect for thy practice.” “Okay, okay.” Taking the hint, I entered the familiar door, closely followed by the eager to start pegacorn. “Sooo… now what?” We’re practically just in Rarity’s shop now. “Now? Now we find the dreamer. That is always the way to start,” Loony said, beginning my lesson. Her ears then pricked up to the sound of the earlier humming, prompting her to walk in its direction. Upon making her way past a couple of racks, she turned to me and gestured with a wing. “Now, there is our glamourous dreamer.” Once I made it to Loony’s side, the seamstress came into view. Rarity was happily humming, while working away upon a new dress design she was probably thinking about in real life. She was clearly in a state of heavy concentration, as she expertly cut unwanted material and sewed on extra finishing touches. Hopefully, that means this is a good dream if she’s dreaming about her job. Clothing is something she seems to like. As the two of us sat spying on the unaware pony, Rarity suddenly said, “lift please,” to no one in particular seeing as she was, by her knowledge, alone. Something a bit more interesting than the creation of a new dress was clearly going on, when the dress lifted up one of its short sleeves by itself, for the fashion pony to access underneath. Upon adding a small amount of stitching, she said, “ah, this is looking lovely.” The fashion pony then took a step back as another unexpectedly familiar voice said, “Thanks Rares.” The dress then moved unassisted from the podium, walked straight past me on some fancy shoes and waved its thrills at Rarity, before walking out the door like it was the norm. That scene left me a little bit stunned to be honest. Is she dreaming about me? I’m not sure if I should be flattered or concerned. Heedless of my newfound interest in her dream, Rarity began looking at a checklist, ticked off something and eyed the next on the list. “Guise, I’m ready for you,” she called out to someone waiting in another room. In response to the call, a suit fitted for a stallion seemed to limp in, before greeting her. It then held out one of its sleeves, which on further inspection was clearly torn. “Oh, you poor thing. I can fix that right up for you,” Rarity said in a sympathetic tone, before using her magic to bring over her tools. So, is she like… a doctor for clothes or something? As I debated the madness I was witnessing, my fellow dream walker inadvertently gained my attention with a light giggle. Loony, was only taking brief glances at the display and appeared to be mainly staring at me with a wide grin. “What is it? Something on my helmet?” “Nay, nay, We have never seen thou so enraptured in something. Thy reaction is quite entertaining,” she said without losing her smile. Yes, my blank expression must be amazing to watch. Hoping to simultaneously impress Loony and hide my interest, I decided to give the amused pegacorn my theory on the dream. “She is sort of dreaming about me.” Saying those words, caused a whole new well of embarrassment to form. “Not quite dreaming about thou,” Loony began in her schooling tone. “It appears she is imagining a world where thy kind are a more prevalent feature. A world of clothes, is likely a dream come true for a seamstress such as her.” “Well, I’m flattered. It would be interesting to have others like me around,” I said while looking back over to the seamstress helping ‘Guise’. Maybe I should visit her more often? She has given me a bit of an open invitation. Yeah, it might be interesting to hang around with someone who likes what I am. I’m not quite clothes though. Still watching me, Loony said, “We prefer the concept of quality over quantity.” That is a good way to think. Seeing as I was still distracted with the scene playing out, Loony loudly clopped her hooves together, likely wanting me to stop watching the unfolding events. “Now then, for the reason we are here,” Loony said grandly. “For the demonstration and practice of some basic dream walking techniques.” For a way to gain someone’s attention, it wasn’t bad. Once I’d managed to distance myself from the dream show, Loony reached over and picked up a random top hat from a shelf nearby. She then gestured to the headwear with her free forehoof and said, “this, is a construct from Rarity’s dream.” She proceeded to flip it upside down to give me a view from all sides. “Okay.” It looks like any hat. Obviously, it isn’t. That’s what this training’s about. This should be fun. “It may appear like any mundane object in all things, but its construct form gives it unique qualities We can exploit,” Loony went on to explain, while her horn began to glow. The moment the glow surrounded the item, it began to shift and change into various different forms. Going from a top hat, to a regular woolly hat, before making the more extreme change to a valuable looking gem and then a random mundane rock. In the end, it finally ceased to exist entirely. With her show of dream manipulation complete, she grabbed another hat from the same shelf and turned to me. “We have witnessed the method thou uses to modify thy own form many times. ‘Tis our belief, that it is the same method used to modify a dream itself. After all, thou art made of the stuff of dreams,” as she finished, Loony appeared to gain a wistful smile at the idea. The stuff of dreams eh. Seems like a big leap in logic to me. I’m pretty sure I’m made of some sort of magic. Wait, are dreams made of magic? That could make sense. In the end, I only shrugged at Luna’s theory and said, “okay, do you want me to give that a try?” A quick nod and the hat being held out in front of me was the reply. Welp, let’s see what I can do. Taking the top hat in my fore shoe, I began to focus on its form. The desire, was to make the top hat become the same woolly hat Luna had just created. My focus did come to fruition in an unintended manner, as I managed to form an identical top hat with my mist, before changing that into the woolly hat. My friend eyed the new hat for a moment thoughtfully, before saying, “very good. Thou hast created a fine dream construct, however ‘tis Our desire for thou to modify one that already exists.” Looking at the newly formed hat, I couldn’t help thinking, isn’t this a part of me? Suppose that gives credence to Luna’s earlier theory. Right, round two. After reabsorbing my construct, I began to once again focus on the top hat. It took considerable effort not to just make a new one again, and I had to go as far as surrounding the hat with mist, just to keep my attention upon it. As time passed, Loony decided to give some more advice. “It may help to consider the object as an extension of thyself.” That does make sense, but how would I go about tricking myself like that? It’s clearly not me. Ah, I know. With an idea in mind, I used my mist to float the hat and balance it precariously on top of my helmet. “Done.” That’s sort of a part of me, right? As my concentration wavered every so often, it did steadily dawn on me that Loony was rubbing her forehooves together in anticipation of a positive result. Seems, she has a bit of a stake in this. Welp, really can’t let her down. Still continuing to try and modify it like I would myself, nothing seemed to be happening. The object didn’t change at all. It didn’t even budge due to my own motionless state. This thing very clearly isn’t me; I can’t feel it like my helmet or shoes. Seeing Loony off to my side filled with hopeful faith in my ability, didn’t make me feel too good and distracted my attention even further from the object. She didn’t appear to be judging me, but it was becoming evident from the way her look was changing, that her belief in my ability was steadily fading away. Well, this kinda sucks. Wish this hat would sod off. It was then that I had a slight break through, consuming the hat in its entirety, like any regular form of magic. The dream construct even had a nice taste. Hmm, dreams are another source of food? Putting that thought aside for later, I reformed the hat upon my helmet, before changing its state to that of a woolly hat. Feeling a little happier, the next step was to switch the hats forms like Loony. The act was almost foal’s play, as the object flipped between a pair of glasses, a cup and finally a flower. Swiftly stealing the formed flower, Loony gave it a quick sniff, before rearing up in celebration. “Huzzah, thou hast done it.” Upon landing back on all fours, she gave me a quick nudge with her wing. “Thou should believe in thyself more.” I believed in myself, I think? It was then that I became aware of my mist raising back up from the floor. Okay, I might have been feeling a little dejected. “Well, I couldn’t do it without you,” I said while watching her put my newly created flower in her mane. Saying that, that flower is made out of me, right? It isn’t connected, but I can definitely sense it. Does that mean I didn’t modify the dream? I’m not sure what counts. At least Loony thinks I did. As she finished with her new decoration, she smiled and said, “now then, let Us show thou what an experienced dream walker can do to benefit a dream.” “I’m prepared to be amazed.” This should be good. The tip of my friend’s horn flashed blue for a second, as she lightly stamped on the room’s floor. She then stood nonchalantly, still looking in my direction. Is that it? Nothing seems to have happened. In a bit of puzzlement, I tilted my helmet in Loony’s direction. Seeing my confusion, the dream master only raised a foreleg in the direction of our dream’s host. It was then I noticed Rarity was looking a little confused. That did make sense, seeing as the suit she was working on had completely disappeared. “I don’t see how stealing her… client is beneficial.” Wonder what Rarity’s actually thinking? Technically, this sort of thing happens in dreams all the time. Most probably, I don’t actually dream. How weird is that? Rather than explain the purpose of her manipulation, Loony simply said, “wait and see.” Wait and see? Fine. Turning back to the unicorn, she had shaken off her confusion and, was now reading through her clipboard once again. When her eyes reached a certain point, she smiled and turned to look straight down the corridor of racks, straight at me. “Ah Eclipse, I’ve been looking forward to your appointment all day.” She can see me? “My appointment?” More to the point, what appointment? Not noticing my uncertainty, she looked back down at her checklist and continued, “I know you booked yourself in for this afternoon, but I’m free at the moment. Why don’t you come over here.” She then lightly tapped the pedestal with a hoof that the two previous entities had occupied. What is happening? Looking to Loony for clarification, she only smiled mischievously. Oh great, suppose I’m a part of her narrative now. Well, it’ll probably be fine. “Erm, okay then,” I said, before making my way to the politely directed position. Rarity only nodded at me, before turning to look through a variety of tools, including tape measures, needles and dreaded scissors. The sight of these implements would have made me gulp if it were possible, and encouraged me to ask a very pertinent question. “So, what exactly did I book myself in for again?” That distracted the pony from her various potential torture devices and caused her to look in my direction. An act which allowed me to use my mist to eat her scariest tools. “Well, you did say you wanted me to make you look nice for the Princess. She can’t just have a single gala dress now, can she?” A quick glance back at the pegacorn puppet master confirmed my suspicions. Her smile had morphed from that of smile, to a wide cheeky grin. Seems I’ve fallen into her trap. Then again, I think I did talk to Loony about wanting to go see Rarity for something like this. Why am I so lazy? “Well, I did plan on asking you about that.” “I know, and I’ve been itching to get my hooves into you as well. There are so many interesting concepts a material like yours allows,” Rarity finished before turning around to look for her now missing tools. “Where did? I swear I just had them,” she mumbled to herself while looking under her workstation. Probably thinking she dropped her scissors. Okay, this is my opportunity to make this dream work, now let’s see. It didn’t take me long to rematerialize each of the fashion pony’s tools almost identically to how they started. They only had a couple of minor differences. The first was that each implement was entirely made by me, giving me full awareness and control over them. The second, and much more important one, was that each tool wasn’t actually sharp anymore. There, easy. To the side of the tools, rolls of material could also be seen, which I again switched out for more of myself. In the few seconds it took me to replace the sort after items, Rarity stood back to her full height, just a little frustrated, before noticing her tools exactly where she left them. “Ah, here they are. I must need a little more sleep,” she ironically said, while shaking her head. She then turned to me and asked, “would you be able to return to your elegant dress form? Your armour is quite charming, but I can use the dress as a nice base for my work.” After I complied by turning myself into Luna’s original gala dress; the fashion pony set to work with her measuring tape, began taking numerous notes and reviewing a large quantity of sketches. Seems she really has been planning for this for a while. Suppose these sketches are all just thoughts in reality. Once her preliminary checks were completed, the unicorn picked up her newly formed scissors and began moving them towards my newly created hem. Just before she went ahead with her cutting, she looked up to my, currently tiara, head and reassuringly said, “think of this like a mane cut for a pony. It should be relaxing.” Easy for her to say, normally getting bits cut off isn’t the nicest thing. Luckily for her, I had a method of making this work. When her tool met the dress, rather than cutting through, I consumed the material back into myself. From the outside it still appeared like a cut, but for me it was way more pleasant. It was so easy for me to do, that it was practically automatic and even proved Rarity right when she said it would be relaxing. I wasn’t sure how long had gone by, when Rarity finally said, “and voila, one midi dress.” Wait, it’s over? Aww, that was kinda nice. Looking back to my barber, she was even holding a small mirror for me to get a better look at myself. What I found in the reflection, was a very dark blue almost black dress with very limited flare. Looking to my rear, she’d shortened the hem to what would be a tall pony’s knee allowing the view of my shoes below. At the shoes was a different change, as she’d decided to add ankle high socks, which would make it easier for me to manipulate my wearer’s hooves. The final change from the gala dress was that the sleeves only stretched a little way from the shoulder, which is probably what Loony would prefer. “It’s all very nice, so much easier to move,” I started to say, before noticing the texture of the material. “Erm Rarity, how did you change my material?” It had somehow become something much smoother and shinier than my original, without me having to do anything. Quite a major improvement over my own design. Not only that, but it still included the thin metal plates I’d hidden throughout, in order to prevent a repeat of what happened at the gala. In response, she just pointed back to an empty roll of material I’d copied for her. That means she basically removed all of me and replaced me with that, without me evening paying attention. Dreams are impressive. “I selected velvet as something the two of you may enjoy,” Rarity said with a smile, “Is the hem low enough? I know the princess wanted it long before.” “This length’s perfect, it makes my shoes visible.” More importantly, it stops me dragging on the ground when I’m not concentrating. “I’m sure Loony will love this. Well, if she’s ever desperate for a comfortable dress in short notice.” When has she ever really worn anything other than her royal regalia? “Oh, you’re too kind,” Rarity began with a hint of embarrassment. “Please, let me know what she thinks. I like a little constructive criticism.” A sudden throat clear from my side, reminded me that there was more than the two of us present. “Ahem, Eclipse, if this design is truly for Us, could We give it a try?” Loony said after her stealthy approach. I say stealthy, Rarity probably can’t even see her and she’s standing there clear as day. With a light shrug, I said, “sure.” There’s no reason why not, except maybe time constraints. Isn’t there loads of work to do tonight? How longs it been? Dream time is weird. Once she had my permission, Loony once again let her horn flash and tapped her hoof upon the ground. Almost immediately, my barber’s eyes went wide with surprise as her ruler was suddenly stood next to her. “Princess! I didn’t see you come in,” she blurted out while seeming to debate on whether or not to bow. As she calmed herself a little, her tone dropped to her regular welcoming one, “Eclipse and I were just talking about you.” After enjoying the brief moment of surprise she’d caused, Loony happily greeted the fashion pony saying, “Good evening Rarity. We have come to see how thou hast been taking care of Our fine stallion.” She paused for a moment to pretend to inspect me. “It appears thou hast done a marvellous job. Thou art a credit to Ponyville.” With the kind words dealt, Rarity finally settled on whether or not she should bow, and gave the Princess the deepest bow possible. “Oh my, this is truly an honour.” Turning away from the now appropriately praised fashion pony, Loony continued to look me over. “Ah, thou should really not have gone to all this trouble for Us.” I would have rolled my eyes at that if it were possible. Pretty sure she’s the one controlling this dream. Well, might as well play along. “Well, you caught me. I wanted this to be a surprise for your birthday, but I guess the jigs up.” Ha, this should be decent cover for that toy. “Hmm, ‘tis a bit far for Our birthday,” Loony nonchalantly said, as she rubbed a hoof along my side. “But We are glad thou art preparing.” Are we going to get this over with? Seems she wants me to mention it. “So, want a test drive?” As I spoke, I shook my shortened skirt and pulled one of my newly formed socks. That caused our audience to lightly giggle, while my best friend blushed slightly. “Of course, We would not wish to waste dear Rarity’s work.” With her words said, she eyed Rarity for a second, causing the smaller pony to smile politely, before purposefully turning her back to us and finding an interesting spot of wall to stare at. Do ponies not like putting clothes on in front of people? Suppose that’s what the changing rooms are for. Maybe we should go find one? The sound of a zipper being pulled put paid to my suggestion, as Loony pulled one I was not aware of upon my back, opening it up for easy access. With the opening widened, she moved her head under my dress and easily slid through my form without any resistance. She practically stepped in one smooth motion, through me and onto the pedestal. She then pushed her fore hooves through my sleeves and left them air bound for my shoes. I took the initiative and pulled them gently over each of her hooves in turn, before doing the same for her rear. The zip on the back was a little awkward for her to reach, so I zipped it up pulling me snuggly around her form. Huh, a zip like that would probably go well on my other forms. It would stop so much unnecessary chafing. With my form fully donned, Loony looked herself over happily and cleared her throat to get Rarity’s attention. When the fashion pony had turned away from her important duty of wall watching, she turned to my wearer with an expectant look. Probably hoping for some feedback. Something the moon goddess was willing to provide. “As expected, thy work is beyond satisfactory,” she said with a smile before raising a hoof. “One thing however is a little strange, We are curious as to why thou chose socks with this design?” Rarity appeared to take note of the extended appendage before shrugging. “Eclipse was under the impression they would be an improvement.” “Really?” Loony seemed to ask the air around us. That probably means me. Really? I am, but how would she know before shoe? Mirroring my wearer’s words, I simply said, “Really.” The socks seem like a great idea. Bit more comfort and better for keeping someone warm, if pegacorns can be cold that is. Saying that, it would probably make sense for them to be longer if that was the desired effect. That’d probably look a little strange though. Maybe I could make knee high boots instead? That might look interesting. Or maybe even tights! Office workers wear them, right? That would give me more joints to play with, and I get to feel more of Loony’s fur. Win win. Seeming to somehow be aware of my internal thoughts, Rarity scratched her chin while reviewing her notes. “He did say something about more encompassing socks, but I thought it best to refrain from designing anything that might be considered for the bedroom for a later date.” So, does that note pad have my ideas written down, or Luna’s? Whatever the case, Rarity’s statement seemed to cause my wearer to sputter for a few seconds, before she quickly shook her head and said, “We did not mean for that.” Bedroom clothes… hmm. “So, do you do dressing gowns?” If Loony keeps wanting me to share her bed, one might be a decent idea. Maybe with a nice set of slippers as well. I can just picture it now, finishing a long day’s work, popping on your dressing gown and relaxing around the fire with a nice cup of decaffeinated tea. A good book wouldn’t be unwelcome either. “Of course I can. Am I sensing some interest?” Rarity asked in a singsong way. “Erm… yeah, that’d be great.” As Loony was still flabbergasted at the apparently horrifying potential for knee high socks, I stepped us down from the pedestal. Note to self, never make socks like that, do tights instead. “Thanks for this Rarity, I’ll make sure the payment is delivered to your real home.” She will definitely get this money. She’s earned it, even if it was just a dream. As I turned to walk us back out into the dream corridor, Rarity started to refuse the ‘princess’s’ payment, before shaking her head and saying, “thank you, and remember, tell your friends.” “I’ll be sure to tell all the other suits of armour.” With our goodbyes completed, I made my way to the store’s entrance and thankfully found myself able to access the dream corridor. Really need to figure out a better way of locating the exit. As I turned and watched the fashionista’s dream door close behind us, I decided to see if my friend had returned to reality. “So, was that productive for a first lesson? It felt like I learned quite a bit and you even got me a new outfit.” As I finished, I waved one of Loony’s forelegs infront of her face. Her eyes seemed to track my shoe, as all she uttered was a hesitant, “yeah.” After a moment observing me, she took a seat and began absently rubbing her sock covered ankle. “So… was thou really trying to get her to make clothes for the, ahem, bedroom?” I just shrugged in response, before carefully pulling down my zip as to not catch Loony’s fur. “Don’t you think that dressing gown idea sounded pretty good?” As Loony continued to be lost in thought, I casually undressed myself from the pliant pegacorn’s form, before moving to sit opposite her. “Anyway, what’s the next lesson?” When no response came, I tilted my bejewelled tiara head, while reviewing her mood. Her ears were pointed to attention, while her eyes were scanning steadily over my form. She kept switching from an uncertain smile to that of a much blanker look. Maybe she doesn’t actually like my new look and is trying to hide it? With that in mind, I shifted back into my usual plate armour. Seeing my regular form seemed to do the trick, immediately shaking her from her funk, as she asked, “Beg thy pardon?” She really was out of it. “What’s next?” “Next? Oh right,” Loony began while rebooting her thought process. She began scanning the nearby doors until she noticed one apparently not like the others, and approached. This one being marked with some pink butterflies. “Dost, thou perceive the sickly magical field emanating from Fluttershy’s door?” she asked while struggling to transition to her schooling tone. Hmm, there does seem to be a slight red glow coming through the cracks. Rarity’s door definitely didn’t have that. “I think so.” “Ah excellent, We shall not need to teach thou the spell,” Luna said giddily, before gesturing more directly to the glow. “This magical field is a clear representation that poor young Fluttershy, is suffering in the grips of a nightmare. ‘Tis our job as wardens of the night to help ease her burden.” With her explanation finished, Loony opened the door and stepped through without waiting for a reply. Seeing how eager she was to go and help the defenceless pony, I wasted no time in following after her. The room we found ourselves in, was a lot stranger than that of Rarity’s. For one thing, it was very blurry and ill formed, making it difficult to discern where the dream actually took place. “Now this looks more like what I expected.” “The contents of this room have little part to play in the subject of this nightmare. It has no need to be fully formed, as the dreamer will never pay them any mind,” Loony said, while appearing to carefully observe what she could. I get it, that’s why the area outside of Pinkie’s store was a mangled version of Pony town. She never would have gone outside. “Hang on a second, doesn’t the fact we’re here, mean that the dreamer can also see this room?” With the slightest of head tilts in my direction, Loony said, “a curt observation.” She then began walking through the strange blurry building, a clear destination in mind. Okay, she’s taking this one a little more seriously. Time to help find Fluttershy. I’m not really sure how to do that though. There is an ever so slight yellow glow of magic in that direction though. The direction the glow came from, just so happened to be the one Loony was taking, likely meaning she had her own slightly more sophisticated method of tracking a dreamer. Upon walking through a number of blurry rooms, we finally turned a corner leaving our target in full view. “Well, We can safely say this was unexpected, but We have seen worse,” Loony said, after taking in the scene before us. Said scene, was that of the little friendly, butter pegasus cowering in the centre of a wide room. Her head was currently pressed to the ground, while her fore hooves were pressed tightly over her eyes. The most striking thing about the situation however, wasn’t Fluttershy herself. No, it was the hundreds of sewing needles floating in the air, not too dissimilar to the ones within Rarity’s shop. Each of them was very clearly pointing straight at the small pony’s head. If the situation wasn’t clear enough, the terrified pony periodically whimpered out, “I did the dare.” Welp… this is my bad. The sight of the accosted pony didn’t fill me with the best feelings, as clearly, she had been more deeply affected by my earlier misspoken words than anyone could have predicted. It actually made me retreat a little further behind the true dream guardian, who casually reviewed the floating threats. “Hmm, ‘tis quite clear the source of her fear,” Loony observed, before unexpectedly turning to me. “We shall leave this in thine capable shoes to solve.” “To me? But… I might make things worse.” I thought she was taking this more seriously. Clearly, my freaky chant has somehow led to this scenario forming. “Every being that wishes to aid those in the dream realm must start somewhere,” Loony said, while taking a step back to my side and raising her head to my helmet. “A dream as closely tied to thee, shalt be foals play to repair. Combining that with thy empathy will assist thou immensely in helping Fluttershy see the truth.” Or, my appearance will remind her of exactly what she’s afraid of. With a brief sigh of resignation, I caved. “Okay, I’ll try my best.” “We know thou will,” Loony assured while giving me a brief nuzzle. “Helping those that are innocent comes natural to thou.” Not sure if that’s true. Has there ever been an incident where I’ve actual chosen to help anyone? I hope there has. After the small internal crisis, I began with the most obvious thing first, removing the source of the problem. Stretching out with my mist, I began gathering the menacingly floating needles. Each one put up a little fight when I first attempted to move them, before immediately caving when their magic was drawn out. It took less than a minute for each of them to dematerialise. Huh, this is going to be easier than I thought. Thanks to my lack of a brain cursing me, the previous needles decided to reappear, as if I’d done nothing at all. Figures it wouldn’t be that easy. I can only guess how unimpressed Loony is with that. At least they tasted okay. Welp, suppose there’s only one thing for it now. With no other option, I started to carefully approach the prone pony, while attempting to keep my shoe steps as light as possible. This allowed me to get within shoes reach of her, without any outward acknowledgement of my presence. Right, I’m here. Now what? Maybe I could start by patting her reassuringly? That could work. The moment my shoe touched her shoulder, the trembling pony immediately attempted to duck further into the floor, while uttering the quietest of squeaks in protest. Okay, part one isn’t going the best. A brief look back to Loony only elicited a slight raise of her wing, in what appeared to be an encouraging gesture. Sometimes, pony body language is beyond me. Looking back to Fluttershy, I quickly removed my shoe and chose the tried and tested method of talking to ease her burdens. “So, hey… little pony, how are you doing… today?” That came out terrible. She’s clearly not doing great. In response to my words, the trembling seemed to increase in intensity, and she decided to prove how founded my fears where, when she said, “you can’t take my eyes. I need them… P-please don’t.” I’d be biting my lip if I had one. If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. “Don’t worry Fluttershy. I won’t.” I really don’t think anything I say is going to help this now In contrast to what I thought, the trembling did seem to reduce slightly. Maybe she is actually taking in what I’m saying? “B-but, I made the promise.” As she finished speaking, the familiar disembodied voice of a pink party pony echoed throughout the dream space. It said just one word, “foreeevvveeerrr.” Pretty sure I heard that in real life as well. Not sure if that one was real or not, but it still had the same affect upon the pegasus either way. She appeared to somehow get even lower down, maybe even passing through the floor, while her wings joined her hooves in defending her head. Okay, we do seem to be going further and further backwards here. Did she even mention anything about needles? Wait, that’s it! “You know Fluttershy, I was the one who made that promise. Your promise was all about cupcakes.” “Th-that’s true,” she said in a small voice, “but doesn’t that mean you want my eyes?” What? No. What was my promise again? Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. That doesn’t sound like I want pony’s eyes, right? Maybe it’s because I don’t have eyes? “I can see just fine without them,” I said in the softest voice I could, which apparently is way more feminine than I’d like. “My spirit sight is much better for me.” However my vision works. For the first time in this dream, I caught a glimpse of the cowering pony’s fear filled eyes. She had steadily removed one of her hooves and used it to gesture to the antagonistic sewing implements. “But… what about all of them?” “Them…” I said, while deliberately slowly looking at the numerous pointy implements. “They are here for me. Just in case I don’t keep the promise I made to you. They can’t harm you.” As the pegasus seemed to mull over my theory, each of the needles seemed to steadily change their target from the defenceless pony, to me. Pretty sure it’s impossible for me to be pin cushioned and even then, don’t think puncture wounds could actually permanently harm me. While I took in the view of my newfound enemy, an unexpected hoof gripped one of my shoes. “I don’t want anypony to get hurt,” the owner of the hoof said meekly, while slowly looking up at me. Huh, is she concerned about me? Well, that’s an improvement. “Don’t worry, I can deal with this.” As she watched in trepidation, I once again spread out my mist and began gathering the lazily floating needles, all the while making sure she could see each one. As she gazed at the now harmless implements, I steadily made them fade away as before. “Ah, they tasted pretty good. My compliments to the chef.” You know what, I actually meant those words. Fluttershy’s brain had really improved with the second batch. My words seemed to confuse the prone pony, which is a major upgrade from her previous terrified state. Right then, is this finished? The needles are gone, but she is still on the floor. Okay, I think I’ve got this. How did that rhyme go? “Cross my heart and hope to… fly, stick a cupcake in my mouth. No one is after your eyes… and nothing in this place is going to harm me.” As I successfully completed the silly rhyme, I lowered myself down to Flutter’s level in an attempt to show some form of comradery. The icing on the cake was the sudden visit of our ghostly Pinkie’s voice, who again said, “Foorreeevveerr.” In a somehow less sinister fashion. Seeing that I’d gotten uncomfortably close to her head, Fluttershy immediately sat up and began observing the poorly formed room. As her eyes travelled along it, ever surface seemed to steadily morph into that of a cosy living room with an already lit fire at one end. “So, they’re all gone?” she asked while still clearly looking around nervously for more needles. She even took the time to look underneath each of her hooves. Sitting up alongside her, I simply nodded in confirmation, in the hopes that she wouldn’t make more appear. Hopefully, seeing me dispatch them so easily will stop her worrying about them. This stuff’s probably all about psychology. Thankfully, she seemed to be cheering up and peered through a door to what seemed to be a kitchen. She then turned back to me with one eye hidden behind her mane, “erm, would you like to stay for some tea?” Oh, I’d love a cup of tea right about now. It’d probably go great with those needles. But then again, Luna probably wants us to move on. Heh, can’t drink without a mouth anyway. “I’d best not, it’s a little busy for me tonight.” That actual seemed to disappoint the small pony, as she started to look down before saying, “oh, okay then.” Her mood however did bounce back, as she approached in an attempt to wrap her hooves around me, a slight smile across her face. “Thank you for saving me.” Aww, she’s kind of adorable sitting there like that. I suppose most ponies have their little adorable charms. I couldn’t quite help petting her head again, which she this time took gladly. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind helping out a little bit, if it doesn’t take much effort anyway.” It was really easy to be honest. A carrot bouncing off the back of her head, ended the impromptu hug pretty quickly, as the pegasus released her grip and turned to face the culprit. Said attacker was one very grumpy looking rabbit, who was pointing into the kitchen at something I couldn’t see. “Angel, do you want feeding?” Seeing as the imaginary rabbit probably meant some other dream had started to run its course, I took that as my que to leave, immediately turning back and heading towards Luna. For her part, Loony appeared to have been watching with bated breath, a small box of popcorn gripped in one hoof, while the other was pressed to her chin. “So, how was that?” I asked, as she opened a doorway back into the dream corridor and we both made our escape. Quickly finishing her last piece of imaginary snack, the bag disappeared as she acknowledged my efforts, “thou were easily capable of helping dear Fluttershy with her fears. We expected as such from a dream creature such as thou.” Her chest appeared to rise with pride at her statements end. Ignoring Loony’s probably pointless snacking, I said, “I’m going to guess it won’t always be that easy.” “Alas, they will not,” Loony confirmed, before giving me my own reassuring pat, “however, do not fear. All nightmares can be defeated when the source of the problem is known.” “I hope they’re all as tasty as that one.” A funny thing is, if I never fixed the problem, there would have been more and more dream needles to eat. Wonder if that would serve as an endless food source? Saying that, they did taste better the second time. Somehow, there was just a bit more substance to them. “Tasty? Eclipse, thou should make efforts not to enjoy the presence of nightmares,” Loony said in a slightly disappointed tone. Wait, does she think I enjoyed watching Fluttershy freak out? “I didn’t mean I liked it. Eating the nightmare just tasted good.” That makes sense. Nothing wrong with eating the bad stuff, right? A light sound of acknowledgement, seemed to show I was off the hook. “Ah, I see. Thou shalt have to accompany us more often if midnight snacking is to thy tastes.” “Sure, I still have room for more tonight.” To be fair, I’m pretty much always hungry. If I ever found a true source of infinite food, I’d probably never stop eating. “Well then, if thou art up for a hunt,” Loony began before gesturing down each side of the corridor with her wings. “We shall leave it to thee to track thy next prey.” Working for food? I mean, I’d have done this without the potential for a snack. The snacks just a nice bonus. A very nice bonus. Anyway, pretty sure this is supposed to be another lesson. Find a nightmare on my own and then maybe deal with it. Looking both ways down the corridor did show me a few doors with just a hint of the red glow. However, there was one that stood out above the rest. Said door, was positioned directly behind my best friend, almost completely concealed by her wings, and I took great pride in sauntering over to it, before pointing a shoe triumphantly at its centre. When I looked back to the mare, eager to get a confirmation of my success. Loony only seemed to be frowning at the familiarly marked door. “We did not think thou would see this one,” she said with a hint of disappointment. Ah, I’ve made a mistake. “Really, is Twilight not having a nightmare?” The door seems to have a much larger glow than any of the others. I wouldn’t have noticed it otherwise. Maybe that glow means something else? After a moment’s hesitation, she surprisingly confirmed, “yes, thy observations are correct. Twilight is indeed having a nightmare.” Oh good, well not good, but at least that means I’m not screwing this up. “Right then, should we get to it?” I asked eagerly, my shoe already gripping the door’s handle. There’s probably a pretty decent feast in there for all that glowing. As I began turning the handle, a hoof lightly gripped my shoe. “Wait, this one is different,” the hoof’s owner blurted out. With the slightest of helmet tilts, I asked, “how so?” This door clearly has the exact same red aura as the others. How could I possibly differentiate it? Welp, seems the training wheels are yet to come off. The moment I tried to make eye contact with the night, she seemed to avert her gaze. “Twilight’s nightmare is a little… extreme.” Ah, the increased glow makes sense. So, I can differentiate them. “This isn’t going to be some sort of major trauma type deal, is it?” I’m no psychologist, if this is something like PTSD, we really need the big guns, preferably a real doctor. Is Luna a psychologist? “Not exactly,” Loony began while rolling her free hoof in the air, clearly trying to find the right words to explain. “Her dream was… designed.” As she uttered the last word, she bit her lip and looked back towards me. “Okay… what does that mean?” Like a lucid dream gone wrong or something? Is she implying we can’t help her After a light sigh, she said, “let us just go in. We must face Our demons eventually.” With her words said, Loony’s forehoof released my shoe and was gently placed on the ground beside me. Okay, that was a little weird, let’s just get this over with. With a light shrug at Loony’s weird pony antics, I used my now free shoe to open the door and stepped through into a very familiar library. The very same library the two of us were sleeping in. I can even see the spot where the two of us are supposed to be laying together, weird. Looking back to Loony, who was slowly stepping through the door, I jokingly said, “we’re practically tripping over ourselves.” My friend didn’t laugh, which was fair enough since the joke sucked. She only uttered a straightforward, “that is true,” before glancing across the room. Seeing as she again wanted us to get back to the issue at shoe, I decided to follow her lead and pay attention to the dream. Following her gaze led me to the rest of our fellow party goers. They were all calmy sitting looking in one direction towards something that was very out of place. That being a majestic golden throne with a bored Celestia atop it. The majestic mare was currently reading a book, while sipping some invitingly steaming tea. Welp, that doesn’t really fit in the library. Wait a second, Twilight isn’t even here. Not much of a nightmare if the recipient isn’t here. The sound of a door opening and a panicked shout of, “I’m here, I’m here!” queued the start of the proceedings. “Seems the star has arrived,” I observed, while watching the flustered unicorn run up to her tutor. Loony only nodded her head and decided to start biting her hoof a little in response. What’s gotten her so freaked out? She’s probably seen plenty of terrible nightmares. As the gasping for breath unicorn approached her Princess, Celestia’s duplicate began slowly looking up from her engrossing book. “Ah, the librarian is finally here,” she said, before taking another quick sip of tea. The sound made me wish I’d taken some from Fluttershy’s home. With Celestia’s words, Twilight bowed deeply, before apologetically saying, “I came as quick as I could. Spike didn’t tell me you were coming today.” Rather than acknowledge her student’s words, Celestia quite coldly asked, “so, how far has the research upon the Pinkie sense phenomenon progressed?” Wow, is the dream going to be about Twilight failing to understand Pinkie? Hmm, not quite sure how to rectify that. That pony is an enigma. It appeared from the newfound smile Twilight possessed, my theory was incorrect. Not to mention the blackboard that appeared in a poof of purple magic. “I’ve made numerous discoveries relating to her strange abilities,” she began while using a piece of chalk to begin writing. Well, hope this lecture isn’t going to drag. Thankfully or disappointingly, depending on how you look at it, the lecture was incredibly short. This was due to Celestia raising a hoof to silence the young unicorn, before saying, “an explanation is not required. Hoof me the notes.” The audible sound of Twilight’s chalk snapping echoed through the room as her thought process was interrupted. She did however rally at an impressive pace, causing a familiar clipboard to appear in her fore hoof. “Yes yes, I have numerous notes on various triggers and symptoms for the sense,” she said with a hint of pride. Faux Celestia didn’t quite seem to pay attention to her student’s words, instead choosing to pluck the proffered clipboard out of Twilight’s grip and begin silently reading it through. All the while, Twilight stood nervously in front of her, waiting for some form of judgement. Seeing as the dream had made some progress, I turned to my companion and shared my theory. “Okay, so her nightmare is about being ignored and judged by people she values. It doesn’t seem too bad.” Maybe this would be better for Luna to deal with. She does respect her opinion. I suppose everyone should really. After taking the time to remove her slightly nibbled hoof from her mouth, Loony said, “’tis but a small part of it.” “That’s all that’s happened so far.” Well, the judgement hasn’t happened yet, but it’s probably coming. “It will get worse,” Loony said, as her ears seemed to flatten back against her skull. Her eyes never once left the scene before us. It didn’t take long for the false Celestia to pipe up again. “Everypony, I have an announcement,” she beamed to the room full of ponies. “Thanks to my hard work and dedication, the source of the Pinkie sense has been discovered.” Her words caused the surrounding ponies, who I’d almost forgotten about, to start cheering and congratulating the princess for completing such an impossible task. All except for one that was. A slightly wide-eyed Twilight sat watching the display for a few moments, before steadily uttering, “b-but… I wrote that.” With Luna’s observation proving to be correct, curiosity got the better of me. “Alright, I’ll bite. How’d you know it was going to get worse?” “For the past few weeks, Twilight has suffered many similar nightmares,” she said, finally breaking eye contact with the scene to look at my chest piece. Ah, that makes sense. She’s probably upset she couldn’t help her friend. Can’t believe how easily we’ve gone from happy dream wondering together, to Loony having the worst time. “Sooo, is this a sign of long running trauma?” I sincerely hope not. This dream walking is starting to seem like one of the many things that’s above my pay grade. “Nay,” Loony began before hesitantly continuing. “This nightmare, has been specifically… tailored to teach Twilight a, ahem, lesson.” That doesn’t sound too good. As the proffered words turned numerous imaginary cogs in my imaginary brain, I turned back to the disappointed pony. Twilight appeared to be intently watching her ruler, as she read through the provided notes. She was likely still waiting for a moment to provide her beloved teacher with any of her incites, seeing as she did do the research. Steadily, the small unicorn’s posture became more and more sullen, as she settled into a seated position with her gaze firmly pointed at the royal’s hooves. It did appear she had almost given up hope of being acknowledged, when Celestia finally said, “librarian.” “Yes, I’m here! What is it? Have you gotten to the weird twitches part?” Twilight began excitedly, while getting back to her hooves. Once again ignoring Twilight’s words, the duplicate said, “come stand here and duck your head.” Appearing a little confused by the request, Twilight steadily approached the out of place throne and stood exactly where her apparent teacher was pointing. As she crouched down a little, she hesitantly asked, “like this?” Without any warning, the cup of tea Sunny had been drinking from was balanced upon Twilight’s head, while her notes were placed upon her back. Every other pony present in the room, seemed to return to whatever it was they were doing, while Twilight was left stunned that her role model had decided to use her as a table. As dream Celestia settled into the notes, I decided to ask the question that had started to burn in my helmet. “Erm Loony, when you say this dream was tailored, you aren’t saying you… made this dream, right?” Really don’t like making accusations at Loony, but I’m pretty sure she’s feeling guilty for a reason. This time when she looked back to me, her eyes momentarily flicked up from my chest piece before immediately looking away. “When Twilight treated thou so poorly, it really affected Us. We were just trying to protect thy best interests. We did not wish for it to go on this long, now the dream is self-perpetuating and due to Our, ahem, my reinforcement, ‘tis almost impossible to remove.” I’m not really sure how to feel about this. On one side, Loony clearly had me in mind when she did this. This dream is probably the exact reason why Twilight’s been much nicer to me. On the other shoe, Twilight’s probably been losing sleep over this for weeks, she doesn’t really deserve that. How could Loony screw up like this? I was going to voice my complaint, but upon looking at the downtrodden pegacorn, I decided against it. She’s clearly ashamed over this, why else wouldn’t she want me to see it? With that in mind, I tried my best effort to nuzzle the end of her muzzle reassuringly, gently rubbing my metallic faceplate against her soft furred cheek. With that done, I turned towards the throne and began advancing towards it. My awful attempt at a nuzzle seemed to distract Loony from her guilt, long enough for her pretty smile to return, before my actions puzzled her. “Wh-what art thou doing?” she stuttered out behind me. “I’m going to try my best.” It’s all I can do. Her smile seemed to lessen slightly, but still remained. “This will be a true test of thy skill if ever there was one,” she uttered in a shadow of her earlier schooling tone. It wasn’t the best moral boost I’ve ever had from my number one cheerleader. Okay, I’ve got this. Loony and Twilight are counting on me not to screw up. Once I arrived in front of the gaudy throne, I respectfully asked, “Erm, Princess Celestia, may I speak to you?” Not seeming to notice my presence, the Celestia clone ripped the current page in half and floated it in front of her unicorn coffee table. “Librarian, eat this. I am finished,” she said in an authoritative tone. “That’s my work, doesn’t it matter?” the little unicorn weakly protested with a tear in her eye, before she decided to heed her ruler’s command and took a slow small bite out of the paper. Can ponies digest paper? It does come from plants. Once her make shift paper shredder had been utilized, Celestia’s evil twin seemed to take notice of me. “Oh, Eclipse, I did not see you there. How are you today?” She asked in her usual polite tone. Here goes nothing. “Ahem, I’m fine. It’s just… I’m just wondering why you’re treating your student like that,” I said with only the slightest crack to my voice. My pseudo friend just tilted her head in confusion at that. “What student? No pony has shown themselves to be capable of following in my hoofsteps.” Ouch, no progress yet. Off to her side, a few visible tears seemed to drip down Twilight’s chin. “What about Twilight?” “Hmm, Twilight… Twilight,” Celestia began, while scratching her chin in thought. “That name does not seem familiar.” Maybe I need to convince this Celestia of Twilight’s existence? “You know, that pony there.” I punctuated my statement by gesturing to the unicorn turned coffee table. The small unicorn seemed to gain a hopeful look, before Celestia let out a light giggle to bring her hopes crashing back down. “My librarian? Seriously? That is not a pony my dear Eclipse. I know it sounds a little like one, but it does not think like you or I.” This is really weird. “You know, she does seem to be a little upset.” With my words, the warped Celestia placed down her notes and took a closer look at Twilight’s tearful face. This prompted the smaller unicorn to put a hoof up, likely in an attempt to hide her current state. Even though she didn’t do a particularly good job, Sunny still looked back to me and inquisitively asked, “how can you tell?” “Pretty sure tears are a good sign in ponies.” Okay, I understand the purpose of the dream now. Luna has tried to make Twilight see what she believes is my point of view. I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience that would have upset me like this. Then again, there was that time I wandered off into the Everfree. Ah, that wasn’t so bad. A little bit lost on how to proceed, I turned to look back at Loony, who appeared to be trying to hide her disappointment. “The only solution We have found so far, is to remove Twilight from the area each night, thus ending her ridicule. The construct that mocks her, this time Our sister, cannot be altered,” she admitted, before starting to steadily approach the throne herself. So, she’s been trying to fix this almost every night? Oof. “Well, I’ve never tried.” With those words I pressed one of my fore shoes against the faux Celestia’s muzzle and began trying to drain it away in a similar manner to the previous constructs. What I found was much more resistance than I’d expected, causing only the slightest trickle of magic to enter me. For her part, Sunny’s duplicate only went cross eyed and stared at my shoe in what was probably a, for once, fairly accurate representation of my friend. “What are you doing?” she asked, with a coy smile. “Trying to eat you.” I replied matter-of-factly, while maintaining the drain. She only let out a light laugh in response showing no concern at all for my actions. She didn’t even move a single muscle as she said, “well, that is not very polite.” From behind me, I felt a hoof being lightly placed upon my chausses as Loony said, “’tis okay, We shall fix this.” Not willing to give up just yet, I said, “hang on a bit, I’m getting somewhere, I think.” The statement was sort of true, seeing some magic was being drained, maybe all it would take was some perseverance? With that in mind, I started trying to force more and more magic into myself, resulting in an eventual successful increase in flow that just kept ramping up. That was until the flow stopped all at once, like there was no magic to take. For a moment I thought I’d failed, but when my concentration ceased, a curious sight met my eye holes. In front of me, there was no faux Celestia, or throne. There wasn’t even a wall, ceilings or light all together. The only things present was a single purple unicorn who was kicking her legs in a wild panic and a single navy blue pegacorn who was looking around bewildered. “I might’ve eaten too much.” As she looked around, Loony gasped out, “the dream… ‘tis gone!” That might actually be true, this place looks an awful lot like the void. Just without the obvious dream corridor opening like last time. “Don’t worry, I can fix it,” I said with only the slightest bit of panic. What’s there to panic about? Other than the fact I may have somehow placed us in the void, which is full of weird shadows that want to eat ponies. With that horrifying thought in mind, I set about trying to redistribute the magic I’d eaten back into what hopefully counted as the dream. Thankfully, it didn’t really take me much effort to bring the dream back, as whatever tiny remnant of it remained, seemed to latch onto the offered magic steadily reforming the constructs. It was kind of like there was a skeleton of the dream left, and my mist was being used to fill it out. The only side effect of this was that I seemed to gain a very weird awareness of the entire dream. Welp, this is weird, but bearable. Don’t think I’ve been able to see from so many places at once before. Letting out a simulated breath, I turned to my friend, who in all the excitement had landed upside down, and said, “told you it would be fine.” Didn’t even see a single shadow monster. They are quite hard to see though. For her part, Loony just rolled back onto her front, before seeming to examine the rooms floor with a forehoof. Seeing as she was a bit distracted, I turned my attention to the rooms only other remaining occupant, who was panickily looking around. “What happened? Where did the Princess go? What Did you do!?” Twilight asked in rapid succession, while steadily backing away from me. This probably doesn’t count as a dream improvement to be honest. Hmm, she has brought up a good point. Where is the Princess? The answer was of course that she had been eaten, but on examining the area the dream construct was sitting, a similar skeleton to that of the dream remained. Not only that, but the dream seemed to be steadily reforming her on its own. “I’m pretty sure she’s coming back. Don’t worry.” Or, more likely, do worry. When she comes back, it’ll probably be to ensure more misery for Twilight. Okay, so, next job. Make sure evil Celestia isn’t evil. Approaching the steadily reforming construct, I began sending my mist into it. As with the dream room, the false Celestia greedily absorbed my mist to rebuild itself at an accelerated rate. It wasn’t long before the construct of a Sunny pegacorn was left standing before us bearing a very confused expression. The return of her mentor, was a mixed blessing in the eyes of our little dreamer. She appeared to want to gallop towards her, before memories of the previous events stayed her hooves. Instead, Twilight shrunk back a little, even going so far as to seek shelter behind me. Probably hoping to escape the fate of being a coffee table once again. Right, is this the same? She is sort of just standing there, looking really confused. Kind of as confused as me. Oh wait. Focusing on the construct, it was pretty clearly now an extension of myself, able to be moved as if it was one of my numerous forms. Using one of its fore legs, I had the now pacified Celestia, poke its own chest. Hmm, kinda fluffy, but at the same time it does feel hollow. No real flesh and blood at all. I suppose it is just a dream. Looking through my usual body’s legs, the copy could easily see the unicorn trying her best not to be noticed. This should make things easier. While painting a polite smile on my borrowed face, I had it say, “Ah, my faithful student. Where’ve you been?” I’m sure that’s the usual tone Sunny uses. “Do you mean me?” Twilight asked a little disbelievingly. Trying my best to fain confusion, I had Sunny tilt her head. “I only have one student. Who else could I mean?” A little taken aback, Twilight stepped out from behind my metallic form, seemed to look to it for some support, before taking a couple of hoofsteps towards my Celestia impression. “I was finishing up my research on the Pinkie sense,” she stated a little more boldly, with her head only slightly bowed towards the ground. “Really? Were you successful?” Does that sound like she’s taking a genuine interest in her student? Hope so. “Erm yes. I already gave you my notes,” Twilight said without looking away from my borrowed phantom hooves. A shiver seemed to run down her spine as she grit her teeth for a moment. That’ll be due to the residual taste of paper, I imagine. Deciding it best to pretend the earlier nastiness didn’t occur, I had Celestia politely request, “would you be willing to explain it to me over a cup of tea?” I then set about pouring the unicorn her own cup to go along with Celestia’s. This time upon the throne rather than a purple unicorn. Twilight seemed to visibly shake for a moment, making me worry she was about to have some sort of panic attack. However, it seemed the cause was a much more positive emotion. That of so much excitement she could not contain it. “Yes yes of course! Let me just get my board ready.” As Twilight settled into her, now hopefully, happy dream. I had Celestia’s copy get comfortable and take a rewarding sip of tea. Ahh, my favourite. Back with my true form, I turned to Loony and raised my fore shoes into the air in pre-emptive triumph. For her part, Loony was still examining the various walls and ceilings of the room with an almost stunned expression. Seeing as we might have been there all night, I attempted to get her attention by saying, “so, is this done with now?” That immediately broke her from her apparent stupor. “Yes, thou hast done it! Our magic has been fully dispersed from this dream,” she giddily said, while almost jumping on top of me in joy. She even decided to give me a light kiss on the back of my helmet before laying partially on top of me, “Thou truly are a wonder sometimes.” After enjoying the closeness for a few seconds, I shared a minor worry with my friend. “Cool, I was a little worried it might go back to the way it was before.” “Nay, with the magic disrupted, Twilight’s dreams should return to their usual state,” she reassured before raising her head to observe the room once more. “That being said, ‘tis a little strange in here. The area no longer feels like that of a typical dream.” “How so?” This is because of my mist, isn’t it? Rather than confirming my suspicions, she shared her own ignorance, “We are unsure, however thy work has clearly been a success. Not only that, after thy little… mistake, the dream is still stable, and We are no longer in the void. However, that happened.” The moment she finished speaking, Loony once again started to observe the walls of the dream. Seeing as this was clearly distracting her, I used a wing to flip her rear legs onto my back and began carrying her out. In response to that she only smiled before taking a quick look back at our successful dream repair. Just before closing the door to the dream, I had Celestia say, “as expected of my daughter. Your work is truly incredible.” This caused Twilight to spit a large quantity of tea across the new table and Loony to giggle, as she used one of her rear hooves to close the door. “Now noble stead, We have many more dreams to see to, advance,” she said before pointing a foreleg over my helmet to gesture the direction she wanted to go. She did have one final misgiving to share before I set off. “When we get there, please refrain from repeating thy consumption of the dream like that. It seems a little dangerous.” Still with the distraction of playing Celestia in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but agree.