Friendship is Weird

by Local Loco

Dreams of Friendship

“Who’s they?” Ballet asked Lucky. Lucky looked back over to her friends, Hope, Mareian, Alto, EC, and Cookies before looking back at her sister, Ballet. The Canterlot courtyard slowly becoming less crowded as the audience takes their time to leave.

“Alto say that they say it, ain’t that right?” Lucky looks back over at the massive blue Pegasus stallion who merely shook his head and waved a hoof at her. “Well, I fer one like the sayin’. That the bizarre adventures we have bein’ fun and all that because of friendship.”

Ballet sighed before looking around the courtyard. “That’s one way to look at it. It was nice for all of us sisters to be together if only for a brief moment, Lucky, but I shall be heading back to Ponyville and tell the mayor how everything went.” The earth pony said as she trotted off, waving goodbye which received goodbyes from Lucky’s friends as well.

“Y-you sure have a big family, Lucky. Glad you were able to make it here on time with them.” EC said.

“Yepperooni. Horseshoes sisters be all around Equestria. Ain’t an apple to the core, but a Horseshoe forever more. Family motto and all or something like that.” Lucky explained.

“Sounds more like a family feud if you ask me.” Mareian interjected with an eyeroll.

“Friends are like family, and I like to think we are one big happy family!” Hope said with his usual chipper tone with a smile that shines brighter than the sun itself. “I mean, we all have living spaces together if that isn’t a family dynamic, I don’t know what is?”

“I wish that our Gala suits were ready. Seems like such a special occasion to do so.” Cookies says almost sounding disappointed.

“Thou mustn’t pain yourself.” The group are startled by the newly crowned princess Luna. With the castle courtyard basically emptied, she was able to approach the group unperturbed. “My greatest friends being here has sextupled my happiness.”

“YAY! The fun has been sextupled!” Hope says as he brings all his friends in together with Luna into one big hug.

“Yes, it is great to see you too, Mr. Journey.” Luna laughed alongside with Hope. “Thou must be ready for the night of fantastical stupor.”

“Night?” Mareian said, a bit squished from the hug. “The sun is still up and it feels like I just woke up two hours ago.”

“Less time for dreams it seems. Perhaps we should all go out together in the waking world then, my dear Luna?” Cookies mentioned. “We have a whole day together in Canterlot, so what do you say?” A smile formed on Luna’s face. The alicorn wrapped her wings around her friends, smiles on each of their faces.

The rest of the day flew by with event after event. They had lunch at a fancy restaurant where Hope stuffed his face and Cookies kept his pallet to a minimum. Next they had gone to an arcade where Lucky and Alto had a mountain of tickets set at a counter in exchange for a large teddy bear for Luna. Finally, they went through an arts and history museum where EC and Mareian had given educational tidbits on ancient relics and paintings. With the night upon the group, they return to Canterlot castle for one last meal together before being sent to a guest room that had seven separate beds lined up next to each other.

“Ahh finally!” Lucky jumps onto one of the beds, all her hooves spread out. “Been a LONG day ain’t it.”

“It is getting late.” Cookies said carefully laying himself into one of the beds. “Luna, is there anything else we have to do for this?”

“Thou need not to worry.” Luna comforted the stallion. “The minimum requirements for this spell is for thou all to be asleep. I shall make the connection one by one to interlink your dreams. Thou must rest your heads first.”

Each of the ponies quickly chose a bed to spend their night in. It wasn’t long until almost all of them were asleep. “This is so exciting I can’t sleep!” Hope said in a hushed excitement. “Luna, can you sing me a song?”

The alicorn princess of the night stared at her smiling blue-eyed friend as he lay under his blankets with a twinkle in his eye. “…What?”

“A lullaby! Sky would always sing one to me when I was younger and couldn’t get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Then Cookies was the one that started singing to me after I bothered him enough times. Pretty please princess please?” Hope said with puppy dog eyes.

Luna couldn’t help but smile, looking down on her young friend. “Of course.”

Hope fell into a snoring slumber. Luna looked at all her sleeping friend with a smile before her horn glowed with magic, enveloping herself and her slumbering friends in her magic. Luna took one last look at all her friends before closing her eyes, ready to enter her friends’ dreams.

Sugar Cube Corner isn’t normally bustling with ponies, but today is the day where the heir apparent of the Cream family dynasty, Cookies N Cream, created a culinary masterpiece. The menu had a red circle and arrows pointing in one specific area. The ponies inside had similar manes and tails with colors being varied, but they all had smiles on their faces as they ate their delicious treats. The doors open revealing a tall sky-blue Pegasus mare with a long and cloudy mane. Every pony inside starred at the pony with wide sparkles in their eyes, enamored by the mare as she trotted her way to the counter. The white unicorn stallion turned around as a smile appeared on his face and his magnificent swirl of a mane flowed effortlessly from the movement.

“Is it the weekend already, Miss Sky?” Cookies asked with a sparkle in his eye.

The mare in front of him let out a soft giggle. “Not today, Cookies. I’m here for a routine weather checkup and thought about stopping by here to see you.” Sky said.

At this moment, Luna appeared out of Cookies sight as he talked to Sky. She noticed at first glance everything was close to reality, but as her sights strayed she noticed some odd things happening outside of Cookies point of view. While the ponies’ faces were blurred is a common occurrence in dreams for Luna, what isn’t common are the bizarre fauna growing in the cracks of the floorboards. Mushrooms of varying colors were sprouting out of the counter as purple carrots peaked from the cracks.

“I’ll try that RLMCCEOAA of yours.” The large Pegasus said, spooking Luna with the garbled-up words she said.

“No need to wait. I’ve already prepped one just for you.” Cookies places a plate down with a blurred object on top of it. The stallion notices the alicorn out of the corner of his eye and as he does so all the odd crops and mushrooms disappeared. “Ah, Luna. Good to see you. May I get you anything today?”

Luna looks over at Sky, her smile ever radiant, but knowing the real Sky she would have a much more sinister smile than that. “Thou art in a dream, young Cream.”

“Oh, don’t be so silly. How can I be dreaming when everything looks so real?” He looks around Sugar Cube Corner quickly but notices one of the mushrooms that had grown behind him. “I see what you mean.” The stallion takes a bite out of the mushroom. “How shall we be getting into the dreams of the others?”

“Like so.” Luna casts a portal behind Cookies and tackles him through with her. They couldn’t see anything but a bright white light. Once the brightness had died down, the two of them opened their eyes. Massive bookcases adorn the walls of the wooden structure that they were now in. At the center is a counter and at the counter is none other than Mareian. She has her face deep in a book which is giving off visual animated imagery. Cookies accidentally knocks one of the books down, gathering Mareian’s attention which stops the animation coming from the book.

“Hey! This is a library! Keep it down.” She said, slowly losing interest in the two, but as she looks at them, an animation plays from the book. A goldish tanned Pegasus is rushing through a jungle as though she is being chased. “Kids stories like that aren’t my favorite.” Mareian says nonchalantly as the book in her hooves plays a romantic moment between two ponies.

“I did not take you for a romance connoisseur, my dear Mareian.” Cookies said, causing Mareian and her book to look back at him.

Mareian raises an eyebrow and smirks playfully, her eyes gleaming mischievously. “When I am not out and about, I work in a library or book store. When there is nothing to do, I read the books. Some stories catch my eye while others don’t, but I think you should take a page out of this Cherry Heart classic.” She rips out a page from the book and tosses it at Cookies. A scene plays out between two ponies in an old-time fashion.

“But Jack, I am too much of a stay-at-home baker to go on those boisterous adventures with you. I just can’t do it.”

“Frankly, my dear Honeybuns, I don’t care about the adventures as long as I spend the rest of my life with you.”

“Oh Jack!” The mare in the animation wraps her hooves around the stallion, ending it with a kiss. Cookies looks back at Mareian who still has a smug grin on her face.

“Well, I think it’s cute anyway.” Mareian sighs as she grabs another book.

“Thou must acknowledge, Facing North, of the dream thou art having, yes?” Luna asked the Pegasus.

“Sounds about right.” Mareian says as the book in front of her depicts two ponies, a massive blue Pegasus mare and a small white unicorn stallion holding hooves on a hill as the sun sets. “This is one I think about writing.”

While Cookies looks at Mareian with a skeptical raised eyebrow, Luna casts another portal, dragging the two with her into it. As before there was a bright white light for a while and then darkness. The ponies had opened their eyes in the dreamscape but could only see darkness. They could, however hear a symphonic melody playing.

“Hey, Luna, where are we?” Mareian’s voice could be heard.

“I always suspected he’d have these kinds of dreams, though I assumed it would be on a grand stage and not darkness.” Cookies’ voice added.

“This is rather troublesome for our dream ventures. I do not have the visual means to send us to the next dream.” Luna said, her voice worried. “That is to say, if I can’t see you I may accidentally leave you behind in young Alto’s dream.”

“OH, I can help with that!” Hope’s voice could be heard as the music dies down. “Luna, can you do that thing you did to get here in the first place pretty please?”

The sound of magic could be heard and after which the startled screams of the three dream invaders could be heard. As before everything went white before the ponies opened their eyes. The dream they were in was an everchanging scene of events as the ground below them kept moving. From lush forest to skyscrapers to beaches and it was all done on what felt like a spinning platform. Hope was gleefully hopping around with a smile on his face waving to cardboard ponies he’d come across. He noticed Alto, Cookies, Mareian, and Luna and stopped his movement with an audible record scratch. His smile grew larger than normal as he rushed towards his friends.

“Hey guys, you wanna go on an adventure? Come on it’ll be fun. You don’t have to do anything you can just sit in the wagon and I can drag you guys along.” As if on cue, the wagon fell from the sky leading Hope to lift his friends quickly up and inside of the wagon before dragging it along at unimaginably fast speeds where the scenery quickly changes into blurs before he manages to slow down when he reaches the white void. “Oops. Went too far again.”

“I must say, thou hath the most hyperactive imagination in all of Equestria.” Luna stated a bit dazed. After shaking her head, the princess casts the magic portal in front of Hope. “Perhaps you could take us through that portal, if you please?”

Hope’s ears perked up with excitement as he saluted to the princess of the night. “You can count on me!” and with that said, Hope rushed to the portal in a flash carrying his friends with him on the wagon as he does so. It disappears as a white light engulfs the group. “Wow, that was fun!” Hope opened his eyes to find a war-torn battlefield. Shades of gray overshadow any other form of color. Ponies looking like the Canterlot Royal Guards are battling it out against these bug-like ponies.

“STALLION DOWN!” A familiar voice could be heard. The group rushed over to one of the trenches to find EC, her hooves around a white unicorn in blue armor. The stallion is covered in scratches and bumps, while EC looks unscathed in comparison with a few dirt smudges here and there. Her helm properly shows her golden eyes and her main in unobscured. “Some pony get a medic!”

“Young Crown, thou must remain cal-” Luna was the first to approach EC but is soon interrupted by one of the dream ponies.

“Princess GET DOWN! EVACUATION! WE NEED AN EVAC STAT!”

“Wait, thou must be mistaken.” Luna gets dragged away by the ever-increasing number of Equestrian militia. “My friends, we have reached a nightmare. Thou must convince her! Thou must tell her!” She tells her friends as she disappears in the horde of Equestria’s finest warriors. Alto, Cookies, Hope, and Mareian look at each other in disbelief.

“What are you four doing here?” EC looked at her friends, her voice filled with urgency. “This is a warzone. You can’t risk your lives out here.” A sudden realization stuck on EC’s face. Her panicked face turned to anger as she lay the pony down beside her. “You changelings… you pretend to be innocent ponies caught in a warzone… I can see right through your facade.”

“Wait, EC, we’re your friends remember?” Hope said with a pleading smile. Cookies got in front of him.

“Reasoning won’t convince those trapped in a nightmare, my dear Hope. We have to stand our ground and fight.” Cookies stated as his horn began to light up. “I’m going to ask you two to keep Hope safe for me, ok?” Alto nodded while Mareian rolled her eyes.

“As always, I’m the babysitter. Come on boys, let’s… I dunno save Luna?” Mareian says as she grabs Hope with her wings.

“CHANGELINGS!” EC Yelled gathering the attention of the war ponies towards Mareian, Alto, and Hope.

“Celestia curse this nightmare army. Al, stick to the skies. I’ll take Hope through these trenches and we’ll meet back with you. And Cookies…” Mareian ordered last looking over at her unicorn friend. “Cook up a storm for us.” With that said, Alto launches himself up in the air, causing some of the war ponies to look up with some of the Pegasus ponies chasing after him. With the distraction, Mareian was able to grab Hope and swiftly dive into the trenches as the other war ponies struggle to chase after them.

“I won’t let you hurt the captain. He’s like an older brother to me!” EC screamed as her horn lit up a turquoise aura which she released into a burst of force, pushing Cookies back a bit. “Disguising as my friends as you do so… ONLY MAKES ME ANGRY!”

Cookies scrunches his mouth as he just barely manages to avoid a blast of magical energy. With a composure regaining sigh, Cookies looks back at EC with a straight face. “Well then, EC, I guess I can show you all those spells I had learnt. Let’s just hope these dreams don’t hold back our magic.”

Tension rises in the battlefield as the two unicorns came face to face. With a horde of ponies rushing Alto in the sky and clogging up the trenches to find Mareian and Hope, it had left both EC and Cookies alone together. EC was standing her ground, waiting for Cookies next move, and also protecting the pony over by her. Cookies horn emanated a light, but before he could do anything, EC quickly used her magic again to release another magical push to knock Cookies out of his concentration. Seeing this happen again, Cookies was ready for the next attack as he deftly dodges it as he rushes over to EC. At the time he was inches away from her, a portal similar to the one Luna used to send them to each other’s dreams. Cookies attempts to tackle EC but she stands stiff and unmoving. He had his hoof on the head of the stallion that she was protecting, causing her eyes to light ablaze. EC used her magic to launch Cookies into the sky at highspeed. At the peak of his height, Cookies uses his magic to slow his fall. Nearby he notices Alto, surrounded by Pegasus ponies.

“Alto!” The white unicorn called after his blue best friend. Using his magic, Cookies is able to separate his friend from the horde of ponies trying to tackle him, but the consequences of this action caused Cookies to fall at the normal rate gravity was pulling on him. He managed to stop his acceleration but was still plummeting to the ground. Alto dived after his friend, able to catch him and using his wings be able to redirect their speeds away from the ground. “Oh no, my dear Alto. I need you to aim for EC!” Cookies directed the Pegasus to the helmed unicorn standing her ground in front of a portal, staring daggers at the two. With a nod, Alto redirected their trajectory towards their friend. EC had used her magic to set up a barrier around her and the stallion at her hooves. Using his magic to counter, Cookies created an ever-growing pinhole, building tension as they got closer and closer ending with Alto, Cookies, and EC disappearing through the portal.

In the claustrophobic nature of war-torn trenches, Hope, led by Mareian, squeeze their escape from a seemingly never-ending wave of guards. The two don’t stop, in the fear that they might get caught. In a fork, the two went down one way only to be blocked by a pair of war ponies. “Eat Hope-chuck, chumps!” With a heavy twist, Mareian swung Hope’s body at their opposition as she reoriented herself and Hope to go to the other path.

“That wasn’t very nice, Mareian. Hurting ponies doesn’t feel very good.” Hope said a bit upset.

“They’re not real, Hope. This is a dream and those ponies have no feelings. They aren’t going to be our friend no matter how hard you try.” Mareian harshly said.

Hope was frowning as tears began flowing down his face. Mareian tried dragging him about, but he kept his hooves firmly planted. He was not budging. “They’re real to me.” Hope sobbed as the ponies began slowly encroaching on them. “Hurting those weather, they are my friend or not twists my stomach in all these knots. I just want us friends to be happy!” The stallion bawled. The faces on the ponies surrounded them had a concerned look on their faces as they watched the fully grown stallion cry his eyes out.

“Hope?”

Hope turned his head around to hear the familiar voice of EC call his name, snot and tears dripping down his snout but all that was there were the ponies that had been chasing after them. He continues to cry leading to an awkward moment where Mareian slowly approached him while looking around and gave him a pat on the back.

“Uhh… There there, my little pony. It was something in the heat of the moment and my thoughts were more focused on our safety than on our beliefs. I…” Mareian sighed as she wraps her hooves around Hope in a tight embrace. “I’m sorry, Hope.” She says in a softer and more serious tone as she closes her eyes tightly. The stallion howled out in sadness. Unable to cope with the situation, Mareian cried too. As Hope and Mareian embrace, their tears mingling, a moment of vulnerability and understanding washes over them. The cries of anguish turn into a cathartic release of emotions, the weight of this war-torn nightmare and chaos finally finds an outlet. The two ponies held onto each other tighter and tighter as the nightmare war ponies slowly approached them.

“These can’t be changelings.”

“Some pony, get these civvies out of here! Take them to the princess where they’ll be safe.”

The sobbing duo, blinded by their tears, were carried out through the trenches. Their cries deafening each other from their new situation. It wasn’t long until they were placed in a well-guarded and padded room with princess Luna sitting in the corner. The alicorn can’t help but stare at the lamenting pair.

“Oh good. Thou hath arrived. Watching from this secluded space worried me thusly.” The princess said. Hope and Mareian didn’t notice her as they continued to cry. “Perhaps I should send you to a relatively calmer dreamscape.” Her horn glowed as another portal appears by the two blubbering ponies. Luna gently pushes them through the portal. “They are safer in that area, at the very least. Let’s see how the others are faring.” The princess phases through the dream walls towards the direction she last saw EC. She was still there standing, looking towards the sky. What perplexed Luna was a portal that was behind EC that she never put down. Looking up in the direction the EC was facing towards to see Alto and Cookies plummeting down towards EC in a curve as if to push her through the ‘portal’ behind her. Luna’s eyes widened as she quickly cast a portal in the exact position as the other one was at before they all collided through it all. Luna slumps with a sigh. “Mine friends doth bring a hoof full of trouble.”

Hope’s eyes were closed, but his eyelids could sense a bright light enveloping him. Slowly he started opening his teary eyes with a hiccup. He was no longer in a war-torn trench crying with Mareian, he was now in Sugar Cube Corner. He noticed that he was hugging Mareian, which made him more relaxed especially with the new atmosphere. Mareian was still crying on his shoulder. He didn’t think much of it, but his tears stopped so he returned the favor and comforted Mareian. There was a moment of sobs, followed by silence. The two separate and find themselves seated in one of the booths.

“Thanks… Sorry… I don’t know what to say anymore.” Mareian said as she calmed herself down until she noticed something odd jutting out from the table they were sitting at. “Is that a mushroom?”

Hope leans forward and takes a bite of the substance. “This must be Cookies dream, right?”

Just as Mareian was about to say something and caught herself before she responded, another portal opened up and a dogpile of ponies came bursting through. Alto had landed in the corner of the place while Cookies and EC landed on opposing ends of the counter. While all of them were a bit dazed, Cookies was the first to regain his composure and smile at his friend.

“Good morning, my dear EC. May I get you your usual oatmeal?” Cookies said, pulling out a bowl from under the counter.

“…Huh? Where am I?” EC dizzily asked.

“Where are you? You’re in Ponyville! Come to see your friends over at Sugar Cube Corner.” Cookies points his hoof over to Hope and Mareian. “Over there are Hope and Mareian, sharing a seat together.” While Hope smiles and waves at EC, Mareian scrunches her face, blushes, and scoots herself away from Hope. “Alto is over there playing some smooth jazz.” A saxophone appears in front of Alto as well as a pair of shades and a fedora landing perfectly on his face. Alto begins to play the instrument.

“Oh… am I… dreaming?” EC said as she noticed mushrooms and various odd-looking flora popping into existence outside of Cookies field of vision.

“Hey!” The upside-down head of Sky Sonata appears in front of EC. The blue Pegasus mare towers over the unicorn in such a way where EC is under her. “You’re one smart cookie to be able to figure that out. Not unlike Cookies here.”

EC sighed as she went over to Hope and Mareian. “I’ll take the oatmeal, please.” As she sat at the table, the oatmeal floated over to her with a spoon. She takes her helmet off, revealing a silkier turquoise mane than the tangle mess she usually has when removing it before she takes her first bite of her meal. “So, is this the dream of my friends dating each other again?” She asks pointing towards Cookies and Sky staring at each other smiling and then to Hope and Mareian still sitting next to each other with Hope having one of his hooves still wrapped around her.

Cookies and Mareian slammed their heads with a loud thud on the surfaces before them, screaming. Alto stops playing, before raising an eyebrow, his eye peaking over the sunglasses he was wearing. Hope remained smiling, though a surprised look did arise on his face. “Oh, you have those dreams too? Though the ponies I see dating are mostly cardboard looking like and seeing them only lasts a couple seconds.”

“LUNA!!!” Cookies and Mareian yelled out.

As if on cue, another portal materializes with Luna strutting out of it. She looks at her friends with a relieved smile. “I see thou all art doing well. Perhaps we can see how miss Lucky is doing in her dream, yes?” Luna uses her magic which causes the portal to distort for a bit. “Come, my friends. Let us all go to the climax!” Luna is the first to go through the portal followed by Hope, Alto EC and Mareian. As Cookies walks around the counter to the portal, the dream Sky brings him in for a kiss.

“Only in dreams, lover boy.” She said before tossing Cookies through the portal.

Lucky lays lackadaisical on a hammock in her dream. She’s on a resort island at sunset with nothing but the sound of the waves and seagulls there soothing her mind. It wasn’t until her friends, guided by princess Luna disturbed her seaside lazing. Lucky looks to the loud disturbance, seeing her friends, which brings a smile to her face.

“Took ya’ll long enough.” She gets out of her hammock and onto the sandy shoreline. “I gots me one of them ‘waking dreams’ ya know. So, I thought of a nice beach for ya’ll t’ relax an’ have fun in.”

“Yay! Swimming!” Hope is the first to jump into the water, though he was still holding onto Mareian.

“Hey wait a second, HOPE!” Mareian pleaded before the two were submerged in the water. The two pop their heads out of the water with Mareian splashing Hope.

“Come on in guys, the water’s fine!” Hope said, waving over to his friends.

“CANNONBALL BOYOS!” Lucky leaped into the water after them. Cookies and Alto calmly lead EC through the water, though she is hesitant getting into the water. EC dipped her hoof before pulling it back. Alto pushes her fully into the water causing her to gasp in surprise, but since it’s a dream the water’s temperature is rather comfortable.

“Wait for me my little ponies!” Luna chuckles before trotting to the shore. “Sister was right. Friendship is weird.”