//------------------------------// // Dream Walking Princess - Edited! // Story: Live, Die, Repeat // by Hidden_Night //------------------------------// I am not ready. I’ve been distracting myself with celery and a really good apple pie. Never was a fan off apple pie, but they got a new one now. Still, it’s disheartening me, I have to talk with Princess Luna, if anything the law book, and my experience as taught me, is don’t fuck with Royalty too hard. They’re Royalty for a reason, many of them have insanely overpowered abilities, at the behest if whatever god they worship. Never in my travels have I met a Royal who’s able to move the sun and moon. So this could be interesting, I could… No. I’m not going to do that until I have some more information. I’m still a baby in this realm, only been here for two days. Just close my eyes and drift off to sleep. With my eyes shut, I wait. Snuggly tucked into a bed of crumbs and celery stalks. I’m waiting to sleep… … The tension is killing me. Just, a drowsy spell. … That’s it! With warmth from my horn I hit myself with a sleep spell, it has come really handy to use against bouts of insomnia. Its not exactly comfortable to get hit with one, it feels like a slap across the face and then I’m out like a light. I draw my bow, aimed directly at the head of the monster of the village. It’s invigorating, my hands are steady as my breathing, my heart is pounding in my chest and, I love it! The thrill of hunting. Letting the bow string go, the arrow flying free with a quick flick I felt something was off, the arrow seems to whiz by the head of the creature, missing completely. Wait this ain’t right, I remember this. This was the one time I chose to be a ranger, I never did choose ranger again. I wonder why. Then I heard the monster roar at me, I couldn’t remember what it looked like so on my end it was a large shadowy creature with red piercing eyes. It was quickly charging me on all fours. I remember now, I suck at ranger. Hey is that monster getting closer? Oh shit! Kicking off the tree I was hiding behind, the creature swiped where I was, it’s claws getting stuck in the bark as it roared at me. Trying to get itself free. Drawing another arrow I needed to quickly do this. Fuck it, using magic. Tried and true STICKS TO SNAKES! So throwing a bundle of sticks that transforms into snakes, each of them biting down on the beast. It was a strange sight, no blood, no carnage, the snakes took one bite then poof it’s gone. Odd happenings in this forest, but is this really the monster that has been terrorizing the village some time now? Wait a second. This isn’t right…I’m a human, but I haven’t died yet. What is, oh right, dreaming, duh. Using my magic, I quickly found myself out in the dreamscape. It’s different in each realm, though the night sky littered with the dreams of the other beings in this world is quite a sight. Looking back at my dream, it dulled into a gray before closing in on itself. I guess when I’m not dreaming it doesn’t exist out here. Looking at myself, I’m back in my pony form. It’s a strange feeling to be back in this form but it’s okay. With a sigh, I began to hover around, trying to find this Princess Luna, the book didn’t show a picture of her, nor did I remember seeing her yesterday, so this is going to be my first meeting face to face with the pony princess. I wonder what she looks like, if it’s moon related then either white or blue. Not like an icy blue, probably the color of the night sky, then again even that has variations. “Ahem.” A feminine voice rung behind me, I guess I was distracted by my thoughts. “Oh. Sorry was distracteeeeeeeeeeeeee-“ My brain sputter as I turned to face the princess. W-why am I finding a horse cute? How the fuck am I going to function if the hormones in this pony body is making me find the horse cute? Fuck it, I’ve seen to much to be close minded, we shall love the horse! The Princess far exceeded my expectations, navy blue fur, with cosmic flowing hair giving me the vibes of a night sky. Then there was the mark, sure it was ink on a crescent moon, I could feel an odd touch of dark magic, but it just blended in well with her body. Silver accessories adorned her, silver horseshoes, silver neckpiece, and a dark iron crown. Plus the large horn and her great wings, oh boy she’s a hybrid of all 3 ponies isn’t she? She is beautiful. I can admit. “Prithee, thou art staring upon our visage.” Oh, she speaks in Ye Olden talk. Fuck that’s —okay steel yourself you got a puppy crush upon meeting a princess, besides she probably has dozens of suitors vying for her attention, or hand in marriage. “My apologies.” Snapping myself back to reality, or dream reality I guess. “My lady, I have to ask. Why did you invade my dreams?” “Invade? We assure thee, we did no such thing. We are the vanquishers of nightmares.” Her hoof pressed against her chest, standing proud. I guess that makes sense. “Then what did you do?” It’s make or break. At least she’s to the point. “But when we tried to vanquish the foul nightmare, plaguing the dream. You were caught in the blast. Normally this would’ve woken thou up, however. The dream self absorbed our magic, forcing your mind to create a new dream. We wished to help thee, but your soul rejected our help and sealed our magic.” Oh the explanation. “Not much of a nightmare, just a little thing I may have exposed myself as a kid. I guess it still kinda haunts me.” Yes, I was scared of Sonic dot executable file. Don’t judge me, I was stupid. “I assume you mean the genre of horror?” “Not much of horror anymore. It’s kinda cringe looking back on it. No idea why it keeps popping up, it’s weird.” “And what of thy’s absorption of magic? Very few have the talent to absorb magic, and with the exception of one, none of them can absorb Alicorn magic. Only Alicorns can handle Alicorn magic.” She inspects me closely. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was getting flustered with the inspection. “I uh, just can I guess. It’s something I always could do.” I watched her circle me, as if trying to get a read on me. “It does hurt do absorb magic, I just have to focus on it. It’s hard to focus on absorbing magic when in pain, or under the effects of another spell.” “Then how did thee absorb my magic if thou weren’t aware?” “Well if it directly aims at my soul. It’s automatic.” “Hmm.” She seems satisfied with my answers. I’m not a danger to her or anyone else at least. I’m guessing the absorbing she’s talking about is directly stealing from another source. Since mine is more of a defensive ability. It should keep a target smaller on my back. “Also. I apologize for my misdeeds from yesterday. I didn’t think my silence spell would affect you for that long.” To be fair, Vow of Silence mutes my magic for a little bit as well, though magic absorption makes it last not as long. “Tis’ okay our little pony. Thou are given forgiveness for thy misdeeds.” She gave me a small smile, I guess she was expecting one. Just not one so abruptly. “Well. Uh. Now what?” “We wish to extend our apologies to you, we are sorry for interrupting your slumber.” Oh, she apologized as well. Haven’t seen a Royal apologize for anything since….ever really, now that I think about it. Also slightly dropping the ye olden speech, nice! “I accept this apology.” With a smile, we’re stuck staring at each other. If I pop out of the dream realm now, I’d be awake. So might as well enjoy her company while it lasts. “Forgive us, it has been a spell since we’ve last had someone in the dream realm with us. How do you know about the realm?” “Oh. I just learned dream magic to take a look at my memories when I sleep. It helps to remember my family.” Gotta be honest, lying to the face of a Royal leads to the guillotine. “Thou hast a pure cause to study dream magic, but we must ask. How long have you been studying dream magic? Tis only been a year since we’ve returned, and would like to know more about any advancements we should brush up upon.” A Royal we, me and the crown. Great, I might have to be face to face with more royalty, though I guess giving Luna some extra…wait a year? Returned? Returned from what? “I must ask princess, what exactly did you return from?” “Oh. Thou hasn’t heard?” I haven’t so I shook my head in response. “Well. We…ahem. I mean…me…we’ve been Nightmare Moon for a millennia, with our visage being sealed on the moon.” Oh, she’s a thousand years older than me? But she looks like she could easily be 30 years old. What does this mean? Sealed on the moon? She was stuck up there? Magic imprisonments does shut off your mind, so it’s like a nap. “Ah. I guess that explains the whole…dark magic I can feel from you.” “We understand that dark magic as well, it has formed around our cutie mark when our emotions got the better of us and we descended into nightmare moon.” Understandable, I should stop asking about it. Knowing she has a demonic form is good enough information to me. Plus, it’s honestly pretty rude to dig into this sort of thing. “I…apologize for asking about something that personal.” “We accept. It only seemed fair after an examination of thee.” Yeah, fair. My head does hurt. “Would thou please consider any advancements in dream magic a gift to us? We would like to know if our methods have fallen behind the times. As the protector of dreams, we shall not let anymore nightmares fall upon our citizens.” “Yeah. Why not, better to do so in person. I think, I don’t have a house at all or anything. I’m homeless.” Anon the Homeless title in question here. “Oh, truly? A practitioner in dream studies such as thou are homeless?” She leans in getting close to me, shock across her face. “Yep.” “This cannot be. Please, meet with Twilight again. We shall send thou a ticket to Canterlot.” She seems very adamant about this… “Wha?” “No time. It’s bound to be morning. Sleep well thine little pony.” With a quick flash she’s gone. “What?” I woke up, sitting up on the bed and looking out the window. It’s morning. I guess I’m doing a tutor session with a princess. Should I teach her all the memory stuff, or just the decent parts? Is there anything she knows I don’t? Fuck if I know. I guess I’m heading to Canterlot today. Using my pocket dimension I quickly obtain the pie and finish it off. Tossing the tinfoil in the garbage. Though the celery sticks do give me some sort of relief. And a shower, with the tiny baby shampoo bottle. Yeah! Morning prep done. Now to head outside. This is moving to fast. It’s only been two days and I’m already meeting a Royal. At least she’s nice. Usually whenever I meet royalty it’s oddly quick in my Isekai life. They’re usually the first actual family I meet. Royals are a mixed bag, but one thing stays consistent with my relation with them. I’m always in confidant with at least a princess or a prince, usually both. I don’t know why, it’s almost as if they’re drawn to me. Hell, the story I told the crusaders wasn’t the entire story. After being enslaved by that wizard guy, a prince actually came and rescued me. I wish I remembered his face, because he’s the guy I strive to be. Strong, charismatic, happy… I just don’t know his name, or face anymore… I just want to remember… I want to remember so much… Maybe Luna can help fix me. This could benefit us both. It’s my destiny to be around princesses. So I shall oblige!