//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: Strange Dreams and Stranger Realities 
// Story: Dreams of Equestria 
// by Caelus Storm 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 4: Strange Dreams and Stranger Realities

That day at school, Seth couldn't help but remember his dream from the previous night.  It had seemed so real, how detailed the scenery was.  It was also strange that the figures in the dream had been blurred, just like the dream from the other night.  Stranger still was how similar both figures had been to the ones in his other dream.  Seth couldn't shake the feeling that the dreams were somehow related.
Seth sighed, and looked down at his notebook.  Instead of geography notes, there was a drawing of the flag from his dream.  The two figures circling the sun and moon.  He thought about the figures in his dream, and finally concluded that they were the same ones on the flag.  Though why would they be on a flag that flew over a city?  They didn't seem like dictators, or queens.  In fact, they seemed to Seth like gentle rulers would, the kind that he occasionally read about in a fantasy story.
Listen to me, he thought to himself, wondering about the personalities of two characters that happened to appear in a dream.  They are nothing, merely a subconscious image projected in my mind while I slept.
And yet, that assumption felt wrong, as if he were trying to tell himself only what he wanted to hear.  Seth shook his head, opening to a new page in his notebook, and hurriedly began to take notes before his teacher moved on.
During his lunch period, Seth sat alone at a table in the corner, drawing in his sketchbook.  Several small pictures covered the page, ranging from lunchroom scenes to pictures of the figures from his dreams.  He tried everything he could to sharpen and focus the image and see what kind of creatures had wings and a single horn.  He made a note to try an internet search when he got home.  though he doubted he would find anything.
As he sat there, twirling his pencil, his mind began to drift.  He somehow found himself back in the town from his first dream.

He walked down the street, looking for any sign of life.  Before long, he found himself standing in front of the tree house/library.  He heard voices inside.
"come on, Spike," the voice said, "This spell needs both of our attentions to make it work."
"Twilight," the second voice said, "We've been at this for hours.  Why don't we take a break?"
"Uhh, Spike, I told you," the voice of Twilight said, "I need to learn this spell before I meet with Princess Celestia tomorrow.  she will want to see that I've been taking my studies on magic seriously.  I haven't written a report to her in over a week.  She'll be wondering what I've been doing this whole time."
"Twilight," said Spike, "how do you expect to keep casting spells when you haven't eaten since breakfast?"
"It's not that late," Twilight said.
"Oh, really?" Spike said, "three in the afternoon isn't 'that late'?"
"Oh, Spike, it's not that late," Twilight said with a laugh, "it's only....three in the afternoon.  Oh."
"come on, Twilight," Spike said, "Let's go get something to eat, and then we can go back to practicing."

Seth was jolted out of his daydream by the clanging of the bell announcing the end of the period.  He hurriedly started packing his sketchbook when he paused.  The name "Celestia" stuck in his head.  Hadn't that been the name of the white figure from his dream last night?  No, that couldn't be right.  And "Twilight" was from the other dream.  Seth shook his head.  Not only were these dreams still stuck in his mind, but now they were starting to blur together.  he sighed.  he needed to do some research on the subject, because this was getting ridiculous.

Seth walked home from school, his thoughts still absorbed in the matter of his daydream.  On his way, he passed a small store that sold TVs and other electronic things.  He decided to have a look around.  Maybe they had the new CD from that one band.  He went inside, a bell tinkling over his head.  Some of the various TVs were playing different shows, their volume lowered to keep the noise level down.  Seth started browsing the rows of CDs, looking for anything that looked interesting.  He was examining the cover of a rock album he had never heard of when a bit of dialogue from his daydream suddenly surfaced in his mind.
"Uhh, please Spike, I said no," Twilight said.
"Huh.  Fine, if that's the way you wanna be," Spike said.
Seth blinked and looked up suddenly in surprise.  That hadn't been from his dream.  But those voices were exactly the same.  he looked around, trying to identify the source of the dialogue.  Surely, it had only been two people talking, and his mind was merely filtering the voices through his already occupied mind.  He finally found a TV in the back that the voices were coming from.  On the screen was what appeared to be a purple, cartoon unicorn and a small, purple and green dragon.  Seth only partially heard the words they were saying, while the rest of his mind tried to grasp the significance of what he was seeing.
What is this? he thought to himself.  His eyes fell on the watermark at the bottom of the TV screen.  My Little Pony Mare-a-thon.
"My Little Pony?" Seth muttered to himself.  "Isn't that, like, a little girl's show?"
He left the TV shop, his minds now even more troubled than it had been before.  When he got home, he immediately pulled out his journal and began writing.

Dear Journal,
I already mentioned my dream from last night, so I feel no need to repeat it.  However, today during lunch, I started day dreaming.  In this daydream though, I heard the voice of the characters from my first dream, the ones called "Twilight" and "Spike".  The one called "Twilight" mentioned something about "Princess Celestia", whom I remember being from my dream last night.  Now, at first, I merely thought that it was a result of me thinking too much on both dreams, and that they had started to blend together.  However...

Seth paused.  How could he say it?

However, today, when I was walking home from school, I stopped inside Joe's TVs and Records.  I was browsing through the various CDs when I heard a bit of dialogue from my daydream.  But it wasn't from my daydream.  The voices were the same, but the words were different.  I searched around, and found that one of the TVs was playing a show called "My Little Pony".  But the voices of "Twilight" and "Spike" were an exact match.  And also, so were the colors from my first dream.  "Twilight" was a purple unicorn with a darker purple mane and tail with a pink stripe running through both.  "Spike" was a small purple dragon with green spines.  The strangest thing though, is this: how can I have had a dream with characters in it from a show I've never heard of?  And a little girl's show besides.  And the mention of the name "Celestia".  I wanted to believe that all three dreams were unrelated, but now...well...it is an unusual string of coincidences.  I must do more research into this.  Who or what is "Celestia"?  How is she related to "Twilight"?  And why am I dreaming about a children's television program?

Seth looked over the entry.  Even to him, it sounded crazy.  "How is this happening?" he murmured.