//------------------------------//
// Feeling Her Age 
// Story: Endless Dreamer 
// by Tineid 
//------------------------------//

	Luna pulled dreams together as quickly as she could. Her exhaustion, forgotten for a time as they played, had returned in force. The stress of their encounter had only made it worse. Why can the dreamscape not cooperate in this? Why must we be so many dreams apart from her own?

Dream after dream passed in a blur. Dirt, snow, cobblestones and clouds passed beneath her hooves. She was homing in on Applebloom's dream, she could feel no Nightmare behind them. She was beginning to regain her composure, to feel in control of the situation. She was wrong. She stopped suddenly, causing her companion to run into her.
"What's wrong Luna? Did you get lost?"
Luna didn't respond. She felt more Nightmares. Fragments, small like the one they had left behind. They were in the dreams between here and her intended destination. She was certain they were aware of her, were hunting her like the other one. She reached out with her senses, looking for a safe route. There. It didn't lead to Applebloom's dream, but that was a secondary concern now.
"Luna...?"
She would have to simply outmaneuver them. If they could stay away until dawn, her sister would raise the sun. Ponies would awaken, and whatever dream they were in would collapse, flinging them back to their bodies. Having some experience with this, she would be fine. Applebloom would be fine too after a few hours of nausea and headaches. It was decided. She turned, backtracking across the cavern that was this dream. "Follow, young one. We must take another path" she commanded as they galloped through the border, "We may be within a dream when the dreamer awakens, as I explained before. If you feel ill and suddenly find yourself back in your bed, worry not. This means that you would then be safe."
"Uh-huh. Got it."

The Nightmares were quick. Though she had power here, they were native to this place. She wished she had been at her full strength. She would have relished the chance to obliterate each and every one of these whispering, corrupting creatures. To take revenge for corrupting her, making her so cruel her sister had banished her to the moon.
She turned this way and that, avoiding her pursuers. She must protect Applebloom though. That was foremost.

She galloped through lands both familiar and bizarre. Porcelain towers and crawling trees flew past. She galloped through an ocean, down seemingly endless castle corridors. The Nightmares flew through nearby dreams, connecting them in the odd way that dreams border each other, sometimes jumping nearly ahead of the princess, causing her to change directions to avoid them. Dawn was soon, she could feel it. Her hooves hit the smooth surface of a checkered floor, and she reached out for another dream.

Nothing.

There was nothing. She reached out with her powers but this dream was so very isolated. The dream she had come from and any others remotely nearby were now inhabited by Nightmares. She felt those dreams begin to collapse. Before she could even consider jumping into one of those dreams and trying to dodge past the creature, the last of them collapsed. She stretched her senses to their limits, but felt no other dreams. With a moment to consider what this meant, she relaxed somewhat, allowing herself to sit.
"Are- are we okay, Luna? Are they chasin' us still?" Applebloom asked in a voice that sounded slightly off.
"Yes, we are safe now. The Nightmares were in dreams that ended, they have been driven far from here. Now we must simply wait for this dreamer to awaken and we shall be back in our own bodies." she answered in a voice that was unfamiliar, but failed to notice in her relief.
"So... is it okay that that thing happened again? Where we're different 'cause somepony thinks that's what we are?"
Luna lifted her head to see what Applebloom was talking about. Indeed, the filly seemed to have gained several years. Clearly they were in the dream of someone who respected her, thought her mature beyond her years.	"That is fine, App-" Now she noticed the unfamiliar quality of her voice. She said where we're different... Looking down at her stubby legs, looking up (up!) at Applebloom, Luna realized that she had in fact changed as well. She stammered, unsure what to say.
"Yer just a filly, Luna. I thought you said you didn't change just 'cause someone thinks that's what your like?"
Of course she shouldn't change! Even with the barest scrap of energy left, she should easily resist the dreamer's mind. No pony had the magic to enforce their image of her!
No pony. Luna started to worry again. The Nightmares were gone, but where had they driven her? Was this their plan all along? To herd her into the dream of a creature with whose magic she was unfamiliar? Some creature that had no respect for her, thought her a mere child?
Seeing Luna's clear distress, Applebloom attempted to comfort her, "It's alright Luna. When they wake up we'll be safe and sound, right?"
"Yes. Yes, that is true. We must simply wait."

While they waited, Luna probed the boundaries of the dream. Or boundary, at least. There seemed to be only the one. Rather than a bubble of dream-stuff, as dreams ought to be, this one had a wall. A wall that stretched left and right, up and down, for as far as she could sense. They had arrived just inside that wall. Behind them, stretching as far back as she could sense, as far back as they could see, was the dream. Or dreams, perhaps. There was so much going on out there. So many different places inhabited by so many random objects and so many strange events. It was all in motion too. Dreams jostled each other out there, melded into each other becoming other, odder dreams. Some vanished, some bloomed into existence. Here near the wall things were quieter. Dream objects (or environs or events) seemed to remain stable next to the wall. After a period of time they would either move forward through the wall, or fade away. Whichever it was, something else would maneuver it's way into the space so that the wall was always crowded. Sometimes things would move up and pass (or fade) immediately, sometimes they would remain there for quite some time.
At the moment, they were in a tree that had been warped into the shape of an elevated gazebo, complete with ascending staircase to reach it. This one had been here since shortly after they arrived. For some reason the other dream-objects had been kept away from it, making it a fairly comfortable place to rest.
WHUMP
Applebloom was hitting the wall again. They had both tried it. Shortly after arriving, Luna had noticed the other side of the wall wasn't raw dreamscape, that substance even she could't survive in for long. Whatever passed through it went somewhere else. And after several hours without the dream collapsing, they had decided that wherever those things went had to be better than here. They had tried separately, together... no such luck. They couldn't get through that wall.
"Hnnng..."
Luna looked over at the filly (mare?) who was staring intently at the gazebo. "What are you doing Applebloom?"
"Trying... to stop... the gazebo... from leaving." Sweat beaded on her fur as she strained at nothing.
Luna was about to comment when she felt it. Yes, the gazebo was being pulled through the wall. But much slower than usual. Is she actually...
Applebloom exhaled loudly, her head dropping. In the same instant, the gazebo rushed through the wall, dumping Luna unceremoniously into the small lake of feathers which rushed up to take it's place. She struggled her way to the shore on awkward filly legs, then sneezed several times from the down that got up her nose. "You really did hold it for a time. You have power in this place."
The pony who appeared twice her age shuffled her hooves uncomfortably, "Maybe? I tried anyway..."
An idea crossed Luna's mind, "Applebloom, were you the one to create that pyramid? Did you stop the Nightmare?"
"M-maybe? I don't wanna say I can do better than you. You're a princess after all..." she mumbled, looking yet more uncomfortable.
Luna commanded, "Applebloom, look at me."
As ridiculous as she appeared, Applebloom looked down at the tiny princess. "Yes'm?"
"When I am at my full power, I can do as you did and more. Do not fear that you will show up your princess." Softening her voice, Luna continued, "And even if you did, I would not resent you for it. Be proud of your talents, young one."
Applebloom smiled, "Yes Luna. Now that I think about it, I probably did make that pyramid. It's like when I'm drawing or building something. I get an idea in my head and I just know I can make it come out of my head and onto paper or build it. Except all I could think was stop it, trap it, make it go away and the first thing that popped into my head just happened. But I'm no unicorn, so I don't know how it happened!"
"You are no unicorn, but you can dream. And all this is a dream. Dreams you can control." Luna looked out at the ever-more-chaotic dreamscape farther from the wall. "Which makes me think perhaps our exit is not through this wall, but out there where those dreams come from. With your ability, we can cross that place I think."
"Y'think? Well, if you say I can, and if you're there to help me... Let's try it! It's better than stayin' here waiting for this lazy bum to finally wake up, if they ever do."

With a plan, however flimsy, and a hopeful feeling, the two set off into the ever-changing mass of dreams.