Dream A Little Dream of Me

by Peridork


Nights In White Satin

Celestia and Luna smiled at each other over the day’s breakfast. The piles and piles of salads and breads stared up at the two mares begging to be tasted.The chefs and waiters had created a meal that was far too fancy for Celestia this early in the day and she was currently trying to remember which fork to use for breakfast. The white alicorn noticed that her sister was in unusually high spirits today and wondered what could have caused her dramatic change in demeanor. Celestia spoke first to break the silence.

“So what has you in such high spirits?” Celestia quietly took a sip of her large cup of espresso which shot much needed caffeine into her body, waking her up enough to not want to bang her head against the wall when listening to her Courtly business.

“We plan to knight Honesty today.” The blue alicorn was currently covered in her napkin and trying to shove a piece of cake into her nearby bread rolls. Celestia quickly noted to herself to show her sister later how plates worked. Truncheons of bread were so last millennium. Unlike Twilight, her mentor took the news of Applejack’s knighting with better form. And Celestia knew there had to be something juicy.

“Oh do explain.” She rested a hoof on her chin and pushed her plate away. A nearby servant came over and balanced the plates of food with her magic and walked into the kitchen. “Wonder how fast that news will spread. I’ll give it less than an hour.”

Luna was oblivious to the loud screaming and panic coming from the kitchen. “Oh sister, fair Applejack is a lucid dreamer and we can finally gather the Silver Keys to protect this realm from meddling.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow at that. She had forgotten about how heated Luna got about the Dreamlands. And Smart Cookie was the last lucid dreamer Celestia knew of. “Are you sure that this isn’t just a way for you to have somepony to love? You know how Starswirl took to that when you tried something like this before.”

“She did kiss me until we were so rudely interrupted by one of Nodens messengers.” Luna grimaced, knowing that soon she would have to see him while on the journey. Pushing her chair back to get herself comfortable, she put her face in her hooves and sighed.

“So do you need any help with this romance? I could always call Cadance. She is currently in Manehattan and she would know a lot more about loving mortals than I do.” Celestia calmly levitated a fork and pointed it at her embarrassed sister. Luna shook her head. She remembered the new alicorn princess that was far too pink for her tastes.

“No. We’ll just get ready for the ceremony. Sister? Can you call Fleur Di Lis to our chambers?”

Celestia just smiled and nodded. “I‘ll ask Raven to contact her.” The white alicorn turned away and walked towards her throne room ready to start the day. A chuckle almost escaped her lips as she wondered why Luna was so ready to have her own Guard again after so many years on the moon. And asking Fleur? “I wonder how Luna will try to explain this to that mare?” The sound of her quiet chuckles echoed softly through the halls as she steadied herself for yet another day of courtly duties.

***

Applejack stared down at the passing countryside. She could see why Rainbow Dash never shut up about flying and how it made her feel so free. The wind brushing in her mane bringing far away scents that made her mind swim with reckless abandon. The spire of Canterlot was slowly approaching and the sun shone upon the mountain as if to welcome her to the capitol. “Stay calm. It isn’t like this’ll cause anypony to see me any different.”

She had woken up at the crack of dawn hearing the sun chariot practically crashing in her apple fields and everypony yelling up a mighty storm. AJ thanked the stars that she didn’t have to explain what was going on to Granny Smith. Somehow she just knew something was up and fell back asleep in her rocking chair with nothing more than a ‘Who’s muckin’ up my fields?’

Applejack was never one for all those ideas about fancy junk. So even finding out that Luna hadn’t been kidding about the chariot was not looking good for her future prospects.

***

A knock on the door woke up Fleur Di Lis and the exhausted unicorn quickly walked out of her chambers. Her cutie mark was emblazoned on the walls on white banners that showed her devotion to the Equestrian royalty. "The Equestrian Diarchy- best not forget the Princess that seems to get a laugh every time she calls on me. Or not. Can’t tell.’

A colt with a patchwork coat was currently rolling of the couch, drool covering the pillow that he had unceremoniously baptized in late night reading binges of adventure stories. The sight of his adorable face made her heart jump in slow leaps.

“Mom? What’s up?”

“Probably just work, sweetie.”

The knocking doubled in urgency. The thing about royal business was that the Princesses just couldn’t wait. They rose the celestial bodies every day and yet they felt as if wasting a few minutes would destroy Equestrian national security. Maybe it could, maybe not. With how often her services were called upon- Fleur was skeptical of how useful the alicorns were.

But maybe she was a little bit biased due to her unusual upbringing. Not many unicorns were royal knights or even had model looks. Which annoyed the white unicorn to no end since she was not one for the limelight. She just liked to be left alone and maybe have a nice and relaxing sparring session or two with an entire battalion of royal soldiers on her off days. And maybe get ice cream with her little Pipsqueak.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming.” Preparing herself for an earful of angry yelling by whoever was currently banging on her door, the mare opened her door with a smile that quickly faded as she saw who was on the other side of the door. Raven, Princess Celestia’s assistant, was standing on the other side with a deadpan stare of mutual hostility. ‘Great. Celestia seems to forget that we can’t stand each other.’

Scanning her options of attack- from teleportation, which wouldn’t work because the mare was also a unicorn, to pulling her rapier out and stabbing the mare in the throat for even trying to show up here again after that fiasco at the Gala, daggers, decapitation, hugging- nope- and worst of all- letting the mare in. Which she begrudgingly did.

“Tea? Crumpets?” Fleur tried to be nice and offer her companion some food because that’s what ponies did. They kept the appearance of being all hunky dory and yet hating another pony if they got on their nerves. Or maybe that was just Pippy’s pirate books speaking to her again.

“No, I do appreciate your courtesy but I already ate. I heard a rumor that you never ate food . I was just going to check if that was true.” The unicorn’s glasses framed face had the hint of a friendly smile.

“Ha ha, Raven.” Fleur couldn’t help but roll her eyes. She had always wished she didn’t need food- but she wasn’t a Changeling drone. Those beasts could and would suck the emotions right out of ponies if they weren’t careful. ‘I guess that nickname stuck. Changeling.’ That unfortunate nickname was because the recruits of the guard couldn’t believe that Fleur was just naturally long legged. They had to come up with some silly idea that she was Celestia’s illegitimate lovechild. Celestia had a laugh riot when she heard about that. Not because it was false- but because it was actually true. Curse her being born a mortal hybrid unicron. Or not- those dancing lessons her mother provided and the earth pony strength came in handy beating a hydra or twenty.

The sound of quiet snoring surprised the two mares and diffused the tense situation. Raven glanced over to the couch which contained one very small colt in a pirate costume. He wanted to go to Ponyville for Luna’s first Nightmare Night since her return. And much to Fleur’s displeasure, Pipsqueak hadn’t changed his clothes since he got the costume on.

“I see you are still taking care of him.”

“And what does that mean?” Fleur turned her head and glared at her ‘guest’.

“Nothing. Just commenting on a very strange familial unit. One blademaster taking care of her out of wedlock son. It almost sounds poetic in some twisted way.”

Fleur’s eye subtly twitched. She was almost ready to release her rapier from its pocket dimension and shank this pony that knew just how to get on her nerves. 'Think of happy thoughts. Puppies mauling little bunnies, butterflies with fire wings, anything.’ She quietly took a breath and smiled at Celestia’s right hand mare.

“Now let’s just cut this back and forth banter. We both know we hate each other. After all, I did accidentally push you down the stairs during guard practice. And then you tried to set my hair on fire the week after and I am just getting tired of this back and forth dislike that we created. So what in the name of Tartarus do you want?”

Raven just smiled. “We have a new knight coming for her little ceremony and Luna wants you to pick her up.”

“Why isn’t she here now?”

***

Luna paced around the Canterlot gardens, her hooves making a constant echo in the deserted gardens. Discord stared down on her stony faced and silent.

“Alright, Luna, we have this. It’s just a short bow, then a full turn with a posterior shake, then a few lines, and then alicorn magic to Honesty’s head to start the test.”

***

“She’s been panicking about the ceremony.” Raven sighed. “She’s no Celestia. those tender eyes, that wavy mane, those firm and beautiful-”

“Wow. Never would have pegged you for being a pony with actual feelings.” Fleur internally cringed- her mother and her assistant in some scandalous position ran through her thoughts. Note to self: talk to mother about this on our next get together.

“It’s not like that-” Raven’s grey coat did not hide the large blush that tinged her cheeks.

“Yeah, yeah. Just have to say one thing before you go-” Fleur grabbed the other unicorn in her light purple aura and yanked Raven off her hooves. “If you ever, and I mean EVER- say anything about my son, who I very much love and protect, without my permission. . .I will end you.” Fleur Di Lis gently placed the mentally scarred unicorn on her doorstep and shut the door.

‘Wanted to do that for years! I’m the only one who can talk bad about his doctor dad. And her creepy obsession with mother makes me want to hurl.' Fleur glanced over to the pile of documents that Raven had unceremoniously placed on her large marble table took out the dossier that outlined her new slaughter buddy. . .friend? She never was one for friends. They were just too whiny and wimpy. 'What do we have here? Ponyville?’

Fleur grinned. Pippy was going to see his dad. Cause there’s only so many stallions with a Trottingham accent. And she was going to give him a nice little talking to. She whistled a happy little song to herself as she picked up her adorably sleeping son and hugged him so very hard that he would feel all her love and hugginess.

“Mom, stop it that tickles.” Pipsqueak said as Fleur hugged him and kept him close so that nopony would ever dream of hurting him. Cause if they did- they would be in a whole load of hurt.

“But you are my cute little pirate! Yes you are!”

“Pirates are supposed to be powerful and intimidating. Cute is nowhere near the pirate code of honor.” Pip tried to puff out his chest in a big awesome gesture of his childlike wonder. Fleur couldn’t help it. She could just see his father in him and it just made her all giddy.

“Okay then my little pirate captain of dubious repute.”

Pip just grinned and rolled his eyes. “Gosh, I don’t even know most of those words, but that was much better than saying the evil word- cute. Arr!” He then punctuated his statement by swinging his foreleg around in a swashbuckling fashion and hopped down to the floor. “I’m am a little hungry, though. . .”

Fleur raised her eyebrow while skimming the rest of the papers. “Oh really?” She quickly thought of leaving her darling son to the seedy Canterlot undercity where all the junkies and Dust-sellers were just preying on her son’s moral innocence. She blanched as the scenario played out in her head- big bad stallion grabbing her little Pippy and forcing him to- “Do you want to go on Mommy’s special assignment and later see Auntie Luna?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!” Pipsqueak was nearly hyperventilating in joy as the idea that his favorite Princess would see him and they would talk about what dreams he’d been having lately. Especially about that old stallion on that silly seashell chariot. Pip had been having some good old fashioned pirate talks with him. He liked him a lot.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” Pip vigorously shook his head up and down. “Well then. We’re going to stop by Hayburger once we pick up the mare I’m going to be training.” Fleur levitated her saddlebags over and quickly ruffled through the contents. finding her wallet and sunhat, she and Pipsqueak set off to the nearby chariot landing strip.

***

“And this is the place that we will be holding the ceremony!” Fleur grinned as she looked up and down the new recruit that would be her newest training buddy. Athletic, general easygoing personality, overall good looks, and an Element of Harmony to boot!

“That’s nice and all- but I really don’t think I’ll be needing this tour- I only need to talk to Luna and I really want to get out of this.” Applejack kicked a hoof and waited to see what would happen with this mare that was escorting her around.

“I know how you feel. The stress that foisting such a revelation does tire a pony out and I should know- I get terrible surprises from my mother all the time. I mean yesterday she tried to make me stand in court and praise how good the Solar Guard was for a whole four hours. . .and the week before that she ran off to Las Pegasus while Discord was being taken care of- and I was left in charge here for a while. It was awful. “ Fleur just shrugged and walked further down the hall.

“And then before that, she had to replace me with some foal from the Gifted Unicorn School and raise her to become a powerhouse. I mean she had so much potential of being a model or a dancer, but she had to be a bookworm?! The gall of some ponies!”

“Um.” Applejack just blanked out as the unicorn continued her tirade. “-And then I said, ‘ I can tie you into a knot and toss you into the nearest mountain for free’ and he balked at me!”

“I think we are here- uh. If I may ask, who are you?”

Fleur bowed and shifted her personality once again as the situation required. “Ah, excuse me- I am the Interim Guard Captain of the Solar Guard until the buffoon that runs it normally gets off his flank and pushed these recruits into line. My name is Fleur Di Lis Solaris- or just Fleur.”

Applejack laughed. “What kind of name is that? Something from that Fancy language place?”

Fleur just flipped her head and turned. “I’ll have you know that my mother is an important pony in Canterlot and it would not be useful to besmirch her name.

“And who would that be?”

***

Princess Celestia stared out at the combined legion that was her guard and was going to speak until a nagging sensation at the back of her nose was brought back and she sneezed. And then blew out a few recent windows in the nearby Hall of Achievement.

***

“Not telling.” Fleur smirked as she began to think of ways to train this hayseed into Luna’s personal knight in shining armor and make them have cute adorable fillies together. Because that was what she liked doing on her off days- having tea with Equestria’s own personal shipping chart and talk about how everypony was doing.

Damn that Shining Armor. Cadance was her own tea time buddy. And he took her Sunday free time from the alicorn. She mentally shook a hoof at the stallion and grimaced- remembering that Shining and Cadance were having lots of alone time, together, in Manehattan.

***

Sconces lit the cold room as the four gathered ponies stood at attention. Shadows cast their ghoulish contours as the creeping hour of midnight was entered and the spheres of dream were in align. Two times of night made dreamwalking the most powerful- midnight, when most nocturnal denizens crept out and did their business, or three in the morning, where the breezies fairy rings powered magical flux into a piecemeal soup of energy.

“We are gathered in this hour of the darkest thickets when such boggarts and things immemorial are on the prowl- for we have in our Royal Presence a pony who wants to become a denizen of the night.”

Pipsqueak oohed and ahhed as the ceremony continued. Each time his Auntie Luna did a ‘Forsooth!’ or a ‘Begat by the foul darkness!’ he provided the sound effects of thunder by waving a metal sheet with gusto.

Applejack tried to hold in her laughter at how much he reminded her of Applebloom and her pals.

“And with that, I pronounce you a walk into the inner recesses of the mind!” With that, a flashing strobe effect began to make Applejack feel disoriented and dizzy. Out of focus images of cold, emotionless statues and some weird feeling that Luna was performing some very awkward dance that would make Twilight have a run for her bits flashed through her mind.

The last thing she heard before she slipped into the blessed realm of sleep was a short and high pitched laughing fit from Fleur’s side of the room.

***

The woods were deathly silent as Applejack breathed in the new smells of her location. If this was her test that Luna had been talking about before the blue alicorn had touched her horn to the farmer's head and caused the entire world to shift around the mare. Colors separated and twisted in geometric shapes that teased her eyes and made her taste the magic in the air.

She had woken up in a clearing near a large and dark forest with only things deemed necessary to her survival- some bandages, a magic fire kit, blankets, the normal essentials for a camping kit. And Applejack was worried- she hadn’t had much free time to go gallivanting in the woods every weekend, so her camping skills were a bit rusty.

A hooting owl the size of a cart flapped its wings as Applejack dove deeper into the forest of no name and unknown age. ‘Well, I guess that means I’m no longer in Equestria. Never saw an owl that ridiculously big. If owls are that big. . .what else is in the forest?’ The orange mare felt fear but she tucked it away in a mental pocket and soon stopped at a large wrought iron gate with the first test’s maxim.

“Defend me my noble knight. . . .”

Applejack had no inkling of what Luna’s game and wording was about but she had to get out of here somehow and she knew that following the road to the end was the best chance as any. As she was inspecting the gate, a whimper broke out from the nearby brush and caused AJ to carefully push her way into the underbrush. Our noble and honest knight found herself staring at a scene that wouldn’t be so far out of the books that Twilight seemed to enjoy.

Outside of the fact that there was a blob monster that was pulsating in geometric shapes and it .grew some hideous limbs in its attempts to crawl near a small and adorable version of Luna wearing a paper hat and waving a wooden sword.

“Have at thee foul and black-hearted shoggoth that aims it tentacles near my virgin body!”

The young alicorn began to quake feverishly because a snaking tendril of ooze wrapped around her middle and began to drag her into a nearby swamp. Her cries broke our enchanting knight from her timidity and picking up a nearby sharp stick in her strong jaws and rushing headlong into the fray.

Also known by some ponies who are not filled with chivalric spirit as being an idiot. But those ponies had no real drive to become heroes that would be sung of in poems and have fillies and stallions swoon in lusty passion.

And so our Knight of Dream drove her weapon down into the ooze that composed most of a shoggoth and the creature screamed great and long in pained wheezing and whatnot. The tentacle that had grasped the prized love interest of our strong and yet feminine beauty that was our knight, fell to the hard earth with a tumble. Our fair and virgin princess lost her paper crown and wailed long and hard about the happening. Fair Applejack tried to calm Luna but to no avail. So waiting out the emotional storm, Applejack beheld that our princessly figure was sad for the shoggoth.

Looking up at Applejack, Luna began to enchant her with her reply.

"We believe that is enough"

The scene changed as Applejack fell to the damp and moldy earth. Its detritus and blackish heart clinging to her hooves as the trees melted and shrank into bushes and the forked path in the narrow woods shifted into a demanding castle.

“Princess Luna? What’s going on?” The small alicorn that had given the farmer her scare had disappeared. Looking around, Applejack noticed that the moon was hanging low to the ground and almost touching the earth. A small rope made of moonbeams beckoned as the sounds of howling churlish things began to close into the courtyard.

Applejack trotted up as fast as she could to the rope and began to climb with her Earth Pony magic taking care of her balance. Hoof over hoof, she climbed the swirling expanse of void as memories began to surface in small fits.

“Dearest, do be careful.”

Souls of the departed broke into her consciousness. She hadn’t thought of that day ever since Bloom had been a few weeks old.

Sweet Apple Acres was failing. The harvest of Zap Apples had been stolen by the alpha wolven of the furthest dream cycle that intersected Reality. The apples had been found in states of rotten decay- their meaty flesh sucked dry of all important nutrients and the shining examples of natural beauty were husks of their former selves.

No must not remember. Remembrance meant pain.

“Daddy? Where are you and mommy going?” A young Applejack sat warm and coy in her bed. Her last memory of her parents- their faces wreathed in shadow- was repeating.

“Don’t worry dear. Your Ma and I have to do some chores. Just be tucked up here and do not move at all- even if you hear anything. Jus-” Her wraith of a father blinked tears from his eyes and turned away. “Just be safe and listen to Granny.”

“And what about that doodad?” Applejack pointed at a key that hung proudly on her father’s chest. Its silver body spoke of mytic things while its inlaid emeralds spoke of hope and life wrapped around a chosen path to somewhere in distant climes.

“This is our family’s heirloom.”

Applejack broke out of the dream bubble and gasped for air as gravity pulled her towards the lunar surface in this topsy turvy place. An obsidian castle rested in the lunar dust. Applejack sensed movement down below and curled into a ball to make impact with the ground as painless as possible. Before she could hit the ground a calming blue aura surrounded her and set her down on the gray and lifeless surface.

“Hi.” A voice made Applejack freeze. It was like Luna’s natural voice but it had a different lilt to it. Luna’s voice was dark and impersonal while the new voice sounded like Luna- but it had a happy ring to it.

“Oh don’t be worried.” Two blue wings enveloped AJ in the most personal hug of her life. The feathers tickled her face as she tried to figure out what was going on.

“Who are you and what have you done to Luna?” Applejack spat out the reply, her muscles tensing more and more as the feathers massaged her in ways that only the best masseuses could do. Or at least that was what Rarity had told her when the white mare had not shut up about how nice Aloe and Lotus were at their craft.

Silence reigned as the attacker began to fold up and fade away into nothingness. Applejack was alone. The cold and unflinching sense of loneliness pervaded her fortress of solitude. The silence of space was pervasive. Applejack was going mad. There was no way that this was real- the shifts in locations was just her mind trying to make sense of the last few days.

And then she glanced over and she could not believe that there was a massive fire opal of the brightest orange. Its facets shone with the lifeblood of the sun and its inside showed many things that should not be.

Crawling, hideous beasts of night that howled their praises to the deepest darkest gods of aeons past, places that could not exist that were gemstone castles, vistas that were covered in grasses the were the colors of the rainbow, and most of all- she saw her parents.

Hoofsteps somehow echoed in the silent void. “We did not expect for you to react so violently to our trials.” Luna sat down next to Applejack and put a comforting wing around the mare. “We- I have been scrying through the memories of your self- the construct that has given your very fragile conscious form.”

Applejack breathed slowly. “Am I dead or something now- the whole shifting landscape seems to be heading that direction.”

Luna shook her head. “No, not dead. Surely you have heard of the descending nature of dreams- I had put you under an enchanted slumber. And then your memories had trapped you further into a slumber- and now we are here. What I like to call the Equestrian Dreamlands. We have been here before you and I-”

Applejack piped up. “But I don’t remember doing all that the first thousand times.”

Luna curled up slowly into a ball. Her hair shifted from red to blue as the stars danced across her starry mane and she blushed. “I thought we could be alone. Together. And you had passed my tests in a roundabout way- Tiberius is mad that you stabbed him by the way.”

“Tiberius?”

“Apologies- he is my pet. Like Tia’s phoenix. His form shifts often- one day he is a shoggoth- the next he is an opossum- and whatnot.”

‘Okay. . .” Applejack grinned and shook her head. Maybe she would just have to adjust her worldview. Anyway she could look at it- her and the girls weren’t normal anymore. Not since they had cleansed Luna of Nightmare Moon.

Maybe she could get on board with this new adventure and have fun with all her new friends. And her old ones of course.

“Fairest Applejack, do you take my name as sacrosanct and hold my safety to the highest degree?” Luna patiently waited for the weapon contract to forge a bond between the planes and let her knights hold weapons that could banish the hardiest of Elder Beings with enough effort.

“I did say yes before.” Applejack beamed at the lunar Princess and lowest ruler of the Dreamlands with a smile that lit up the silent lunar landscape in a reddish hue. Glancing around, Applejack shook her head. “Has it gone red? Can’t believe that this place is still messing with me.”

Luna said nothing and hid her control over the landscape via her emotional state. Blushing profusely, the diarch pointed at the large orange crystal and picked up the farmer with her aura, judged how far the crystal was, and tossed Applejack like a javelin.

As Applejack hit the crystal, it imploded and slowly began to slough off pieces of unless parts of itself. Its malleable form searched for a form that would please its new owner. It couldn’t be a large gem anymore- that had been for another wielder that praised beauty over practicality.. The true honesty gem flitted about the earth pony. She was its user and it had to shift accordingly. It continued to scan her memories until it settled on its form and quieted and lay still.

“Ow, Luna what was that for?”

Luna used her Royal Canterlot Voice and jokingly yelled at her newest knight of dreams. “Tia, said to use ‘flair’ and that’s what I came up with!” Luna was practically acting like a filly with how pleased she felt. Applejack just groaned and chalked that up to what Twilight called ‘Alicorn Boredom’ and cursed how gullible Luna was.

“Applejack, you can pick up your weapon now.”

Applejack turned and saw that the orange gem that had been there a mere moment ago had transformed into a battle axe that was just the right size for her to swing comfortably and yet be sharp enough to fell a tree with a swing. Applejack was surprised though that the bladed portion of the axe was so large- it curved dangerously close to the wooden handle and was half as long as it.

Words came to mind as the connection between wielder and weapon cooled into a soul bonded connection that would let the two things mesh as one and fall into the happier land that was Celestia’s domain.

“Sing, Volsung.” Applejack was enveloped in the calmest breeze that carried the smell of apples and she slumped down and began to cry in relief and pure joy. Soulbonding had that effect on ponies. A pervasive sense of truest accomplishment and inner peace.
***

Two Days Later

A chariot descended from the skies as four passengers looked down on the town of Ponyville. The vehicle held two knights, a sea captain, and a princess.

“Mom, look- I can see Dad’s house from here!” Pipsqueak laughed as the charito began its corkscrew landing procedures and skimmed over the rooftops of the quiet hamlet.

The three other passengers glanced over as the white unicorn/earth pony hybrid began to laugh as her plans for making this assignment more fun than usual. “Oh, this is going to make my year. Pippy! Are you ready to have a nice family reunion?”

“Yeah!”

Luna shook her head. Celestia had told her of her own failings as a mother- but to think that Fleur was her niece was a bit unsettling. The mare had the best interests out for Equestria and her academy records were stellar- she just was unstable.

“This is going to take some getting used to.” Luna sighed as she and Applejack shared a look as the four stepped out into the town.