The next day was long and uneventful, and the next after that. Celestia gently counseled, "Waiting is part of our duty, as much as anything else." These words did little to abate Silver's growing boredom, and he lay in the sun, wings spread out, and took a nap.
The dreamscape was frighteningly bare, with the doors around him all seeming so far away. Just one, long, empty hallway stretching out in either direction, with the barest hint of entries beyond. He tried imagining his wives one by one. Though a door drew closer, it never came within a hoof's reach, and trying to walk towards it didn't actually close the distance. He scowled and turned his thoughts to Celestia, and her door sprung up quickly, but it was locked. Touching the handle gave him the impression that she was awake, so there was no dream world to enter.
"I told you not to meddle with her door." Silver spun around to find a sleepy-looking Luna. "Are you well? You have scarcely been away and I find myself missing your presence."
Silver smiled gently. "Did I wake you? I didn't mean to."
She waved a hoof. "'Tis worth it to have a moment." She advanced and they embraced, squeezing gently. "Has my sister ensnared you yet?"
Silver perked a tufted ear. "Besides insisting I bathe more often?"
Luna snorted with a touch of a smirk. "She has grown soft, if the scent of a stallion sends her scurrying. This reminds... The mare you saw gave her thanks, but expressed regret that you didn't stay longer than you did. She was warming to your presence."
Silver flicked his ears back. "You know that wouldn't be a good idea."
"I do." She raised a hoof to tap Silver on the nose. "But I thought you may want to know that you made an impression on her, a good one."
Silver rolled a hoof. "Why her? She hardly seemed like, uh, prime breeding stock. Was she really good at magic?"
"Neigh." Luna shook her head. "She was in the right place, and had a fantasy of being claimed by a powerful stallion of exotic descent. You fit that bill quite nicely, enough to rouse her fully and accept your fire. Not every foal you stud will become the greatest of the new tribe. Some simply are."
The logic made enough sense to Silver to not argue it further, instead moving to nuzzle Luna gently. "We're sailing still. It's boring, but safe, so far. Please tell Twilight and the others that I miss them, and wish them all the best, and I look forward to coming home."
"This reminds." Luna spread her wings. "Do I have your leave to spend time with Night Watch? With you gone, she grows more lonely, even if your task for her keeps her occupied."
Silver tilted his head. "I wouldn't stand between you two, again, I mean... Please, keep her company."
Luna nodded and yawned widely. "I must sleep now. Be well, my Prince of the Night." And she was gone.
Silver tried to wander the hallway, looking for doors that were available and nearby. He found the workers of the ship, but it seemed most were awake, and the two sleeping were having harmless dreams. But then he saw a new door. It was round instead of rectangular, and was slick to the touch. What manner of creature could it belong to? He opened the door to peer inside and woke up instantly.
He clambered to his hooves, heart pounding wildly in his chest and eyes darting around with a feeling of dread that he hadn't felt since he was a child. A worker nearby noticed his sudden movement. "You alright, m'lord?"
Silver tried to slow his breaths, counting four heartbeats per exhale and inhale in an old meditation he had learned long before coming to Equestria. He nodded at the worker. "I'm fine, just a bit of a surprise."
The worker tilted his head lightly. "Huh... Are you... you know... like Luna?"
Silver rose to his hooves and stretched out a moment. "Yes, if you mean dreamwalking."
He nodded lightly. "Well, uh, sir, if you could watch over me, well, I'd be appreciative. This part of the ocean's known to test a pony."
Silver thought back to the flash of a vision he saw. Wet, cold, and alien. "I... think I see. I'll do my best." He raised a hoof to pat the pony on the shoulder, then trotted off in search of familiar faces.
He found Doublebrush and Celestia playing cards in the dining room, with a tea set beside them. Both had a cup, and were quietly playing back and forth with barely a word exchanged between them. Celestia set her cards down when Silver entered. "You look troubled, dear. Come here." She patted the chair beside her.
Silver felt oddly comforted, like his mother suddenly noticed his discomfort and took genuine interest. He moved to hop up to into the offered chair even as he thought back to his mother, wondering if she was well, and his father, and his niece... Especially his niece, on further thought. His thoughts came back to his current situation, watching Celestia continue her game, though her wing had moved to brush against his back in a quiet sign of support.
Doublebrush set a card down and swept several off the table. "She's right. What's chasing your tail?"
Silver watched the cards, but didn't see the pattern of the game right away. "I'm not sure, to be honest. I think there's something..." He snorted. "Something sleeps."
Celestia raised a brow. "Luna said the same thing, once, long ago."
Doublebrush snorted softly, watching Celestia's move before slapping down another card in a clearly triumphant move, though Silver did not comprehend it. "The sailors often stay awake in this patch of the ocean. They say terrible dreams visit them. I humbly suggest keeping your little horse snout out of that business."
The game continued quietly until dinner, then came time for bed. Silver lay beside Celestia, not quite able to get himself to surrender to sleep. Celestia rolled over, throwing a leg over him and pulling him back against her belly. Her warmth and gentle hug soothed him, and he faded off to sleep.
Silver awoke to a shrill cry. He and Celestia scrambled upright as dull thumps came from above. Silver rushed out of the room to find a pony with kelp hanging wetly from its body. It turned to face him and its eyes were empty and black in its face. It gave a soft squelch of a sound and reached for Silver, but never reached him. Silver wrapped the creature in a bubble and threw it away violently before he was surrounded in his defensive ring of fire.
Celestia came up behind Silver, but stopped at the edge of his dangerous ring. "What's going on?"
Silver shook his head as he advanced, moving for the downed creature that was rising again. "I have no idea, but it doesn't even look properly alive."
The drowned-looking pony fixed its lack of eyes on Silver. "You... Stay... Master... Wants... You..." Apparently finished with its words, it lurched at Silver, who stood his ground. When the creature tried to press past the ring of fire, fire magic crashed into it, engulfing it in a violent fireball. It barely seemed to notice it, still reaching even as its flesh melted and cooked.
Silver cringed in fear and threw the creature back with a sudden silvery shove of his magic, crashing it against the far wall where it laid still and didn't try to rise again.
Silver was suddenly elsewhere. It was dark, and he was scared. There was someone, or pony, with him. A sharp sting of a whip worked against his flank once. He tried to pull away his hooves were bound in place. The mocking laughter brought the identity of his captor to clarity. He was in the warehouse where Carrot Plate had captured him, but his father didn't come for him. Carrot laughed and laughed as she abused him with her whip and her words, belittling him until he was a hollow shell, crying and whimpering to get away, but there was no shelter, no escape.
Silver suddenly came to, throwing off the malignant force in his mind with a burst of silver and dismissing the ring of fire. Celestia closed the distance when the flames faded. "Are you alright? You started staring off into the distance, and nothing I said seemed to get through."
"I'm fine..." Silver said, but he wasn't fine. Another vision seized hold of him and he found himself wandering through the wilderness as a human, praying against all the odds that he'd find civilization before he died of thirst. It felt like he had been wandering forever. Had he come to Equestria just to quietly perish in the wilderness?
Silver was snapped back to reality with a sharp blow across the snout from Celestia. "Silver! Collect yourself. Are you alright?"
Silver clenched his teeth in frustration. "It's in my head, pulling out nightmar--"
Silver was human again, back on Earth. He was waiting for his father to get home. His report card lay on the table. There was no hiding from it any longer. He wasn't living up to his potential. He wasn't focusing on his studies. He was disappointing his father terribly. Didn't he want to go to college, and to get a real job, and to find the happiness that came from that? Didn't he? Silver, then David, kicked the couch. What if that just wasn't the path meant for him? What if he was trying the hardest he could? Rage and shame dueled inside of him before he was startled awake by a kiss.
Celestia had him pinned to a wall and was locked snout to snout. Silver melted into the exchange, and the nightmares didn't return right away. She drew back and nuzzled him. "Are you alright now?"
"I... think so?" Silver pushed off the wall, but stayed close to Celestia like a life raft in a storm. "Are they still attacking?"
Celestia shook her head. "The last one's been thrown overboard. We've been safe for a little while now, but you kept slipping away from us."
Silver gave a soft smile, about to say something encouraging when he was lost again. He was a child, in the forest, walking along with his friends down a path they used frequently. He looked up and saw the shape of an axe in a tree branch, which he found odd. "We should go back," he cautioned his friends, superstition getting the better of him. Serving as the neighborhood's oddball shaman, they decided to listen to him. But a minute later the forest exploded with the sounds of chainsaws and shouting men. The boys ran as hard and fast as they could until the forest was behind them, then they collapsed, thankful they had listened to David.
Silver woke up on the soft bed, Celestia sleeping beside him.
He rolled over and pulled her against him for a change, her back against his belly, and he didn't fall asleep that night, watching into the darkness until the light of dawn approached.