//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 - Into The Realm Of Dreams 
// Story: 10 Days, 3 Adventures - Part 1 - "In Dreams They Came" 
// by TP Night 
//------------------------------//

They all woke up at the same time, all sitting up rather quickly.
Luna was very close to falling off the couch in a... not so royal way.

They all looked around, confused and somewhat shocked from their
nightmares. Once they had calmed down and realized they were
awake, they all decided there was no point in trying to go back
to sleep now. Luna was supposed to lower the moon in just
half an hour anyway, so they might just as well have an early breakfast.

Twilight came downstairs, sneaking softly with Spike on her back.
When she saw the others were already awake, she stopped her
sneak and resumed with normal walking instead.

“Morning..” She yawned.

Spike mumbled something that vaguely resembled “morning...”.

Applejack was tying her hair. “Mornin’, Twi. And you too Spike.”

Luna was trying to get her not-so-formal hair in order, with poor result.

“I hate my just-out-of-bed mane...” She mumbled. “Is anypony here able
to brush vast amounts of partially self-sentient magic hair?”

The three fillies looked at each other for a second and then all three said in
chorus, “Cutiemark Crusaders Royal Manestylists, GO!”

“Oh no you don’t.” Applejack interrupted.

“I’ll do it. I’ve helped both you and Celestia before.” Twilight interjected.

“So be it! Twilight shall fix this royal mess!” Luna exclaimed in a 
half-serious, half-joking tone. “But first, I need coffee.”

“Me too.” Twilight smiled. “Anypony else?”

“I want some.” Applejack said. 

“I’d like some tea instead, if that’s okay?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Of course.” Twilight said. “Coffee for the adults, and Spike.
Tea for the fillies.”

During breakfast they discussed the nightmares.

“....And, when I got to the farm the name above the gate was changed
to that ‘hook set insomnia’ stuff.” Applejack said.

“You mean, ‘Hoc Est Somnium’.” Luna corrected with a tone
that made her sound almost like a teacher correcting a student.

“Yeah, that. Seems we all saw or heard it at the end of our dreams...”

“Luna.. Those words. They sound like old Equestrian.. are they?”
Twilight asked with a curious tone.

“It is indeed the old language, used before this current Equestrian English.
The words ‘Hoc est somnium’ roughly translates to ‘This is a dream’.”

“But why?” Twilight asked. “Why would the dreams actively TELL
us it’s a dream?”

“That has to do with me again. You see, The Nightmare created the
Nightlings with my help while taking control, as I explained earlier.
However, they tended to make some of the dreams a bit too real.
Some ponies could no longer tell the difference. So as a solution,
I ‘implanted’ a command in the Nightlings’ minds.
From that day onwards, they always made a subtle but noticeable
hint to the dreamer that it was a dream. And since this was in te old 
days when the old language was still known by almost every pony,
but luckily NOT by the Nightmare itself, I used that language
to send the small messages. To this day, that effect is still active
in their minds, so they still do it.”

“Excuse me for being blunt, but wouldn’t that make ponies
less afraid of the dreams and kinda ruin the whole plan you
and Nightmare had?” Applejack said.

“Well, both yes and no. The Nightmare did not really care about ponies’
health, mental or physical. As long as they were alive at all, and awake
at night, that was enough. I on the other hoof also wanted my subjects
to feel well, so they could be active and happy.”

“Oh, I see.” Applejack responded.

“Now, I have a moon to lower.” Luna said as she stood up.
“Thank you for the breakfast. When I get back in, we can attempt
to fix my hair, and then get started on our... I suppose ‘mission’
is a good term to use.” Luna said to Twilight.

The three fillies stood up quickly too.

“Don’t forget, you said we could watch this time too!”
Scootaloo said with some excitement in her voice.

“Hm.. I did indeed.” Luna smiled. “Very well then, come along.
I’m afraid it is not so exciting. It is in fact exactly like when I
raised it yesterday. The only difference is, this time it goes down
instead of up.”

“We know, we still wanna see.” Applebloom said with a grin.

“So be it.” Luna said, still smiling as she opened the door and walked
outside, followed by the fillies. Meanwhile Spike waited inside
with Twilight and Applejack. He had seen the royal sisters’
raising and lowering their sun and moon more times than he could
remember anyway, so to him it wasn’t anything special anymore.

Instead, he started cleaning off the table while Twilight took care of the
dishes, and Applejack went in to the larger room to check on the stone.

“Any noticeable changes?” Twilight asked from the kitchen.

“Nothin’ I can see.” Applejack responded while looking at the stone.

It was still the same size, it was still completely black with 
a glass-like shine, and it was still in the same spot they had left it.

Outside, the fillies watched as Lunas horn shone brightly.
The moon started moving across the sky, sinking in the horizon.
They all turned around and saw the sun rising above the opposite
horizon, and Equestria was bathed in sunlight.

“And thus, it is officially morning.” Luna said with a small smile.
“Now, we must go inside. My mane is more troublesome than usual
this morning.”

The three fillies looked at Luna, and saw that her mane had now
‘decided’ to cover most of her face, only allowing the tip of
her muzzle to stick out. They all tried not to laugh,
but all let out tiny giggles and suppressed laughs.

They went inside, and Twilight - after some trouble - managed
to get the mane mostly in control and looking almost like normal.

“Sorry, I can’t get it completely fixed...” She said.

“This is close enough.” Luna smiled. “At least now it is kept away from
my face, and mostly contained.”

“Should we get started?” Applejack said. Her voice was a mixture
of nervousness and excitement.
“You said you would explain first though... What exactly are we doing?”

“Speaking in basic terms, I am going to teleport my own and your two
bodies into a sort of parallel dimension, called ‘The Dreamscape’.
Normally, only I can enter with my entire body and consciousness intact.
Every other pony, gryphon, dragon, and you-name-it, normally
only go there in a sub-conscious state. Or as you know it - dreaming.”

“So it’s like ‘lucid dreaming’?” Twilight asked.

“Almost, but a step further. Normal dreaming is sub-conscious.
Lucid dreaming is partly conscious, but still only within the mind.
What we are doing is the third step, ‘Dream Walking’.”

“Amazing...” Twilight said with obvious amazement in her voice.

“That’s... both interesting and scary at the same time.” Applejack smiled.
I’m.. like Pinkie would say, ‘nervocited’.”

“nervocited?” Luna asked, slightly puzzled.

“It’s a made-up term from Pinkie Pie. Basically when you’re
nervous and excited at the same time.” Twilight explained.

“Ah, I see.. A Pinkie thing. That explains it. She is a bit... unique.”

“I have another question.” Applejack said, holding her hoof up.

“Yes?” Luna turned toward her.

“I know you’re zapping us into the dream-something.
But how exactly? I mean, I only know a little about magic,
but one thing I DO know is that a regular teleport spell
can only teleport within this dimension.”

“How did YOU know that?” Twilight asked, surprised.

“two of my best friends, and one of my sisters best friends,
are all unicorns. Of course I’ve overheard a few things,
and read up on a few things to understand you guys better.”
Applejack winked and smiled.
“...Only a few basics though” She added.

“Oh, I see. But yes, that is in fact correct. I was wondering the same
thing, actually. I assume it’s some stronger or slightly altered version
of the teleport spell?” Twilight said.

Luna nodded. “Yes, it’s a unique alteration of the spell.
It requires a very unique magic, which currently I am the only
one who knows. Therefore, I must cast the spell on you two and myself
at the same time, to ensure we all end up in the same location
when we enter the Dreamscape.”

“So there’s a risk we get split up?” Applejack said in a slightly worried
tone, looking at Luna.

“Oh, No need to worry about that. Even if we re split up, we will be
within sight and hearing distance of each other, at most maybe 20
meters apart. Probably less. I can also - to some degree - control
where in the Dreamscape we arrive. I plan on setting
us in a simple field with nothing but grass. That way, we can ensure
even further that we stay together. Then, we start moving from there.”

Luna walked over to the stone and picked it up with her magic.

“Now... Children, Spike. I need you four to listen very carefully.
This part also affects you. The stone will remain here, in this
world. So will Applejacks hat. Only their actual bodies will
be teleported, no accessories or the stone itself.”

“Bloom, you take care of this while I’m gone then.” Applejack said
and took her hat off. She placed it on Appleblooms head instead.
It was slightly big, but just barely stayed from sliding over her face
due to her ears holding it up.

“Okay!” Applebloom said and gave her sister a small salute.

“Oh, and this.” Applejack added and untied her hair, and threw the
short red lace band at her sister.

“Spike.” Twilight said. “You and the girls stay here in the library while
we’re gone. It’s best if you don’t go anywhere.”

Spike nodded. “Sure, we’ll stay.”

“Luna.. One more question. What about time flow?” Twilight asked.
“I mean, in dreams you can seem to go on for hours, even though
just a short time actually passes here. Is that going to affect us in there?”

“It is indeed. Time in the Dreamscape moves in a different speed.
Basically, an hour in there is just a few minutes out here.”

“So if we’re gone for a few whole days in there, It’ll only be a couple of
hours out here?” Applejack said.

“Exactly.” Luna said. “I must also add, there is a chance we may actually
BE gone for days in there - or a few hours here - since we do not
know where the tower is. And when we find it, we must first get TO it, 
then inside it, then to the top, or at least near the top, and then find
a way to remove or destroy the control stone up there.”

“So we have a long quest ahead...” Applejack said, her excitement growing.

“We do indeed.” Luna said. “Now, we must begin.”

She placed the stone on the floor. “Sit down in a triangle around it,
facing toward it.” She said, and they all did so.

“Close your eyes and focus on me.” Luna said.

Twilight and Applejack both did as they were told.

The three fillies and Spike all watched as a triangle shape formed
between the three ponies on the floor, connecting them.
From each of them, a line shot out into the stone itself too,
connecting them to the stone as well as each other.

The stone started glowing again, just like it had when it was fused
the night before. When it reached a clear white, the shine spread.
the lines on the floor began glowing in white as well.
And then, the three ponies did too, and the lines between them.

The three ponies faded away like ghosts, but all the lines remained
on the floor.

Spike turned to the three fillies.
“Okay girls.. I think it’s best if we DO NOT walk on, or even near
those white lines. That there is called a ‘Spell Circle’ - and yes,
it is called a circle even when it’s not circular. Spell circles
should never be disturbed.”

The three fillies nodded. 

“So... What do we do now?” Applebloom asked.

“We can... read, draw, play some board games...” Spike said.
“aaand, I guess that’s all we have in here.”

“Bring the board games then!” Scootaloo said. “I challenge you all
to a BattleClouds tournament!”


* * *


Applejack shook her head and opened her eyes. She looked around.
She could see Princess Luna a few meters away. All around them was
a large empty field of grass, just like Luna had said.

“Luna? Twilight?” She said in a raised voice.

Beneath her she felt something move, and heard mumbles.
She looked down and saw a purple flank.
She quickly jumped off.

“Sorry Twi, I.. must have landed on you somehow..”

Twilight got up and dusted some dirt off of her fur.

“It’s okay, it didn’t hurt. the grass under me was quite soft.”

Luna approached them.

“Welcome to MY world, My little ponies...
Welcome... To the Dream Scape.”