Dreamweaver

by Revenant Wings

Chapter 6 - Nightmare Night

By the time night fell, the entirety of the Golden Oaks Library was decorated for Nightmare Night. Cloth spiders with fake webs hug in the empty corners and over some of the shelves, an old projector was brought out for showings of a classic scary movie, and a few odd-looking skeletons were hanging up in various places.

Twilight barely had time to get herself dressed. She wore the same Starswirl the Bearded costume that she had worn the first time Princess Luna had come to Ponyville. The Princess of the Night herself wore nothing; no costume Twilight had was big enough for her and she had made no attempt to construct one herself. The old armor had rusted, and so no attempt was made for Luna to return to the likeness of Nightmare Moon.

“It’s bad publicity anyways,” Luna told Twilight as the latter was fixing a tear in her costume. “What pony in their right mind would want my old self that had gone temporarily insane?”

“They would understand it as a joke,” Twilight told her. “It worked well the first time.”

“Even I understand a joke told multiple times eventually loses its humor.”

Twilight, having finally fixed the portion of her cape that had been ripped, turned to Luna with a smile. “It’s not like you need a costume anyway,” Twilight said. “It’s already an honor to them to have you down at all.”

Princess Luna smiled. “While I find the costume wearing silly, I do admit you look somewhat cute in that.”

Twilight shrugged and started to reattach one of the bells on to her hat. “I’ve always admired Starswirl the Bearded,” she said. “I remember reading about him when I was a little filly, and always thought that I wanted to be like him. I wanted to be remembered for something.”

“Every pony makes mistakes,” Luna said sadly. “Starswirl made some in his time. It is not best to be remembered in terms of fame, but in terms of friendship.” Luna’s tone became lighter, and even carried a hint of a lilt as she continued. “For both myself and Celestia, your friendship towards us is something we will always remember, and more fondly than if you were to create a spell of your own.”

A knock sounded at the door. Twilight put down her needle and Luna looked towards the door.

“Ooh!” Luna said excitedly. “The desserts have arrived!”

Twilight nodded and got up. “I’ll be right back. I’ll go get them.”

Luna smiled happily. “Should I get us something to drink?”

Twilight nodded. “You can go ahead and uncork two bottles of the Apple Family cider. They should be in the fridge.”

Luna nodded and got up and walked off towards the kitchen. Twilight got up and headed for the main door of the library. Twilight wished her costume was ready so she could meet whoever was at the door; some finally understood where she got the costume from and who she was, so it would almost be a treat to actually show it off this year.

Twilight’s hoof was almost at the door when she froze. She began to remember what had happened only two hours ago during a short afternoon nap; a strange pony named Apollo had told her that pranksters would be knocking at her door as a sign she could trust him to teach her magic. Twilight wasn’t sure what to do, whether to trust the strange figure from her dreams or to open the door. Slowly, shaking, Twilight set her hoof down on the floor and leaned in.

Strangely enough, she heard a set of voices.

“You sure she’s home?” the first voice said.

“Yeah. The lights are all on. I’m sure she would come out here,” a second voice commented.

“I don’t know, Scootaloo” This time, Twilight recognized the voice as that of belonging to Apple Bloom. “Maybe tryin’ to place a cow pie on Twilight’s doorstep isn’t such a good idea.”

“Oh, it’ll be fine!” the second voice said again. “It’s not like it’s an actual cow pie anyway; it’s just one of the Cake’s weird joke treats. It’s homemade fudge.”

“Maybe we should just come back later and just give it to her,” the first voice piped up again. “I don’t think she’s coming out.”

“Yeah. We’ll just pick it up and come back with it later.”

There was the sound of three sets of hoofsteps, the rustling of a paper bag, and then the three sets of steps faded away into the distance. Twilight opened up the door and saw three figures advancing into the dark streets and towards the jumble of lights that marked the Nightmare Night festival.

Twilight closed the door and returned to her work. Why she had trusted the source was a bit of a quandary, and yet things had happened as the mysterious Apollo had said. Twilight stared out into space for a little bit, pondering what had occurred, before Luna returned into the room carrying two open bottles of cider.

Luna looked around the room curiously. “I thought the treats had come.”

Twilight shook her head with a smile. “It was just Apple Bloom and her friends trying to pull a prank on me.”

“Oh,” Luna said… with a note that Twilight couldn’t place. “I see…”

Twilight arched an eyebrow, but eventually returned to mending the bell as she had been before.

“Twilight…?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you become friends with me?”

Twilight thought about it. “Well, I suppose partly because you looked like you needed one. And, I must admit, I’ve always been a fan of the night. I always liked staying up and reading during the night hours when it’s quiet and there’s nothing to bug me.”

Luna smiled sadly. “It seems like you are one of the few who like our night.”

Twilight almost felt bad for the lunar princess. To see her look sad was almost heartwrenching, the normally bright eyes seeming dull and her beautiful starry mane hardly flowing. “Ponies like night, just not in the way you think.”

Luna cocked her head. “How so?”

“Well, we use the night to rest. If it wasn’t for your night, it would be hard for ponies to rest for all the other activities. Maybe we don’t often go out to play at night, but it’s not only helpful but necessary.”

Luna brightened a little bit. “It’s nice to know our night is put to good use.” She looked at Twilight, and the young mare could see her grow happier seemingly just at the sight of her. “You… you have been able to cheer us up in a way no pony else except my sister has.”

Twilight smiled at Luna and felt her cheeks get hot.

Someone knocked on the door again.

“That must be the treats,” Twilight said.

“Would you like me to get them?” Luna asked.

“No, I’ll do it. You enjoy your cider.”

And so, once more, Twilight got up from her work and went towards the door. Twilight was about to open it again when she remembered something else: Apollo had told her the pranksters would come around twice before the Cakes came with her order.

Not sure of what to do, Twilight leaned against the door again. But this time she heard nothing. Twilight stole a glance through one of the outside windows and scanned the area around the door, but nothing was there. She looked around and was about to dismiss it when she saw a small cloud moving around with two cyan wings poking out of it.

So, Rainbow Dash has decided to be a Shadowbolt again… She’s probably waiting to give me a shock. Twilight opened the window, took a large and silent gulp of air, and shouted at Rainbow Dash. The dark grey cloud jumped upright and dashed away with a rainbow trail; Rainbow Dash was simply moving around under cloud cover and not a Shadow Bolt after all.

Instead of laughing at the silliness of it, Twilight was even more confused. She wandered back over to her work where she finished mending the bell on her hat while Luna watched.

“Something bothering you?” Luna asked.

Twilight hummed thoughtfully as she placed the cape around her and made sure it still fit her. “…Princess, do you know of a pony named ‘Prince’ Apollo?”

Luna smiled. “Ah, so he has finally managed to visit you!”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, so he said as well. Um… what does he do, exactly?”

“He is skilled in dream magic, a former student of mine. His cutie mark is of what older ponies that once ruled Equestria called a ‘dreamcatcher’ or a ‘dreamweaver’. It’s supposed to catch all the nightmares and prevent them from invading a pony’s mind. Apollo’s main magic is destroying nightmares, though he has some other dream manipulation talents.”

“But, what does he want to do with me?”

“I told him of your magical ability. I told him you were Celestia’s student and very much capable of learning new, strong, and varied magic. It was his idea to see about teaching you dream magic.”

“Princess… if you don’t mind, how come I can’t see him in person?”

“He is very much reclusive,” Luna said. “It’s a shame, really; he’s quite bright and quite the gentle pony with others. And since his magic primarily deals with dreams, it’s a better medium to meet him in anyways.”

Twilight nodded. “I’m sure he’s quite capable, but I don’t much trust a pony I can’t see with my eyes open or feel with my hooves.” Especially one that has been stalking me for nine nights.

“Twilight Sparkle, I place my full trust in Apollo and his magic. I would give him time and you will learn to like him.”

Twilight smiled. “Alright. I guess I do feel better if I know he has your trust.”

Twilight placed on her hat and looked at herself in the mirror. Something still doesn’t seem quite right… “Still, it’s kind of weird. I’ve never heard of Apollo before. And if he’s skilled in dream magic, a very difficult area of magic with very few users, you’d think he would have had some mention in books or in magic registries.”

“He doesn’t like being in public. He may be a master of dream magic, but that does not mean he should be boasting over his own talents.”

“I suppose.” There’s just one final thing. “But why did he choose to take on your form when he came to meet me?”

“I suppose to establish a sense of familiarity. He said he would try and approach you in a form that wasn’t his own, though I don’t understand why me. He’s recently been through an accident, and he has quite a few scars and bruises he’s probably ashamed of.”

Luna seemed to have answers to any questions Twilight had. Satisfied with both the look of her costume and the answers Luna had for her, Twilight turned around with a smile. “How do I look?”

“A most excellent reproduction!” Luna said, clapping her hooves happily.

Another set of knocks came on the door, followed by the voice of Mr. Cake. “Twilight! Sorry for the wait; I have your desserts ready!”

Twilight motioned towards the door. “Are you ready? We haven’t even been to the festival yet.”

Luna nodded and smiled brightly. “Of course I’ll go with you, Twilight. It’s a time when ponies play at night, and it’s been a while since I last saw my subjects here.”

Comments

[TheLastBrunnenG]

5803086
Good to know! It's well-written and suitably mysterious, and I'm eager for more.

The story would have a larger audience and more attention if we knew for sure what the ship was. If it's TwiLuna, you have a huge audience built-in. If it's Twilight x OC alicorn stallion Apollo, that's another direction entirely.

Of course, here's hoping that Luna has a thing for Twilight, for which there are plenty of hints in early chapters, and that she's using Apollo as a disguise to "test the waters" and gauge Twilight's reactions before actually confessing on her own. Crossing my fingers for that one, or something similar!

[Nebula1701]

Wooo unexpected but welcome update!!

[Revenant Wings]

5815160
It's TwiLuna with a twist. I'm expecting to reveal this by anywhere from chapter 9 to 11 at the pace I'm going.