Dreams of Equestria

by Caelus Storm

Chapter 2: A Dream of Peace

Chapter 2: A Dream of Peace

Seth heard a bird chirp cheerfully. For a moment, he thought he was still dreaming. He turned over, trying to go back to sleep. When the bird chirped again, Seth finally forced his eyes open, blinking at the sunlight that filtered through his window. he sighed. he had been having a good dream. he went over the dream again in his mind before finally getting out of bed. He sat down at his desk, and pulled out his journal. He opened up to a fresh page, and wrote down the date and time.

Dear Journal,

I just woke up from a pleasant dream. I was in a peaceful place, where the sun was shining in the cloudless sky. The birds were chirping happily, almost as if they were singing a song. The air was warm, but not too warm, and it held the fragrance of early to mid-spring. I heard some children laughing somewhere nearby, and their laughter was contagious. I found myself smiling. But it wasn't just the laughter that made me feel happy, it was the very air itself, as if the entire world was filled with happiness. I started to explore. The trees were apparently part of a light forest, and I made my way to the edge to see if I could locate the source of the cheerful laughing. As I peered through the trees, I saw three small creatures playing together. I couldn't see what they were, but they were brightly colored. One was yellow and red, one was white and purple, and the third was orange and magenta. I tried to clear my vision, but i couldn't make out any details of the three creatures. All I could tell was that they were creatures of happiness. I left them, continuing on my way, staying close to the edge of the forest. Some distance away, I could make out a red schoolhouse, the old fashioned kind with a bell tower. Farther away still was what appeared to be a small settlement. Most of the houses were white, with wood supports and thatched or shingled roofs.

I was suddenly in the town, walking towards what appeared to be a large tree. Or was it a house? No, it was a combination of the two. It looked like a house had been grown out of a tree, complete with balconies and windows. I found myself walking inside. It felt like the most natural thing in the world in the world. Inside, the walls were lined with shelves of books. I immediately thought of a library. In the middle of the floor was a pedestal of some sort, that held a handful of other books.

Another of the creatures walked back and forth in front of it, as if pondering something. It was a light purple color, with darker purple hair that had a pink stripe running through it. This close, I could see that it was a quadruped. I desperately wanted to know what this creature was, if only to satisfy my curiosity. Suddenly, a voice shouted from the top of the stairs.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" it said. Anther form, this one a lighter shade of purple splashed with green, entered my view.

"Oh, hey Spike," the first form said. That voice was definitely female. It sounded young, but not as young as the laughter in the field. "I was trying to figure out how..." she stopped, and turned toward where I was standing.

I opened my mouth to apologize, but the words never left my mouth.

"Twilight?" the purple and green form said, "are you all right?"

The first form, Twilight, I assume, shook her head. "I'm fine, I just thought I saw something, that's all."

I found myself back outside the strange tree house, walking along the streets. The smile returned to my face as I took in the peaceful scenery. The last thing I remember seeing was the outline of a castle on the side of a mountain off in the distance.

Seth paused in his writing. He looked thoughtfully down at the page, then continued:

I am not one who wonders at the meaning of dreams, but this one was strangely vivid, with the exception of the figures that appeared in it. I wonder...no...it doesn't matter. I kind of hope that I dream about that place again. It was just so...peaceful.

Seth capped the pen he was writing with after he signed his name. He was not a particularly talented writer, but he tried to avoid gross spelling and grammar mistakes in his journal. He closed the notebook and looked outside. It looked like it would be a nice sunny day. He emptied the contents of his backpack onto his desk, and put his sketchbook inside. He tossed in a pencil case full of colored pencils, and some pens. After some searching, he found a pencil sharpener, which he put in his pencil case.

He left his room, closing the door behind him. He headed into the kitchen, and was only slightly surprised to not see his mom sleeping on the couch. He made a sandwich and put it in a zip bag, as well as filled a water bottle. After a few moments thought, he grabbed an apple from the refrigerator and bit into it. Now, with breakfast and lunch set, he left his apartment, making sure to close and lock the door behind him.

The apartment building had an elevator, but it was old and slow, so Seth took the stairs. When he stepped out into the street, the noise that greeted him made him wince slightly. Cars honked their horns, street vendors were shouting.

"Hotdogs."

"Burgers, get your burgers here."

"Churros. Nice hot churros."

Seth waited for a lull in the traffic before he dashed across the street. The apartment building sat across the street from a large park. Young children chased each other around the playground, while a group of high school students tossed a football around. Everywhere, people were jogging, biking, or walking. Seth walked along the foot path. he saw a family of four setting up a picnic blanket under a tree. He turned and left the path and headed toward a small oak tree that stood a few yards away. Seth set down his backpack, then sat down on the ground himself. He pulled out his sketchbook and a few pencils, and looked around at the scenes before him, seeing if there was anything worth drawing. He finally settled on the picnicking family. He quickly put down the basic lines and shapes and began to fill in the details. Every so often he would look up, changing a minute detail or two. When he had all the basic details down, he pulled out his colored pencils. They were nothing special, just the cheapest brand he could get from the local superstore. But they worked well enough for him. He paid attention to every detail, the man's blue shirt, the red and white checker pattern of the blanket, the way the little girl's hair streamed behind her as her brother chased her. Both the children giggled is sheer childish happiness.

Seth stopped. Their laughter reminded him so much of the laughter of the creatures from his dream last night. Seth abandoned the picture of the family, and turned to a new page. With practiced ease, he laid out the basic shapes of the scene that was in his mind. It took less than two minutes to add the details in, and soon, Seth found himself adding color. First light green, then a slightly darker green. He colored the building red, then went over it with a light touch of brown, shading the shadows with a darker brown layered with more red. The sky he filled in with a pale blue. Deciding that it was too light, he went over it again, darkening it. The sun was a simple yellow-orange orb. Seth put down the pencil, looking over his work. It was the schoolhouse from his dream. Seth opened to another page and began to draw the tree house from his dream too. It was much harder, and Seth found himself using his eraser a couple of times. In less than half an hour, Seth looked down at his finished drawing. It wasn't too bad, though he saw a couple of areas that could have been done better. He put down the book and tug inside his back pack for his lunch. As he took a bite of his sandwich, he paused. Why was that dream still hanging around in his mind? He usually wrote them down, then forgot about them in a day. This one seemed to stick in his mind. He shrugged, and continued to eat his sandwich.

He spent the rest of the afternoon sitting and admiring the goings on of the other people in the park, occasionally making a rough sketch. When the crowds of people started to thin, Seth headed back home. When he opened the door to his apartment, he wasn't at all surprised to see his Mom half asleep on the couch, with a pile of empty beer cans on the tray table. Seth scooped up the empties and dropped them into the recycling bin, then went to his room. There wasn't much else to do, so he opened his computer and started typing his Literature paper. his thoughts weren't in it, though, and he finally closed his computer with a sigh. He spent an hour doodling on a blank sheet of paper, drawing stick people fighting each other in a comically exaggerated battle. The last two standing were in the middle of dueling each other with over-sized swords when his mother called him to dinner.

They both ate the ordered Chinese food in silence. Seth poked at the last of the kung pao chicken, trying to decide if he was really hungry enough to eat it, when his mom spoke up.

"What did you do today?" she asked pleasantly.

Seth was stunned for a moment. "Uh, I went over to the park and drew some pictures," he answered. It was unusual for his mom to ask such a question.

"You know, Seth, it's not your fault for your father leaving," she said. "He was a worthless bastard anyway."

A slow realization came upon Seth. His mom was drunk again. She sometimes thought back to the time when his father left when she drank. In the morning, she wouldn't even remember.

"I'm all right, Mom," he said, standing up. "I gotta get back to work on my Lit paper. It's due on Tuesday."

"You're a good kid, Seth," his mom said, her words starting to slur together. "I'm so proud of you."

Seth left his mother at the dinner table and returned to his room. He closed the door all the way, then grabbed his backpack. He opened his window. From here, he could step onto the fire escape. he climbed up to the roof of the building. He sat down near the ledge at the front of the building. From there, he could see much of the city. The buildings were beginning to light up, and the sun colored the sky a bright rainbow. Seth pulled out his sketchbook. He always loved drawing cityscapes at night.

Tonight, the sky was clear, and Seth could make out a single faint star in the sky. Seth decided to make that the focus of his picture. He began by coloring the sky a dark midnight blue, leaving the star white. Using a combination of blue, purple, and black, he filled in the city skyline, occasionally adding a yellow rectangle as a lit up window. When he finished, he admired his work. The star shone white on the paper, almost appearing to give off a light of its own. The buildings below seemed to subtly point to it. In the spur of the moment, Seth titled the picture "A Star to Wish Upon" and then signed his name at the bottom. With that, Seth put away his sketchbook, and descended the fire escape. It was nearly eleven o'clock when he climbed into bed after writing a short journal entry. When Seth looked out his window, he could still see the faint star in the sky. With that image in his mind, he fell asleep.

Author's Note:

Your feedback is appreciated. I try to put my heart into my writing, so I like to know when people like it, or what they think I can improve upon.