The Life Returns

by Dress72

003 Life's Dreams

003

From my cloud house, and with my son, we had gone to the town square of Ponyville. There, a few things happened. I paid back a favor that I had taken from Mr. and Mrs. Cake, by protecting their cake from harm, I got yelled at by half the town (more specifically, the ponies who paid for paragliding lessons from me), I appeased said half town by making a deal where I pay them back a fair amount, or they get two free lessons. I’m lucky that not very many chose to get refunded, as I was left with only 64 bits when all was said and done. With that said, the final thing I did, was eat cake with my son.

“Hey Red, want to go meet some princesses?” I asked, as we finished our respective slices of cake.

“Wait, you mean like actual princesses? Not from fairy tales or anything?” My son, Jake, or rather Red Wing asked.

I quickly asked Mrs. Cake, for a box, as Mr. Cake had gone to check back up on the cake they made. “Yah I mean actual princesses. I need to see them, one in particular, and apologize and explain some things to her in detail. I was thinking that since it was your birthday, you might want to come.” By this point, we were already on our way back to the cloud house, with the cake in my hands, and Red Wing on my back.

“Yah I would like to meet actual princesses. I mean, how often does a kid get to see princesses?”

“Actually, I think here, at least once a year. On Earth, almost never.” I burst his bubble a bit and was ever so sorry about doing it on his birthday. “Hey, we might even get one of them to sing “Happy Birthday” to you, I doubt that many have had a princess do that for them before, even here!” I could see the joy spring back onto his face at this prospect. “Of course, you would need to be extra polite to get a favor like that.” I warned him, hinting that he should do slightly better than I would.

“Okay,” he said cheerfully, grateful that he could have this chance.

We had arrived home sometime in the middle of the conversation, and, with the cake away, prepared ourselves for the journey ahead, that would probably be cut by a camping trip, as it was already getting late. Making sure that we had some food, a bit of cake, and some camping materials with us, we set out. To be honest, I was slightly surprised to find out that the food that I had bought about nine months ago, apparently, was still good. It wasn’t even dry food, it was stuff like lettuce, and bread, and even the bread seemed fresh.

Back to topic though, we set out. I had made sure that Jake had eaten properly before we left. One, because we had skipped dinner for cake, and two, so that he would have the energy for the fly. Hooking him back up to a parachute, I set it out so that he didn’t fall as much as he would if it wasn’t.

Finally leaving the house, we soon caught a nice updraft that brought us to a height equal that of my favorite mountain. My son, while hooked up to the parachute, moved forward with his wings and kept the front of the parachute forward, as to keep from getting the drag of the parachute from behind him. I flew besides him, to make sure that he kept the chute level, and on how to move the way he was.

We were eventually forced to holdup on the journey to Canterlot, as it got to dark, and we couldn’t see our destination clearly. Luckily, we had reached the mountain that I love so much (Yes I am using sarcasm). It was thanks to the favorable tailwind that we got, that we had been able to make it this far in such a short amount of time. Another stroke of luck allowed us to land near the top of the mountain, where we found an empty cave to rest in, and although it smelled of smoke, it was slightly comforting.

Exhausted from the flight this far, we quickly unpacked our sleeping bags, and found quick comfort on the strangely smooth bedrock, and found sleep, almost just as fast.

A nightmare decided to plague my sleep, as it has been doing for the last seven months. ‘All was quiet. A forest around me, and directly in front of me, a large, strangely muscular cat, stood in front of me, on its hind legs, with cargo pants, bound paws, a smoking pipe, and an X-shaped scar on its left shoulder. I stared at it, it stared at me. It took a puff from the pipe, and exhaled a large amount of smoke before speaking, “It could have been avoided, you know.” *** I was behind brambles, I could see Elis, the one that I had loved, get attacked by the same cat I saw earlier, but I couldn’t move. I watched as it devoured her, bite by bite, before turning to me, and leaping. *** The leaping cat disappeared with a wink. I heard a voice, but looking around, I couldn’t find the source. “Awake White Wind!”’ I shot up, wide awake, and found that I had sweated profusely.

“Daddy?” I heard a slightly scared voice sound from my left, and found that it was my son, a worried look across his face. I have no idea how ponies can express anything with their faces, but they can.

“It’s nothing my little Jakey, go back to sleep.” I said trying to comfort him.

“But Daddy, you were screaming.” Jake said, still worried.

“I was just having a bad dream, it’s over now. Come, we need to be rested to see the princesses tomorrow.”

“Okay, Daddy.” Jake reluctantly complied, and I made sure that he was asleep, before I started my rest.

‘The same cat was before me. What was weird though, was that I had never seen it till before tonight. The cat did the same thing it did last time, and said the same thing, “It could have been avoided, you know.” *** I was once again behind brambles and once again, I saw the cat pounce on Elis.’ With a large amount of sheer will, I forced myself awake, not wanting to relive that moment.

It seemed that I had been able to avoid screaming, as I found Jake still asleep, calm across his face. It was just starting to get light out, and it was a slightly cold within the cave. Figuring that I had a good two or three hours before Jake woke up, I went to gather wood for a fire.

It didn’t take long to find enough wood, as there were still large amounts of wood bits around the mountain. With enough wood for a good five hours, I started a fire to my son’s back. He shifted comfortably as the heat reached him, and a smile spread across my face as I watched him. I decided to try once more to sleep, hoping that the warmth of the fire would keep away the nightmares.

For some reason, I couldn’t shake this dream. Here it was a third time to haunt me. ‘The same cat stood before me, once more, to repeat the same message, once more, “It could have been avoided, you know.” *** The same scene played through my head. This time, I couldn’t awake, but the cat once again disappeared, the same way it did the first time, but this time along with Elis. “White Wind, turn.” The voice that came in the first dream, came again. This time I recognized it though as Luna’s voice. I turned around and found her looking at me. “This is a powerful dream you have here White Wind. Even I, with my powers to dispel dreams, am finding it difficult to stop. It feels like it wants to play its full course, and will not stop until it is able to finish, or it changes paths. I just hope that you, yourself, are powerful enough to last the dream.”

I was puzzled, “Wait, you mean that you are actually within my dream?” Luna nodded a confirmation. “This isn’t just my head playing tricks on me, is it? Tell me something that I don’t know, or wouldn’t know.” I riddled her.

Luna seemed to ponder this question for a few moments before answering, “After you so rudely dismissed us, Tia and I ate spaghetti.”

“You know that I will try to confirm this, right?” I countered.

“Go ahead. You will find that I tell the truth.” She countered right back.

“How are you able to be in my dreams? And how did you find me?” I asked.

“Well first I have to be near the pony, but from there, I use my magic of the night to go into the dreams of ponies, and help them conquer their fears and nightmares.” Cane the reply. “As to how I found you, I can sense with my magic, those who are having nightmares. Now wake, White Wind, night is breaking, revealing day.”’

I awoke once more from the dream, and found that the fire had been freshly stoked, yet Jake was still sound asleep. I started making breakfast from the provisions that we had packed the day before. The sun was beginning to rise, and night fell on a different part of the world. Jake woke up shortly, comfortable from the warmth the fire created, and got up at the prospect of getting some food.

“You ready to meet some princesses?” I asked. “We still have about half a day’s travels before us, but if we leave now, we could probably get there before lunch.”

“Almost, still sleepy.” Jake was rubbing his eye and yawned.

“Well, hopefully the air will passing you will help you wake up. Or I can carry you on my back, and you can rest some more.” I offered. Jake was grateful for the opportunity to sleep some more, and took the opportunity.

With Jake on my back, I took off, and he was soon back asleep, nestled on my back, and mane. As the sun rose further, I caught a glimpse of Canterlot in the distance, sinning brightly from the morning sun. My estimate time to arrival, oddly enough, was the same time that the train that had left Ponyville yesterday.

To be honest, I was slightly shocked to find the six ponies from Ponyville arriving in Canterlot, as I had forgotten the fact that they were coming to Canterlot in the first place for the cake judging. I was slightly more shocked to find the cake transformed, but I avoided the group, not wanting to make contact with them, and instead, made my way to the castle, where I ran into the most charming fellow, who I took for a regular guard for the palace.

“Excuse me,” I asked, “Do you know where I could find Princess Celestia? I have a matter that I would like to speak to her about.”

“And who might you be to make such a request?” the pony asked suspiciously.

“Ah, where are my manors, I am called White Wind. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. …” I let my voice trail as I realized that I didn’t know this pony. I felt Jake begin to stir.

“My name is Shining Armor, Captain of the Royal Guard. Under the orders of Princess Celestia, you are hereby under arrest for Fraud, and destruction of half a forest.” At this point, Jake was fully awake, and propped his head on top of mine.

“Daddy, are you in trouble?"

Comments

[N3rdyGir1Squar3d]

Looking forward to the next chapter! I really love this fanfic and you made it so awesome!

[WiseFireCracker]

3109254 I did read the first story and I thought that Celestia's behavior was incredibly out of character, which unfortunately carries over in this story. Not to mention that apparently being thrown in a prison cell is a cakewalk and should barely affect anyone at all. In fact, they should be able to make threats to their jailers and what's not... Yeah...

Now then, you completely ignored the points I was making.

" It's also not like Jake is okay with being a pony, he just doesn't mind as much because he has wings. "

You are aware that this means exactly what I meant. He should be miles away from thinking about the oh so great advantages of having wings. He should be tearfully asking his dad why he doesn't have fingers anymore, why he can't stand and why he has a tail. Scratch that, he shouldn't recognize his dad at all. I'll give that to you, he screamed in terror at first. It should have lasted more than three seconds though.

Also, your character is not a jackass just to Celestia. Where, in the text, is it shown that White Wind had considered who or what might be injured or killed when he created that tornado? "the entirety of a few kilometers worth of forest was also drawn into the vortex". Seriously. How the heck did he think that was a good idea? You clearly decided that no one at all was affected and that Celestia is apparently overreacting to someone causing a natural disaster to say "hey, I'm back, but now I gotta go back to my son immediately because it's much more important." If he couldn't leave his son alone for more than a few minutes, he shouldn't have tried to summon the rulers of the lands! How is he NOT a jackass?! I don't care if he lacks respect for authority, he reacted just like Lightning Dust did when told she had almost killed five of the Mane Six in Wonderbolt Academy.

[Dress72]

3123538
I actually think that I had addressed that he was worried about the creatures of the forest,

. I also used it as an opportunity to save all the animals, who got pulled into the inner vortex while the larger objects where in the outer one, and placed them on the mountain side.

. Also, I plan on addressing why the son feels the way he does more in chapter six, and why he did, wasn't affected as much as he should have been. In fact, it was part of the plan to address all that in the first place by occasionally switching viewpoint, and recapping the previous chapters from the other's PoV.
Also, how Celestia behaves is completely up to the writer, and while most view her with infinite patience, i chose a different route.

[WiseFireCracker]

3124018 Alright, gotta admit, that line about the animals flew over my head. Point to you. I still think it was irresponsible to do it in the first place though, as, unless the protagonist is immune to accidents, it could have resulted in deaths, for the sake of calling people and then leaving immediately afterward...

As for the son, well, it's good that you have a plan, great, even.

Finally, Celestia's behavior might be completely up to the writer, as are all characters appearing in a fic, but since she has a canon personality, you cannot deny that she is not acting in-character.

[Dress72]

3124269
I will say that yes, he was acting incredibly irresponsibly. It's not so much that he is immune to accidents either, but when it comes to stuff with wind, he is: A) incredibly lucky, and B) immune to negative effects.
As for Celestia, I don't know what more to say, other than you taking offence to it is your problem. Aside from Celestia almost hating W.W. at this point, but still willing to listen to him slightly, I have defended it, and once again, it is your problem from this point forward.