Chapter 11: The soothing of minds
Chapter 11
He was afraid…
The only thing that Luna thought while she withdrew from the shadow’s dream, Why was he so afraid, ponies would see that kind of regal power and fall to their knees in praise and wonder. Yet the shadow-pony she had confronted had the opposite reaction. Instead of being showered with love and admiration she was beheld with raw fear.
The Princess couldn’t dwell on the thought for much longer, there was one more town to check on before she reached the ponies of Canterlot. No doubt the nobles were once more dreaming about their riches and power. She scoffed at them, rarely would they visit her Night Court, if they would shun her, she would return the favour.
The last town before Canterlot was cleared in record time. Due to the wedding that day most ponies were dreaming their own fantasies of marriage to royalty, or simply of the happiness and love that they had for their own families. At last she could deal with the nation’s capital and the self-centred ponies who called it home.
The first family of dreams she visited, and always the ones she started with when entering Canterlot’s realm, were not experiencing the happy thoughts she had expected. The middle class ponies were usually so ecstatic to work in such a fine city that their dreams revolved around raising a family in the wealthy metropolis, a stark contrast to the upper class who so regularly dreamed of their expensive taste and their imagined piles of money.
Instead the dreams of the first ponies she visited were nightmares, some of chase, some of war, some of capture and kidnapping, but all had a common element. Bugs, their chitin a coal black, shined to a gleam like the armour of the royal guards, shaped like a pony, smaller in stature yet as ferocious as a Timberwolf.
Fangs, twin gleaming daggers of ivory jutted from their mouths, eyes a solid green, devoid of feelings. Where one might find a mane or tail were only tattered frills, horns like scythes jutted from their foreheads, their very existence fear inspiring. Wings of a beetle protruded from their backs, the hard carapace coverings lifted to allow for flight.
And the noise, the constant drone of buzzing, the screams of other ponies a regular background to the rapid heartbeats of the dreamer. More, the flashes of light, green fire as the insects changed form, monstrous conglomerations of their base insectoid figure and former loved ones that the ponies dreamed of.
Luna withdrew for the many dreams she was witnessing, she scanned the realm, and found all the ponies in Canterlot were experiencing these horrific nightmares. She snapped out of her trance, consciousness eluding her for a moment before the physical world yielded to her sight. She silently drew up from her bed, making her way across the black marble toward the mahogany double doors of her abode.
She opened the door quietly, allowing a soft cough to escape to calmly drew the attention of her two bat-pony sentinels, “Guards,” she spoke, not wanting to wake the entire wing with the royal canterlot voice, “We have a task for thee to complete.”
The guard posted to the left of her snapped to attention, “Ma’am,” she replied.
“The Night Court is to be cancelled, Our duties in the dreaming realm hath been extended, more nightmares than there art minutes in the night, We shan’t be able to attend the court.”
“Yes ma’am,” the guard responded once more, “Your orders?”
“Go to the court, inform the court advisor of this change in plans, Our apologies for those who came.”
“Yes ma’am,” the guard saluted the princess, snapping to attention and saluting her comrade before making her way quickly down the hall. Barely a minute passed before another guard replaced the errand runner, standing to attention as thought they had been there the entire night.
Luna retreated back into her chambers as the guard disappeared around a corner, We must report this to thine sister at the changeover tomorrow morn. She let out a deep sigh, steading herself for the long night ahead, as she climbed back into the comfort of her bed. With one sharp breath she re-entered the dreaming realm, tending to the nightmares that plagued their minds.
Noah awoke with a start, the trick that had worked quickly fading from his mind. He had fallen, but never landed, waking up just as his mind would have been speared upon the spires. His eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness, the moonlight trickling in through the open window. In the background he heard soft hoofsteps clopping up the stairs to the main bedroom, a second heavier pair joining them soon after on the trip down.
A soft glow cast the shadows of the night aside, a small lamp held in Ditzy’s mouth, the look of worry that was plastered across her face, repeated across Dinky’s features. “Are you alright?” Ditzy asked softly, her voice barely a whisper.
Noah looked at them strangely, the fear he held for the Night Mare slowly dwindled, but he couldn’t fathom what caused the two concern, “I’m fine, is everything okay?” He asked back, confusion spreading in his voice.
“You woke Dinky,” Ditzy pointed to the filly, “You were thrashing about, sweating like crazy, you even started mumbling in your sleep.”
Noah looked at them with more confusion, he remembered having a lucid dream, but like a word on the tip of his tongue he couldn’t remember what it was about, “What did I say?”
“Mostly nonsensical mumblings,” Ditzy’s voice grew softer still, “But then you said something clear, a warning almost, ‘Run, for god’s sake just run’, were you having a nightmare?”
The dream came rushing back, the playing around with his memories in the lucid dream, the magenta orb filtering the emotions, the emergence of the Night Mare, the chase and the fall. Noah took a gasp of air as the memory of his dream returned. he tried to rise quickly to his hooves, bumping aside the pillow fort that he had built, the structure collapsing into a nest of pillows and blankets.
Dinky gave a small laugh at his dilemma, before diving right into the pile, jumping all over Noah and the mess. Ditzy shook her head at the filly’s antics, smiling at her daughter’s ability to find the fun in everything. Noah’s head popped through the mess, a blanket covering his head leaving only his fangs to show in a goofy smile.
Noah extracted a leg from the pile, removing the blanket hood and capturing the bouncing filly in his grasp. He gently tucked her against his chest, her small heartbeats vibrating against the chitin. “I just had a nightmare,” he said as Ditzy walked over, laying down next to Noah and her daughter.
“Just a nightmare,” she replied, thoroughly unconvinced, “Dinky’s had nightmares, I’ve had nightmares, what you experienced had to have been a true terror.”
“It was quite unnerving,” Noah softly agreed, “It was like I was being chased through my own mind but some all-powerful deity, scary thing to experience,” he said. His words weren’t a complete fabrication and he knew it, he had made the simple metaphor so that the mare might better understand.
“Well whenever Dinky suffered from nightmares I would always hold her close and sing,” Ditzy explained, she began to shy away a little, “I could… I could sing for you if it made you feel better.”
“You would sing for me?” Noah asked, the chitin ridge of his eyebrow raised slightly in disbelief.
“It would be as a thank you, for comforting me, and helping Dinky have a good time today,” she said, her voice quickening in pace as she gestured to the filly.
Noah mulled the options over in his head, the harrowing experience of the nightmare still plagued his mind, perhaps a lullaby would help. He nodded a yes, relaxing as the mare drew closer, leaning against him and began to sing. As Ditzy’s soft melodious voice filled the room, the sweet notes of the song she sang soothed Noah.
Noah’s grip on Dinky relaxed, the filly clambered around, adjusting her position to find a more comfortable spot, her eyes began to droop, her breathing became slow and soft, a small yawn escaping from her muzzle. As Dinky laid her head down to rest across Noah’s front legs her mother joined suit, her body relaxed, her weight resting against Noah’s side, she laid her head down across his hooves.
As the mare fell asleep Noah found his eyes drooping as well, slowly his head became heavier, to the point where he couldn’t hold it up any longer. As he began to drift off to sleep once more he laid his head across Ditzy’s neck, a soft sigh and a small smile escaping the mare. The feeling of the soft coat and silky mane tempted him further into slumber to the point where his eyes closed and did not open. He eased into a dreamless sleep, the warm feeling of the mare and the filly pressed against him ever present, the slow cyclic breaths of both soothing to his mind.
The entire night, that’s how long it took for the Princess to quell the nightmares of Canterlot, it wasn’t bad enough that the entire populace was inundated with the terrors but her work almost never stopped. She would sooth one mind, only to have it fall back into nightmare later on. The never ending cycle continuing, until she came up with a plan, a Need It Want It spell, modified to be fair less potent and to break with the setting of the moon.
She only cast the spell on the ponies with the most troubling dreams, the royal guard, those that slept, were the hardest affected. The spell would have them seek out a fond childhood memory whilst they slept. This would force the mind to dream of the good times, and ignore the bad.
As the moon finished its excursion across the night sky, the sun sat in waiting at the world’s edge, ready to being a new day. The time for handover grew closer and Luna withdrew from her trance, seamlessly leaving the realm of dreams and arriving in the waking world. At once she cast her magic to the moon, the lunar body obeying her command and slipping below the horizon to rest. As it did the sun took its chance, rising steadily above the trees of the forest, the orange hues of the sunrise piercing through the curtains of the sleepy.
Luna yawned, she yearned for the bed so that she might rest from her weary night, but duty called, she needed to discuss the nightmares of the people with her sister, and the appearance of the intriguing shadow-pony. She made her way hastily over to the door swinging it wide open, she turned to the startled bat-ponies that flanked the door, “Why is Our Sister, We have need of conversation with her regarding this night.”
The mare on the left was first to recover, the same mare that delivered the message, Luna thought. “She is in the royal meeting room with the Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armour, Lady Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Elements.”
“We thank thee dear guards, thou may relieve thyself of duty.”
As Luna made her way towards the meeting room the guards behind her slouched, exhausted at the long night stationed at the door, “You’d think we would have split shifts across the night,” the mare on the left spoke as she nudged her counterpart, “We do have enough Lunar Guards for the job.” He words went unheeded as the guard she spoke to collapsed into sleep. “Newbie,” she muttered dragging the sleeping corpse to the barracks.
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Derpy singing to Noah and Dinky in a little pony pile... this level of adorableness is lethal. Must have more!
So once Luna figures it out, will she or Celestia be sending guards to "collect" No One...? I'm expecting a decent stand-off between Derpy and the guards and/or the Elements of Harmony. No doubt they'll want to say Derpy is being controlled by No One, just like Shining Armor was. I'd also like to know when or if No One will realize he's collecting love/friendship from the locals. He's got to figure that out eventually, even if the blue orb doesn't teach him about it first.
You may rest. The swarm HAS been fed. But we will return shortly for another meal...
Use you little time wisely, and enjoy Christmas, and get writing...
3646315 I'm picking up some crazy passive aggressive vibes,
, I haven't even done christmas shopping, so this story will take a bit of a back seat.
3646267 I was going for more lethal dose of adorable, hopefully no one actually died. hmmm, yes and no, to most of those parts, I can't tell you much without giving things away, also the orb is a magenta, I was trying to call it pink without saying pink, but that's a lot harder than it sounds. Plus I'm not a huge fan of the colour pink.
3648347
Well, shows how much I was paying attention when I got it in my empty head that the orb is blue when it's really
pinkmagenta. As for the rest, it's all just theory based on typical reactions in drama-comedies. And even if No One doesn't realize he's harvesting free love, he's also not really expending any energy doing changeling magic (or any magic). I'm curious what kind of backup this will lead to; some fics have the changeling start transforming into a royal caste while others equate it to a painful version of magic-constipation, only relived when the changeling gets rid of the excessive magic in their system.And considering he's never cast magic, this brings up the question; do changelings also have a 'surge' when they figure out their horn like unicorns do? Could be good for a few laughs depending on how chaotic the wild magic is.
3650929 It might be a while before Noah experiments with magic, it's not to say he won't but it will take another two or so conflicts before he really gets into it.
Oh boy, looks like Noah is in for a big surprise soon. I just hope he'll get new friends before the heroes show up.
Mistake here: