Dreamstrider

by OkemosBrony

Chapter 10

I look around the train car; it’s mostly empty now, so I get up and start walking toward the exit. I didn’t really want to have to fight through the crowd getting off the train in Canterlot, and judging by the actual fight I saw on the platform while looking out the window, it was a smart decision.

The doors have been open for a while now, but I’m still somehow hit with a blast of cold air as I walk out. I quickly find my bag amongst all the others, because it has the blue and silver Canterlot University luggage tag mom gave me. It’s nice not to have to dig through everypony else’s stuff while trying to find my own.

Once I leave the station, I can see Luna on the sidewalk, smiling a little at me. I smile too as I walk up to her, and when I get close, she gives me a quick hug.

“How was your vacation?” she asks.

“It was good,” I reply with a mixture of happiness and sadness. “It was nice to see everypony, but it just reminded me how much I miss them.” I laugh a little. “You were right: my sisters were totally jealous that you gave me a present for Hearth’s Warming. But now I feel bad for not getting you anything.”

“Do not be,” she shakes her head. “Hearth’s Warming means a lot to me; I do not care whether or not I am given gifts.”

“What did you and Princess Celestia do?”

“First was the Hearth’s Warming Eve play.” She licks her lips a little. “Then the Hearth’s Warming Eve banquet; we open the castle to everypony in Canterlot, and everypony comes and enjoys themselves. On Hearth’s Warming Day, Celestia and I spent nearly the entire day cooking and baking goodies to give to everypony in the castle, from the cleaners to the Guards to our advisors. We even made one for you.”

“Really?”

She nods. “Yes, because you are a part of the castle. And one day, you will be running the Dreamstriders, so I figured why not start preparing for the day you’ll be an official castle worker?”

Huh. Guess I never thought about the fact that I’m going to be working in the castle, alongside the most important ponies in Equestria.

“Is that him?” Luna asks after a few minutes of silence, confusing me. Who’s she talking about, and why’s he important?

Once I look where she’s pointing, though, I can see exactly what she means: it’s Dusty, carrying his suitcase in his magic behind him and heading in the direction of the school.

“Yeah, he’s from my school.”

A really sly smile creeps onto her face. “And that’s all he is to you?”

“Yeah,” I try to lie as convincingly as I can.

“There was some love coming from your dreams over the break,” she explains. “And it had the trace of him. You have a crush on him, don’t you?”

“You were in my dreams?” I have to try my hardest not to scream right here. My face is probably deep red; there’s a reason I didn’t tell her.

“I watched them to make sure nothing bad happened to you.” With a soft smile, she points his direction again. “Go talk to him. I’ll wait.”

Turning back around, my heart starts racing when I catch sight of him. Right, guess it’s now or never. And I suppose better here than in school, where everypony’s around us.

“Hey Dusty,” I say nervously as I walk up to him.

“Huh?” He turns to face me, then looks off to the side to avoid looking me in the eyes. “Oh. Hey, Aurora.”

“So I, uhh…” My back right leg’s twitching almost uncontrollably, which it always does when I’m really nervous. I bite my lip to try and regain some control over my body. “I was thinking about our kiss, and I’d like to say that...I like you.” I smile, which just causes my leg to start bouncing again.

“Aurora, I…” He trails off. “I don’t really know how to say this, but I…” He looks up at the sky, clearly looking for the right words. Oh no. Oh no no no, this isn’t good. I should have never told him I liked him.

“You…?” I try to put on my best ‘everything is okay’ smile, because hopefully it is, right? He’s just looking for the right words to say he likes me...right?

“I don’t really know if I like fillies,” he admits. “Like, like like. I mean like, you’re really nice and a good friend.” Sighing, he looks down at the ground. “But I don’t know. I just feel like I like colts the way most colts like fillies, but I don’t know why. I thought kissing you would change that, but it didn’t.”

“Oh.” I try to smile wider, even though it does hurt. “It’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” No, no it’s not. I liked him, and finding out he doesn’t feel the same way is really tying my heart and my stomach in knots. I feel like I might be sick, or maybe cry. Probably both.

“You really sure?” He walks up to me and extends his hoof a little bit, then pulls it back. Very carefully, he inches it onto my shoulder.

I nod quickly, really really hoping he takes his hoof off me because it’s only making things worse. I liked him a lot, so I just need some time to myself to get over him. And feeling his hoof on my shoulder, comforting me when I really do need it but not being able to express my feelings for him is not helping at all. “I just need a little time to myself,” I barely manage to squeak out.

“Okay.” He quickly pulls me into a hug, and I try to squirm out. Please no, I don’t want to keep being reminded of how I feel towards him. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

“Well, I have to go,” I announce, pushing him out of the hug and taking a few steps back before I start crying right here. I don’t want to break down in the middle of Canterlot, and definitely not in front of him. He didn’t do anything wrong, and that would just make him feel really bad.

“See you at school,” he says before taking his suitcase in his magic and walking away.

“Okay,” I whimper as he trots away. The walk back to Luna feels like it takes forever, and I have to focus as hard as I can to not start crying. Just take it one step at a time, Aurora. I can cry back at the castle, but not here.

“Are you okay?” Luna asks worriedly when I get back to her. I can feel a few tears slip out and start running down my face, but I manage to hold the rest of them back.

“No.” Gritting my teeth does a little more to stop my emotions from taking me over, but it’s still a closer call than I’d like it.

After being silent for a few moments, she looks down at me. “Let’s get to your room quickly. I have an idea.”

---

I’m doing a little better when we get back to my room, but that’s not saying much. And even that little bit is replaced by my sadness that I’m now away from home and everypony in my family. Not a good day for me.

“Get on your bed,” Luna says, moving my suitcase to in front of my dresser.

When I do as she says, it becomes even harder to stay strong because the comfortable bed and pillows my back is up against is just inviting me to lay down and bawl into my sheets. Luna never said what her idea was, but my guess is she wants me to be strong for it.

“Close your eyes and enter your dream,” she instructs as she sits down beside my bed and lays her head on it. “I will meet you in there to bring you into the dream world.” With that, she closes her eyes and has dozed off in a matter of seconds.

Right. Now it’s my turn. It’s hard to concentrate my magic around the pulling what with all my emotions going haywire, but I manage to grasp it and start pushing. It’s weird, because this time it feels both easier and harder to do than before. Maybe it’s harder because I’m really upset, but easier because I’ve done this before and am getting used to it. Either way, I open my eyes to see my room exactly the way I left it, except for the fact that Luna isn’t here anymore. Guess I did it.

Without even saying anything, Luna flies down from the gray mist at the top of my dream and grabs me with her hoof, only to fly back up again. When we emerge in the cave, she quickly walks outside without telling me to do anything. Guess I should follow her.

Once I walk outside, I can see her sitting in the grass with one of the demons she said was a playful demon last time I was here. I think it’s the same one, but I guess there’s no way I could tell.

“Please sit down,” she says, pointing her hoof across from her. There’s a little bit of something in her voice that’s quite worry and not quite sadness, but something like those.

Thankfully, the coldness of the grass calms me down a little as I sit where she’s pointing. “What do you want me to do?”

“You’re going to try and talk to a demon.” She points at the demon, which has now climbed up to her head and is peeking over it.

“I’ve never practiced this before,” I admit. “I’m sorry if I was supposed to.”

She shakes her head very gently, careful not to throw the demon off. “No, it is only something that can be taught through experience. You remember how it sounded when I talked to it before, yes?”

I nod. “Yeah, like a gentle shushing.”

“This is not exactly how you speak their language, but make that same sound while letting your magic and your emotions flow through your body freely. Do not try and inhibit it.”

I shush a little, but I don’t really feel anything happen. The demon’s still looking at me, so maybe I need to let my emotions loose a little more? I finally let myself think about how hurt I am, but then I start stuttering and hiccuping when I try and speak to it.

“Reign it in just a little bit more,” she instructs.

After taking a deep breath or two, I try again. I don’t really know what I’m feeling, but I can definitely feel the magic in my body move a little bit. It’s spreading from my heart and moving all throughout my torso, with a little bit going to my mind and up into my horn.

“............hurt…………..rejected……..you…”

Sniffling, I look up at the demon, which no longer has a blank stare on its face. “Did it just talk to me?”

“What did you hear it say?” Luna asks, clearly trying to hold some excitement in.

“I just heard three words: hurt, rejected, and you.”

A smile that she’s clearly trying and failing to hold back grows on her face, stretching from ear to ear. “It said, ‘It must hurt to feel rejected the way you do’.”

Now I can’t help but smile a little bit, which does dull my sadness a little. “Really?”

My response is just her nodding and stretching out her front legs for a hug, which I quickly take. Her fur is soft and her body is warm and welcoming, which just makes me want to cry. I can’t hold it in any longer, so I just bury my face in her chest and start crying. However, now that I’ve taken a big step in Dreamstriding, my tears aren’t as sad as they were before.

After who knows how long has passed, I pull my face away from her chest and look up at her. “So...what did I say to it?”

She giggles a little. “Exact words, or what you meant?”

“Exact words, why?”

“Keep in mind you’re only starting to learn the language,” she says, taking one of her hooves from around my body and putting it up in the air. “But your exact words were, and I quote, ‘Love him, he unlove, hurt’.”

Now I can’t help but laugh a tiny bit, because that just sounds a little silly. “I won’t always talk like a cavepony, right?”

Laughing a little bit, she shakes her head. “No, you will learn to master their language, much as you have mastered Equestrian. When you were young, you spoke very basic Equestrian and did not know what many words meant, and it is simply the same here. But you have all the time in the world to progress and be able to communicate with them.”

“Thanks,” I say weakly, letting her bring her hoof back down into the hug. “So what do I do next for Dreamstriding? Now that I’ve been able to get in here and have started talking to demons.”

“We work on refining your skills. Getting you into your dreams quicker, moving between your dream and the dream world, becoming fluent in the demon language, and studying this world and its inhabitants so you know everything you know to survive in here.”

Once I lay my head on her chest, I quickly notice how light-headed all that crying made me. “Thanks for being there for me when I needed it.”

The hug gets tighter. “I will always try and be there for you.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

7375248 Can I get a link to that story?

[Starlight Nova]

If Aurora Borealis was voiced, what would she sound like?

[OkemosBrony]

7696764
I haven't really put too much thought into what she sounds like, so basically whenever I imagine her speaking it's pretty middle of the road (not high or low, no real distinguishing characteristics). I'm not sure if it's been mentioned in the story yet, but right now Aurora is eight years old so just whatever a typical 8-year-old sounds like to you I guess.