Dream Life

by Crescent Pulsar

Prologue

Author's Note:

Celestia's character has long been a subject of interest to me, so I couldn't help jotting this down when an idea came to me, even though I really shouldn't add more unfinished stories to my plate. Updates will probably be sporadic.

Luna had time to think whenever there was a lull between dreams that needed tending to, even as she kept her vigil over all of them. Recently, as an indirect result of Starlight Glimmer's aid, she had been thinking about her sister's well-being. While the friendship problem with her sister had been resolved, being in her horseshoes had opened her eyes to more than just what her sister had to deal with on the surface: the incident with Daybreaker had given her insight into a potential personal problem.

True, Daybreaker had been a creation of Starlight Glimmer's mind, borne of her own fear, but she could certainly imagine what such a fear could be based on. Daybreaker had been rather brazen, after all, which was far and away from her sister's public face, so it was plain to see where the identity came from: contrary behavior. Unlike her sister, Daybreaker was immodest, self-centered, and didn't care about holding back the potential of her power or its usage. She wasn't what her sister wanted to be but couldn't, as the apparition in Starlight Glimmer's dream may have suggested, but the shadow cast by the facade that her sister had built for her role.

That shadow made her realize that, even if her sister did not do battle on those specific fronts, that did not mean that there was no internal struggle behind the facade, either because of it, for it, or both. It shamed her to think that she did not know and could not tell what troubles her sister had, if any actually existed, and she feared that her sister's true self had assumed most or all of the mask that she had worn for a millennium. If only she had more freedom, herself, to spend time with her sister and discover who she truly and fully was...

She couldn't, sadly, and her sister did not seem keen to open up all that much to anypony — as far as she could tell. That brought her to her latest idea, which consisted of providing a place in the dream realm where her sister would be beyond the kind of scrutiny and rumor that she tried to avoid as a princess, and thus feel free to be herself. The desired privacy would extend to herself, as well: not only because she would not have been a reliable presence anyway, what with her nightly responsibilities, but also due to the thought that it would be more likely for her sister to open up to someone whose experience with her couldn't find its way to anyone on their world.

The challenge wouldn't be contacting someone in another dream realm, but in having the time and opportunity to do so. Given that most of her free time was random in both timing and duration, opening a portal to another dream realm multiple times would be draining, which could spell disaster if there was an emergency. On top of that, it would make it difficult to observe prospective companions for her sister. Basically, if she wanted to provide help to her sister any time soon, she would have to select someone who was merely adequate instead of perfect.

At the very least, though, her pick would need to have a good character; she wasn't about to introduce her sister to someone that would mistreat her or be a bad influence. Their appearance would need to be familiar and relatable, she felt, but that was easy enough to achieve since the manifestation of one's self in the dream realm was mutable. On that note, they would also need to be female, in order to avoid any complications that a romantic relationship would bring — and because the thought of her sister getting into an intimate relationship ignited a strong need to be protective of her.

Hopefully it wouldn't take too long, or be too hard, to find someone who could keep her sister company while she dreamed.

Comments

[Cander]

I at least like that you point out that Daybreaker was a product of SG's imagination and not the actual dark side of Celestia.