Like Sister, Like Student

by Bronyxy

4 A Busy Night

As they emerged out into the dream realm, Nyx could feel herself floating. She could walk, although she felt no appreciable resistance. She fluttered her wings tentatively and found that they worked as they would in Equestria and could move her faster if she chose, but again with that same strange feeling of effortlessness.

All around her were spheres; balls containing images, some of which were of ponies she recognised.
“These” said Luna, “Are ponies’ dreams.”
Nyx stared at them in amazement, each an individual fragment of film playing out as she watched.
“If you look out, you will see they are spread as far as the eye can see. The ones we see here are from those ponies in the Royal Castle. If we wanted to see dreams from Ponyville we could either go there and enter the dream realm when we arrived, or travel across the dream realm from any starting point we choose.”

Nyx experimented with the odd sensations of walking, trotting, galloping and flying in this strange environment before coming back to Luna who was waiting patiently for her.
“When we wear these collars, we may enter ponies’ dreams” explained Luna, “And we can make ourselves seen if we choose. But it is most important that we never spy on ponies or linger if the dreams get personal. If ponies need help, we can suggest or directly intervene, but these courses of action must be thought through very carefully and never undertaken lightly. Finally, it should go without saying that the dream walker never repeats what they see.”

With Dream Walking 101 under her belt, Luna felt that the filly should be given the chance to experience the process for herself.
“Right, now I’m going to look around for somepony with problems that I can help with. Come with me and I will show you what a dream walker does.”

All seemed to be relatively trouble-free within the castle, so Luna flapped her wings gently and took a quick reconnaissance flight over the dreams of the ponies in Canterlot, diving down when she noticed something that seemed out of the ordinary to her trained senses. Nyx followed her down and as she got closer she could see what looked like marauding monsters invading somepony’s dream.

“Let us observe closely first” directed Luna, “There is yet a possibility that the events unfolding are of the dream caster’s choosing. Tell me what you think.”
Nyx focused on what she saw. The location appeared to be a windowed room with a clock prominently featured on the wall and whilst most of the antagonists seemed to share basic traits common to all cliched monsters, the protagonist central to the events seemed to be standing against them.
“It looks like somepony’s having a bad day” said Nyx sadly.
“What can you tell me about the setting?” prompted Luna.

“It looks like a classroom” said Nyx thoughtfully.
“Go on …” Luna coaxed.
“The unicorn having the dream is an authority figure – is she a teacher?”
“Keep going …”
“The clock! It’s going backwards …”
“So what does this suggest to you?”
“The unicorn mare is a teacher. She’s got a difficult class and she feels like the lesson will never end?”
“So, do you think we should intervene?” Luna enquired.
“I wouldn’t like to think of Miss Cheerilee having a bad dream like this. Can we help her?”
“Right, how do you think we could change it for her?”
“I … I don’t know. Make them all go away, perhaps?”
“That is a nice sentiment, but will not provide a long term aim or solution. I suggest we allow her instead to focus on a positive future; something to aim for that will make her efforts feel worthwhile. How about we let her see the whole class graduating and maybe one or two saying ‘thank you’ to her. As a teacher, what better outcome can you imagine?”
“Gosh, that’s clever. But how do we do that?” asked Nyx.
“By focusing our thoughts through the livery collar” replied Luna, “Watch.”
As the novice dream walker watched, the dream changed as Luna had outlined. The air of tension evaporated as the monsters became less frightening and morphed back into ponies, each of whom lined up on stage at graduation to receive their diploma and then filed past the teacher in turn with kind words of thanks and the occasional gift.
“There!” said Luna with satisfaction evident in her voice, “The first success of the night.”

She led the filly through a number of other nightmares, teaching her how to recognise them, analyse them and work out appropriate solutions, allowing Nyx progressively more leeway to make her own decisions. Only once did she feel it necessary to intervene and that was when a lovestruck stallion’s dreams turned towards a certain raspberry maned florist of his desires and threatened to become age inappropriate, at which point Luna blushed and quickly departed with her young student in tow.

Nyx had worked hard with the daunting new set of responsibilities and so when they reached an appropriate juncture half way through the night, Luna led her out of the dream realm whereupon they resumed a state of wakefulness under the glass dome in the Royal Castle once more.
“My prize student” said Luna with a warm smile, “You have done well, very well indeed. Come, let us take our luncheon.”
Nyx thought she would burst with pride having received such praise from the Princess of the Night, and despite herself launched forward to give the midnight blue alicorn a large and unexpected hug.
“Thank you, Princess” she cried into Luna’s neck fur, clutching her close as a tear formed in her eye.
Once she pulled herself away, she looked at the tear stains she had left behind causing Luna’s immaculate fur to stick out in little patches and raised a hoof to redress her appearance. As she moved in, Nyx felt a gentle kiss on her head and couldn’t help but give another hug to the alicorn who had become her mentor.

When Luna had secured everything in her study, she opened the door and Nyx heard the smart crack as hooves sprang to attention on the stone floor outside. Her euphoria dimmed slightly as she edged out after the Princess, taking a quick look at the spears each guard held in their hooves and winced involuntarily, remembering what Luna had said earlier. Luna observed the customary pleasantries with the guards and then accompanied Nyx through the torchlit passageways for an eagerly awaited midnight feast.

Their lunch was served in the dining hall as were the meals during the daytime, but it somehow felt peculiar to be receiving full service from the castle’s staff in the middle of the night. Although the experience was broadly similar to what she had been used to, there were a few subtle differences; for example they were waited on by Bat Ponies and the decor seemed somehow different too. Closer inspection revealed that night themed heraldic tapestries had been unfurled to reflect the Princess’ dark realms. Nyx struggled to recall what she had seen in their place before, but couldn’t put her hoof on it.

The service was first class and the meal excellent, showing that the accustomed standards of Royal hospitality certainly did not drop when the shifts had changed.

They spoke freely about the experiences of the evening, Luna tidying up some points of detail arising from the work they had done.
“Are we going to do some more dream walking now?” asked Nyx as they rose from the table.
“No. For this morning’s activity we will take a break from sorting out other ponies’ problems and do some art.”
“What do you mean, Princess” she asked inquisitively.
“When you raised the moon earlier, I did not do more than arrange a basic pattern of constellations; just the stars that are needed to navigate by. To the untrained eye, it is as if mist has rolled over and obscured all but the brightest stars. Now you know that is not the case, it is only that I have not yet arranged the secondary stars in their places. This is the job I generally perform first, as soon as the moon has risen, but tonight I wanted your full concentration on dream walking. Now, do you want to paint the night sky with me?”

Nyx was open mouthed once more.
“You mean you place all the stars by your own hoof?” she gasped in amazement.
“Not tonight” replied Luna, “Tonight, you will be helping.”

The midnight blue Princess led her student through a labyrinth of passageways in the castle and up an interminable flight of stairs until they emerged on a balcony at the top of the highest tower, giving them a commanding and panoramic view of the night sky around them.
“Very well Nyx, where shall we start?”
“Umm” the filly thought, then pointed a forehoof, “How about there?”
“Now, if you are to command the night sky, you must tell me which two constellations that space lies between.”
“Well” said the filly pensively, pointing with a bit more detail, “That one’s easy – it’s Orion, and that one … that one … I think is Canis Major?”
“Huzzah!” cheered Luna, “You have studied well.”

The Princess summoned a selection of stars that she twisted and turned into patterns in front of her eyes and then transported the finished cluster in her blue aura to the allotted space in the sky.
“Wow! That’s beautiful, Princess!”
“Now it’s your turn” said Luna, “I want you to create something to fit between Orion and Canis Minor.”
She felt no need to patronise her student by pointing as the filly clearly had a working knowledge of the constellations.
“How many stars do you desire?” she enquired.
Nyx did some quick adding up and replied, “Eleven, please.”
Luna was a little surprised at such a large number to begin with, but gave her the benefit of the doubt and summoned the miniature stars before them.
“Now use your aura to manipulate them in your mind’s eye, and they will follow your bidding.”
Nyx did as she was told, and soon found herself manoeuvring the pinpricks of light with a reasonable dexterity.
“Tell me once you have completed your design” said Luna.

Nyx had her tongue subconsciously pinned at the side of her mouth, giving her concentration a slightly comical appearance as she applied the final adjustments and stood back to admire her work.
“Done” she said proudly.
“Now, focus on where they are going, and project them using your aura once more.”
Nyx concentrated hard and the stream of energy from her horn propelled the stars way up above Equestria, lodging them more or less where she had intended.
They both stared at Nyx’s first attempt, the young alicorn wearing a broad smile on her face, while her mentor’s jaw hung open. In the space between Orion and Canis Minor lay a six point star with five others around in a familiar pattern.
“Twilight’s cutie mark!” gasped Luna.
“Did I do it right?” asked Nyx, slightly perturbed by the delay in hearing a response.
“You have executed the pattern perfectly” said Luna, “It is such an honour.”

Together they spent the next few hours painting the sky with myriad pretty patterns, some of which resembled mythical creatures in the same way as the major constellations. The final result was breathtaking.
“We must stop now, I fear” said Luna.
“Oh, why must we?” asked Nyx, “Surely it’s not time to lower the moon yet, is it?”
“No, but we have an hour if you want to do some flying …”
Luna’s offer was cut off by an enthusiastic cheer and the two of them leapt from the balcony to frolic under the dazzling night sky.

Comments

[Little-L-Lunatic]

I wAnT tO bE aBlE tO dReAmWaLk

[Bronyxy]

9203211
First find a livery collar with your cutie mark on it ...

[cvvvrt]

A "six-point star"? Did she also draw lines?

[Bronyxy]

9267624
As with the other constellations, you've got to imagine the lines for yourself.
I imagined the six point star with the five others round it in the appropriate positions should have made it stand out prominently as Twilight's cutie mark.