• Published 6th Jan 2019
  • 425 Views, 8 Comments

The Dream Realm - AstralMouse



Princess Luna ventures into the realm of dreams to help ponies with nightmares.

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Nightmare 2

Luna watched the dream bubbles pass by as she watched for nightmares yet again. She was glad to see so many ponies happy. Bad dreams were much more common before she had been banished to the moon. Life was generally more difficult with inferior technology and harsher feelings between the three tribes. Earth ponies tended to have it the worst, as many of them were poor farmers. Present day farming, however, wasn't nearly as backbreaking. Better tools and knowledge meant less manual labor was required to maintain a crop. Farming was also quite lucrative in present day. Odd as it seemed, when life improved for the lowest class, her own life became easier, as there were simply fewer nightmares.

As she thought, she still paid close attention to the dreams. One in particular caught her interest. A young, scared-looking pegasus colt was inside a box, not leaving it. Such a dream, at first glance, could be many things. Any second, the box could open, revealing his smiling parents. Or he might breathe fire and blast a hole through it before rampaging through a town. She could not be certain, so she just watched.

The colt, with a sky blue coat and deep cobalt mane with a streak of sea green running through it, was breathing rapidly. Was he scared of being found? Was he trapped, locked inside by some indescribable monster? The longer it went unchanging, the more Luna worried. She finally decided to intervene and stepped into the portal.


Princess Luna found herself in a tidy bedroom. Pictures of pop stars and Wonderbolts adorned the walls. With a peek outside the window, she saw a city made of clouds, with a view of the Cloudsdale Stadium, telling her where this colt's dream was taking place. It was likely also where he lived. Sitting on the bed was a plain cardboard box. She could hear panicked breathing coming from inside.

Putting on the friendliest smile she could summon, she used her magic to open the box. As soon as she pulled back one tab, the colt screamed.

"Fear not! It is only a dream," she said, stepping over to the box to put her reassuring expression in his view. He screamed again and leapt out of the box, smacking Luna in the face with an extended hoof. Being attacked in a dream never hurt, but it was always disorienting. The world seemed to blur for a second as she recovered. She tried to call after him as she saw him flee out the door. "Wait! Come back!" But he was gone.

The alicorn cantered after him, through the door and into a painfully bright white hallway. She saw a flash of blue disappear into a doorway and chased after it. The door opened up into another similar hallway that curved around to the right. Physically, it was impossible, as it would overlap the other hall, but dreams did not always fit with reality. Especially those of a foal. She galloped after him, the hall looping several times in a perfect circle, with no doors in sight. Then, up ahead, it opened into a large barn. The colt was nowhere to be seen. Bales of hay were stacked against a wall that easily bent under their weight, despite looking like it was made of sturdy wooden boards.

As she explored the barn, she noticed that all of the tools were shovels. A lineup on a wall had a wide array of them, from a giant shovel that no average pony could hope to use, to tiny ones that would not even function as makeshift silverware. Large stalls that would normally hold cows or sheep instead had giant boulders occupying them. The concrete floor felt soft, like loose dirt. Her hooves sank into it and when she looked down, the floor hadn't visibly shifted where she stepped, but instead her hooves merely disappeared into it up to the fetlocks. She decided to move on toward the exit.

As she approached the door, she saw a brown farmhouse sitting among a few fruit trees, with a wagon parked in front of it next to a small dirt road. The property looked well-maintained and cared for with love. Luna made to head toward it, but as she stepped forward, her face was uncomfortably smushed and her head was pressed back as she walked into what felt like a solid wall. There was no pain, but it had forced her eyes closed. As she backed up and shook her head, she opened her eyes again and the view of the farmhouse was suddenly just a poster.

Looking around, she noticed the barn had disappeared from around her, leaving nothing but a white void and the poster. The void began to form details. Curved lines that began to take the shape of clouds. The clouds then formed a floor under her and walls that began closing in on her. She felt as if they would crush her, and, mirroring an instinct the colt must have had at this point in his dream, she pulled her wings off. They detached easily, with only a slight tugging sensation. As soon as they were off, she fell through the clouds she was standing on.

Suddenly, she was high above equestria, plummeting toward the ground, somehow excited by the fact. She instinctively tried to flap her wings, only to remember they weren't there as she felt the odd phantom sensation of moving them without the accompanying physical feedback. The wind stung her eyes and whipped her mane about violently as she tumbled, unable to right herself easily without her wings. She closed her eyes and the moment she did, she felt herself landing in something very soft. It slowed her descent gradually enough to not be jarring and when she stopped, she opened her eyes.

She was in a large container full of unravelled red yarn. Though she knew she had fallen quite some distance through it, she was resting on the surface of it. Standing, she found it quite solid underhoof. She walked across it to the lip of the container and looked down, seeing that she was still a dizzying height above the ground. Her wings were also inexplicably back, she noticed, so she spread them and dove down. Her forehooves, outstretched in front of her, immediately collided with a hard surface and she simply landed awkwardly, nearly toppling forward, only preventing it with a swift reactive wing flap, finding herself standing on solid ground.

Luna noted that she was on ground level, on bright (almost neon) green grass. It was a vast, open field with snow-capped mountains in the distance on all sides. She saw a lone oak tree, standing tall above the grass with a roughly-built treehouse perched among its thick, twisting branches. The blue colt was presently climbing a ladder made of planks nailed to the trunk. She moved toward the tree at a brisk trot, smiling just in case he turned to look at her. She did not want to scare him again if she could help it.

By the time the princess reached the base of the oak tree, the colt was already inside. A tin can, its label long since torn off, hung from a piece of twine that ran up to and through a window of the treehouse. She took the can in a hoof and spoke into it gently.

"Hello, little one. Is everything okay?" she asked. There was no reply. She noticed paper and a quill sitting in the grass below where the can was hanging. Fairly certain she understood the idea, she used her telekinesis to quickly scribble a note in large letters. Hello. She rolled it up and pushed it into the can, where it disappeared. After a few moments, another note appeared, falling out of the can and landing softly in the grass.

Who are you?

There was a fresh sheet of paper on the ground. Luna picked it up and wrote on it, again using large, neat letters. Princess Luna. I want to help. May I come up? For a while, there was no response. She could hear the colt walking on the boards above her, his hooves clopping against the wood in a quick rhythm due to his short stride. Eventually, a reply fell from the tin can.

ok

With a powerful flap of her wings, she leapt up nearly to the top of the ladder and clung to it tightly. She peeked her head up into the treehouse. The colt was sitting against the wall opposite her, looking very uncomfortable. He tensed up when he saw her face.

"Do not worry, young one. I want to help. May I come in?" Luna asked softly. He nodded stiffly and she pulled her large body into the square room. His eyes darted about in worry, but he stayed put. "What's your name, little one?"

After a lengthy hesitation, he opened his mouth to speak. "Uh-glk!" he said, cut off as dirt poured from his mouth, falling into a pile in front of him, neat lines forming in it where it was slipping between the floorboards. He choked, tears falling from his eyes as panic immediately set in. Luna hurried over to him and held him comfortingly.

"Worry not, this is only a dream. Everything is okay," she said soothingly. He cried softly, more out of embarrassment than the dry soil spilling from his mouth. Princess Luna continued to reassure him, repeating herself frequently and stroking his mane sweetly. Eventually, the dirt simply faded away, leaving him instead gasping and choking on his deep sobs.

"I'm s-s-sorry, P-Princess Luna," he said with difficulty.

"You have nothing to apologize for. Can you tell me your name?" she asked, her voice as soft as silk.

"C-Cobalt Streak," he replied.

"That is a lovely name. Would you like to tell me what's wrong, Cobalt Streak?" she gently prodded. She felt she had an idea, but wanted to hear it from him if she could. "It's okay. Take your time."

Cobalt Streak took a deep shuddering breath as he calmed down. He had stopped crying and was trying to recover. Luna stroked his mane comfortingly as he composed himself enough to speak.

"I don't wanna go to the Best Young Flyers' competition," he said.

"Ah. Are you afraid you will do poorly?" she inquired.

"No. I'm scared of winning," he said. That surprised Luna. "I'm the best flyer in my class. And I don't wanna win and have to stay in Cloudsdale forever just because I can fly good!" It was beginning to make sense to her now.

"I see. You enjoy being on the ground, I take it?" she guessed.

He nodded. "I went to Hoofington with my mom and dad and made a friend there, Iron Shoe, and he showed me his farm and if I am stuck in Cloudsdale forever, I'll never see him again," he said, seemingly near panic again.

"Mm. I know many ponies who are strong flyers who don't actually fly very much in their jobs, if at all. Even if you won the competition, there is no reason you would have to stay in Cloudsdale. Sure, maybe you would make a great cloudcatcher or windmaker. But you could also be a great farmer. Being a good flyer doesn't mean you have to fly all the time," she said with a warm smile.

"R-really? Even if I win?" he asked. His eyes were wide, as if he had not even considered this possibility.

Luna nodded. "That's right. The next competition is... next week, correct?" she asked. He nodded. "Then I shall make an effort to go so that I can cheer for you. The winner often meets with the princesses if they are attending, as you may know. I would very much like to meet you there." To her amusement, he was left in awe.

"I might get to meet you? Like, the real you? Not just in a dream?" He seemed to be seriously considering something. "Okay, I'll do it. And I'll win."

The princess giggled at his newfound confidence. "Very good. I must go now, however. Other dreams must be attended to."

After they said quick goodbyes, she returned to the Overseer's Realm, seeing him waving happily from his place in the treehouse. She silently wished him good dreams and then pushed the bubble away to continue her work.

Author's Note:

Not a very dark one here, but hopefully enjoyable. I do plan on making the next one much darker.

Feedback is very much appreciated. I actually really enjoyed writing this, so I would like to improve on this style of writing.

Either way, I hope you enjoyed it!

Comments ( 1 )

The way you use imagery here is inspiring. Bravo.

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