Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams?

by TikiBat

Chapter 27: Dreaming on the Job

Silver soared through the air with Scarlet by his side, taking in the beautiful night sights in awed silence. While he had initially shrugged off Scarlet’s excitement over this kind of night flight, he had to admit that something about it was really growing on him, and he was almost looking forward to the long flight they’d have to endure almost every day. It was peaceful, quiet, and the perfect way to relax before a long and boring work shift, something that the two of them were currently on their way to do. If there was a bright side to the boredom, both of them were lucky enough to have the same weekend days off, which they were more than grateful for.

As mundane as it was already starting to be, Silver’s job had at least proven to be interesting enough once he was left on his own, the mountains of salvage and scrap electronics being interesting enough to keep his attention. On the other hand however, from Scarlet’s description of her new job, he could only assume that she was in for another boring and rough night. As he glanced over to the mare he made a mental note to give her some cuddles later. Plus, even if her night went better, he was sure she would still be up for those.

“So… lots of boring stuff waiting for you tonight?” Scarlet asked from the side.

“Yeah, probably,” Silver replied, though it was probably more of a lie than anything. While true at face value, he was still able to make it fun enough. He didn’t want to rub it in her face though, so bending the truth a tiny bit was fine in his eyes, “It was kinda fun yesterday though.”

“Oh?” She questioned, “I don’t remember you talking about that.”

“Guess it slipped my mind,” he laughed, “I thought somepony was trying to break in or something but it turned out it was just a couple of coyotes scratching at the fence.”

“Talk about a letdown,” she mused, “I can see why you forgot to mention it.”

“How about your night? Couldn’t have been that boring, right?” He gave a heavy flap of his wings and arced over to her other side, following her gaze down to the town below.

“It was that boring,” she replied with a sigh, “Unless you count listening to some drunk ramble on about random nonsense all night.”

Silver wished he could have given her a warm hug, but being in the air, that was ill advised. Instead he laid a hoof on her back, “Hey, if you really don’t want to work there it’s okay. I just want you to be happy and not have to stress about anything.”

“It’s fine,” she said in an unconvincing tone that clearly betrayed her true thoughts.

“No, it really isn’t, I can tell,” he reassured her.

She let out a deep sigh, “Okay, fine. I hate the job and I don’t look forward to it, but I really want to save up for some stuff. There was this fundraiser thing I wanted to set up at the library so we could get the observatory open again, and I want to at least save up a little to get the ball rolling on that.”

“How much do you need?” Silver asked.

Scarlet paused and trailed off for a few moments. With a small voice she started again, “Probably a lot more than either of us have,” she admitted.

“Well how much then?” Silver pressed on.

“Probably in the thousands just to cover maintenance and diagnostics if we’re lucky, maybe more if something’s somehow broken in the time they’ve just let it sit there.”

“Is the telescope really in that bad of shape?” He questioned.

Scarlet shook her head, “Not really, but it’s been sitting there for a while and they need to get a professional in to give it a check up— make sure that everything’s in working order, recalibrate it, run some diagnostics...” she paused.

“Basically you have to pay a lot to have someone come in and say it’s either broken or it’s perfectly fine?” Silver finished.

Scarlet nodded her head and laughed, swooping up next to him, “They have to pay that, and yes. Pretty much that. After that it’s just saving up for routine maintenance and hoping they can get enough donations to cover that sort of stuff regularly. That’s where my cost comes in.”

“Setting up events, fundraisers, et cetera… gotcha. So we’re shooting for the small stuff then?”

“I am,” she corrected, “You’ve spent enough on me already.”

The blue stallion smirked, “I don’t know, I think I still owe you one new telescope, and paying for this lets you use a big fancy telescope,” he teased.

“Still on that?” She laughed, “I’m serious, it’s no big deal. I promise.”

“Yeah? Well then what if I want that telescope then? I mean I’ve been wanting to learn about the night sky for a while now after all.”

“Uh huh? And let me guess, you want to find a really good teacher too eh?” She nudged his side, pushing him off course ever so slightly, but not enough to send him into a tumble.

He corrected his path and then glanced down at the salvage yard in the distance that was growing ever closer as they neared it, “You know what, no, I don’t.”

Scarlet opened her eyes in surprise, clearly taken aback by his response, “Huh?” she started saying, but was quickly cut off.

“I don’t have to find a good teacher, because I already know a great one,” he continued, giving her a goofy smile, “So what do you say? I get myself a nice fancy telescope and you show me how to use it to settle this whole dispute?”

A wide grin spread across her face as she accepted that he was going to work toward this no matter what, “Alright, fine,” she paused for a moment, looking away from him, though he could tell that she was probably blushing, even under her crimson fur. Coming in closer to him, she lowered her voice, “You know I really love you, right?”

“Not as much as I love you,” he countered, “I only insist on getting us the telescope because I know how much me breaking your old one hurt, and because I love spending time with you under the stars.” He paused for a moment, letting a small blush cross his face, “Plus you’re even cuter when you’re geeking out about your hobby stuff.”

“Really?” She said with a big smile, “I mean I can’t be that cute. I’m just some nerd freaking out about the cool space stuff. If anything that’s embarrassing.”

“Scarlet,” he chuckled, “You being so geeky about this kind of stuff is what makes it so awesome. I swear you’re going to give me a heart attack someday because of how adorable it is to see you get so excited about teaching me space stuff.”

The mare let out a small squee of excitement before a mischievous grin spread across her face, “Okay fine, you’re probably right. But I think you’re wrong.”

“Oh? In what way? I think it’s an objective fact that you’re the cuter of the couple.”

She shrugged, “I dunno. I’d say that you excitedly telling me about your favorite stories and making dreams to explain everything was probably the most adorable thing any night pony has ever done.”

Silver blushed again, “Nah, I think saying that I’m one of the most adorable night ponies ever is a bit of a far stretch.”

“Well, of all the night ponies I know, you’re the most adorable,” she stuck her tongue out at him.

He blushed even harder and held his silence for a few more moments as they began to descend. Touching down on the cracked pavement, he dusted himself off and turned toward her, “I’ll tell you what.”

“What?” She laughed.

“I’ll concede and say that we’re both the cutest night ponies we know.”

“Okay fine,” she accepted, wrapping him in a tight hug and leaning close to his ear, dropping her voice to a sultry whisper, “But you’re still cuter.”

Giving him a peck on the cheek, she pulled away and smiled, batting her eyes at him and earning another blush from the flustered stallion.

“You…” he shook his head and smirked, “You’re evil, you know that right?”

“If making you blush and look even cuter makes me evil, then yes. I’m a supervillain.”

He pulled her close and lowered his voice to a softer tone, “I love you. Don’t let work get you, like I said, you don’t need to stay there if you’re just going to be unhappy.”

She sighed and leaned into the hug, “Love you too. I’m going to stick with it for a bit. It’d be pretty dumb to just leave a job because I had one bad night.”

Silver nodded in understanding, “I get you. I’m just saying that you don’t need to stay there just to stay there though, if you’re still feeling uncomfortable by next week then just go your own way and we’ll figure something out. I’ll be more than happy to throw some cash over at the fundraising stuff. I mean it.”

“Thanks Silver.”

“Any time,” he replied, holding the embrace for just a little longer, “If it doesn’t work out then maybe I can convince Duncan to hire you on too, or just let you hang out around the yard… or something?”

Scarlet shook her head, “That has liability risk written all over it, but I appreciate the thought,” she smiled, “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

He glanced at the salvage yard’s flickering neon sign and then back to her, “You promise?”

She gave him a confident nod, “I promise. Now have a good night, and make sure you show those big mean coyotes who’s boss,” she joked.

“Alright,” he started to laugh, “But only because you told me to.”

With a final embrace, the two went their separate ways.

---

Silver lazily meandered along one of the catwalks that ran around the outside of the office and part of the yard. The moon glowed above, though the hazy night sky diffused it’s light, leaving him with only the sickly yellow glow of the compound’s electric lights to keep him company. He didn’t mind all that much though, being alone like he was at this time of night meant that he was probably in store for plenty of extra break time tonight, which was no concern for him, especially when he was finding ways to make his own fun.

Passing by a pile of rusted car frames, he paused as he heard the rattling of the fence. A quick glance over in the direction of the offending sound though revealed that it was only the wind rustling a loose piece of corrugated metal that had been used to haphazardly patch the fence. The stallion trotted toward it and gave a few knocks, putting pressure on the metal to make sure it wouldn’t budge.

Creeeeeeeaaaaakkkk, it whined loudly, making him cringe back, but not giving entirely either.

Satisfied that it wasn’t going to go anywhere, he instead made his way toward a cozy looking area in the shadows, in a makeshift den carved into a cubbyhole between an old rusted truck and a pile of broken TVs. Ducking into the small shelter, he brushed off the ground and took a seat on an old worn down couch cushion that served as his impromptu break area.

The yard should be good for a few minutes, and Duncan did say I could relax for a little bit every now and again after my patrols, he thought to himself as he closed his eyes and began to clear his head.

A cool wave of relaxation began to wash over him as he felt out his instinctual connection to the dream realm, same as he had accidentally done before, and like he had been practicing to do during his down time. As his mind drifted from his waking body and his senses faded into the background, a bright starry abyss began to stretch out in front of him, making him smile at how much easier this was starting to become.

He stood up and took a moment to get his bearings, finding the sensation of slipping into the dream realm to be as strange and alien as it always was. The thing that always got to him more than anything else was the sensation of his waking body and life still existing in the background while he was moving around in here. The two were never truly separate in this state, with the sounds and senses from the waking world still seeping into his mind and making him feel a little nauseous or dazed from time to time, but if he focused hard enough on the dream realm the rest would fade into the background.

“Sleeping on the job are we?” Came a playful, yet stern voice from all around him.

He jumped back in surprise and let out a frightened eeek at the sight of the sea pony-like warden that had swam up toward him.

“Yinyu, Jesus, you’re gonna give me a heart attack or something,” realizing his critical error, he quickly recited his oaths in a frenzied, yet apologetic voice before he could figure out what kind of punishments Yinyu would be fond of.

The warden seemed satisfied with his oaths but gave a playful pout regardless, “Aww, I was hoping to have a little fun showing you how I punish naughty stallions. Oh well.”

“I don’t know if I want to know what fun means with you,” he commented, “Especially given your title. I think the jump scare was more than enough if it’s all the same with you.”

“I promise my idea of punishment is far more fun than Phobia Remedy’s. Assuming your mare will share.”

Silver hadn’t realized he could blush in a dream until then, and clearly Yinyu was enjoying his embarrassment, “Ummm, yeah, umm, I don’t think that’d fly with her,”He slowly continued, “So uhh, not to be rude or anything, but why are you here?”

“Well I’m asleep silly. I’ll always be here when I am, you just decided to pop in.”

“Right… guess that was an obvious one. I guess what I’m actually asking is why you’re here talking with me right now?”

“Well, you’re projecting, which sticks out a lot.”

“Projecting?” He asked, confused.

“Yes, like what you westerners call astral projection, visiting the dreamscape while awake. We call it projecting since you’re not completely here..”

“Huh, I guess I didn’t realize it had a name…” He raised an eyebrow, “Is this really that out of the ordinary though? I mean, doesn’t anypony else do it?”

“Sure,” she offered, swimming around the empty dream void, lighting up the stars in waves as she glided by, “There’s a few other ponies that do that too, we just like to keep an eye on them when they do.”

“Big brother is always watching,” he chuckled.

In an act that surprised Silver more than anything else, she actually seemed confused and dropped the playful act for a moment, “You have a brother watching you?”

Silver raised an eyebrow before shaking his head, “It’s an expression… I guess what I’m saying is that you don’t want any… projectors… causing any trouble then?”

“Bingo!” She excitedly cheered, coming right down next to him, an uncomfortably close distance away, “but a better question is, what are you doing sleeping on the job?”

Silver flashed her a confused look and took a few steps back, “What uhh… what makes you think I’m sleeping on the job?”

“Because you are, silly! You picked out your favorite spot to rest and now you’re in here.”

He hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth to ask another question, “How did you—“

“—know what you were doing?” she asked.

“Yeah, actually. How did you know what I was doing?”

She swam around him again, shifting the stars into a crude drawing of him laying down on the cushion in the scrapyard, “You were thinking about it right now, that’s how.”

“You can read minds? That’s uhh… kinda creepy?”

“Only in here,” she corrected, “we know lots of things.”

“Like..?”

“Like all of the fun things you’re thinking about doing with Scarlet this weekend,” she replied, giving him a sultry look as the stars shifted into a crude scene portraying him and Scarlet that only made him blush a deep crimson.

“Okay okay, I get it, let’s not project that to the entire dream realm, okay?” he quickly stammered out, trying his best not to look as flustered as he was.

The stars shifted back into their usual appearance, giving him relief from the embarrassment as the sea pony swam back down to his level, “You and I are the only ones that can see this,” she reassured him. “The information in here stays in here unless you say otherwise,” she reminded him with a tap of her fin to his head, making a hollow knocking sound.

Alright, so don’t think about Scarlet when I’m around Yinyu, got it, he thought to himself.

“I can still hear you, little dreamer.”

He rolled his eyes and laughed, “You know, you really have a talent for making ponies go through half a dozen emotional states at once.”

“Fear, excitement, embarrassment, and… whatever comes with the cute romantic stuff you’re thinking about?”

Silver blushed again and nodded, “Yep, you’re a natural at that.”

The sea pony began to laugh as she swirled around, though another sound echoed in the back of Silver’s perceptions…

The sounds of a fence rattling… and this time he could tell it wasn’t just the wind. Cursing under his breath, Silver commented, “Break’s over,” before suddenly disappearing from the dream.

He jumped up and opened his eyes, feeling a rush of nausea course through him as he struggled to regain his bearings. As much as he practiced this many nights before, the return to the waking world was still a rough landing— one that threatened to empty the contents of his stomach right now. Swallowing bile, he kept to the shadows and glanced in the direction of the clattering noise, taking a defensive stance out of instinct more than anything.

The sight he saw sent a surge of protective aggression through him, something he rarely felt outside of the ever growing list of times he was jump scared. Three hooded humans stood at the patched portion of the fence with a pair of bolt cutters, and were currently struggling to tear their way through another section.

Repeat offenders? He thought to himself, shaking his head and returning his attention to the crime in progress. It didn’t matter if these were the humans who were causing the salvage yard so many problems or not, all that mattered was that he needed to get them away and make sure they stayed away.

The night pony silently poked his head out of his hiding spot and took inventory of his surroundings. There wasn’t much to work with, at least in terms of things he could use to defend the salvage yard, but as he glanced up to the nearby catwalk and took sight of the power switch that controlled the lights, an idea struck him like a bolt of lightning. He looked back up at the hazy sky and the angle the moon was sitting at, grinning as he realized that he had the perfect plan in the making.

A few dented and dusty paint cans strung together by the staircase would serve as the perfect distraction, and he just so happened to be close enough to them to knock them over and slip into the shadows again. With his impromptu plan in place, he quietly galloped toward the cans, quickly kicking them over before leaping into the air at the perfect moment, evading the sight of the humans— or so he hoped. A loud clattering gave the three a reason to pause in their criminal work, and almost in unison they turned toward Silver’s distraction, a confused look plastered across one of their faces, a bearded face that Silver was careful to memorize.

“What was that?” asked the man, turning toward the shorter of his two lackeys.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care. Let’s just get in, grab what we need to grab, and get out. We’re making enough noise as it is.”

“I don’t know man, I think we should call this off.”

“Oh give it a break Jameson,” the third voice joined in, “It’s probably just a rat or something.”

“I dunno man, I’ve never heard a rat make that much noise,” Jameson replied.

“Will you two cut it?” the bearded human harshly whispered, “let’s just hurry up and finish this.”

Smiling like some kind of hunter in the shadows, Silver reached for the light switch and yanked it down, throwing the yard into darkness with a loud click.

The three jumped back in surprise, one of them dropping the bolt cutters in the process.

With a burst of over dramatic flair, Silver flared his winds and looked down at the three from his vantage point, the hazy night sky silhouetting his aggressive display. With a glint of his fangs, he let out a loud hiss, sending the three humans running off into the night, their plans seemingly forgotten…

For now.

Comments

[The Marvel Horse]

Back to Silver!
You know, I'm always expecting something to go wrong with their jobs. It's still in the early stages and all so I suppose I'm expecting for nothing. But I do so enjoy the appearances of these side characters, I suppose their rare appearance is a bit of a treat, but it does highlight your ability to make unique characters and personalities.

I especially liked the ending bit, the description regarding how Silver experiences waking up is great, as is that whole instinctual bat/night pony behaviour.

[Numinos]

Okay, that was cute : ) Bat doing bat things and scaring intruders away : )

[TikiBat]

10616479
There was an image at the bottom that was copied over in error originally

[Stinium_Ruide]

Been a while since I was able to catch up with reading on FIMFic, but I’m glad to return back to this one, especially since I saw that it is more or less done. Hilarious to see him scare the human intruders away!