Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams?

by TikiBat

Chapter 38: A Certainly Uncertain Future

Pinpricks, needles, confused stares, and a bumpy ride were the only things that Silver could remember of his ride to the hospital. Admittedly it was probably a short ride, but the pain in his side was seemingly enough to dull the new memories into a blur of events that he could barely pay attention to. Instead his thoughts had drifted to Scarlet and the feeling of worry that came with knowing how much this kind of news would eat away at her. No doubt her bosses wouldn’t approve of her leaving work early, and in fact it wouldn’t surprise him in the slightest if she’d wind up getting hit with some kind of ridiculous disciplinary action against her, but none of that mattered right now. Night ponies were fiercely protective, and Scarlet wasn’t going to be any different.

Sitting up in bed, Silver let out a loud wince as he felt a stabbing pain in his side. Short pained breaths followed as he slowly tried to get his bearings, finding the sensation overwhelming at first. This was definitely not how he had imagined the night to go, and now more than ever he just wanted to curl up with Scarlet and go to sleep. This wasn’t a problem that would just magically fix itself and he knew that. Much to his own relief however, the door to his room opened and a tall human doctor with a noticeable violet streak in his hair walked in.

“I see you’re awake now, my name’s Doctor Chambers and I’ve been keeping an eye on you for the last few hours.”

“Last few hours?” Silver replied, rubbing a hoof against his temple and letting out a loud groan, “So… I guess a good question is what’s the damage, how long am I gonna be here, and why does it feel like I just got hit by a freight train?”

“Well, I can get to that in a moment. But first what’s your name?”

“Eclipse. Silver Eclipse,” Silver replied.

“Right, but what is that your legal name?”

Silver shook his head, “Doesn’t exactly sound like a human name does it? But it’s my name now and it’s the name I’d like to be called if that alright with you.”

The doctor held up his hands in mock surrender, “Hey it’s perfectly fine by me, but I still need your former name for medical record purposes.”

Silver nodded, “Joshua Richards. I should have an old ID somewhere in my bag.”

“They didn’t bring you in with any bags.”

“Uh huh,” Silver let out a sigh. “It’s back at work then, I’ll have my coworker or marefriend bring it over later if that’s alright with you.”

“The sooner you could do that, the better.”

“Consider it done then. So uhh... you mind filling me in on what happened? The ride over was kind of a blur for me.”

“Yes,” the doctor started, straightening his glasses, “From what I understand, you were attacked at your work and you hit one of the EMTs in the side when they went to pick you up. You kept trying to move your wings. In the interest of safety for both parties, they had to sedate you. Now don’t worry, it’s not your fault or anything. Believe me when I say that you’re not in trouble, and you’re not the first pony we’ve had to do that to.”

Silver’s eyes widened as some of those memories started to come back to him, “Is he okay?”

“A little shaken but he’ll be fine. It was more for your safety than anything else, we didn’t need you moving around and making your injuries any worse.”

Silver softened a bit and nodded, “Good. Glad to hear. So what’s the damage then?”

The doctor slowly nodded, “Would you prefer the good or the bad news first?”

“Who doesn’t want to hear the bad first? Might as well just get it out of the way,” he sarcastically replied.

“Right. Well bad news is that you’ve got a broken rib and possibly another fractured, and not a single member of staff knows how to treat that for a pony. Good news though? We don’t think it’s severe. We do want to run some more tests if that’s alright with you though.”

“So that means you get a crash course in pony care then eh?”

“Not exactly— at least not now. We do have a specialist coming in though, which is lucky for everyone. Apparently she’s the first Earth graduate from an Equestrian medical school.”

“I see, I see,” Silver replied in his best I totally understand what’s going on voice.

“Now as for the tests we’d like to conduct. We’ll probably wind up doing another series of X-rays once our specialist gets here, just so we can have a clearer idea on whether we’ve missed anything or not.”

“Didn’t you just say you’ve dealt with ponies before?”

“Our specialist on call has, but none of the staff’s been able to get training for that yet.”

“I guess that’s as reassuring as it’ll get. So is there anything I need to do right now then?”

“Just hang tight and relax,” he paused, looking down at his clipboard again, “Now how would you rate your pain level on a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst?”

Silver adjusted himself in the bed and let out a small wince as a spike of pain shot through him. It was excruciating, but it also wasn’t comfortable either.

“Eight maybe?” He groaned, squinting his eyes shut as he tried to focus on anything else than the sharp aches and pains.

“Maybe?” The doctor looked up from his clipboard.

Silver rolled his eyes, “Look, This is like my first time in the hospital, I don’t get injured very often. All I know is that breathing in hurts and it feels like somepony’s twisting a knife around in my side. I know it’s not a ten but I’m also not very comfortable at all.”

“Right, eight it is then. Is there anything we can do to make your stay a little more comfortable?”

“A glass of water, some hard core pain killers, maybe a sandwich or three, and if you could send my marefriend in then I’d really appreciate that. I’m sure she’s worried sick right now.”

“Miss Moon is actually out in the hallway right now.”

Silver’s eyes lit up in happiness as his pain briefly faded away, “Bring her in then,” he blurted out, quickly feeling a rush of embarrassment, “I mean, if it isn’t really any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble at all. Just hang tight for a minute.”

The doctor took a step out but no longer than a few seconds later he was replaced by Scarlet, who dashed over to Silver’s bed before he even had a chance to greet her.

“Who did this to you?! Did they get away?! Because if they didn’t get away then I’m gonna make them wish they got away!”

“Scar take a breath for a second. Tweyelight pinned him against a wall and I’m guessing the cops arrested him.”

“Then it looks like I’m about to spend a night in jail then because I’m going to rip him apart!”

With great effort and another wince of pain, Silver wrapped his hooves around Scarlet and held her close as tightly as he could muster. Admittedly in his current state that wasn’t remotely right at all, but Scarlet didn’t seem to care, and in moments she relented and leaned into the hug.

“I’m gonna be okay Scarlet,” Silver reassured her between pained breaths.

“Are you though? You’re in the hospital with a broken rib, maybe even some fractures, and you’re wheezing. You don’t sound good, and no offense, but you don’t look good either.”

“Maybe, but I’ll pull through, trust me,” he interrupted. “The doc said that as far as he can tell everything’s okay. They even have another doctor coming down who knows how to handle pony injuries.”

Scarlet began to mutter under her breath, but a glare from Silver quickly dispelled those actions. Instead the mare began to look around the room, and finally let out a deep breath.

“Okay. But I’m still going to make that human wish he never laid a finger on you.”

Silver couldn’t help but laugh at her response.

“What’s funny?” She asked with a growl.

“Nothing. You’re just cute when you get all riled up like this.”

She shot an annoyed glare of her own at him, “You really wanna play this game right now?”

“When you’re being cuter than usual? Of course,” he snickered.

“Just remember that it’s my turn to pick the dream tonight.”

“Oh no, you’re gonna make me wear more outfits in your dream? I think that’s a small price to pay for this.”

“Nope,” a devious smirk spread across her face, “I’m going to invite Yinyu over and then make you do that.”

Silver might have gotten all flustered before, but seeing an opportunity to surprise the mare, he instead broke into a fit of laughter, “I guess more’s the merrier then, eh?”

Scarlet flashed him a confused look, but before she had a moment to come up with some response, the door opened and the doctor from before stepped in again.

“Alright Mister Eclipse, the specialist will be here sooner than later, but it’ll still probably be a bit of a wait. So feel free to just relax for now, and let us know if you need anything.”

Silver gave the human a nod and turned towards Scarlet, “Need anything Scar?”

“You to get better,” she replied, “but some water would be nice.”

The doctor nodded, “I’ll have a nurse bring you some.”

“Thanks,” Scarlet replied with a smile.

As the doctor stepped out of the room, Silver let out an involuntary yawn. He hadn’t realized how drowsy and tense he had been before, and having Scarlet by his side had really calmed him down and eased his worries. Still feeling a little drowsy from the night’s events, and no doubt the sedatives and pain medication they had pumped him full of, Silver began to let his eyes close. This was way earlier than he was used to going to sleep at, but he didn’t care. He needed the rest, and with Scarlet curled up at his side he was as comfortable as he could possibly be. With a content smile spreading across his face, he shut his eyes and drifted off to dreamland.

---

Silver looked around at the boring mishmash of memories that formed today’s dream. Visions of family vacations long past, friends running through the park, fun adventures through an abandoned old building, and so many others danced all around him. Dreams were weird, and no matter how many times he had gone through them the mind’s knack for crafting something weird yet beautiful never ceased to amaze him.

Normally this would be the part where he leaped out of his own dream to go off on some fun adventure with Scarlet, or the point where he’d dispel the dream and instead start crafting something. Today was neither of those, and instead Silver closed his eyes and slipped into his subconscious dream.

Sitting up in the familiar cabin, he felt a warm calmness rush over him. He was home, in more ways than one here. A dash of joy ran through him as everything appeared to be in the same state he had left it, and already his mind was racing with so many thoughts about what he would add to this place. Maybe he’d try expanding it next— build out some of the surrounding forest? Or maybe he’d do something entirely different. This world was a blank slate after all, he could mold it and shape it to whatever his heart desired. The feeling of a familiar presence interrupted his thoughts however.

“How are you feeling?” asked the familiar voice of Psychic Calm, the Warden of Peace.

Glancing toward him, Silver quickly began to recite his oaths, but was quickly cut off.

“You don’t need to worry about those right now. I’m here as a mentor, not a warden today.”

“Right…” Silver nodded, noting that he had appeared in a pony form rather than as the stag that he usually appeared as. “So this is very out of the ordinary then, huh.”

“It’s not common,” he admitted. “To be honest, the reason why I came is because I could sense your distress. While it’s true that we haven’t known each other formally until recently, I felt like it was my responsibility to check up on you and make sure you were okay.”

“Makes sense I suppose. You’re a psychologist as well as a night pony and both parts of you have a need to protect and help others in need.”

“More or less,” he nodded.

Silver sat for a moment before looking over to him, summoning a comfortable chair in the subconscious dream space he was crafting in, “Take a seat and relax then. I honestly appreciate you showing up, and I wish it wasn’t under some stressful circumstance of me being knocked out in a hospital bed.”

“You’re stressed out and laying in a hospital bed,” he observed, “care to have a chat about it?”

“Not particularly,” Silver replied, “it’s just me being stressed about dumb stuff.”

“Stressing about your job and finances isn’t dumb.”

“How did you…” Silver raised an eyebrow. “Wait, no I’m dumb. You can still read minds, can’t you?”

“It’s true that I’m not here in the capacity of a dream warden, but that doesn’t change who I am.”

“Can’t turn that part of your brain off, eh?”

He shook his head, “Not at all. I hear every thought that everypony thinks all at once all the time, but you do learn to tune some of it out.”

“Okay, but still, you’re not here as a warden, it’s not your job to babysit me and make sure I’m feeling okay.”

“But I am mentoring you, aren’t I? Talking about people’s problems is literally my job, and you seem like you have a lot on your mind right now.”

Silver hesitated, “You… you don’t get to do this often, do you?”

“Talk like a normal pony with another in the dream realm? No, not nearly as much as I’d like.” He slowly walked around Silver and towards the offered chair, “Would you like to know a secret?”

“A secret? Uhh, sure?”

“We seem big and scary when we’re enforcing the rules of the dream realm because we have to. But that doesn’t change the fact that at the end of the day we’re ponies too. It’s a side of ourselves that we choose not to show often in here and for good reason too mind you.”

“It’s tough love, I get it,” Silver responded. “It’s keeping us in line in the ways that our instincts respond to the most.”

“Indeed. But is it right? Is it going too far? So many see us as monsters that sometimes it makes you wonder whether it’s the right thing to do or not.”

“I think I can see this from both points of view.”

“Can you though?”

“Of course I can, I mean this is a wild new frontier. It can be used for good things but it can also be abused. I mean you guys’ trials have already shown that clear as day.”

“And the other perspective?”

“People seeing you as monsters? I can see that too. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t see some of you like that, but that’s the key word there. Some of you.”

“Oh? And what do you mean by that?”

“What I mean is that there’s the wardens who do their job and understand that there’s lines that shouldn’t be crossed… and then there’s Sha’am…” a brief surge of fear coursed through him, “I’m sorry if that’s speaking out of turn.”

“You have no need to be sorry. This is your dream and as I said before, I am not here as a warden. Even if I were, not liking and disagreeing with the actions of my fellow Dreamwarden is not a violation of the rules, provided you aren't rude. Even Sha'am knows that very few ponies like her or her actions.”

“Right. Old habits die hard I guess. But I guess I mean it. What I said about Sha’am that is.”

“Do you think it’s poisoned how the world sees us?”

“Sha’am’s punishments?” He started to speak but paused, nodding his head, “I think it has for right now, one bad apple spoils the bunch, but that doesn’t mean it will forever.”

“Believe me, I do. Better than anypony else might.”

“So, I don’t want to just ruin this heart to heart, but why are you sharing this with me? Doesn’t this.. you know, kinda go against the whole strike fear and discipline into our hearts motif?”

“To ease your fears and worries, because I’m not here as an enforcer but as a friend, and because I know you won’t share private information shared in a dream.”

Silver slowly nodded, “Thanks for trusting me then. Guess it really is easy to forget that you’re all just ponies too.”

“Many people do.” He spoke in a cool voice but Silver couldn’t help but pick up on a lingering sense of regret, “and they can’t be blamed. So many see monsters and tyrants taking fantastical forms, yet so few actually see the reflections of our waking selves.”

“I’ll take it as an honor then,” he paused and looked away for a moment. “You’re right by the way.”

“About?”

“About me. I’m absolutely stressing about job and finance stuff, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t getting to me. I’m also stressing about how Scarlet’s taking all of this too, and it’s just… I don’t know. It’s just a lot to deal with.”

“You’re worried that you won’t be able to afford the care and hospital stay, and you’re worried that it’s going to eat at Scarlet too.”

“Oh, I’m beyond worried about that,” Silver let out a half hearted laugh. “Paying for Scarlet’s sprained leg ate up the rest of my nest egg and I know for a fact that the pennies I make at work aren’t going to cover this.”

“And you’re not an on the record employee so there’s no benefits or healthcare pay,” Psychic nodded in understanding.

“Nope. So yes, I’m worried, I’m scared, and I don’t know how we’re going to handle this. The most we own is a cabin in the middle of the mountains and I can’t imagine having to tell her that now that’s been taken away by some debt collector. Not to mention the fact that there’s probably a good chance I’ll lose my job considering I’m now a liability and I’ve basically trained a replacement that’s way more qualified.”

Psychic nodded and looked up, “What if you didn’t need to worry about that?”

“What do you mean?” Silver raised an eyebrow.

“What if I was able to help cover your medical expenses? Would that help take away some of the stress?”

“That would take a way a ton of it… but I couldn’t ever ask any pony for that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m offering of my own volition.”

“I haven’t even gotten the bill yet, and they’re bringing in some doctor that was trained in Equestria so I just know it’s going to be ridiculously expensive,” he exclaimed. “No offense, but we’re not exactly close friends or anything. In fact, I feel like this is the first time I’ve actually met the real you, and even then we’ve only been interacting for what? A week at most?”

“And?” He countered, “You want to help ponies correct? What if I’m also a pony that wants to help other ponies? Are you going to just turn me away?”

Silver stopped and considered this for a moment, “It’s just…” He sighed, “No you’re right, I’d be a hypocrite then. I guess it just feels like a lot to accept is all.”

“It is,” he shrugged, “but I wouldn’t be offering that if I wasn’t serious.”

“I… what’s the catch though? It just feels wrong taking this and giving nothing back in return.”

“There is no catch,” he paused. “However, if you want to give back then I’ll make a deal with you.”

“Sure, what’s the deal then?”

“You want to help ponies right?”

“Right.”

“Then if I help you cover this, would you be willing to work with a few ponies I know? I can’t say on what exactly, but if you agree I’ll gladly pass your information along.”

“Work with in what way?”

“Do you remember when you told me about your friends the other day? The inventions you were working on and all of those big dreams you told me about?”

“Yeah, what about them?”

“The ponies I know might be in need of a group like yours. I understand if it’s too much to ask for their help, which is why I’m not asking you to bind yourself to any deals. But if you really do want to give something back in return then I can connect you with my contacts. You can all talk it over and go from there, and see what happens.”

Silver sat in silence for a few moments, before smiling, “Okay. So let’s just say I agree to this right now? How do I approach my friends about this? This is all private information right?”

“Correct. If you agree right now then you don’t need to do anything until my contacts get in touch with you.”

“How will I hear from them?”

“They’ll approach you in here. It’s the best way to keep these talks secure after all, and they’ll give you more information on what comes next.”

“Right… In that case, I guess I’m in. I can’t promise my friends will be, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

The warden’s face formed the closest thing that Silver would count as a smile, “I was hoping you’d say that. Consider your expenses covered, and expect to hear back from my contacts sooner rather than later.”

An overwhelming feeling of happiness welled up inside of Silver, and before he had realized what he was doing, the warden was pulled into a tight hug, “Thanks… I really can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

“It’s my pleasure. I look forward to working with you more in the future, and once you’re back on your hooves maybe we can look into some of those lessons you had asked me about.”

“That sounds amazing,” Silver smiled, releasing him from his hug. “So how do I explain this to the hospital staff?”

“If the doctor they’re bringing in is who I think it is, I’ll speak to her. She’s a night pony, one of the first blessed by Yinyu, she’ll take care of the arrangements.”

“You really know the specific night pony doctor that’s being sent to my specific hospital? Doesn’t that feel a little too convenient?”

“You’d think that, but in case you haven’t noticed, there are very few ponies that have been trained by Equestrian doctors. Let’s just say that it wasn’t hard to track them down at all.”

Silver couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh, “I guess I should have expected that, eh?”

“Would you expect anything less?”

“No, I guess not,” he shrugged, “But can you blame me?”

“Not necessarily,” Psychic replied, “But I do believe this is where we say our goodbyes.”

“What do you…” Silver started, but before he had the chance to finish his sentence the dream began to quickly fade around him as he was pulled back into the waking world...

Comments

[The Marvel Horse]

Interesting development I do wonder where Psychic Calm is going with this. If I had to guess it card be stanley & squad but I fell like it'd be out of place since they already know each other.
Also Scarlet cleanses the palate and warms the heart.