Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams?

by TikiBat

Epilogue: Reaching for New Horizons

Silver paused his story with a content look on his face. The many memories that had been brought back to the surface seemed to hit him all at once, and the memory of his proposal to Scarlet threatened to make him cry happy tears right then and there. Orion, however, clearly hadn’t picked up on this, and instead seemed annoyed that the story had been interrupted yet again.

“And then what happened?!” He excitedly asked, bouncing around in the bed slightly.

Silver looked down at him and smiled, using the tip of a wing thumb to gently wipe a tear out of his eye. “So much happened next…” he paused. “But I think that’s a story for another time.”

“Awww. But I wanna hear more!” He protested.

“I know little buddy, but you have school tomorrow and your mother is going to be very unhappy with both of us if you stay up too late again.”

“But it’s only twelve!”

“Which is way past your bedtime, and you know that.”

Orion’s ears drooped down and the beginning of a pout started to creep across his face. Cosmo, picking up on this, started to excitedly lick the colt’s face.

Silver gently brushed a hoof through his mane. “I promise I’ll tell you some more, but not today. There’s so much more like the part where we met Auntie Sapphire for the first time and she scared us, or the part where we moved out here,” he ran a hoof through the colt’s mane agan, “Or the part where you showed up and changed our lives forever…. But you’re gonna want to be awake for that, won’t you?”

“But I’m not tired!” In an almost perfectly timed moment, he let out a long, drawn out yawn.

“Oh really? Because you seem pretty tired to me.”

“A little,” he finally relented.

“Which is why you need to get your sleep, mister. You still wanna be the big brave night pony that goes to the moon right? Well you better get to sleep then because they only let night ponies who go to bed on time ride in the rocket ships.”

Orion seemed conflicted, as if Silver had somehow introduced some great existential conflict to him. Finally he smiled and let out a happy little squeak. For a moment he seemed like he was going to protest, but instead nodded his head and snuggled up to their dog, who gave a happy bark.

“Okay.” Was his simple response.

“Good. Now you snuggle up to Cosmo and keep him nice and comfy too, okay?”

“Okay.” Orion wrapped a foreleg around the dog and held onto him tightly. “Are you gonna tell another story tomorrow?”

Silver nodded. “I will. It’s a good one too.”

“You promise?” He asked, almost hopping out of bed again.

“I promise, kiddo,” Silver said as he tucked him in. “I’ll see you in the evening, goodnight Orion.”

The colt let out another long yawn and cuddled up closer to the dog. “Goodnight dad, I love you.”

Silver smiled, “I love you too Orion.”

Silver closed Orion’s door and slowly trotted down the hall towards his and Scarlet’s room. Something about the whole story just brought so many happy memories back to him, and even though it had all happened almost nine years prior, they were still as fresh in his head as the day they had happened.

So much had changed in that time. The Oasis had grown from the tiny derelict mining town in the middle of a desert to a thriving city that was centered around an actual oasis. What was once a handful of outcasts had grown into one of the biggest pony centric population centers on the west coast, and had even become a surprising hub for night ponies looking to get into the more scientific and studious fields like he had once before. It was one of the rare places where you could see a larger grouping of night ponies than usual and one of the rarer places where there weren’t the usual bouts of fighting and competition that you’d find in those large groups. With how it was growing and already spreading, Silver only hoped that that sentiment would continue to spread further.

That was just one of the many things he liked about the Oasis. It was a place that had grown far beyond the simple vision that drove its creators to make it, and instead turned into a shining example of what ponies and humans could do when they worked together— and Silver couldn’t have felt any more proud of that. His thoughts drifted back to the prototype for the personal smart gauntlets he had helped Sine Wave, Tinker, and Gyro put together, and even that too had grown so much over the years. From a small barely working prototype, to the increasingly popular consumer product that was now starting to connect ponies all over the place— it had become something that he never imagined would ever get off the ground, yet it had. The story of The Oasis, much like the story of how he had met Sapphire Sky, was one for a different time, and perhaps he too would recount that to Orion, for the foal had lived through much of it after all.

Silver gently pushed open the bedroom door and trotted in, smiling as he looked over at Scarlet, who was typing away at her computer. Her long mane was pulled up into a loose bun and she had a blanket draped over her back, but she still seemed mostly alert and awake. He didn’t mean to take as much time with Orion as he had, but he was relieved to see that she hadn’t gone to sleep yet.

“Find anything good yet?” he quietly asked his wife.

Scarlet looked up from the monitor and shrugged, “I found an astronomer job like an hour ago… that was the surprisingly easy part. You on the other hand? Guess classes in regular old dreamwalking and robotics are a little hard to find right now.”

“I figured.” He nodded. “Did you try anything else though?” Silver asked as he slid onto the seat next to her. “Where are these at? Colorado?”

“Colorado and Nevada were the first two I looked at, but these are over in Sapphire’s turf. Probably should have just looked there first… I kinda have a feeling we’ll have a lot more luck there.”

“Probably,” he agreed. “At least the UP’s pretty nice, and we already have friends up there.”

“Which is a nice perk,” Scarlet commented. “It’s also closer to New York so that’ll be nicer in the summers.”

“Plus Orion won’t have to make new friends all over again.”

“That’s exactly why I should have done this first. Would have been easier for all three of us,” She smirked as the job listing page at one of the local universities up there loaded. “Now you’ve got a few options if you wanna go the history professor route, or you could try some new fancy subject at one of the art colleges that I found.”

The idea seemed interesting enough to Silver, “Yeah? What kind of a fancy new subject are we talking about?”

Scarlet let out a small giggle. “It’s right up your alley, and I swear it was made just for you.”

“Uh huh, so what is it?” Silver raised an eyebrow.

“Something called foundations of dream crafting. Sounds like the kind of class where you get to make a bunch of fun stuff in a dream or something. Not sure what kind of art that counts as… but you’re probably the best pony for the job so…”

Silver looked at the job listing and nodded, “Sign me up, I think that sounds like a blast.”

“For which one?” Scarlet hovered one of the mechanical fingers on her gauntlet over the mouse.

Silver hesitated for a moment. The dream crafting class was his obvious go to, but it was also a little more limited. An idea struck him. “Why not both, it’ll give me more of a chance to get something that works for both of us, and maybe I’ll kick out and get to teach both.”

“You sure about that? Because you seem really drawn to the dream crafting one,” she smirked.

“I am, but both is the smarter option. I’ll take whatever I can get.”

“Both it is,” she clicked the mouse a few times. Double checking that both of their applications had gone through, she slipped off the gauntlet and connected it to its charger. “Now it’s just a matter of waiting.”

“How long do you think that’ll take?”

“Welll…” she started. “For a couple of young adults fresh out of getting their teaching credentials… probably a while. But hooves crossed luck’s on our side. It is up in Sapphire’s camp, so who knows. Maybe she’ll pull some strings for us or just put in a good word. I don’t know how much of an influence she really has up there, but she probably knows some ponies at the university.”

Silver smiled. “I have a good feeling that everything’s going to work out just fine.”

“I’m sure it will too, I’m just being paranoid about it because it’s a big career shift for us. Give me like two days and we’ll be good.” She stood up and trotted over to the bed, waving Silver over with a wing. “So how about some before bed snuggles? I think I could use some.”

Silver leaped up from his spot and jumped over onto the bed, snuggling up next to her. “You know I’m always down for those.”

Scarlet wrapped a foreleg around him. “Good. Because I’m in the snuggling kind of mood.”

Silver made himself comfortable and sighed a happy sigh. “Me too.”

“So what took you so long anyways? Did Orion give you some trouble again or something?”

“The usual.” Silver replied. “Our bright little star didn’t want to go to sleep so I told him another story, and that took a bit longer than usual.”

“Which one was it this time?” She asked. “Was it the epic conclusion to the saga of the brave night pony going to go fight off the space monsters?”

Silver shook his head.

“Oh really? Well, was it the one about the space pony from the moon?”

“I like to think it was a little better,” Silver smirked. “I’ll give you a hint. This one was non fiction.”

Scarlet’s face scrunched up in confusion. “Non fiction? Was it just some story your dad used to share with you?”

Silver’s heart filled with a sweet nostalgia “Nope! It was something a lot more heartfelt and sappy.”

“Oh? Heartfelt and sappy you say…”

“As heartfelt and sappy as it could get. Orion asked about how we met so I told him everything— at least up until we met Sapphire.”

Scarlet’s face lit up with a nostalgic glow. “Oh my gosh, you did? That’s so adorable.”

“It really was. I didn’t think he’d be interested in hearing all that, but he was practically begging me to tell him more.”

“That’s too cute. So are you going to tell him more then?”

“He made me promise I would,” Silver laughed. “It really brought back a lot of memories, I can tell you that much.” Silver smiled. “All good stuff though… stuff that still makes me get all sappy and happy cry over.”

Scarlet smiled, “I bet. Time sure does fly, doesn’t it?”

“A lot faster than I wish it would sometimes.” He rolled over to face her. “But you know what that means?”

“Huh?” She asked with a confused note.

“It means we just get to make even more cute memories.” He gave her a kiss. “The day I met you is still the best day of my life, and I’m so glad we get to do so much together.”

“Wanna know a secret?” She asked. “That really was the best day of my life too, and I’m not just saying that to be cute.”

Silver’s heart filled up with a deep love and nostalgia again, “I love you so much Scarlet.”

“I love you too Silver,” she replied back with a smile.

Accompanied by a few more kisses and some warm cuddles, the two quickly fell asleep in each other’s embrace, entering the dream realm as they had done every day for many years.

Their life together up to this point had been an adventure full of many twists and turns, and the future ahead of them would probably be filled with much the same. One thing was certain however; as long as they were together, the future would always be filled with happiness, love and millions of happy memories… and that’s exactly how they liked it.

Author's Note:

Here we are, at the end of the line. I appreciate everyone who’s read along so far, and I really appreciate anyone who’s left a comment or told me what they thought about the story. This is a project that started three years ago, and was my first ever story, and being able to finish it and have it live up to my original creative vision just makes me so happy and words can’t describe how I feel about it.

In a really weird way I almost feel like writing this chapter was saying goodbye to the characters, even though they have more content coming up in the near future. It’s just one of those weird feelings I get with the project, because it’s been so special to me. I hope you’ll all stick around for what’s coming up next, there’s some good stuff in store!

Comments

[Lawra]

Congratulations on finishing your rewrite. You've come a really long way since your first story it was great to see your characters get more room to develop and to be along for your own growth as a storyteller.

[Halira]

Congratulations on finishing the rewrite. I know it was a labor of love on your part, and you did a good job.

[Numinos]

That was quite the story, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the ride! : )

[TikiBat]

10852108
I’m really glad you enjoyed it! There’s a sequel out and a few more on the way if you’d like to see where else it all leads to.

[TikiBat]

10850675
Glad you liked it, the story is officially done now, and I hope you’ll enjoy the rest of it! Feel free to keep leaving feedback, that means a lot to me

[TikiBat]

10881021
There was a surprising amount of discussion behind the scenes on this haha

[The Marvel Horse]

Who tf is Sapphire is my new question. Dangling that tease to get me to read the sequel smh good job

I'm feeling like Orion, but I'm glad that this extra bit of teasing was mixed in with the closure of where their lives are now, and where they're going. Made it more satisfying.

Congrats on finishing this! And thank you for bringing us on the ride, I thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Ravenpuff]

Alright, finally finished up reading this story. Is good fluff with world building going on to setup this world I assume continues on in other stories considering all the teasing about it both in and out of this fic XD

Maybe a bit heavy on the foreshadowing in the last couple of chapters, while I like the intrigue left in-story about Silver questioning things in others' motives and such with no clear solution in this story. Making me look forward to look for those answers in the following stories after this one, once I've cleared my reading schedule again.

Stanley still my fave, but you got a lot of neat characters going. For a first fic, it's very good. You can tell the development in your writing style as the story went on, as I do recall you took at least three years on this?
So I'm looking forward to look at the later stories to observe your continued development in that.

[TikiBat]

11010771
I'm glad you enjoyed it, that means a lot to me. Hopefully you'll read onto the next ones when you have some time, they definitely expand on some of the loose ends.

[TikiBat]

11023054
Stanley was based very loosely in how management at one of my old jobs was. You had a heavy disconnect between the higher ups and the front liners and it took one of the newcomers working their way up to a management position to start making things better for employees