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Chapter 4

Sky opened his eyes and smiled when he found himself on a hilltop under a clear night sky. A cool breeze flowed through the air, while lightning bugs slowly circled the air under the bright full moon.

Nightmare clapped next to him, giving him applause for his control over his dreams. “Wonderful, Sky Gazer. Thou hath artfully mastered the skill of controlling thy dreams. We are very proud of thee,” she said as she stood up from the ground.

Sky bowed his head as he blushed slightly. “Thank you, princess. But I still have much to learn yet.”

“That is true, and yet with thy skills to rapidly learn and apply knowledge, thou will finish thy learnings in no time. ‘Tis something to be proud of,” Nightmare replied as she beckoned Sky to follow her and began walking.

“So… what now, princess? You said I mastered changing the environment of my dreams. What will I be learning next?”

“From now, thou will learn how to gain control of thyself in thy dreams. So far thou only manipulated thy surroundings but did not give any changes to thyself. However, by applying the same principles thou used for changing thy dreamscapes, thou can gain new abilities and appearances at thy will.”

Sky tilted his head. “Okay, doesn’t sound too hard to me.”

Nightmare chuckled as she shook her head. “Oh, thou art mistaken, Sky. In order to successfully change thy appearance, or gain a new ability, thou must first clearly understand thyself. Thou must first know what thou are capable of, or will end up failing to change thy appearance, or, worse, end up becoming a distorted monstrosity. We’ve had several students in the past, and most of them fell into nightmares when they saw their distorted images. The learnings had to be called off, of course.”

“Now that actually makes it sound a lot harder,” Sky muttered.

“Manipulating one’s own imagery is something that should always be regarded with caution, and even when one succeeds, they must not mistake the image they created in their dreams with the one they have in reality. It requires fine control of the mind and the body, and the ability to strictly discipline oneself,” Nightmare Moon continued, coming to a stop before a small pond.

The pond was calm and clear, the full moon and Nightmare Moon’s reflections shining off of its waters. Nightmare Moon picked up a small rock in her telekinetic grip. “Right now the water is clear as the surface of a well-polished mirror. However, it is easy to have the surface distorted…,” she said as she threw the rock into the pond. “…like that. The mind works in the same way; while it can be clear as the clearest skies when properly controlled, it can also conjure the darkest tempests seen in the dream realm by the smallest disturbances. Thou must master this art in order to properly control thyself in thy dreams, and to also combat thy nightmares once it should become necessary.”

Sky dutifully nodded as he watched the ripples of the pond spread over the surface, bouncing off of the edges before joining back in at the center. “So how do I learn this? Is there a way to properly control my self-image?”

“Yes. A reflective surface, a mirror, or, in our case, a clear pond under the night sky, will greatly help in reducing the errors thou might make with thy self-image. Such tools help thee in reminding thee who thou truly art and will allow thee to fine-tune thy image as thou apply changes to thy appearance.”

Sky peered into his mirror, taking note of how he looked. He took note of his indigo fur, of his silver-gray mane and violet irises. He took every detail of his appearance into his mind, firmly engraving them within vivid memory. He then turned to Nightmare Moon, who was looking at him expectantly.

“Now try picturing yourself, and imagine your body turning into whatever thou want to be. Remember, the transformation needs to be done slowly as if watching the leaves on a tree change colors as the seasons change. Therefore, thy imagination must also work in a slow, orderly fashion.”

Sky nodded, and then closed his eyes as breathed in deeply. He cleared his mind of any other thoughts, concentrating on the creature he wanted to be. He slowly imagined himself changing, of how his physical proportions would change accordingly. When he had finished picturing the transformation, he opened his eyes and looked down at himself.

His legs were longer and leaner, and so was his body. His tail was no longer a long collection of hair, but a short, round one instead. His muzzle had become longer too, and when he looked up he saw that he now had antlers. He peered into the pond, and saw that he had successfully done it; he was now a deer instead of a pony.

Nightmare Moon walked over to him and put a hoof on his shoulder. “Wonderfully done, our student. ‘Tis very rare that one gets self-transformation correctly in his first try. Although…,” she said as she took a closer look at his features, “it seems that thou became quite acquainted with mine eyes.”

Sky turned his eyes towards his reflection in the pond once more, and sure enough, his pupils were now narrow vertical slits while his irises glowed an iridescent turquoise instead of their normal violet hue.

Sky scrambled backward in surprise with a gasp, his rump falling to the ground as his hindlegs gave out beneath him. Suddenly, the dreamscape began to twist and warp, the trees around them twisting and turning into grotesquely distorted figures. Lightning bugs began to flash around in every which direction, chaotic movements filling the air as their tail lights flickered and burned. The ground began to shake and rumble, the pond splashing violently as the vibration shook the water and caused it to overflow.

Nightmare Moon lit her horn, a streak of bright light emanating from its tip.

Then everything turned black.

Sky carefully opened his eyes. He saw complete black, a darkness darker than even the darkest nights he had ever seen. There was no sky nor any ground to be told apart from each other. He carefully took a step forward, only to discover that there, in fact, was no solid surface at all. He was floating around in this darkness alone with nothing to show directions or to guide him.

Then, in the distance, he saw a shimmering light, a glinting spark that seemed to be gradually getting brighter. He reached out to it, trying to propel himself in the direction of the light, but without anything for his hooves to make contact with, it was all he could do to flail around in one place.

The light slowly became brighter, its source continuously approaching him at what seemed to be a crawl. Then, as the light neared even closer, its brightness dimmed, showing the pony behind the light source.

Nightmare Moon approached Sky with her horn lit, a slightly disappointed expression etched on her face. Her pupils were locked onto him while her lips were pursed into a thin line. But through that mask of disappointment, Sky noticed a totally different emotion: sadness. The Night Queen’s ears were splayed back, and her eyes, even though focused on him, carried an air of sorrow.

Sky Gazer stayed silent, wondering what he should say to her. They both stayed silent for some time, merely floating around in the abyss.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Nightmare Moon spoke first. “Thou failed to maintain control of thy emotions, Sky. Thou let surprise and fear disturb your mind, which lost thee thy focus on the transformation. ‘Twas a dangerous moment, one that put thy mind at grave risk.”

Sky hung his head. “Sorry, princess….”

“Nay, don’t be sorry, my student. We ought to have prepared thee better before teaching this lesson. ‘Twas a mistake on our part. If we hadn’t intervened in time, thou could have fallen into a perpetual pit of nightmares, with no hope of recovery whatsoever. Even with our powers, we would not have been able to help thee.”

“Why is it, princess? Normally when I have a nightmare I am able to wake up when it ends. But you said that this time I wouldn’t have been able to escape on my own. Why is that?” Sky inquired as he finally lit his own horn, brightening their surroundings a bit more.

“Thou must understand that there is an essential difference between a normal nightmare and one induced during a transformation spell. During nightmares that occur normally, the mind is focused on the imminent threat present in thy dreams with an intact sense of the self. However, in case of a nightmare caused due to disturbances during transformation, the sense of the self becomes distorted and warped. Preserving that self-image is critical in being able to wake up, and without it, nopony would be able to escape from their dreams,” Nightmare answered as she looked away. “We are sorry, Sky. We ought to warn thee better of the risks involved in this. We became excited about… about how well thou were doing in thy lessons and became careless, and we put thy psyche in jeopardy. We ought to have known better than that. We—”

“Princess,” Sky cut her off with a tone that made Nightmare Moon look at him, “it’s okay. You managed to save me from falling into that endless cycle of nightmares. No one is perfect, and we learn from our mistakes. It’s what makes us ponies instead of… I don’t know, some unnatural powerful beings. You protected me from my own mistakes, and that’s enough for me,” he said as he smiled at her.

Nightmare Moon nodded as she smiled. “Thank you, our student. Thank you for… understanding and forgiving us of our mistakes.”

Sky waved a dismissive hoof. “It’s nothing, princess. It’s nothing compared to all the things you’ve done for me.”

“Still, we are grateful for thy understanding, our student. Now, shall we head back to thy normal dreamscape?” Sky nodded, and Nightmare Moon lit her horn once more.

Then everything went white.

Sky opened his eyes and found himself lying under the same trees he had seen numerous times now. The same clearing he had been in his dreams so frequently lay before him, offering its generous view to the night sky. And despite having been here so many times previously, every visit felt new to Sky Gazer.

“We brought thee here because thou seemed to like this place a lot,” Nightmare Moon said as she sat next to him.

Sky nodded. “I do,” he replied as he simply lay there, gazing up at the stars on his back. “It never gets old no matter how many times I come here. Even during the nights you’re not in my dreams, I just come here to enjoy the overall serenity and peace this place has.”

Nightmare Moon silently nodded, the two of them not speaking for some time again.

“So… what now, princess?” asked Sky as he continued to count the stars, every sparkling dot a jewel stuck in the night sky to him.

“We think that we ought to simply relax for a bit. ‘Tis a well-deserved break, after the hard learning and the shenanigan that happened earlier,” Nightmare Moon replied, rolling onto her back as she spread her wings on the ground. She patted the ground next to her, to which Sky obliged and rolled over to her side. Nightmare Moon then folded her wing, tenderly wrapping him in a feathery embrace. Sky giggled as the feathers tickled at his barrel, squirming slightly before finding a position comfortable for him. He finally let out a relaxed sigh as he snuggled deeper into the Nightmare’s side, relishing in the warmth her body gave him.

“So, how’s thy sister doing, Sky?” Nightmare asked after a short silence.

“Oh, she’s doing good, I’d say. She goes to school now, and she says that all her classmates are nice, as well as her teacher. She’s doing well, especially now that she’s got friends to hang out with,” Sky replied, a smile floating up to his face.

“We see. And thy father?”

“He’s doing okay, I guess. He still has days where he’s feeling down about mother and stays in his room all day long, and he still gets drunk sometimes, but it’s not as frequent as it was before. He’s doing much better overall.”

“We are glad to hear thy family is doing well. It would certainly help for thy mental wellbeing if thy family is in good condition.”

“Yup. Dawn and father are the two ponies who can light up my day when I’m feeling down,” Sky answered before asking, “What about yours, princess? What was your family like, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Nightmare Moon fell silent as she looked up into the sky for a long time. Eventually, she replied, “Perhaps it’s best if we answered that question another time, Sky. For now, though, let’s simply relax.”

Sky nodded, and once again snuggled deeply into her side. He didn’t resist as sleep washed over his eyes, letting them slide close and block out his vision. Soon he fell fast asleep, undisturbed by anything until the sun rose and shined through his curtains and onto his eyelids.

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