The Dream Guards

by Lusaminia

Chapter 2 – Accidental Equestrian Communication

No matter the time of year, no matter the weather, the greatest threat to anyone living in Burlington, Vermont was always the wind.

This cursed, unslayable beast was brought upon the college city by the lake that rested at its western side. While it sometimes chooses to be pleasant, nine times out of ten Lake Champlain saw it fit to send the coldest, harshest gust of wind possible who called Burlington home. This was especially true during the winter months, when trees lacked the leaves to block the incoming winds.

Many would wonder why anyone would want to live near a lake that wished its worst on residents, but this was Vermont. The residents of the state battled far worse than frigid winds on a daily basis, and that was no less true on the side of Lake Champlain. Granted not all of them battled it as well as others, but they always did. Sometimes the wind would win and push them back indoors, but more often than not the Vermonters that called Burlington home won out.

Melissa Rogers tended to deal with the former more often than the latter.

In some ways it felt silly that the wind of all things would be the worst enemy of a Magral Knight. In the past year since becoming one she had fought the sickest of dreams to the most horrific nightmares she had ever seen. All of them wanted to drain the dreams from innocents, filling themselves with power while leaving their victims trapped in a horrific state of terror or despair. Despair that had led people to their death.

In the end she chalked it up to a lack of being able to stop the wind. Nightmares and dreams either fled or died when she found them, the wind didn’t die unless it wanted to. If it wasn’t for the fact she was in her third year of college, and it being infinitely better then returning to middle-of-nowhere Georgia, she wouldn’t dare stay in the city. At least, that was what she always told herself before remembering the folks who she had befriended over the past few years.

Including someone that she had gone beyond being friends with.

Today was one of the few days that she had conquered the wind on the way to Champlain College’s dining area. Her dark blue down coat had mostly shielded her body against the worst of the elements. Only one of her fingers was gloved as she stepped inside, willingly sacrificing her left hand as she watched her private messages for any sign of her friend.

Like both days prior, she was getting absolutely nothing.

“And she said she would update us everyday,” Melissa muttered to herself.

“Relax, I’m sure she’ll be fine. This is Yolina we’re talking about after all.”

She turned her attention to her backpack, weighing her down like bricks with the textbooks that lay inside it. It was not a textbook that had spoken up, of course, but the stray thought of a talking book in her bag was funny. With a sigh, she turned her phone off and placed it in her pocket.

“Relax Meany. This isn’t her first venture out into the borders of the realm of dreams.”

“That doesn’t make me worry any less, Vee.”

“But it should remind you that she is a tougher cookie than you will ever be.”

“Living in an active warzone doesn’t automatically make someone tough.” She scowled, dramatically placing a hand to her chest. “And I take offense to you saying I’m not tough.”

“You still hesitate to pull the trigger at times when battling nightmares.”

“For a damn good reason.”

“It’s going to cost you one day. You know it just as well as I do.”

A memory flashed in Melissa’s head of a phone ringing. It was followed by the sound of a gunshot, screams… she shook her head and banished it to the corner of her mind. She shook herself like a dog, making her backpack swish back and forth. While Vee remained silent from inside her backpack, she was certain the point had gotten across.

“You had that coming and you know it,” she replied, starting to walk forward again.

---

At her request, Nurse Redheart had grabbed something nice and relaxing for Yolina to read in her downtime. As nice as the quiet had been at first, its unwillingness to end had left the thestral restless. She had no idea when this Applejack mare would arrive, or if she would be there today. The constant what if scenarios that played out in her head at what sort of dumb things her friends were no doubt continued to go away.

Having a book helped a bit, even if it wasn’t exactly her type. In her hoof was a copy of Daring Do’s first ever venture, the entire thing reminding her of a book adaptation of America’s Indiana Jones movies. The lead character being an explorer seeking ancient and priceless artifacts, the myriad traps and obstacles that blocked their path, and the bad guys who wanted to sell the artifact off for the highest bidder. She was personally more interested in murder mysteries and fantasy, but she would take what she could.

It also helped her discover that, like with her ability to speak whatever language she was currently speaking, she could read the written language. Whether it was a side-effect of crossing from one planet to another via the realm of dreams or some weird gift from being tossed into an attic by a creature that wanted her dead was unknown. It was good, though, and meant that the only thing she would need to worry about was ponies asking personal questions.

Whether Princess Luna was open with her work or not, the idea of telling ponies about her line of work felt wrong. That also meant she had to keep a large chunk of who she was hidden. Despite how much she adored fantasy writing, she didn’t have the faith to make herself a believable backstory.

The best shot she had was giving the best non-answers possible. Hopefully this Applejack pony would be okay with that.

Her eyes wandered from the pages of the book to the window showing the hospital halls. The form of Nurse Redheart stood just where it ended, talking to a pony out of view. Yolina has to guess who it could be, the brain immediately landing on the doctor, or the aforementioned Applejack.

The door opened, and her answer was given in the form of an orange mare with a stetson. Underneath said hat was a blond mane, her tail matching the color perfectly. For the briefest of moments, Yolina looked at the mare's flank. The sight of the three apples made her pause, starting to get the vague recollection that she had seen it before.

One thing she did know was that this pony wasn’t the doctor.

“Glad to see ya awake, sugarcube,” the mare said, politely removing her stetson from her head. Yolina’s ears pricked up at the heavy southern accent. This was the voice she heard last night! “You had me mighty worried for a while.”

“Sorry about that,” Yolina apologized, resting the book on her stomach. “You’re Miss Applejack I take it? The pony who saved me last night.”

Applejack nodded. “Yep, and if Nurse Redheart told me correctly your name is Yolina.”

The thestral gave her a nod.

---

After grabbing herself a small stack of pancakes, Melissa searched around for wherever her friends were. A year ago they would all sit at the window overlooking the rest of Burlington, but then two more people joined what had been a group of five. It meant the tables in that area were suddenly too small to fit the group. It was a bit of a shame, but at the end of the day having her food with her friends was worth it.

A hand started to wave at her from a booth not far away. Said hand was attached to a french girl with the same skinny build as herself. Where Melissa’s dirty blond hair stretched down her back, however, the girl before her had dyed hers a dark purple and barely reached the base of her neck. Even if she couldn’t see it from the current distance between them, she was certain a small pin was attached to the designer clothes the girl was wearing.

The same pin that Melissa had attached to her backpack.

Melissa picked up her pace, waving back to the girl happily. Upon reaching the circular booth, she found that she was the last to arrive. Swinging her backpack in front of her, she sat next to the french girl and sunk into the cushioned seats.

“I see my fierce knight has conquered the wind today,” the french girl, Lucy Francois, teased. “Rather unexpected, considering it knocked you flat on your ass the day prior.”

“Yeah, yeah, my win-lose ratio is wildly skewed right, you don’t have to tell me,” Melissa said, the disapproval in her voice not matching the smile on her face. She watched as they raised a cup of hot coffee to their lips. “But it is more than worth it to see the maiden I have claimed as my own.”

“And time.”

The blush on Lucy’s face was only matched by the simultaneous head turn to right across from them. A ginger girl two years younger than them rested her phone on the table, showing a stopped timer to the couple. A villainous smirk dawned one of her hands resting on top of her head while the other was held out to the Japanese women right next to her.

“Just like that, your ice tea is mine Akane,” she said smugly. Then she noticed the deadpan look she was being given, and cockiness faded into annoyance. “You didn’t bring it with you.”

“The Arizona stays in my room. That was decided after the fourth time you tried to steal it from my bag,” Akane replied. “I’ll get it for you later, Jay.”

Both were met with blank looks from Lucy and Melissa, though Jay seemed more offended by it then Akane.

“Really?” The couple asked. Akane gave her response with a goofy grin.

“To be fair, you two are exceptionally easy to make bets off of,” came yet another voice, this time from Lucy’s right. The owner of it was a dark skinned women the same age as Akane. “In case I need to remind you, Akane, Dragon, and I had all made bets on which of you would reveal your crush first.”

Akane folded her arms confidently. “A bet I still can’t believe I won. When I had said you two would do it at the same time, it was mainly a joke.”

“Still don’t believe it.”

“Believe it as little as you want, Holly. Doesn’t make it any less true.”

“Bets aside, could the lady currently holding me captive in her backpack please let me out.”

All attention was drawn to Melissa, who in turn was looking at her backpack in contemplation. With a heavy sigh, she unzipped the main compartment of the backpack and leaned it towards the table. Everyone watched as, from deep inside, a small plush doll dressed up like Little Red Riding Hood crawled its way out. As it reached the top of the backpack, it stretched its small arms towards the sky, opening a vertical maw that was filled with teeth far too real for the rest of its body.

“Freedom!” It cried out, its voice an odd mixture of male and female, young and old. “Finally, I am free from my prison to once again conquer the realm of re-ah!”

All it took was a weak push from Lucy, and the nightmare doll soon found itself tumbling onto the table. It fell face first into the mountain of pancakes Melissa had gotten herself, slaying the beast instantly. Jay found herself unable to hold in her laughter, Holly joining in moments later.

“And like that, the mighty night terror known as Vee has once again been defeated,” Akane replied in a low, dramatic voice akin to the narrator of a show. “Tune in tomorrow for the same thing at the same time.”

Vee removed its face from the bottom of the pancake pile and looked at Akane. The snarl the doll gave would have been terrifying if they all weren’t so used to it. “Hey, you joke, but you know if I really wanted I would squash you all in an instant.”

A hand reached across the table from Akane’s left, grabbing the doll by the head. A stockier girl brought it close to her body, practically smothering the otherworldly creation in her arms. All hate and anger seemed to melt as Marie Hoover, known affectionately as Dragon to her friends, hugged the nightmare she had created years earlier. A small smile worked its way onto her rather tired face.

“And this is why you don’t squash us,” she reminded Vee. The doll giggled at the affection as Dragon looked to the last member of their group, a dark skinned man with his eyes glued to his phone. “Anything from her yet?”

The sole guy of the group sighed, shaking his head. “Nothing. Three days, and not a single word from Yolina.”

“It ain’t like her to break a promise like that,” Jay replied, joining the rest of the group in a collective worry. “I’ve known her longer than any of you. If she isn’t responding it means something bad happens.”

“You think it's possible she got attacked by a nightmare?” Lucy asked.

Jay shook her head. “Even if she did, Yolina is the second most experienced Magral Knight I know outside of myself.”

“Meaning some random dream or nightmare wouldn’t get the better of her just by jumping her when she least expected it.” Jay looked to Drew, giving the man a nod to show he was on the right track. His hand went to his chin, tapping the underside of it. “And we know she has an internet connection because of the dream magic Vee used on all our phones.”

“Constant internet connection while also blocking any outside sources from discovering who and what you all are,” the doll replied. “Invisibility in plain sight is especially important when dealing with the worst of my kind.”

“So something has happened, but whatever that something is we don’t know,” Melissa summarized, chewing up the inside of her lip in stress. She brought her phone back out, opening her contacts. “Maybe a phone call will get her attention.”

Akane raised her brow at the suggestion. “You think she’ll respond to that when she isn’t responding to texts?”

“We gotta try something new. This is the best option we got without following after her.”

Any further objections were drowned out as Melissa focused all her attention on the ringing of the phone. With each ringing that passed, her stomach seemed to twist more and more. Then, to her surprise and joy, the call was answered. Everyone around her noticed the beaming in her eyes, Jay especially leaning in.

“Yolina? Is that you?”

Her question was followed by three seconds of silence. She was about to speak up again, but than a single word came from the other end of the line.

“H-hello?”

All the joy in Melissa’s face transformed into bewilderment. The voice that had responded did not carry the thick Ukrainian accent she associated with her friend, but a southern one. More specifically, it reminded her of a young child from some rural part of Texas.

“Um… h-hello?” The young child asked again. “Is this the mare that crashed on our roof last night?”

Mare?

Bewilderment next turned to anger at the realization that some child had managed to nab her friends phone. A child who was now clearly pulling some sick prank on her. Standing up, bringing the phone away from her ear and clutching it in her palms, Melissa decided that a calm response was not the best one.

“No. Might I ask who I am speaking to?”

“U-um. My name is Applebloom, ma’am.”

Melissa’s eye twitched at the obvious lie. “Well, Miss “Applebloom”, would you mind taking the time to explain to me why the fuck you have my friends phone?!”

The girl hung up on her, leaving Melissa painfully aware that her outburst had caused more than just her friends to look at her oddly.

---

As soon as the mystery mare had yelled at her, Applebloom had pressed the red button on the strange device and jumped off her bed. It now sat there, unmoving and dreadfully silent. It was strange, unlike anything anypony had seen before, and had now made her both scared and exceedingly more curious as to what it was.

She knew one thing about it now: ponies could talk to each other through it. The pony this time had been an extremely angry mare with a tenor voice. They mentioned a pony named Yolina, who from context clues was the owner of the device. Considering it had only shown up after the badly beaten thestral had, there was no other option.

Now she had just made Yolina’s friend mad.

Typically that would be enough to deter her from touching it again, but in curiosity lies danger. Where danger was, the Cutie Mark Crusaders could usually be found. While one part of Applebloom’s brain told her that sharing the phone with her friends was a better idea, the other was sure of one thing.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo would definitely want to see it.

Author's Note:

I’ll admit, did not expect to get this chapter out as soon as it did. Trust me when I say they won’t stay this fast in the future.

So, so many character introductions. It perhaps made the chapter feel a bit all over the place, but its important to introduce her friends now for what I have planned for the first arc of this story.

In other words, I’m sure Applebloom having Yolina’s phone won’t cause any major problems later on.

Comments

[Fireflight startrottor]

Well Luna fuck me with the moon

I herd that!

Oh fuck you