Runaround
“Little flower, little flower, I have been waiting this whole hour! Come out and start blooming or I will start foo- fe- fuming!”
Dusk Shine bit back a groan at the way little Sunshine Sprinkle delivered her lines, giving the abdomen of her bee costume a shake that set the whole audience besides him chuckling. He didn’t have anything against foals; he loved most of them to bits, especially the Cakes’ new twins. But he did have very unpleasant and nigh catastrophic memories of foalhood plays. He’d only ever been in one play put on by Solaris’ School for Gifted Unicorns, stuck onto the cast list more or less against his will. It had been a well-intentioned experiment of the Prince’s to see how his new student handled being in the spotlight, and he had understood that nopony really expected a play about food groups and nutrition to go badly.
‘Dusk Shine the Blissful Banana’ did not take his first monologue in front of an audience of staring ponies well, however. After everypony realized that half the cast wasn’t actually supposed to be a pile of fruits and vegetables and the purple unicorn colt wasn’t following stage directions by running in panicked circles, Solaris had stepped in to put a stop to the ensuing ruckus.
Dusk Shine was just thankful his costume had already been yellow.
“Is this really necessary?” he sighed.
“Hush, Dusk Shine,” Prince Solaris muttered out of the corner of his mouth, “this is my favorite part!”
Dusk Shine suppressed another groan and more unpleasant memories, fidgeting in his seat.
Sunshine Sprinkles skipped her away across the stage.“Bumblebee! Bumblebee! This flower is for me! Step back or I will do... my thing!”
Another foal dressed in a cardinal’s costume hopped on stage in a passing imitation of an anxious bird. She confronted the bumblebee and the two started long, clumsily pronounced speeches about why they both deserved the flower. The embarrassed looking colt in the flower costume just turned to look at each of the fillies while they spoke.
Dusk Shine felt his eyelids droop. "I'm just finding it hard to believe your urgent letter was an invitation to a school play. About the birds and the bees."
"Come now, Dusk," Solaris chided him, a beatific smile tugging at his lips, "we all need a refresher every now and then.”
“Ugh...”
“Besides, why not relax a little before we dig into the serious business?”
Dusk Shine looked up at his teacher. “You mean you believe-”
“Shh,” Solaris hushed him, eyes on the play, “all things in their time, Dusk.”
Dusk Shine settled back into his seat and watched the remainder of the play. While foreign rulers found it hard to believe that Prince Solaris took time out of ruling Equestria and making sure the Sun didn’t smash into the earth to watch foalhood plays, Dusk knew him better than that. He wasn’t just a Prince, some untouchable ideal seated on a golden throne. He was a pony, just like the rest of them. Wise and millenia old but with the same heart. He’d seen it, growing up in the palace and being taken under Solaris’ wing when he had nightmares or ruminating with him over magical equations. The hours of the day he had command of were given completely to his little ponies. He saw it in the way the Prince spoke to each and every pony who came to court with the same politeness and affection, no matter their age or position. He saw it in the way he regarded the children on stage as if they were his own. This wasn’t the Prince of Equestria, it was Solaris, who loved the land and everypony in it, enough to do something as ‘demeaning’ as attend a play at one of Canterlot’s less important districts.
The play came to a saccharine conclusion as bird, bee, and even flower decided to make friends with each other, complete with a song that was so adorably off-key Dusk struggled not to burst out laughing by the end.
The Prince’s applause nearly drowned out the rest of the audience. “Bravo! Bravo I say!” he roared from their box seat, and by the infectious grin on his bearded face Dusk knew he was being sincere. “Excellent work, all of you! Good job little ponies!”
The foals beamed as they scampered off stage. Dusk Shine hoped to immediately start talking about his little issue, but Solaris hopped out of his seat and dropped to the ground floor, congratulating the parents and faculty for a successful performance. He leaned against the balcony railing, bored out of his formidable mind.
“Impressive, is it not,” a smooth, cool voice whispered from the shadows behind Solaris’ seat, “how he manages to be so affectionate at all hours of the day?”
“Prince Artemis!” Dusk started, turning to face the alicorn. “But it isn’t even sundown?”
“I got up early,” Artemis said with a toss of his ethereal mane, “and Solaris needed somepony to mind the castle whilst he mingles. Do not worry, this is just a projection of mine; I’m still attending court, but the throne room is empty and I wanted to see if I could, how do you say, ‘hang out’ with nothing else to do.”
Dusk Shine smirked. Artemis’ command of modern vernacular had improved quite a bit since they last spoke. “It is nice,” he answered, “Solaris really wants everypony to feel like they’re valued. I can wait a little while.”
“He mentioned it,” Artemis exclaimed, “your letter, that is. He seemed excited to speak to you about it. Dreams of a mysterious filly? That could turn out to be another misadventure of yours… or there may be deep magic at work here.”
Dusk Shine blinked. “Deep magic? You think-”
“Dreams are my specialty, Dusk Shine. Anypony can dream whenever they want, but dreams are still closely linked to my realm of Night. Even I dream.”
The Prince’s lips drew a tight line, and he looked to the floor, dusky eyes sharp and contemplative.
“But my dreams are always business. Never pleasure.” He glanced up again, and even though he wasn’t there in pony, Dusk Shine felt the intensity of his gaze. “Mind yourself when investigating this, Dusk Shine. Every dream means something.”
“Artemis!” Solaris barked with exaggerated ferocity as he flew up to the box seat again. “What have I told you about skulking around being all mysterious? The way you use your shadow-phasing, you’d think King Metamorphosis still had spies everywhere!”
“Sorry, brother,” Artemis sighed, “I was just trying to speak to Dusk Shine about his little problem.”
Solaris harrumphed. “Well, no need for all this back room haggling. Come, Dusk Shine! To the palace!”
There was a flash of light, and Dusk Shine found himself standing in the private quarters of Prince Solaris, surrounded by splendor. It didn’t even matter to Dusk Shine anymore, who had grown up at the very hooves of the Prince. Solaris lit up a fire in the hearth with a flash of his horn. Artemis sat in the corner, away from the flames and in a place where he could observe the whole room.
“Still shadow-phasing?” Dusk asked. Artemis nodded.
“I wished to be present at this discussion, if you do not mind.”
Solaris smiled. “Not at all, brother! Dusk Shine, please sit down. I’ll have some tea sent up.”
In a matter of minutes they were seated on luxurious cushions sipping steaming hot Neighponese green tea save Artemis, who still sat in the corner with a look of intense concentration.
“Now, Dusk,” Solaris said once they were settled in, “I know what you’re thinking, me bringing you to that play.”
“It was a fine jape, brother,” Artemis said with the barest hint of a smile.
“But,” continued Solaris, giving Artemis a sharp glance, “I did not want to make light of your concerns.”
“Oh, I understand!” Dusk blurted out, all of his previous indignation forgotten in the face of even a hint of regret from Solaris. “I’m not offended. You just thought it’d be a nice way to break the ice, get me thinking. I know how my letter must have sounded.”
“Panicked,” Solaris said, “vague. Anxious. Much in the way any colt gets about their first crush. So let’s get this out of the way. You have not found a certain filly whose company you enjoy greatly and cannot get out of your mind.”
“No.”
“Well, shoot.”
“What?!”
“Nothing, nothing,” Solaris said, hiding his shifty expression behind his cup of tea, “though that would be easier to deal with, certainly...”
Dusk Shine rolled his eyes.
“Solaris, it’s not so much that as what the dream seems to mean. I’m not sure how to explain it, so I’ll just describe it as best as I can."
He took a deep breath.
"It starts in a dark place. There’s nopony else there but me, but I can’t help but feel like it isn’t an empty place, or even a scary one. It’s not a void so much as it feels like a space waiting, needing to be filled by something.”
Dusk Shine bit his lower lip, uncertain how to describe the next part in detail.
“I-it’s not like a nothingness. It’s like there’s something that’s supposed to be there, something that I should know, or remember. Like the final question on an exam that you know you know the answer to, but it just won’t come to you. And for some reason I can’t move. I can’t look around. Just ahead. I want to look around, but there’s something that stops me before I do.”
He let out a gentle, yearning sigh, looking out the window as he gathered his thoughts for what came next. Outside the sun was beginning to drop beneath the horizon. Soon dusk would fall on Equestria and only the sun's light would remain for a few twinkling minutes, like it was bidding everypony a comfortable good night. Dusk would fall on Equestria. Dusk liked to think he helped ensure that comfort given all he'd done for his fellow ponies.
“There's somepony with me," he said, entranced by the thought of the stars appearing.
"Who?" Solaris asked. His voice sounded far away.
"I'm not sure. I think I know who she is."
The words were breathed out more than said, feeling as though they tore out a little piece of him as he let them pass his lips. There was a sense of stillness, accompanied by intense longing in him as he stopped, almost unable to go on.
“She?" Artemis asked into the dreadful silence.
“Just her,” Dusk Shine said. “I don’t know her name, or anything. I just know I know her. It’s this intense familiarity, but I feel like I don’t know her well enough, and I want to get to know her better. But I can’t say anything. Something is stopping the words before they can get out. She hears something, though, something I don’t. It makes her turn. Not far enough to see me, but far enough that I can see her face, and her cutie mark.”
He looked up at Solaris, eyes wide.
“It’s my mark. And she looks just like me.”
The Princes were silent.
“I wake up in a sweat. I feel like something hasn’t been done that I desperately needed to do. I feel like I should have said something to her. Like all of this is a dream I had before, but not like this. It felt as if I was the one telling myself all this over and over, just forgetting it each time I woke up. Except it’s not quite me. It’s like I was watching something and controlling it all at the same time. Putting myself through this. But why?"
He looked up at Solaris.
"Do you know what I mean, Prince?" he asked, voice hushed. "Every day for the past few weeks has been like this and I just don’t know what to make of it anymore. I’d do my best to delve into some dream-seeing, but I know that’s Artemis’ camp and he doesn’t like it when ponies barge in unexpectedly on anything, let alone his particular fields of magic, and then there’s the fact that it doesn’t feel like any magic is being cast during the dream, so it’s gotta be coming from somewhere else-”
“Dusk,” Solaris said with a patient smile, “you’re babbling. Don’t worry. I am here to help you.”
Dusk breathed in and out the way Solaris taught him to whenever he got too worked up, starting in the belly and taking it slow, gradually bringing his emotions to heel.
“It seems that your little problem requires a bit more... focus,” Solaris continued, eyes half closed, his tone much more solemn than before, “and if that is the case, there are a few things that should be cleared up before we continue.”
Dusk remembered Artemis’ words and shivered. “Is it... bad?”
“Hardly,” Solaris answered, “but it is important, Dusk Shine. There are many mysteries in this world, mysteries I know you are keen to solve.” His half-lidded eyes fell completely in line with Dusk Shine’s, making him shiver with the power and knowledge behind his rosy pupils. “If what you are saying is true, then it is time I shared some of them with you. I had thought that perhaps we could wait on this conversation, but I believe the Elements have thrust this time upon us. So, my faithful student, are you ready to learn?”
“I am,” Dusk Shine answered without hesitation, squaring his shoulders and smiling wide. Ready to learn? As if the Prince needed to ask! Solaris glanced at Artemis, who nodded once. The two of them shared a furtive, bemused smile before Solaris spoke.
“I’m sure you have been wondering a great deal about your place in the world as the Element of Magic. You have been entrusted with deep and ancient power. But not by us.”
Dusk Shine bit back a gulp as Artemis picked up where his brother left off.
“When we first possessed the Elements, they were no more than what you have now: forces that gave us aid in times of great need. But over time, we began to grow more... aware of their place in our lives. Though we kept them safe with us for many centuries, we were never able to fully puzzle out how or why the Elements choose their bearers the way they do. And they do choose, Dusk Shine. They chose you and your friends.
“The Elements are more than what even we know. They have the capability to tell us things, things of great importance. They judge their owners in ways we do not yet understand. You, Dusk Shine, accomplished things that should be impossible. You and your friends defeated Chaos itself, even though you and your friendships had been ripped asunder. You brought my brother back from the brink of the abyss, before you even knew the Elements were with you. And you were instrumental in saving the Crystal Empire from the depredations of Queen Sombra. With such an impressive resume, it seems obvious that Magic decided you had proved yourself worthy, and chose now to begin relating to you mysteries it had only whispered to my brother and I.”
“You mean these dreams are my Element speaking to me?” Dusk Shine gasped. “But if that’s true...”
He tapped his chin.
“Is Magic a filly?”
There was a moment of silence before Solaris and Artemis burst out laughing. Dusk Shine immediately blushed and looked away.
“Well, it seemed the most applicable theory, given all the evidence,” he said.
“Oh, no, Dusk Shine, some levity is always good when discussing deep and ancient things!” Solaris said through his chortling, “but no! No, Magic and the rest of the Elements are not one of us, my faithful student. They have no gender or classification; they are what they are. Magic is trying to tell you something about this unknown pony, or something about not knowing this pony has some meaning that Magic means to relate to you.”
Dusk Shine sat in silence, trying to comprehend what he was hearing: his Element had a mind of its own and meant to tell him something. The implications were mind-boggling, even a little frightening.
“Should I be wearing it more often?” he asked. “The Element, I mean? If it wants to talk to me, then maybe I should connect myself to it physically a little more.”
Solaris’ brow furrowed, raising his gaze to peer at the space above Dusk Shine’s head, and when he spoke his voice grew a little more faint and deep, reverberating with some intangible, ethereal quality. Dusk Shine could have sworn he even saw small, tiny swirls of energy coloring the breaths that Solaris took in that moment.
“Magic is not just the jewel you wear, Dusk Shine. It is the magic you feel all around you. It springs to life in the heart of any pony who feels kinship with another. It hovers in the air above you when you organize your books, and swims through the clouds alongside the pegasi. It resides in every tiny seed tended to by earth pony hooves, and rises up alongside every generation that watches a tree grow in the park. It runs wild and untamed in the depths of Everfree Forest, courses through the blood of Dragons, and resides in the depths of the ocean with every great and tiny beast that lives there. It hides in the deep places of the earth and watches over the making of our world when rocks shift and mountains fall. It sings with me and my brother when we lift and bring down the Sun and the Moon, and dances in every tiny spark that unicorn foals make when they grow.”
His fathomless eyes glanced down at Dusk Shine again, and he shivered with fearful respect. Solaris seemed larger than normal, looming over him, and beside him Artemis’ eyes shone with some light that seemed to come from inside. Alongside the joy and compassion, behind the gentle smiles and wise judgments, there were ponies who had seen the rise and fall of kingdoms and taken on naked chaos with their bare hooves, and Dusk Shine felt incredibly small.
“Whenever you smile upon seeing your friends, whenever you fall asleep reading some ancient tome, every time your horn glows, you are communing with Magic. It never lacks for conversation with us or you. It is simply taking the time to talk back in a more direct manner than you are accustomed to.”
“But how am I supposed to answer?”
Solaris smiled, and his overcast shadow lightened like the dawn.
“That is the question, isn’t it? Due to the nature of the Elements, I am afraid that I cannot act as a guide here, my faithful student, only as a helping hoof when you need it. You are closer to the Element of Magic than even I. Because of this I think it best if you look into this yourself, with your sharp mind and open senses. But you will not be on your own. Artemis and I will be here to help you. You will be given free reign of the archives here and a direct line to Canterlot whenever you need it. Observe...”
Solaris bowed his head, his horn glowed, and a complex sigil appeared on the floor in front of Dusk Shine. It took the shape of a large circle with smaller circles within, and complex patterns radiating outward inside every circle. Far from being surprised Dusk Shine immediately began studying the fine details of the sigil, remembering several of the symbols from his reading of Starswirl’s work.
“That’s a teleportation sigil!” he deduced with a proud smile. “Solaris, you’re giving me one of these for my own personal use? I haven’t even mastered basic ones yet!”
“I know you are not yet capable of long-distance teleportation,” said Solaris, “and this will augment your abilities until you are. It will be your free train ticket from Ponyville to Canterlot and back again. Think of this as a bit of... incentive. A down payment for the wonderful work I know you will accomplish. I encourage you to look into this matter with all the skill you are endowed with, Dusk Shine. To start with I suggest you return to your friends and find counsel with them. Only the magic of friendship will help you when the Elements are involved.”
“And when I have the dream again?” Dusk Shine asked.
“There are a great many tools you can put to use to observe the ebb and flow of your magic when you sleep. Start with Eventide’s section in the royal archives. She was a master of looking into the subconscious, and I believe you will find what you need there. Should it be too much for you, then Artemis and I will be here to step in.”
“Dream-seeing is not an easy magic to master,” said Artemis. “I will make myself as available as I can to help you.
Dusk Shine couldn’t help but stutter. “Well, that... that’s a lot of trust you’re giving me, Solaris. If you think I’m ready for all this, I’d be glad to start figuring it out with your blessing, I mean, it’s like I’m advancing to a whole new level of study learning how to communicate with the Elements themselves!”
“Dusk Shine, you and your friends recently helped restore the Crystal Empire to its rightful place, sealing away another ancient evil. That’s... what, the third one so far?” Solaris asked, smiling genially at Artemis, who shrugged.
“At this point, who’s counting?” the Night Prince answered.
Solaris turned back to Dusk Shine. “Case in point. You are more than ready to unlock whatever mystery Magic may have for you, my faithful student. But before then...”
He tapped a hoof on the sigil still glowing on the floor.
“I hoped you might indulge me with a personal magic lesson.”
Dusk Shine felt his heart swell.
“I’d love to.”
-----------
Twilight Sparkle sat upon the most lavish pillows that Equestria’s craftponies ever made. She liked to think that after all those years of learning at Celestia’s hooves, wandering the ancient halls of the castle, she’d learned to become accustomed to the splendor. She liked to think she was being modest. But every now and then, she couldn’t help but smile at how much favor was lavished on her when she came to visit the Princess. The servants and guards still treated her like she was born into royalty, and even if some of them insisted on calling her ‘little Twilight Sparkle,’ she adored the welcoming, familiar way they greeted her. It lifted her spirits when they actually pushed to be the ones to get to her first, and how they’d brought her favorite tea without even needing to ask, and fluffed pillows and opened doors for her with insouciant aplomb. It was almost like being a Princess herself, and that thought made her squirm and smile as she dug a little deeper into the soft folds of her floor pillow.
But that was improper. A real scholar didn’t think about physical, transient luxuries. They concentrated, they sat, and they pondered. So Twilight sat, and pondered what she was doing here. She knew why she was here, in Celestia’s personal quarters, but it was still odd for the Princess to request she go directly there once she was in the castle. The command hadn’t been cold or hurtful, just a little more impersonal than she was used to. Then again, this was a very important matter she’d asked the Princess about, and she was sure Celestia was doing something very officious and magical right now that would help her explain what was happening.
Her eyes closed halfway as she wandered familiar paths in her memories, sipping her tea. It was dark and left a bitter aftertaste, but smooth and strong on the way in. Like most knowledge, she reflected. Knowing things could be hard, but it was always worth it.
The door swung open, spoiling the relaxed atmosphere with a great rectangle of light spreading over the floor and the far wall, Celestia’s shadow following quickly. She swept into the room like her hooves weren’t even touching the floor, turning to smile at Twilight with a thousand years of practiced grace. Over a decade of being at her side gave Twilight the ability to see right through that smile.
“My faithful student! I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting,” she said in that special way reserved only for Twilight Sparkle: the gentle falling tone that meant she was sincerely sorry, not in the way she was sorry to start a meeting of the Unicorn Nobility late or deny Prince Blueblood another of his ludicrous vacation requests.
“It’s all right, Princess. You are the Princess, after all,” Twilight responded with a wink. “It’s a busy time in Canterlot, isn’t it? I saw socialites all over the place.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow and smirked. “You wouldn’t believe half of it, Twilight.”
“I kept the tea warm for you.”
“Oh, excellent!” Celestia seated herself before Twilight, and for the next several minutes the two of them shared a quiet moment just drinking tea and making small talk, discussing anything and everything that crossed their minds. It was moments like this that Twilight lived for, the quiet times in between frentic studying and saving the world. The moments where she could sit back and bask in the presence of a pony she considered a second mother. Whole minutes went by in pleasant silence, the both of them occasionally sipping tea and stealing warm, happy glances at one another. Twilight loved that serenity, that consistency of thought and action. No need to make things spontaneous around Celestia; she was wise enough to practically see the future. No need to fret or worry; she had things well in hoof before Twilight had even thought about it. Here she could lay her frazzled mind to rest, and let her worries break on Celestia’s foundation.
“My beloved student,” she began, and the words were a heavenly chorus in Twilight’s ears, “I believe we have something important to discuss.”
“Ahem. Yes, Princess Celestia,” said Twilight, putting her tea down, “the letter you replied with made it sound urgent.”
Celestia took another long sip from her cup. “As did yours.”
Twilight blushed.
“However, we are both here, none the worse for wear, and you know you can discuss anything with me, Twilight. Be at ease and explain what’s been troubling you in detail. I promise I will listen to everything you have to say.”
Twilight’s chest almost exploded with adoration.
“Well, Princess, then I guess I’ve got a story for you! I know I mentioned in my letters that I’ve been getting these weird... well, visions for lack of a better word. I don’t know what they are or who they’re of, but they’ve been far too common and consistent to not mean something.”
“Go on,” Celestia said quietly, eyeing her with what Twilight took to be concern and care.
“Well, it... I’m not quite sure how to explain it, so I guess I’ll just describe it."
She took a deep breath.
“It starts in a dark place. There’s nopony else there but me, but I can’t help but feel like it isn’t an empty place, or even a scary one. It’s not a void so much as it feels like a space waiting, needing to be filled by something.”
She paused, waiting for a reaction from Celestia. When none came, she continued on, the words spilling out of her mouth with a strange energy behind them that made her hooves jittery and her words stutter. She tapped her hooves together, trying to push even further into her pillow.
“I-it’s not like a nothingness. It’s like there’s something that’s supposed to be there, something that I should know, or remember. Like the final question on an exam that you know you know the answer to, but it just won’t come to you. And for some reason I can’t move. I can’t look around. Just ahead. I want to look around, but there’s something that stops me before I do.”
Twilight looked outside the balcony entrance, where the sun was beginning its lethargic march down to the horizon. Late afternoon was an interesting time to her; it brought her closer to the twilight. Somehow it helped her concentrate, helped her feel things that she didn’t before, when that time came. She loved to watch the stars appear, one by one in the sky, before they all came to life when Luna’s night took over. It was like a special show for everypony who cared to watch. A special time she was named for.
“There’s somepony with me,” she said in a near whisper, entranced by the thought of the stars appearing.
“Who?” Celestia asked. Her voice sounded like the whispery end of a shout carried from a far off hill.
“I’m not sure. I think I know who he is.”
The word was breathed out more than said, feeling as though it tore out a little piece of her as she let it pass her lips.
“He?” Celestia asked into the dreadful silence.
“In the dream,” Twilight continued, “something catches my attention, something just at the corner of my eye. I turn to look at it, but then I see something else.”
She gulped.
“It’s bad, whatever it is. And the first thing I saw is still there, trying to get me to turn, but I can’t. Or don’t want to. There’s something about what I’m seeing that I should know but I can’t bring myself to remember. But he’s still there, waiting for me to look at him. You read my letter... I don’t know how I know, and that’s the scariest thing. I just know it’s a he, and that I should know him. Like all of this is a dream I had before, but not like this. It felt as if I was the one telling myself all this over and over, just forgetting it each time I woke up. Except it’s not quite me. It’s like I was watching something and controlling it all at the same time. Putting myself through this. But why?”
Twilight lifted her hoof and turned it over, examining it closely. The gentle curves and soft textures seemed like teasing jokes from a pony who knew her far better than she knew herself, who knew exactly what this sense of familiarity was and simply refused to tell her what it all meant.
“Do you know what I mean, Princess?” she asked, her voice barely audible above the gentle murmur of the fireplace.
A long silence followed, and a haze seemed to fall over Twilight’s mind. She was wrapped up in thought about her dreams, and the warm, comfortable nature of Celestia’s room only encouraged the lazy ruminating.
“Twilight,” the Princess said all of a sudden, dragging her back to reality, “I’m going to tell you something very important.”
“Yes, Princess?” Twilight asked, still staring at her hoof.
“Twilight. I believe you are putting a bit too much importance on this matter.”
“What?” Twilight dropped her hoof, eyes going wide.
“I mean, I believe you might be overreacting.”
“What... but how? I’ve been having these dreams for over two weeks now! Nightly!”
The Princess set down her teacup, her expression placid. “It is doubtless that there is some kind of imbalance here, Twilight, but I don’t believe you should put undue stress on yourself.”
There was that voice. Twilight knew that voice well; she’d been the victim of it many times. Whenever she’d flipped out over a few missed questions she thought she’d gotten right, whenever she was late for a meeting with the Princess, or whenever she nearly destroyed the town over some of the smallest things. The old, familiar shame of those days flooded back and colored her cheeks red as she looked at the lavish, carpeted floor.
“You really think it’s just something I’ve been doing?” she wondered.
“Or not been doing,” Celestia said with a beatific smile. “A couple of your friends’ latest reports did tell me you’ve been having trouble sleeping, concentrating—”
“Because of the dream!” Twilight insisted. “I-I’ve gone over every possible variable! You remember when I cast the ‘Want It Need It’ spell on Ponyville? I decided I’d never let myself go like that again. I kept track of my diet, I recorded every time I went out, went to sleep, woke up! Nothing changed! Nothing stopped it from coming!”
“Twilight,” Celestia cut in, in that voice that only a Princess could use that made interrupting sound polite, “you’re babbling. Please, calm down. If it’s truly this bad, then I might have a solution.”
She looked out of the corners of her eyes, to some point over her right shoulder near the fireplace.
“Luna?”
Twilight gasped as the Night Princess materialized in a swirl of nebulous, star-filled cloud.
“My apologies, Twilight Sparkle,” she said, striding into the room with her head up in a way that annoyed Twilight, like she was trying to make herself a little taller so she could look down, “my sister had suspected this would turn into a talk that would need my expertise.”
“In dream magic,” Twilight whispered, struggling between respect for her mentor’s way of handling a problem, and her annoyance at being spied on during a supposedly private conversation. The good feelings from before evaporated like dew.
“In dream magic,” Luna repeated with a nod. “I am a straightforward kind of mare, as you know, so I will come straight to the point. These dreams are a burden on your mind that I can relieve. Heed my teachings in dream magic, and I may be able to rid you of these troublesome visions.”
Twilight looked back up at Celestia.
“Is that really necessary?” she asked.
“Fear not, my faithful student. Luna is not going to invade your mind nor tell it what to think. But uncertain visions are—as I can claim with certainty—often the product of a mind that finds itself lost for focus. Twilight, everypony’s mind has a mind of its own. Do you understand?”
“I think so.”
“When you are awake, you can direct where your thoughts may go. You concentrate on certain things and devote brainpower to it whether you really want to or not. And for you the effect is especially potent. You are awake at nearly all hours of the day, focused on solving problems. It can make you high-strung. It can cause your mind to, for lack of a better phrase, become knotted up, twisted in such a way that it will do its best to unravel while it is at rest. It’s like straining a single muscle all day long, and then finally letting that tension go.”
“That is vastly oversimplifying,” Luna said with a hint of impatience, “but that is the long and short of it. You are tired, Twilight Sparkle, even if you don’t feel it. It is a product of the subconscious, of your very spirit aching for some kind of release, some way to undo the stress you have been under for so long.”
“Don’t deny it, little one,” Celestia said in that sweet, motherly tone. “All your life you have been striving, and very recently you were forced to lock away another ancient evil at my behest. Please, speak with Luna. Find a way to uncover the source of your mental fatigue and repair it.”
Twilight dragged her hoof over the carpet, her mind roiling. These questions were sudden and surprising, even a little offensive. She’d come here looking for guidance and was getting a psychological study! She opened her mouth, ready to say as much, but then closed it again, and was genuinely thankful the Princesses stayed quiet to let her think. She couldn’t just say she was indignant at being treated like a filly, given a proverbial glass of warm milk and told there weren’t any bad monsters in her closet. She respected Celestia’s wisdom far too much. She’d never been led astray so far, why would Celestia start now with something so obviously important?
And deep, deep, deep down in the very smallest, most fragile corner of her psyche, she did like being held by the hoof from time to time, just a teensy little bit. It wasn’t a matter of giving up her willfulness, discovered so recently as a blossoming young mare, as it was the desire to just sometimes give up the responsibilities thrust upon her. They had been piling up recently. When Pinkie Pie decided she’d go and clone herself and caused a disaster, who had the entire town come to for advice? When the Crystal Empire was threatened, who alone was given the task of saving it? Who had been told to go to Ponyville and kick off all the insanity that her life had become?
It was always her: Twilight Sparkle, by herself, told to give and study and figure out, and then being told that was the right thing to do even if her mind was being literally twisted into knots, in the Princess’ words.
A mare did enjoy being just a teeny bit selfish, a teeny bit babied if that was the case. Here she’d been overwhelmed and was being tossed a bone. Perhaps it was just a matter of perspective to look at it as indulgent and caring instead of condescending. If Celestia herself, the epitome of loving care and gentleness, was offering to provide that kind of unconditional guidance, how could she refuse?
How could she want to?
“This is all very sudden,” she settled on saying, tracing circles in the rug with her hoof. “I mean, I get it, Princess. I get it: I’ve been working too hard. Sometimes I think I’ve always been working too hard. If this is really just a product of that, then I guess learning dream magic and putting the reins on my brain won’t be such a bad idea...”
She dared to look up, dared Celestia to show anything but that look of motherly concern she’d yearned for since she was a filly.
“But I’ll do it under the condition that I make some of my own inquiries,” she said in a rush, feeling defiant, frightened, blasphemous. She’d practically spit in Celestia’s face!
But all the Princess did was smile that ingratiatingly placid, practiced smile, and that was the kind Twilight knew she used when she wasn’t really feeling it. “You wouldn’t be my faithful student if you didn’t try to tackle this yourself,” Celestia murmured. “I’m glad you will give Luna this chance. I think it will help you two come even closer together than you were before! You can start whenever you like.”
“I will clear my schedule in the late evenings after the Sun has set,” Luna announced. “Simply have Spike send word and I will come to you.”
Twilight stood up and bowed. She was too distracted to think of giving a customary goodbye hug to Celestia, who didn’t seem to mind. That just upset Twilight even more, and made her feel like the entire conversation had been dancing around the main issue, all of them just saying things and making all the right responses without really feeling it. For Twilight, that was infinitely more frustrating than even being denied outright.
She caught on at the last moment, just as she was exiting Celestia’s chambers and the door shut behind her. It wasn’t that they’d barely talked about the actual dream itself, though that was a large part of it.
Celestia hadn’t sounded proud when she said ‘my faithful student.’ The words were forced out in a sighing breath, a weary presence that hadn’t been there before. For the first time since they’d met, Celestia had been frustrated that Twilight wanted to know something. Her personal teacher in all aspects of life apart from her own mother had been trying to tell her not to learn something.
She said nothing and didn’t even smile to the two cheerful carriage pullers who greeted her at the castle gate. All the long, empty road back to Ponyville, she watched the Sun set through the window, and couldn’t help but notice that it felt just a tiny bit less bright, more of a cool, passive eye that watched her intently, fixing its gaze firmly upon her even as it sank below the distant hills past the Everfree Forest.
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1650126
Edited. Braeburn is now completely a she, like she should be.
So far so good.
Though Angel should be Angela
You'd think that Twilight/Dusk would have first thought of going to Luna/Artemis once they realized the dream kept repeating....
Also, if this takes place after Discord/Babel, all the Element Bearers should be addressed as Lord/Lady, since they were knighted by the prince/princess.
Oh, oh woah, I wonder why there's such a difference and disconnect between Celestia/Luna's response and Solaris/Artemis'. Gosh, yeah, something looks fishy. I'm only two chapters in but I'm absolutely loving this fic, especially since it's a rule 63 with some seriously building depth. J'adore and bravo, author!
Now I am... intrigued.
Indeed, it seems that where Solaris has knowledge to share, Celestia has a secret.
I'm thoroughly hooked now. I can't wait to read on!
"It's your subconscious" "Twilight, you need to unwind".
Bitch, she tellin' you to get laid
Shouldn't star swirl the bearded be called something else? Like maybe stardust the ageless or something? Because I don't think a mare would want a beard...
Not trying to be sexist hear but I think I like the Stallion alternate twilight better.
I'm getting here a dejavu About the scene when Yoda spoke about the Force in Episode V.
A similar vibe, Here getting am I. Cudos to you.
Its kind of crazy that their worlds are so in sync with each other, you'd think things would be a lot different if everybody was gender-swapped. Even just the tiny changes, like a foal needing help or not to reach something because the filly version is a little bit shorter, they'd add up really fast, especially because its the entire population that's switched. Even if it was just the Princesses and Twilight's generation, thats still a massive difference. Of course though, we can't let a pesky thing like logic ruin an internet trope like this! Rule 63 is far too important. And I guess if you're doing parallel universes then there would be an infinite number, and one of them would turn out the same despite the change. Time travel and the multiverse are my specialty in fiction, sorry for the long rant.
5405390 my personal theory is that there's a sort of underlying "causal force" that "gently steers" timelines in the general direction they're supposed to go, and in extreme circumstances interferes outright to prevent paradoxes. (By supposed to go, I mean the direction they go based on whatever variant timeline it is, and in order to keep time going. Basically, the main thing it does is prevent reality from derailing and billions of small uncertainties from piling up into absurd numbers of nearly or functionally identical alternate timelines.)