Dreamstrider: Tale of the Impossible

by Alasdair Edom

Chapter eight: Meeting of the Dreamstriders

Chapter eight

Just me, the open winter wonderland, and the mountain.

These were the thoughts going through my head as I set off and began carving down the mountain at impressive speed. I loved snowboarding, it was the one sport that I enjoyed watching equally as much as I enjoyed performing it.

The freedom of movement, the expression of finesse, the speed...

I carved to my right to get some air off one of the small drops that littered the mountain, and jumped. I grabbed the front of my elegantly patterned snowboard, like some divine carving, and held it upright as I let my right hand sway in the breeze behind me.

As I approached the ground, I let go, snapping all my limbs in the stance to get ready for impact as the whiteness of the snow came ever closer.

I hit the ground, recoiling all my momentum from my feet, all the way up my spine and finally out of my body. My speed and control almost completely unaffected by the jump.

I was like a piece of silk in the wind, never slowing down, but ever elegant, even under the aggressive ripples in the wind.

As I neared the end of my run, I adjusted course for the lodge, and slid down with no effort, perfectly stopping just before the entrance.

I could have spent a minute or two getting my boots off of my board, but luckily, I was in total control of this dream, so I just willed myself to phase straight through the straps.

I picked up my board and made my way to the lodge. It was not the 'Perfect cozy wooden log' type lodge, It was a mainstream one that looked a lot like an expensive resort, or town activity center. It had a restaurant, lounge, area for renting gear, and the door that leads to the drop-off point for the lifts from the bottom of the mountain.

But the whole place was deserted, save me. I was never any good at replicating people.

I made my way the the restaurant, and sat there for a few minutes in deep thought of whatever popped into my head.

That's when I heard the elegant whoosh of someone, or rather, somepony landing behind me. But it was too controlled, too elegant to be a Pegasus, or somepony with magical wings.

There are only two ponies I know who make that noise, and sure enough, I looked around and there she was in all her celestial beauty and authority.

"Princess Luna." I greeted the newly appeared Alicorn.

"Dreamstrider." Luna replies in her well-spoken, royal accent, "You have been expecting us?"

I nod, "Of course I have, two Dreamstriders can't stay in the same dimension for long without meeting eventually."

She keeps a straight face, "I see that is your given name to us, and it is also your chosen name is it not?"

I nod and stand up from my chair, towering about as tall as Celestia, maybe a few centimeters taller. But Luna stands completely unfazed, which is to be expected. Almost nothing can truly surprise her with all she has been through.

"Indeed it is." I say in my own version of her unswaying voice, "But some advice Princess, if you wish to wander my thoughts, don't open the door to how I know about you all from when Twilight went to Ponyville to now.

"I know you are near impossible to sway, and that you have seen more years than I could imagine, but the secrets behind that door are some that even you and your sister would have difficulty believing."

I add, "Some secrets must stay secrets for others well-being."

She looks into my eyes with her face unchanged, but her eyes state understanding, and she knows that I will see it.

She lets out a controlled smile and says, "Indeed."

She returns to her expressionless face, "You state a considerable amount of control for someone as young as you are.

"But we can see that your determination and loyalty are strong, and only to be challenged by a few.

"To name one," She says as she looks deeply into my eyes, "The very element of loyalty herself, the mare, Rainbow Dash."

I allow my eyes widen at this, because my mind is on overdrive. "Is she mentioning Dash for a reason? Has she-"

She gives another controlled smile, and I narrow my eyes at her.

"You did, didn't you?" I say with a hint of annoyance, but it was enough for her to notice.

"We saw emotions that were unusual, and we became curious as one does when they see something out of the ordinary."

I sigh, "I guess I didn't put a warning on those memories..."

I continue, "But if you saw that, then you must know that I am locking away these feelings for a reason?"

She nods, "You are unsure if your feelings for her are true, or if they are the spouse of loneliness, and you hide these feelings away in fear that if you show them you will hurt or conflict her."

I just blankly look stare into her eyes, not piercing, nor soft, but completely neutral. Devoid of emotion.

"Yes." I plainly say, "I have always feared for hurting the one I care for in this way, so I have never expressed them.

"To anyone."

Her majestic gaze looks deep into my eyes, and in turn, feels like she is staring into my very soul.

"And you know this is also your true fear, not any of the foul monsters that roam you mind, and one that you will have to confront in time."

I keep my unchanging expression, but I doubt it will matter, she has thousands of years experience on mine.

"I thought you might say that." I say as I refuse to move my gaze from hers, and hers mine, "And I believe you.

"But the greatest fear we have is always the hardest to overcome, and becomes a nightmare the longer we leave it."

Her expression breaks, and she takes a single step back. She knows exactly what I mean, I am referring to her succumbing to the Nightmare that made her into Nightmare Moon.

I continue, "The problems we have grow in size the longer we leave them, and unfortunately, you learnt that the hard way."

I hang my head low, "And I'm sorry for you Luna, it wasn't your fault that the Nightmare corrupted you. You are not responsible for what Nightmare Moon did."

Her gaze moves from me to the floor.

"We thank you for your concern, but we are responsible, we succumbed to jealousy and it was our fault that the Nightmare came to be."

For the second time of me being in Equestria, my supportive side takes over. I bend down and look into Luna's eyes with an almost motherly supportive gaze.

"Princess Luna, we all make mistakes, whether your a regular pony, or a multiple year old Princess that can raise the moon."

She looks back into my eyes with an expressionless face, but I can see in her eyes that she is saying some form of 'Thank you'.

"We all make mistakes Luna, no matter who we are."

She gathers herself, and stands back in her looming royal stance surprisingly quickly.

"We thank you Dreamstrider for your... Understanding." She says, back in her formal voice.

I give her a smile, "Mind if we walk and talk? I still have some time to kill."

She just nods, and I walk toward the doorway for the restaurant. I wave my hand once and it turns into an archway to which on the other side lies a Dojo with a mannequin in the middle, with melee weapons of all sorts on the surrounding walls.

I see Luna walking behind me, looking around but still keeping her expressionless face. She hides her emotions and thoughts so well, it's almost scary.

"I recognize this place as a Dojo of sorts, but I do not recognize these weapons on the walls." Luna says.

I give a smile, "There are a great many more weapons in human culture that yours, however, these are old weapons that were used centuries ago."

Her gaze returns to me, "So you take an interest in ancient artifacts and culture?"

I walk to my left toward a section of wall with different lengths of staves, bo's, and jo's, and each length with its own selection of different wood that makes up the staff.

I pick up a bamboo staff about as tall at from my feet to the top of my shoulder.

"I take interest in some cultures, artifacts not so much. I just take a rather large interest in the eastern cultures because of their experience in the art of war."

Luna looks at me with a gaze that asks 'Why'.

"The art of war is a good way to train your mind, but the way of the sword and the martial arts are the more elegant ones, and they can be used in everyday life."

Luna raises an eyebrow at me, "Is conflict that common in your world?"

I give a hearty laugh at this, "Oh no! It helps you achieve balance, and self control."

I continue, "The people Iv'e seen who are experts at that stuff can so some really crazy things through this discipline.

"For a common example, if you focus enough, you can actually hit a slab of stone and go right through it with just one strike."

Luna starts contemplating this behind her eyes, "I see..."

I let her contemplate and I walk to the center of the room and stand in front of the mannequin.

"Tatakai no junbi ga dekite!" I command at the mannequin.

It instantly comes to life and walks over to the staff shelf, quickly picks up a bamboo staff identical to mine, returns to the center of the Dojo, and stands in battle position.

"What was it that you just said to the mannequin? I did not recognize it." Luna asked me with another raised eyebrow.

"That was Japanese, it's the language of the culture that made most of the weapons you see on the wall here." I explain, "As for what I said, 'Tatakai no junbi ga dekite', it means, 'Ready for battle'."

"Why?" Luna asked, her face gone straight again.

"Why else?" I reply with a smile as I face the mannequin.

"Kaishi!" I command the mannequin, and it springs to life as it makes a downward swipe to my head.

I sidestep and swipe from my right to be blocked by the other end of my enemies staff. I jumped backwards, and my enemy charged at me with its staff in a diagonal striking position.

I block the incoming strike from my right and slide my staff so that it hits the mannequin in the left side of its featureless face, causing some splinters to fly off its 'Cheek'.

Before it can recover, I give it a strong kick to the stomach area, sending it stumbling backwards and giving me time to enter back into a defensive position.

It charges at me with vengeance and barely dodge the uppercut to my left, only to have the other end of the staff travel toward my face at frightening speed. I block the hit with an upright stance from my staff, and hit the abdomen area of the mannequin, leaving it in simulated pain.

While it's attempting to recover from my painful blow, I hold my staff by one end and swing it like a golf bat into the mannequins face, causing it to shatter into a thousand splinters.

I begin laughing and catching my breath from the fight. I was laughing because that was the most comedic way to win a fight, just like you would see in cartoons.

Luna just stood on the other side of the Dojo, looking into my eyes for the hundredth time.

"That was disappointing!" I exclaim, "That was no challenge at all!"

I sigh as I get up, and sweep my staff level with my shoulders over the defeated mannequin, and it disappears.

"Ugh, no point in having a round two if that's the best opponent I can conjure up. Might as well practice on a dummy." I say as I make a padded dummy appear in the middle of the Dojo floor. I begin to start one-way combat with it.

"Is this what you enjoy? Fighting?" Luna asks in a slightly concerned tone, which means she is very concerned.

I momentarily turn my gaze to hers, and then back the the dummy I'm practicing on.

"It's not really something I 'Enjoy' as such, more as an outlet of stress and sort of a hobby if you will."

I let my mind wander into hers for a moment, and see what she is concerned of. I stop my practicing and turn to her and meet her gaze.

"Oh... You thought I might take pleasure in hurting others?" This was a rhetorical question as I continued straight after, "Oh no! I hate harming other ponies and people, I avoid physical conflict even when my anger reaches high levels. If I were ever to hurt someone badly I wouldn't forgive myself.

"And Iv'e never killed. I don't want to kill. And I don't want to kill anyone ever."

Luna seemed to relax a little at this thankfully. I really should be more careful when I'm around her, she is royalty after all.

"We did not mean any offence, we were just cautious for our subjects well being."

"It's okay Princess Luna, I should have expected it anyway..." I said as I continued my exercise of pummeling the innocent dummy in front of me.

"Dreamstrider?" I heard Luna say in a soft voice, which took me off guard.

"Yes Princess Luna?" I ask with a confused look.

She gives me a smile and says, "We had gone through your memories and feelings for the bearer of the element of Loyalty, and..." She pauses for a second before she continues.

"Your feelings for Rainbow Dash are true Dreamstrider."

I stop training turn to Luna with a confused face, and look deep into her gaze... She wasn't lying.

"They... They are?" The words stumble out of my mouth as I, for once, now might possibly know that my feelings for someone aren't false.

She gives me a nod and a smile, "They are true feelings, not the product of loneliness that you fear."

I stand there in bedazzlement, "That's... That the best thing Iv'e been told since I was born!"

I try to gather myself, "Are you sure Luna? I don't want to make a mistake and hurt anyone..."

"We do not lie Dreamstrider." Luna said in a firm, but truthful tone.

"I... But... Well..." I stammer.

"THANK YOU!" I drop my staff and leap to almost hug-tackle her, but I control my momentum enough so I don't knock her over.

"There is no thanks needed Dreamstrider." Luna says, not rejecting, nor returning my embrace, she just stood there and took it.

I let go before it got awkward.

"I... Thank you, this means a lot to me." I stammer, "I owe you several."

She just dismissively smiles, "No-pony owes anything, we are completely even."

"Still, thank you Princess." I say with a thankful smile and slight bow.

She smiles back and relies, "Thanks accepted, but as you will also know, the day will arrive soon and I must go. We will meet again Dreamstrider."

"Goodbye Princess Luna." I say respectfully.

She returns, "Farewell Dreamstrider" and begins to fade away into nothingness. I decided now would be a good time to wake up too, even if it is the crack of dawn.

I awake with a jolt and deep inhale, all together with a huge smile plastered on my face.

"Today is going to be a good day." I thought to myself as I got out of bed.

Author's Note:

Again, this was done in one day somehow. And yes, I know that the chapters are only around 2,400/2,900 words long, but if I get the point across, it's good enough for me.

Also, its wasn't apparent, but Dreamstrider was actually female in this scene as a human, and her features are the same as in pony form besides the pale cyan coat. (So she has white as gold hair)

PS: The Japanese I threw in was Google translated, so I'm not so sure how accurate it is, but it was just to add atmosphere. ^_^