"And that one?" I raised a hoof, pointing at another cloud.

"Pinkie Pie's mane. Gotta be." Beside me, Wes concentrated a moment; an outline traced the cloud. His dream powers were still much stronger than mine.

"Pfff." I imagined another cloud into being, but  interrupted before he could interpret it. "Do you and Luna do this?"

"Not with clouds. We've done constellations, though."

"Huh." I looked over at him. We were lying on the grass in one of his childhood memories. His thin arms were crossed behind his head, and he looked slightly less raggedy than usual. His scruffy brown hair was adorably messed up, and his hazel eyes met mine as I stared.

I turned my gaze back to the clouds.

"Uhh… Gummy."

"Didn't you make that cloud?" He sounded bemused.

"Oh, hush!" I summoned another, and another; in a moment, the sky was overcast.

"Want to try stars?" He wiped the clouds away with a wave. "Or were you going for paper there, sis?"

"Hmph."

He grinned at me, his infuriating little grin showing the corners of his sharp teeth. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he smiled like that just to make chills run down my spine.

"Wes…"

"Yeah?"

"How do you feel about being my brother?" I rolled over, resting my head on a hoof so I could watch him. He rubbed his jaw, thinking.

"I'm thankful." He looked at me. "Grateful you gave me the chance."

"Really?"

"Totally. Family is important to me, you know?" He turned back to the sky. "I don't miss much about Earth. I mean, I do, but it's all stuff I can do without. I've never been a particularly needy person, or extremely tied to my 'stuff'. But family… that's different." He sighed. "Did I ever tell you about when Celestia first mentioned I might be able to return?"

"No." I watched intently as his gaze went distant.

"It wasn't even a big thing. She just said something like 'oh, and by the way, maybe we can get you home,' and I broke down. I turned into an absolute mess, weeping and sobbing on her couch. That wasn't because of any 'thing' on Earth. It was the thought of my family."

"Sorry."

"Nah, it's cool." He waved a hand. "This is what family's for, right? I can tell you this stuff, and you've got to accept me, because you can't get rid of me." He smirked, showing his canines again. I swear, those teeth… "But why the sudden question?"

"Well, um." I stopped, suddenly unsure of myself. I'd been meaning to say this for a while, but every time I tried, the butterflies in my stomach tried to carry me away.

"Hey, hey, Sunny." He fixed me a piercing glance.

"Yes?" My voice was small.

"It works both ways, you know."

"Huh?"

"You're my family too. I mean, that's how I consider you. If you've got something to say, say it. I'll listen, and afterwards, I'll still be here for you."

"Right. Um. Okay. Well, what I was going to say, was…" I trailed off. "Was…" I drew a deep breath. "Was if you don't want to be my brother, you don't have to."

"Huh?" He gave me a genuinely puzzled look. "Why would you - "

"I'm not done!" I tapped a hoof on the ground for emphasis. His mouth shut with a click. "Wes, I really appreciate you. For a long time, it was just… me. Alone. All day, every day. I had nopony to rely on, nopony for backup or reassurance. I'd cut away everypony who mattered to me, knowing full well what I was doing. I'd told myself I couldn't go back, I convinced myself those bridges were burned. So I just kept moving forward, one hoof at a time, because I thought return was impossible and changing that was hard." I laughed wryly. "Then you came along. I was in a bad way, Wes, when you declared yourself my brother."

I thought back to Tweed's cell, re-living the despair and pain with a shudder.

"You just looked at me, and said 'tell me'. So I did. You elbowed your way into my life, my heart, picked me up and carried me back into the light." I sighed. "You gave me an opportunity to regain some of what I'd lost, and I jumped at it. When I came to Ponyville, I told you 'be my brother', because I was pretty sure you'd say yes." The butterflies in my stomach jumped and jerked, but I forced myself to continue. "The truth is, Wes, I just want to be close to you." His gaze had gone intent; every speck of his attention focused on me. "I want to be your family. But I don't have to be your sister. I love you, Wes. Sometimes I wish we could be… closer."

His expression turned thoughtful, and it was all I could do to hold my peace. I wanted to laugh it off, pretend it was a joke; I wanted to run and hide, wake up, anything to keep from hearing his rejection. But his eyes held me.

"Sunset, I…" He stopped, and his eyes darkened, gaze intensifying. "Maybe telling me this in a dream was a bad idea."

"Huh?" I paused, confused. What was he talking about?

"See…" He stopped, breathing deeply, his calming exercise. "Right now, you're in my mind." He locked his stare on me again. "In here, I am in control." The world whirled around me, and suddenly, we were upright, standing under a radiant tree. Stars spread above us in a bowl. "I'm not sure what to say, Sunset. I'm really not. I appreciate your feelings. Maybe we could make something out of them. I don't feel that way about ponies, really… I mean, I’m all for friendship, family, intimacy, love… but that sort of relationship? I'd honestly never considered it." My heart sank at his words. Here it comes…. "Here, though…" His gaze pierced me again, and my heart shuddered at the almost predatory look in his eyes. "That's not a problem." Suddenly, I found myself upright. I stumbled, waving a hand for balance, before I realized what had happened.

Hand.

I was… a human again? I glanced down. Yeah, definitely a human. Boots, skirt, earrings and all. I pushed my fiery bangs out of my face, and doffed the black denim jacket that came with this form, already feeling warm. I calmed my breathing. I honestly hadn't considered a reply like this, but it wasn't a negation.

"Well." I straightened up, returning his gaze with matching intensity. "Maybe we can make something of them." I gave a secret smile. "It's a place to start, right? How about… Hmm. I have an idea. Maybe."

"Interesting..." His smirk was predatory. "What are you thinking?"

"Perhaps a game?" I started to pace slow circles around him, musing and kicking my heels. He followed me with his eyes only. I leaned in close, to whisper in his ear. "There could be prizes."

"Hmmm." He pretended to consider it. "Go on, go on."

"We'll have a match. If I win, you go on a date with me. If you win…?"

"A kiss." He seized my chin before I could withdraw. "Just one." He looked deep into my eyes, and I shivered delightfully.

"Wel~l." I drew the word out, anticipating. "Maybe that could work." I slipped out of his grasp, stepping backwards. "Then, you pick."

"Tag." The response was immediate. "Run, Sun." The predator in him grinned. The prey in me quivered. "I'll catch you. But!" A swirl of snow spun in, obscuring everything. "If I don't find you in five minutes, you win! I'll give you half a minute head start! Also, I won't teleport or fly. Check your watch. Sound fair?"

"No." I smiled. "But I'll take it." The snow cleared; he was sitting in the branches of the cypress. I grabbed my jacket in the sudden chill, shrugging it back on, and glanced at my wristwatch. I shot a look back over my shoulder; he had his hands over his eyes. I jogged off, pulling on the fabric of the dream as I did.

Shared dreaming was tricky. With practice and concentration, you could adjust your surroundings, but it wasn't always simple or easy. I focused intently, and the landscape behind me shattered into boulders. It wouldn’t stop him, but it was a start.

The biggest difference between shared dreams and single dreams was that since two minds were involved, everything was much more stable. In a single dream, anything could change on a whim. In a shared dream, things tended to stay the same unless they were acted upon.

I was running now, my breath puffing frost into the air. The cool breeze was pleasant on my face.

I was getting better at manipulating dreams, but I'd never practiced on my own. Wes had told me about exploring something called 'lucid dreaming', and taught me a few of the techniques useful for that. Most of them centered around visualization; like a strange, malleable form of magic.

I looked behind. A tiny figure was leaping from boulder to boulder, gaining distance on me. That wouldn't do. I frowned, and tried again.

With a fierce motion, I pulled a forest from the ground. It took visualization and concentration, certainty and imagination. Tall trees surrounded me, yard-thick boles yawning upwards into a cathedral of green. This should obscure my trail, at least a little. I hadn't lost him yet, though. He'd promised not to teleport, but he was still plenty fast, even without flying.

A grin slowly crossed my face at that. He promised not to fly. I had no such restriction. I closed my eyes, and focused my dream powers as hard as I could. This would be tricky to do; I didn't want to change back into a pony just yet. All I wanted, was -

Click.

My horn! A familiar pressure settled just above my eyes. I tried to focus on it, but couldn't see anything. I ran a hand over my forehead; a strange pattern of raised skin, something like my cutie mark, had appeared on my head. I shrugged. It wasn't the same, but as long as I believed it would work, I could use it here. I focused again, reaching for my more familiar magic in place of the odd dream-shaping.

A cyan aura streamed up my body, rippling and running like living flame. I'd always enjoyed the feeling; it was like hugging yourself, or wrapping up in a comforting blanket. I flexed my power, and lifted off the ground.

A twig cracked behind me.

"Horsefeathers!" I glanced back. Just how long had I taken to make this work? A hazel eye winked in the underbrush. I kicked off a nearby tree, and zipped away, dodging and jinking through the trees.

For a moment, I thought I'd escaped. But behind me, swishing and crackling told me he was still in pursuit. Desperate, I turned upwards, quickly jetting out of the canopy and soaring high into the sky. He couldn't get me here, right?

Wrong. I looked down, only to see one of my trees start expanding. A small figure, laughing wildly, rode the crest. The forest giant swelled, growing impossibly quick, stretching and reaching for me nearly faster than I could fly.

Nearly wasn't enough. I needed to change tactics.

With a wrench, I changed the orientation of the world. Sideways was now 'up.' I summoned a series of floating disks, and placed myself in the middle. Passively running away wouldn't work, here. I needed to be proactive; actually block him.

If I wanted my prize. I imagined going on a date. There would be candles, and fancy food. We could talk about where to go from here. Maybe something serious would start.

I weighed that against one passionate kiss. The way his eyes had changed, looking at me…

I shook the thoughts away. I would win this. Giving up like that; that wasn't me. Not by a long shot. Besides. Maybe there'd be time for that later.

He leaped from the tree, landing lithely on the first disc. He jumped, nearly in a flat arc, to the next. My eyes widened, and I moved another disc to block. He shattered it casually, and I summoned three more. He looked up and laughed, carelessly, almost contemptuously. He was certain.

I shivered.

With renewed ferocity, I threw everything I could imagine in his way. He vaulted from the spires of Canterlot onto the Ponyville train; he bounced from car-to-car before diving into a huge ball of water and powering to the other side. I used panels of steel, but he melted through, panels of glass, but he shattered them. His small figure steadily grew larger as he bypassed or broke every single obstacle.

Maybe I couldn't win this.

I tried again, this time with less tangible things. I summoned fog to confuse him, and wind to knock him off course. I tried dazzling him with lights, and even a few fireballs.

He kept coming.

His smile was insouciant, his gait confident. He didn't even pause as he marched through a thousand spinning knives, finally nearing my platform. I could see the whites of his teeth as he chuckled.

My watch went off.

"Hah!" I leaped into the air, turning a complete backflip. "Hah, hah, hah! Time's up, Wesley Kilmer! Hah! I win! I'm the queen of the castle, and you're the dirty rascal! You owe me!"

"Hmm." He gave a knowing grin, and evaporated. I paused; his voice had come from behind me. "Not quite, my dear Sunset." His breath tickled my ear.

"Hwah?" I gave a small shriek, and spun… but there was nothing. "Where are you?" I stomped a foot. "Teleporting is cheating!"

"Well, yes." Suddenly, strong arms wrapped me from behind, pulling me snugly against his chest. "But I didn't." He rested his chin on my shoulder. "The wise man wins first, and then fights. Controlling the decoy wasn't even that hard. You shouldn't have let me pick the game, Sunny."

"Huh?" My knees went weak, as he nibbled my ear. "How… what… My jacket!" Feeling the chill on my arms, I looked down. The black cloth was gone.

"Teleportation wasn't an option." He shrugged; I could feel it. "But I never said anything about transformation. You're a snug fit, dear, and it was a pleasant ride." I shivered as he ran a hand up my side. "Now, I believe you owe me a kiss. But, I never said where." I shivered again, as he touched my skin. He wouldn't, would he?

"But…" My voice quavered.

"No buts." I quaked at the growl in his tone. "Unless…" He spun me around, and smiled softly. "No, I'm only teasing." He pulled me in close, and planted a gentle kiss on my forehead. "Just a little fun, Sunset. Please don't be mad?"

"I'm not mad!" I gave him a glare. I wasn't. And definitely not because…. I squelched the thought.

"Good." He wrapped his arms around me again, and we stood for a moment, enjoying each others closeness. "Sunset?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to go out to eat? Maybe this Friday?" His voice got a little nervous. "I mean, I know you said, but - "

"Yeah." My voice was soft, and he stopped. "Yeah, let's do that."

"Oh. Ok. Good." He smiled tenderly down at me, and I grinned back.

Maybe we could make something out of this.