Chapter 12

The Dream Watcher

In Luna’s room, the Princess of the Night was having a very strange dream. She started off in Canterlot Castle. She didn’t know why, but something was drawing below the castle. She found herself entering the same blue room where the new pony wanted her to go. All the while something about what he had said made her retrace her steps. She poked through the shelves, carefully examining each dusty old book. With each book failing to be the one she was looking for the more the she felt like something big was about to happen. Just when her horn was about to magic the next book off the shelf, distant hoof steps from the corridor outside made her jump. She quickly found a place to hide in the shadows as the hoofsteps drew close. When the figure appeared her eyes widened in shock. It couldn’t be. Why would she be dreaming about her dad? She had the urge to step out and ask him what he was doing when her gut told her to stay where she was. King Night Shade let out a small sigh before his horn glowed and he placed a book he was hiding under his wing back on the shelf. Luna moved closer taking care not to be seen when she saw her father look at the place where the missing books once lied. Far too late she had forgotten to put the books back. Luckily for her, Night Shade levitated the books and put them back.

“I wonder if I did the right thing.” He said to himself sadly. “That poor boy. My Queen, we cannot allow our daughters to be involved with them! It was best to end it now before it was too late!”

“What do you mean dad?” Luna asked aloud.

Her father’s head shot up making the Princess of the Night jump. Backing up into the shadows, she placed a hoof over her mouth and held her breath. Night Shade looked this way and that, searching for what he thought he had just heard. Luna meanwhile had her eyes closed shut.

“GOooo!” she pleaded in her mind. “Go! You heard nothing. You only imagined it. Go!”

Luna staid where she was, not daring to open her eyes incase Night Shade was still lurking around. Suddenly, something caught her attention. It started off faint, but then her ears twitched as the sound rose. Except it wasn’t any ordinary sound. It was a soft icy voice that caused a strong chill to go down her spine.

“Lies… Thieves… Shame… Worry… Doubt… Fear… Blame… Sorrow…”

On and on the words continued in a loop, until it felt like there were hundreds of disembodied voices floating around her. The noise grew to such a high volume, that it was impossible for her father not to hear it. She finally opened her eyes, but all she saw was infinite blackness. She was alone with the voices that didn’t want to end. At this point Luna tried to ignore them, but try as she might, the voices wouldn’t go away. They were surrounding her, growing louder with each passing second.

“Go away!” she pleaded sinking to the cold unseen floor.

“Lies… Fear… Shame… Guilt… Sorrow…”

“Stop! Stop it! Just leave me alone!”

Then something reached out and touched her shoulders. Luna let out a high scream of terror and felt her body shake and the voices ceased as a new more familiar voice took over.

“Luna, It’s ok! Wake up! It’s only a nightmare! Luna!”

The Princess of the Night saw a flash of light go off in her minds eye and at last she opened her eyes to be welcomed by sun light shining down on her through the window. Looking around frantically she saw a glimpse of red and orange above her. A strong brush a wind swept across her as the wings from above her continued to flap. Turning over she saw Celestia looking down on her with relief. Sitting up Luna saw that the side of the pillow she was lying down on was covered in sweat. Still a little frightened by what had just happened, she tried to put on a brave face for her big sister, but her shaking hooves gave her away. The Phoenix was still flapping its wings, sending a light breeze over her.

“Are you alright Luna?” asked Celestia at last. “The Phoenix heard you from my room and snapped me out of concentration.”

“Didn’t you hear them?” asked Luna her eyes wide and pupils shrunken.

“Hear what?” asked Celestia back.

“Those voices!” exclaimed Luna, terrified. “They were everywhere! I couldn’t get them to go away! Surely you must have heard them too!”

“All I heard was you moaning in your sleep,” said Celestia frowning. “When I came in here, you were thrashing around in your bed. I tried to wake you, but you only screamed.”

“S-sorry,” said Luna catching her breath.

She felt like she had just run a mile. What was going on? How come Celestia didn’t hear the voices? They were loud enough for anyone to hear them. Luna placed her hooves over her sweaty face and groaned into them. Was it after all just a nightmare?

“What a dream,” she said into her hooves.

“I’ll say,” said Celestia. “You nearly left hooked me! What on earth were you dreaming about anyway?”

"I… I don’t even know what it was to be honest,” said Luna feeling her heart pound against her ribs as she tried to calm herself down.

“I was thinking about something the new pony had told me…”

She spotted the sudden peek of interest on her big sister’s sly face and scowled.

“Go on,” Celestia encouraged her.

“A-anyways,” Luna went on blushing slightly. “I found myself in the blue room below the castle. You know, the one where all the confiscated and restricted things are.”

“U-huh,” said Celestia her smirk fading instantly. “And what where you doing down there?”

Luna began to explain what had happened after she felt like there was something she had to find there and what happened when their father entered the room. When she finished, The Phoenix had landed on the foot of the bed and was staring at her as if expecting her to faint. Celestia was still convinced that what her little sister had experienced was indeed a nightmare, but listened to her side of the story none-the-less. Luna was expecting her big sister to tell her that she was overthinking things and that the dream she had was caused do to the amount of studying she’s trying to do all at once. Surprisingly, nothing like that happened. Instead, Celestia only smiled at her little sister. That alone told her that there was nothing to be afraid of. The presence of her older sibling and flying companion was enough to make feel relaxed. Luna smiled to herself and placed her hoof on her forehead in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry sister,” she said. “It must have been just a bad dream after all.”

“That’s the ticket!” said Celestia clapping Luna on the back. “How lucky are you that I came in here when I did instead of one of the staff? That would have made for an interesting way to start off the day wouldn’t it? Having one of them come in here only to be thrown out seconds afterward.”

“Oh, shut up!” Luna said levitating a pillow nailing her sister in the face.

Her horn pierced straight through it, making feathers poor out of the hole. Celestia still grinning removed the pillow and made to leave. The Phoenix followed her caretaker out of Luna’s bedroom where, right on cue, a staff member was hurrying over to see what all the commotion was about.

“Did you…” she began a little nervous.

“Don’t worry, I calmed her down.” Celestia replied kindly.

“Oh, good, I wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened last time. Not that we don’t mind coming to either of your aids your majesty! It’s just…”

“It’s alright,” said Celestia. “We understand. She’s all yours.”

The maid bowed her head in gratitude for Celestia’s pardon and hurried over to Luna’s open bedroom door where her concerned questions echoed through the halls before the door slammed shut behind her. It took a while before Luna came down for breakfast. When she came into the dinning room the maid was still bobbing up and down in background watching her carefully. Celestia could tell that Luna wasn’t enjoying the mare’s constant questions about her health. As Luna made to set her plate full of pastries the mare acting like a particularly strict shadow, made her horn glow and replaced the breads and other standard items Luna had grown accustomed to having with fruits and a glass of water.

“What’s all of this?” asked Luna eyeing the new foods and beverage with bitterness.

“Only a precaution your highness!” said the maid simply. “We can’t have you or your sister falling ill on us! Not after what happened to your parents!”

“Look,” said Luna as calmly as possible. “I already told you I’m fine. Celestia checked on me before you and nothing was wrong. It was just a bad dream.”

“Sorry, your highness!” chimed the maid apologetically. “But it’s best not to risk it! Now eat up, Princess Aurora will be expecting you two!”

Luna looked down at her plate of nothing but medicine and shot a look at Celestia that clearly meant, “Back me up.” Celestia took one last sip of freshly squished orange juice before replying.

“You heard her Luna. Eat up, we don’t want to be late for our training.”

“Thanks a lot.” Luna growled.

The maid stayed close to make sure she started off in the right direction. The grapes wouldn’t have been as bad if they weren’t far past their ripeness. Luna begrudgingly bit down onto the soft tiny cylinder as the mushy unsweetened flavor burst into her mouth. Wanting to get the experience over with, she put on a fake smile and quickly stuffed the entire branch of unpleasant soft circles in her mouth. The maid raised an eyebrow as Luna removed the bark and drank the water in two swigs.

“How’s it taste?” asked Celestia surprising a giggle.

Luna shot her a dark look before the maid refilled her plate with another whole branch.

“Oh, come now Luna. It can’t be that bad,” Celestia said gleefully. “You do need eat a balanced diet after all.”

“I couldn’t agree more your highness!” chimed in the maid rushing over to Celestia and replacing her buttered pastry with a tart green apple.

Celestia gave a sharp squeak as the strong sour flavor gave her taste buds a strong kick.

“Now, now sister,” said Luna with a smug look. “It can’t be that bad. Eat up, or we’ll be late for Aurora’s teaching.”

After the less than satisfactory meal, the two were called over by Snap Shot who told them that Aurora would be waiting for them in their old magic classroom. Not wanting to be late, the two thanked the captain and raced up the stairs and down to the east wing of the castle where they saw that the room where they had their magic training had its door standing wide open. From inside, they heard a familiar voice talking animatedly to Princess Aurora. Upon entering the classroom, they saw to their surprise several of the castle staff including two Royal Guards, Princess Platinum, Clover the Clever and their old magic teacher, Madam Quill.

“Ah, here they are!” boomed Princess Platinum. “The guests of honor!”

“Now, now Princess,” said Clover wisely. “What did we just discuss before they arrived?”

“Yes, yes, the whole control pep talk was nice and all, but now, it is down to business!”

“Business?” questioned Celestia.

“What are all of you doing here?” asked Luna just as confused.

“We needed a crowd,” said Princess Aurora patiently. “And since I guessed that this would take more than just me to teach you two, Princess Platinum has kindly volunteered to show you the ropes as well.”

“And I am definitely looking forward to passing on my own expertise to beginners!” said Princess Platinum excitedly.

“What about the rest?” asked Celestia taking note of the remaining ponies in the room.

“They are here to help make the lesson more realistic. Come on in and I’ll explain what we have planned out for this lesson.”

Once the two sisters were inside, the classroom the door magically closed behind them and Aurora beckoned them over to the center of the class where she and Platinum had strategically placed desks together to form a long table behind them the rest of the witnesses began to take their positions.

“As you can see, this is meant to simulate a real occasion where you two will be asked to attend meetings from the formal down to strategic war plans.”

“War plans?!” exclaimed Luna growing stiff.

“Don’t worry, those types of meetings are rare,” said Princess Platinum reassuringly. “But it’s best to know what to do when the time comes for such unpleasantry!”

“Now what we think would be a good place to start would be the basics,” said Aurora seriously. “What will happen is that the Royal Guards will escort you two back inside and then we’ll go from their. Are you ready?”

“I think so,” said Celestia unsure. “What do we do once we’re back inside?”

“Heads up and focus on us only,” said Princess Platinum pointing at herself and Aurora.

Celestia, Luna and the two guards left the classroom to wait outside. No matter how nervous the two sisters were, they could tell that this was the first time that the two stallions have ever introduced royalty to other important rulers. With a deep breath the two guards opened the door and marched inside.

“Your majesties, we present their Royal Highnesses, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!”

All at once both Princess Aurora and Platinum along with the rest of the ponies rose and watched as Celestia and Luna entered. Together the two made their way toward the long fake table. Twice Celestia and Luna couldn’t help but to stare at the onlookers who bowed their heads upon being noticed. Once at the table the two waited for one the other rulers to sit but instead they and the rest of the ponies stayed where they were.

“This is where you’re supposed to sit your highnesses,” whispered Princess Platinum.

Jumping slightly the two sat down causing them to flinch as their rears slammed onto their long flowing tails.

“Right then,” said Princess Platinum tapping her chin thoughtfully. “First things first. When you enter, your eyes must remain on those who are waiting at the table. And since this time it is your castle and your homeland, you must be the first to sit. Only then will it be clear to the rest that the meeting has officially started.”

“Ok. I get it,” said Luna taking in every word.

“That and it shows manners. When other rulers visit, typically they want to be impressed the second they meet you weather it be for a formal occasion or important meeting. From what I just witnessed I’d say…”

She paused for a brief moment before coming to a conclusion. “There is still room improvement.”

“That bad huh?” asked Celestia sheepishly.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it eventually,” said Aurora patiently. “Now, from here it would be up to those who have traveled to fill you in on what the meeting is about.”

“Oh, I see,” said Luna knowledgably. “And if it were us visiting your land, we would be the ones to rise upon your arrival and tell you what brings us there once we are all seated.”

“Exactly!” said Princess Platinum impressed. “You’re a quick study your highness! I like it! Shall we try again from the top?”

The lesson went on for some time after that. With the help of Princess Platinum and Aurora they managed to teach Celestia and Luna how to handle situations like royal parties, galas, various meetings, and what to say and do during them. Two and a half hours later, they immerged from the classroom, their brains throbbing from the amount of information that had just been placed upon them. They had no idea that the roll of being princesses was so demanding. The tasks they had to preform reached farther than just raising the sun, moon, and inspecting the Everfree Forest. There was no doubt that their future jobs were very time consuming. A chipper Clover the Clever told them that in time they would get the hang of things and be ready to take on the duties in trusted to them. With the days teaching over Madam Quill wanted to have a word Luna privately. Curious as to what their magic teacher wanted with her, Luna went back inside the classroom where Princess Aurora was just leaving with Princess Platinum. Now that everyone but the Unicorn and Princess were gone the Madam Quill made her horn glow and began placing everything back to their proper places.

“Please have a seat,” requested Madam Quill.

"I think I will stand thanks,” said Luna. “What did you want to talk about?”

Madam Quill didn’t answer. She was busying herself by going through a pile of old books. At last she found the one she was looking for. Blowing the dust off the cover she levitated it over to her.

“What…” began Luna but Madam Quill cut her off.

“You will find the answers you seek in chapter 10.”

“Sorry, I don’t know what you mean by that,” said Luna making the book float back to the unicorn.

“Your father wanted me to give this to you,” said Madam Quill giving the book back to the Princess of the Night. “He said that the time has come for the last part of your training.”

Before Luna could question the magic teacher any further she was removed from the classroom where the door closed on her. Luna heard the door lock click preventing her from getting back inside.

“What did Madam Quill want with you?” asked Celestia waiting for her little sister at the top of the stairs.

“I don’t know, but father wanted her to give me this,” said Luna showing Celestia the worn out book. “He thinks that it’s time for me to begin the last part of my training whatever that is. Hey, you don’t think it could have something to do with raising the moon?”

“I hope not!” said Celstia giving the book an uneasy look. “If he continues to pile more things for you to study, you might break under the pressure.”

“Don’t be silly Celie!” said Luna and proudly proclaimed. “If this book holds the key to helping me raise the moon, then I have to look through it.”

“Well, alright. Just don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Don’t worry sister. If there’s something in here about raising the sun, then I’ll pass it off to you once I’m done!”

That night while all of castle except for the night shift and Luna were asleep, she busied herself with opening the old book and turned to the chapter instructed. The chapter title was what caught her attention instantly. “Chapter 10, The Dream Watcher” What could this mean? How could this help her in any way? Luna began to read. As she flipped through the pages her mouth began to open. The chapter described how in the ancient times, the Alicorns born to rule over their lands were gifted with special powers the youngest of the four was gifted with the ability to act as a guardian to watch over the dreams of everyone. To do this, he would preform dream hopping and once he found someone struggling her would watch from the shadows only to immerge when he felt like the dreamer was close to losing their way.

Suddenly Luna was hit by an impossible theory. Last night, could her father really had seen her? No, that couldn’t be, she must be thinking to much about it. It was her dream and not his after all. Luna continued to read on. The youngest brother would then guide the ponies in the right direction and help them conquer their worst fears. It was also said that he would warn them about the consequences for their actions if they continued to wrong those around them. On and on the book went guessing the total number of ponies the youngest brother helped during his time of rule. At the middle of the chapter, it described how the youngest of the four managed to fulfill his task every night. He would fall asleep like everyone else, but when he did, his dreams would be interrupted. Some dreams spoke to him louder than the rest. For future rulers of their world, they suspected that this was how he knew which dreams to leap into.

Luna put the book down. Could this be what the voices she heard last night were? Could they be dreams of other ponies calling out to her? And if King Night Shade knew about her being in the room with him, could she have accidentally stumbled into his own dream without realizing it? It would explain why he wanted Madam Quill to hand her the book that led her to this revelation. Suddenly a shocking realization hit her. Not only would she have to raise the moon every night, but she had also been granted the gift of dream hoping. It would be up to her to watch over the dreams of everyone and help those who are struggling. Just what she needed, another task for her to fulfill. Luna sank onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow.

“Maybe Celestia was right after all.” She thought as she squeezed the pillow over her head. “What if all this is too much for me to handle?”

“Ah but remember,” came a nagging voice in the back of her head. “You told her that you could handle anything the Princess of the Night training threw at you! You aren’t about to give up now? You can do this! Just start off small and work your way to the top!”

“Yes,” she agreed with herself. “That’s right, I can do this! All I have to do is start off small!”

Luna lied in bed awake until she found herself growing tired and her eyes began to close. Blowing out the candle, she fell back into bed where at last she drifted off to sleep. There was nothing but blackness. She waited there, sure that at any moment the voices of the dreams would come calling out to her again. The minutes passed and turned to hours. This wasn’t working. She wouldn’t be dream hoping at this rate. What could she be doing wrong? Growing impatient she cursed the final task and with nothing to look at, she sank onto the non-existing floor and closed her minds eye. She didn’t know how long she was there, but the next thing she knew is that she was in a grass field. A soft breeze made the tall grass dance with her long mane and tail. In the distance she saw Celestia teaching the Phoenix how to fly with Wind Chime as the Tick, Tock and Black Wood watched from below. Luna wanted to join in too, but something was holding her back. She tried to go toward them, but it was as if the part of the field she was standing on was holding her still while her sister and friends began to move farther away.

“Hey! Wait! Don’t go! I can still hang out if want to! Just give me a minute to… Stupid books, stupid letters… Wait, what did I just…”

Looking down Luna saw that her hooves where buried in a pile of books and letters. The more she struggled to free herself the tighter they held on. Refusing to let her go. She looked back up to see that her sister and her friends were gone and she was left alone with nothing but the pile of books and sealed letters to keep her company. She sank into them lowering her head.

“No,” she told herself. “I can manage both. I can fit them in too… I…”

But she couldn’t finish her thoughts. Her eyes grew watery as she began to sob. She knew what this was. As long as she continued to put her studies first her friends and sister would soon abandon her. The heavy weights holding her down seemed to loosen as she fell into the growing mountain of duties and let the sad truth sink in. The darkness took over again. She was left with nothing now.

Then, she heard them. It started off faint at first, but then they grew loud enough for her to not only hear them, but see them as well. Before her thick grey fog like clouds appeared. They were circling her. Each spoke one word to describe what the dream was about. Was this some kind of cruel joke? Was her suffering the only way for them to intervene? Wiping her eyes, Luna listened to what was being said.

“Doubt… Worry… Humorous… Happy… Sad… Confusion…”

The last thing Luna wanted at the moment was more sadness, so she tried her best to ignore that particular dream. Humorous and Happy didn’t sound like something she should intrude on and Confusion was well, confusing. Which left Doubt and Worry. Luna thought out of all the bad choices, which one seemed the least likely to be something she wouldn’t be able to handle. To be honest, none of them sounded particularly inviting. Remembering that all she wanted to do for now was to start off small. Sure, if visiting the others wasn’t what she was meant to do, at least she would be getting good practice for keeping out of sight if she ventured into one of the other three. Not knowing which to pick, Luna decided to choose at random. Her hoof hovered out in mid air before she touched the one that spoke of Confusion the fog clouds stopped circling her and stayed still as the one her hoof was touching began to expand. The fog disappeared revealing a clear image. It was like looking through a window. Inside the dream she saw to her amazement, her sister. Why would Celestia be dreaming about confusion? Carefully, she placed her second hoof on the image and leaned in trying to get a better look at what was going on. Without warning, her head was sucked into the frame and her body went in afterward. She hit the ground hard but to her relief it didn’t hurt and Celestia didn’t seem to notice the new arrival. They were outside Canterlot castle and ahead of them were a group of Royal Guards. Spreading her wings she took to the sky and looked up to see if the window she had fallen through was still there. It was. Just a few feet above her the window remained visible. Thinking that she ought to follow her sister, Luna hurried over to the gates to look down on the scene. Luna let out a gasp as she saw what her sister was doing. She was digging the ground nervously with her hoof and making sure that her mane was neat. That wasn’t the weirdest part. Oh no, that belonged to none other than the Captain of the Royal Guard, Snap Shot. Upon closer inspection Luna saw that his golden purple armor shun brightly in the sunlight and since when had his mane ever become neatly combed back and were his muscles suddenly more noticeable? Oh no. No, it couldn’t be. Luna felt her face hurt with the effort it took for her not to burst out laughing. As Celestia took a deep breath and continued toward the guards the realization for the purpose of the dream hit Luna with the force of stampeding bull. Celestia was dreaming about Snap Shot! This was too rich and the fact that the Captain remained oblivious to her approach made it all the more amusing. One of the dream guards on the wall noticed Luna and called out to her. Luna’s heart dropped as she raced to the guard before the eyes from below began to scan upward.

“Sorry,” said Luna to the confused guard. “But, I can’t miss out on this. Could you do me a favor and not give me away?”

The guard only stared blankly at her.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Luna hurried to the edge of the wall and looked down on the scene below. The Guards quickly cleared a path to Snap Shot for Celestia who stared nervously at him. Luna saw Celestia say something to the captain who shrugged and followed her away from the group. The two headed behind a part of the castle where Celestia thought they wouldn’t be seen, but Luna silently crept up to a part of the wall where she would have the perfect watching post. The two exchanged friendly talk until the moment she thought would never come was upon them. Snap Shot placed both front hooves on Celestia’s shoulder and moved in for the final blow. Luna waited with anticipation, Snap Shot drew closer, Celestia was blushing furiously. Just then, the morning sky began to grow dark. Something wasn’t right and if Luna stayed any longer, something told her she didn’t want to stick around once the image was covered in blackness. Taking off again, she flew toward the window in the sky that was her only escape. She had just climbed through when the darkness took over. On one hand Luna felt relieved that she had made it out in time. On the other, she felt a funny feeling come over her as the black image began to fade away. She couldn’t hold in her laughter anymore. She fell over clutching her stomach as she rolled around unable to control herself. The rest of the Fog clouds began to wither away and before she knew it, they were gone.

Once Luna had pulled herself together, she realized that she was left in the dark again. At least she knew how to enter dreams now and the quick adventure into Celestia’s dream was just what she needed to get her spirits up again. She knew that next time when the dreams of others came swooping in she would be ready to tackle one of the bad ones. Besides, if she let Celestia know what she saw by tomorrow, it wouldn’t take long to find herself in another nightmare.