Part of our community was built into the mountain cave system inside and several buildings outside along the eastern slopes separating Hayseed Swamps from the Badlands. When it was sunup, we slept in the caves, ate our meals there and spent time with our families in our homes dug out in cozy alcoves carved along tunnel walls. When the moon rose, we would go outside to our township where the roads were cut into the slopes and wound their way up several levels. The school was on the uppermost level, naturally. The official story from the adults was the school was one of the first buildings built in the establishment of our community, and as such needed to be near the top to keep it from the more dangerous creatures that wandered the night down below. My fellow classmates felt it was justification for our parents to use the age old story of 'back in our day we had to fly uphill both ways in the snow blah blah blah'. I of course had to WALK uphill both ways blah blah blah. Winter was approaching and there were some flurries even this far south, making the ground cold and muddy. This evening as I was making my way up the road leading out of the cave entrance to the slopes, Lance fell in step next to me. We walked for a few minutes before I looked askance, "...what are you doing?"

Lance clenched his jaw, cleared his throat and said mutely, "Just walking here, same as you." He was so rigid I thought his legs would snap off. I glanced around at some of the other thestrals. Occasionally they would look our way and whisper to each other before flying on ahead.

"Dork, I don't need your sympathy. My head has finally stopped hurting and I absolutely do not need anymore headaches or teasing from you!" I quickened my trot, pulling ahead. Sure enough, he caught up to me wearing an annoyed expression.

He stated, "This is not a pity party. I, uh, I wanted to ask you some things, about the other week." I cringed and plodded on. My dreams had been kind of muddled as of late. I hadn't run into the Mare in the Moon for awhile and I was starting to worry if I had done something wrong. Going into detail might make it worse if I started spreading the news that she was returning soon and her enemies got a chance to prepare.

"There is nothing to talk about. I had some dreams, they helped us both out of the jungle. Cliche' sounding, yes. Also concluded." I slowed to my normal pace. He did as well. Oh for filly's sake, go away!

Lance winced a little and replied, "Well at least you are honest about how you feel." I realized I had spoken out loud. I had to be careful, sometimes I was mean on accident, not knowing the strength of my own emotions and I blurted things. Maybe he deserved it, seeing as how he was been mean to a lot of others in the past....no, I will not be a bully. That I CAN control.

He had started to pull away when I called out, "Wait, Lance..." We both stopped and looked at each other. "I don't know why you are acting differently now. It gives me the willies even more than when you just yelled insults at me. It is easier to see you coming from a long way off than having you right next to me." A moment passed where neither of us said anything. Then we started our climb up the road again. Eventually I spoke broke the silence, "Not too many others have been saying any insults the last few weeks, now that I think about it. Your doing?"

He continued on, a smile creeping onto his face. "Some things don't require me to remember a three-letter name," he murmured. I lowered my head and grunted softly. He nodded once. We rounded one of the bends and continued on. "You haven't had any dreams lately, have you? You haven't had that zoned out look lately. Maybe it has to do with you not being picked on." Ugh! How did he figure that out...I was about to retort when it occurred to me that he might be onto something.

"So what are you saying, I need to be harassed to dream about talking to a mythical mare?" Lance kept walking along with a scary look in his face. It was the spark of inspiration. "Dork, don't you dare!"

I should have kept my mouth shut. With a puff of snow billowing away he launched himself into the air. He looked pained for a few seconds, the shoulder must still be sore. "Hey, all this walking is for the earth ponies, catch you later. Don't trip on anything!" He lifted further up the way, skipping all the winding roads I would have to walk.

I stared after him until he reached the school level and disappeared. That bug-kissing good for nothing jerk! Annoyed, I trudged my lonely way along trying not to be late for classes. The ground wasn't too cold yet for the flurries to freeze, so there was no worry of ice and slipping. That just left mud. Other older thestrals were pulling carts or making their rounds to various businesses, so I wasn't quite alone. Still, it was more of what I had been used to, the inability to fly. Rounding the final turn in the path I finally crested the top to stand at the open gates of the school. It looked like I made it on time.

A ball of mud sailed through the air and exploded on my face, knocking me down. I scrambled up and spent the next few minutes scraping the gunk out of my eyes so I could see who did it. The courtyard was completely empty and the bell was ringing the final call. Sighing I made my way to the restroom to clean myself up. There was crud caked all over my face and flank where I fell. Late bell sounded as I got half my flank cleaned, with just my blue cutie-mark wings covered with crusting mud. Figures. I threw the wash towels in the trash, not bothering to finish, and slowly trotted to class.

As I entered I saw Ms. Bookweather writing on the chalkboard, so I tried my best to get to my desk, my hooves making unavoidable soft tapping noises on the hard floor. Right before I could sit down Ms. Bookweather said, "Jen! What is the punishment for missing late bell?" She continued to write on the blackboard by drawing a circle at eye level with her chalk. Joy.

I straightened up and responded respectfully, "One bell is fine, Two bell is close. Late bell means touching the wall with your nose." I squeezed my eyes shut until I saw white, opened them and made my way to the front of the class and stuck my nose to the circle on the board. The teacher looked me over and said quietly, "At first break you can use the washroom to finish cleaning yourself up. Rolling around in the mud is unladylike, regardless who started it." I seethed. "If you wish to talk about it, which you never choose to do so, I will still be here an hour after school, which you have never taken advantage of."

I muttered a 'Yes Ma'am' to her and stood there for most of the class. At one point I turned my head just enough to spot Lance from the corner of my eye. While the other students whispered and giggled, he maintained a very neutral expression.

Lunch time was no better. I had gotten used to sitting by myself off to the side since I started school. That usually made it easier to see approaching trouble. Not today. Bits of food found their way over to my table more frequently than ever before. Whenever I looked up, nobody was watching me. That meant there was no audience and the culprit was being very sneaky. After the tenth morsel pegged me I got up to turn in my food tray. As I walked to the trash, I spotted Lance literally hiding next to another classmate. When he saw me, he became so focused on eating the rest of his food, I wouldn't have been surprised if he was able to spew forth a comprehensive chemical analysis of his meal in chemistry class, Mister Three-Letter and all. He was in on something.

Chemistry class was no better. Professor Beakersworth would give us a series of instructions to follow, like mixing solutions, heating them up with a candle. No matter what I did, my mixtures would turn out horribly wrong, either smoking, exploding or changing into rock solid messes in the glass containers. The only time they did work was when I kept my eyes on the container the whole time, holding the paper in front of me. I could practically feel Lance fidgeting a table away from me...along with a couple of other students who seemed to be more interested in what I was doing than finishing the assignments. Was he getting help?!? That son of a-

During gym class we got to play dodge ball. That was one of my favorite sports. It didn't matter if you were picked last, and it didn't matter if nobody passed the ball to you. You could go grab a ball and play your own game against the other team.....I forgot to mention gym time was no better. Everyone happened to be more motivated to hold all the balls than they ever were in the past. Some had three or four at a time, causing them to get pegged for no good reason. I would have laughed at their attempts to keep me out of the game if I hadn't had all the previous instances today to stack on top of it. At one point, Lance and two other thestrals deliberately stood right in front of me, blocking my line of sight. Then they dove in separate directions as the other team drilled a ball right through them into my face. I swear I saw stars for a few seconds and discovered I was lying on my back. Lance was standing over me, this time with a hurt expression and lent me a hoof, "Jen, I'm so sorry, they were not supposed to throw it that hard, I swear." Once he helped me stand I held my hoof up, ready to hit him. He squinted his eyes in anticipation.

I lowered my hoof, tears coming to my eyes, "Why are you doing this!?" I already knew why...but this was just mean.

He straightened and said, "I'm trying to make you upset to help with your dreaming. I figured, I could repay you...hey, this is what I am good at, right?" Then he leaned close and poked me in the forehead, "By the way, you are out." He went back to playing dodge ball and I meandered over to the benches. I ignored the staring, the laughing. My face stung from the hit. One of the gym teachers checked on me. Yes I am okay, no I do not need to go to the nurse. Yes I understand, the rules allow for that kind of play, yes it was incredibly cruel, yet well executed. No I did not think Lance was a great player. I started to hate the only sport I ever loved.

After school, I was walking out of the building when my bookbag was snatched out of my grip by none other than Dork Lance. Extra Dork as of today. I shook my hoof up at him, "Yes, Dork, let's repeat what happened when you grabbed that colt's candy and went floppy flop in the jungle! We know how that ended!" To his credit, Lance had a stern look on his face, almost like he was not enjoying this. He hovered just out of reach with my bookbag and was slowly moving backwards in the air toward the edge of the road.

He replied, "Everyone knows how it ended. Did it ever occur to you to find out how it began?" He was now hovering out past the road. If he dropped the bag it would land somewhere on the lower roads, making me spend a long time looking for it. I wasn't concerned about the bag, but his words.

"You took his bag, I stood up to you, exactly what you are doing now!"

He shook his head and floated a little closer to me, lowering his voice, "If you would roll with the punches once in a while instead of taking offense to everything we do, you would eventually get to hang out with us and find out that we do that every Nightmare Night. We follow a few colts or fillies, see which one has the least amount of candy, steal their bag and taunt them for a while. Then when they are about to give up, we toss them all of our candy. Most of us end up throwing it away anyway, we just figured it would be nice to trick AND treat somepony instead of wasting it." I must have looked like a gaping fish. He threw my bag to me and it bounced off my head, I was so stunned. "Not everypony is what you think they are. You aren't that unique either, just muley maybe. With no wings." He stuck out his tongue and zipped over the edge.

I chased after him to the edge and threw my bag at him.

I watched him disappear past some buildings down below. I watched my bag hit a building roof and tumble out of sight.

"Dammit."

It took me a long time to find my bag and get home. Dinner was cold. Mother and Father were hot. I didn't say a word the entire time and went straight to bed. I was too angry to cry, so sleep was long in the coming. When I did drift off, I was in the place between places. Her realm.

"Jen, it has been a while since we last spoke to each other." All around me was black with pinpoints of light. They had to be stars, now that I had visited the moon and had perspective of the blackness in between. I knew if I thought hard enough, I could make things happen or go places, yet this natural state where I willed nothing and let things be as they may, this was the natural order of this place. Such a wondrous domain.

I replied to the voice, "I think I have to be angry or upset to speak to you."

A portion of the darkness coalesced into the shape of a shadowy alicorn. "Indeed you may be correct. It has been when you are upset or deeply frustrated that we connect from our two different realms. A like beacon in the night, it is our suffering that calls us to one another."

I shook my head, "I hate it! I want to be left alone by the other thestrals, especially that one you made me save! He will not leave me alone. I don't like being an outcast!" I slumped and sobbed to myself.

The Mare in the Moon came closer and sat next to me, replying, "Sooner or later we are all outcasts, for what we do, what we stand for. It is the fight that makes us strong, the fires we walk through that teach us how to remain unscathed. On the one hoof, it allows you and I to connect, so I may prepare you for things to come. On the other hoof, frustration builds character."

I looked up, wiping my nose, "That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard."

The dark alicorn sat up and narrowed her eyes, "Then I shall have to find some very frustrating things for you to learn, little thestral." I gulped and looked down, chastised. She watched me and got up fully. "For now we shall discuss how to move." I looked up and must have appeared confused because she explained, "I saw glimpses of your memory as you slipped into slumber, the instances were saturated in negative emotion. They underscored a weakness most other flying thestrals overlook, the ability to move quickly and quietly on the ground." She began to glow a dark blue and became more substantial. I could see pieces of armor on her chest, head and hooves. She was formidable and awe-inspiring.

"You must pay attention to your weight when you step. Slowly pressing your hoof to the ground is not enough. Each step must be an attempt at silence." She demonstrated by taking individual steps, shifting the speed they approached the ground at the last instant. Just watching her was frustrating. "Thinking you are weightless is not enough. From the barrel up you must glide in a direction." She moved without her body going up or down, in combination with the steps she showed, and did not make a sound.

I raised a hoof. "Your Majesty, we are in a dream. There could be as much sound or as little as we want, no?" The alicorn stared at me until I bowed my had and mumbled an apology. She continued.

"Silence is not the only gift we creatures of the night have been granted. Movement is an art, a symphony of thoughts given form." The great mare began to dance and twirl, never making a sound and executed various moves with incredibly deft skill. As she sped up, certain moves began to creep into the sequences. A sharp kick here, a jab with a forehoof there, a vicious whipping of the head, sharp teeth cutting the air itself. This was not just movement of a sly nature. This was combat. Again, I betrayed my uncertainty and she stopped, waiting for me to speak.

"I think I can be silent, and move like you do to sidestep threats.... but those attacks. Will I have to attack others?"

The dark alicorn held her head high and intoned, "Insurrection is a sacred right to you, a duty to myself. It was a dream of a dream long ago, ignored until I had to face it. This one thing I tried to explain to my dear sister in every manner OTHER than fighting. Every plan, every non-violent method I could find. She was unyielding, uncaring to my position, so it is insurrection I march towards. The song I hope you will sing when it is time." I sighed, not feeling good about fighting. To be honest I hadn't really hit anybody in anger before. Her speech also reminded me of a question that was bothering me ever since Lance told me about the being in front of me.

"Great Mare...is your name Nightmare Moon? Do you intend to make night forever."

She was silent for a long time. Or an instant, in this place. She replied, "I am. Does that change how you see me?"

I shook my head and said, "I can see why you took matters into your own hoof...it is the fighting part that I am uncomfortable with."

She nodded. "That lesson will later. Quenching a sword too early can shatter it at a time when you need its strength the most. For now, watch what I do and repeat my movements. Think, and move. Feel the ground before it meets your hoof. Expect danger to come and the air itself will compress, telling you from what direction the threat is approaching."

I took everything she said to heart. Those first lessons were very difficult. My ability did not mature in one day either. Lance would continue to walk to school with me and have me hating him by the time we left to go home. He continued to walk me home as if nothing had happened. It was hard to deal with him, yet I forgave him, knowing why he was doing it. I guess after all I had been through, he seemed to be a decent colt, right up until he would do something horrid to me all over again. As we approached Hearth's Warming it felt like he was getting less pranks in on me, though. Several times I ducked or hesitated turning a corner and was rewarded with another student getting hit with something or one thestral careening into another, mistakenly kicking somepony. The teachers were beside themselves trying to figure out why their students would have spontaneous losses of balance or muscle coordination. Lance would be nearby during those events, or the culprits would be well known associates of his.

One day I had had enough, time to turn the tables.

The week before school let out for the holidays I noticed Lance was following me down a hallway holding a straw and chewing on some paper. I knew what he was planning and sped up to get behind Ms. Bookweather. At the last moment I jumped to the side and said, "Ms. Bookweather!" As she turned to me a large spitwad splattered onto her neck. With wide eyes she turned her head as she wiped the mess off her neck.

"Dark Lance, what do you think you are doing!"

I said absentmindedly to myself, "A lot of impressionable students look up to him, too."
Lance was frozen in place several feet away holding the straw. He stared between me and the teacher.

Ms. Bookweather stormed over to Lance, took the straw from him and grabbed his ear with her hoof. She turned back to me, "I am so sorry, Jen dear, I have to deal with this miscreant. What was it you wanted to tell me?"

I curtsied and ducked my head, "I was going to say your fur looked especially radiant today, before somepony decided to ruin it. Do you need help putting it back in place, Ma'am?" Lance shook his head, mouthing several words I thankfully could not lipread.

"Oh that is quite alright. Nothing a little brushing and detention can't fix. Come along, young colt, we have a few things to discuss." She dragged Lance along as she marched him to her classroom. It was near the end of the day so I was not required to be in any classes.

I glanced inside as I walked by the doorway, noting the teacher was at the board writing instructions for today's detention assignment and her newest charge was about to sit down. I slipped in quietly, pulled the seat back and hustled out of there right before I heard a yelp, a crash, and a stern admonishment regarding a certain thestral's inability to behave himself. Oh, and double detention. Occasionally I would toss paper balls at him for the rest of his detention but I got bored and decided that was enough for one day. I waited outside.

When Lance finally trudged out of the school I fell in step alongside him. He didn't look at me. A couple of minutes passed before he spoke up, "How did you do any of that?"

I grinned and said, "The irony is you helped me, with all of that stuff you did. Getting me upset helps me speak to Nightmare Moon." I gave Lance some time to mull that over.

He wasn't reacting the way I thought he would. "You plan on seeing her more? Knowing her return might start a war?"

I nodded my head, "If it means equality for everypony, yes! You realize our families have been stuck in these caves for generations? What is the point of learning geography when all we see are slopes and swamps?"

Lance laughed and pointed his muzzle toward the swamps, "You can go beyond the swamps to the jungle, and the coastline. Plus, nobody is stopping you from visiting the major cities up north or other countries for that matter."

I shook my head and replied, "That's not the point. Any night species is simply not welcomed in those places. She will change that. Just imagine living on a street in Canterlot or in the countryside. No more caves or mountains or swamps. Real forests that don't try to kill you."

I heard him scoff as he stopped and stared at his reflection in a shop window. "Change for change's sake is not always good. I am not so sure I like the changed you, for instance." I stepped up next to him. He was taller and broader, even without his wings. His nearest wing started to extend towards me in the reflection.

"That the wing you hurt earlier?"

He stopped and said, "Maybe."

"Want it to hurt later?" It retracted back to his side.

"Maybe not. Lately you seem to be a little..." He tapped his chin as we watched the soda jerk mix an icecream float and serve it to a couple sitting at the fountain bar inside the icecream shop.

"Hungry?"

Lance coughs and says, "Not the word I would choose. In any case-" He slapped me on the ribs with his wing and ducked inside the shop. I growled and chased after him. When I entered, he was already climbing onto a stool at the bar. I trotted over and hopped onto a stool as he ordered, "Chocolate float, two scoops, two straws."

I tapped the bar, "Two shakes, one straw each." He made a face at me and shrugged to the young stallion thestral behind the bar. The soda jerk nodded and started mixing up two glasses of floats. "Thankyou, Dork, but no. We are not dating. That means no cooties." Several of the younger thestrals from school stared at us, mostly at Lance.

Lance made an overly dramatic guffaw and clopped the table. "As IF! I just figured we could race to see who got a head-freeze first." I stared deadpan at him until the drinks were slid in front of us. Lance threw a few bits onto the bar, covering both of our drinks. I started sucking on the straw, muttering a thankyou in between breaths. He grinned and started drinking his. After a long moment of quiet listening to the background conversations, Lance exclaimed, "I love chocolate!"

The soda jerk leaned against the bar cleaning a glass with a rag. "Savor it, because we are running low on the stuff lately." Several forlorn faces looked his way, including ours.

I asked, "What do you mean? Are we not getting enough cocoa bean supplies?"

The thestral nodded and pointed to the window, "Something odd going on down in the jungles south of here. Several of the wild trees we normally harvest from have either been ripped out of the ground or burned to a cinder. Local grocers think dragons are to blame, but who knows? I never heard of a dragon roasting a tree for fun. Still, it means low supplies. Hope spring sees some improvement."

Lance and I looked at each other. Lance started to have that look of inspiration again. I was already shaking my head when he spoke up, "You know, with Hearth's Warming coming up, I can ask my parents for something that will help us look into this."

I poked him in his hurt shoulder, receiving a wince, "What is this 'we' business? 'We' are not adults. 'We' have no idea how to fight dragons. 'We' have a somewhat terrible history when it comes to jungle trekking."

He flexed his wing socket joint a bit and replied, "And 'we' seem to know how to TRACK in the jungle, if I remember correctly." I shook my head and went back to drinking the chocolate float. He pressed on, "Oh, come on, just think about it. We don't have to fight anything. You can find out what is destroying those trees. I will fly above as a scout and protect you if things get bad." I looked at him while I finished off the drink, making annoyingly slurpy sounds with the straw. His eyes twitched until I stopped. I started it again and he slapped the straw out of my mouth.

"Hey, I was drinking that!"

"You have a bad habit about finding the right pressure point and poke poke poke..." He demonstrated by jamming his hoof at the bar top. I giggled.

"Yes, one of the delights of being an outcast."

Lance got a sad expression and said, "Look, Jen. You are not that much of an outcast...you just need to let things slide. Look at me. I should have been fuming at you....but I was impressed with what you pulled today. I look forward to the rest of this week."

I gave him a lopsided smirk and said, "It's on. Until Hearth's Warming day, thestral versus thestral, no holds barred. By the end of this week, one of us will be crowned Lady of the Prank."

The cocky thestral slid off the stool and gave a mock bow, "Or Lord of the Prank. We will have to figure out what the prize is, or wait until one of us cries 'Uncle' and the other gives HIS demands." As he walked by he said softly, "Of course, I wouldn't mind doing this little date thing again," and sauntered away before I could swipe at thin air. I knew he was trying to get under my fur.

Or was he?

I walked home by myself, having waited a good half hour to make sure I would not run into Lance again. I did not trust myself to say anything to him without making an idiot of myself. I did not know what I was feeling. The feeling was not quite upset, nor was it anger. Confusion was there, and uncertainty, frustration at not knowing what was going on, perhaps. It was a host of emotions running through my head and I certainly couldn't talk to my parents, not about this. Hello Mother and Father, here is Dark Lance. I call him Dork because he used to tease me. He still does, but now the great Nightmare Moon has taught me to move like a silent ghost of vengeance, so naturally he spends even more time with me trying to one up me in teasing. Lowly me, the outcast of my generation.

As I thought more about it, it occurred to me that he will not stay away, that he will keep trying to do things for me or to me and it creeped me out. I thought it creeped me out.

"It is called love, though it is a thing I have not felt in eons."

A shadowy visage floated before me in the darkness. I must have dozed off in the living room and my parents did not make me get into bed. I could already feel the crick in my neck beginning to settle in. I replied, "All those things he is doing NOW, versus the outright horrible things he used to do, is his way of showing love?"

The dark face nodded, the eyes glowing in the panorama of starlight that made up the backdrop. I could spend eons here. I felt alive among the stars...if only I could fly. And in that instant, I was flying! I willed myself up away from the unseen ground and I knew I was in the sky. As I thought it, both sky and ground came into being and I was very high up. As I hovered there admiring the expanding view, the floating face came up alongside me. "You grow strong in your dreams. This is not a place one visits or travels to. It is a concept your mind creates, indulges in. You are getting older and more confident in yourself, thus it reflects in what you can accomplish in your dreams. Alas when you awake, you will be as you were, yet if you paid attention, a fraction wiser."

As I floated I imagined great wings, not the bat wings of thestrals, but great blue ones like my cutie-mark. As if ink were bled through paper they appeared, light blue and radiant. Nightmare Moon watched quietly, approval in her eyes. I spun around admiring the wings and then floated closer to her saying, "I have been paying attention, your Majesty. When the other students attempt to prank me, not only can I avoid it, I end up pranking them back. I move like wind in the night, a silent ghost among the living."

The floating face's eyes roll briefly, "There are no such things as ghosts. Silly superstitions to scare young foals into doing what they are told."

I got a little snarky and quipped, "Until recently, you were a ghost story, though it was more of a cautionary tale..than a...scare tactic......" As I spoke, the face got alarmingly closer, the eyes flashing with anger.

"There is insurrection, and then there are excruciatingly crushed rebellions, little foal."

I gulped and whispered, "...until recently your majesty...."

Nightmare Moon floated for a while, watching me. I had started to get used to her doing that after I was chastised. Keep quiet, nod, take to heart her words. Sometimes it was hard to hide what I was thinking in this place. Nightmare Moon's eyes sparkled and she chuckled. "It is indeed, yet you are entitled to your thoughts. Just keep them in their proper place. For now I sense you will need to learn something else. Something very old." Two thin lengths of metal appeared in front of me. I looked at them curiously.

"Are these weapons, agile rods to strike my foes down before they ever know I was there, to cut down those that would harm my family and people?" These definitely looked exotic.

"No. You are still not ready for combat yet. These are among the simplest tools to find things in the world. I sense you may be venturing soon, given your discussions with your new friend." Nightmare Moon's face floated around the rods. "They can be any material, which can determine what you find. For now, you will practice with metal. They can find other metal things, but the most important thing they can find, is water!"

I stared at the rods. My wings slowly disappeared and I sunk down to the ground. I asked glumly, "Water? I am going to learn how to find water?"

Nightmare Moon followed me down and stepped into being, fully formed. She did not look pleased. "Please, do not act so excited. The very least you could do is thank me for imparting such an ancient skill upon you. 'Thankyou, your Majesty. It is an honor you bestow upon me, your Majesty! I will gladly learn this so when I am stuck in the wilderness and can only survive a single day without water I will be saved because NIGHTMARE MOON TAUGHT ME SOMETHING USEFUL!!!!' " She was bellowing in my face at that point.

My eyes were pinholes and I crouched on the ground. "Thankyou, your Majesty."

Nightmare Moon nodded her head once, smiling, "Not at all. Now take the rods in your mouth." I took the rods in my mouth. "Good. Now walk slowly in one direction." I did. "Hold them in your mouth so they are very loose and able to swing if they want to. The rods start out far apart. As you approach a source, they start to come closer. When you are directly over that source, the rods will cross." I walked around for a long time. The rods never crossed. I walked longer. Nothing. Finally I spit them out.

"With respect, your Majesty. This is a dream. I am never going to find water unless I imagine it." Nightmare Moon grinned.

"Good girl, you are learning." I blinked and gritted my teeth, keeping my tongue to myself this time. Nightmare Moon chuckled and walked over to the rods, picking them up. "This is a legitimate skill and it has its uses. Practice it when you are awake. I promise you will not regret it." She made the rods disappear. "Practicing awareness in your dreams is also a skill. It will hone your mind for when action matters and solutions need you to arrive to them without thinking. In a few years, I will need you to do that. For now, I leave you to your dreaming." She faded, not just her image but her very presence of will. My dreams were mine to do fanciful things in, and I played among the stars with my great wings of blue.

It truly ended much too soon when it was time to wake up, yet I was eager to get on in the day, evening for us thestrals, for I had a new thing to try out.

Walking around with sticks in my mouth. In public. After being fully awake and thinking this over, I concluded this was going to be humiliating.