Dream Scape

Dream Scape woke up to the buzzing of florescent lights. He was in a less than comfortable bed with metal rails on either side. Confused he looked around at his surroundings. The room was plain white and had a cupboard with a counter and sink, upon which sat jars of unused medical tools. Medical tools that’s a start. Next to the bed there were a few pieces of electronic equipment which were off at the moment. But what are those for?

"Where am I?" he asked himself as he sat up in the bed.

A friendly-looking white mare with a pink mane, wearing a nurses cap, walked into the room."Welcome to Ponyville General Hospital, my name is Nurse Redheart," she said.

"Oh, the hospital…That’s great.” He responded in a dull voice, “What happened after I passed out?"

"You were a little more than passed out; your brain activity showed signs of moderate cerebral trauma."

"That has never happened before.” His voice was full of concern, “Why would magic cause actual trauma?"

"I believe that part of it is you were straining your magic, and the other part is that your body was trying to reject the emotions you were drawing in. Now, I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure, but from what the mayor described, this is the logical diagnosis."

"I haven't ever tried to manipulate that much raw emotion before. I mean when an audience listens to my stories, they give their emotions to me to move and change, but I've never tried stealing emotions from that many ponies before."

"Well that would seem to support my diagnosis as well, however your more recent scans suggest that you have made a full recovery and may leave whenever you like."

"Wait. ‘Recent’? How long have I been asleep?" Dream Scape asked apprehensively.

"It has only been about two weeks."

Dream Scape released the breath he had been holding, "That's a relief. I thought you were going to say years."

"If you had been out that long, I assure you my relief to you waking would have been less happy and more along the lines of witnessing a miracle."

"Oh, that's comforting. I should probably get going; I've already spent too long in Ponyville. I don't want to miss out on anything else."

"Very well, I will collect your things while you get up."

As Nurse Redheart left the room, Dream Scape slowly extricated himself from the hospital bed. He walked over to the door way and rounded the corner. His senses were immediately assaulted by a spray of confetti and the yelling of “surprise” by six colorful equines squeezed up in the hall.

Dream Scape yelped as he jumped right into the ceiling. "Maybe surprising him right after he got out of the hospital wasn't such a good idea," suggested Twilight Sparkle, who was still new to this whole friendship thing.

"Maybe..." replied a dazed Dream Scape from his current position, laying flat on the floor.

Dream Scape and Twilight were eating lunch at a local diner, The other five said they had important business to attend to, even Pinkie who said something about Mr. Cake setting his hair on fire. The seating was outside and it was located just off the town square. Twilight had filled him in on what he had missed during the last two week, and their conversation had turned to idle chit-chat.

"Sorry for the scare. I hope you’re not hurt?" asked a still slightly concerned Twilight Sparkle.

"No, I'm fine. You ponies just startled me is all."

"Oh, good. How sad would it be if I gave a friend permanent brain damage before even being properly introduced to him? Unless causing brain damage is a way to make friends...I should look this up when I get back to the library."

"I can assure you, Twilight Sparkle, that you will not make many friends by beating them over the head with  a board."

"Really? I should write this down, give me a second, I'll be right back." With that the lavender unicorn ran off towards the nearby library to retrieve some writing supplies.

"Well, she seemed excited," commented the lilac unicorn that had been serving them.

Misinterpreting her comment Dream Scape replied hastily, "Oh we're not together or anything."

"I know," said the waitress, matter-of-factly, "How's your story coming?"

"Well, I was thinking that this 'Nightmare Moon' debacle might make a good story, but it seems that everypony already knows it, so that's a dead end."

"Maybe, but I've been wondering why princess Luna became Nightmare Moon. That would certainly entertain me. Hmm, oh well. It was nice talking to you, have a nice day." She said as she walked away, carrying his and Twilight’s empty plates.

Twilight Sparkle returned to her seat. "What did I miss?"

Twilight's question fell on deaf ears, though; Dream Scape was lost in thought. 'The Origins of Nightmare Moon', that might work...

After lunch, Dream Scape spent the rest the next hour or so packing his few belongings and buying supplies for his trip to Manehattan. Not only did they have a great theater there, whose manager was a friend of his, but they also had a library which rivaled the size of the Princesses' personal library. He could have taken the train to Manehattan but he enjoyed the trek through the country, and camping was another of his hobbies. Twilight and her friends had gathered at the edge of Ponyville to see Dream Scape off.

"Are you sure you don't mind walking? I'm sure I could get Celestia to lone you her carriage," Twilight asked once again in a concerned voice.

"I'll be fine. I've done this probably a hundred times now."

"Actually, just seven," Pinkie Pie interjected.

"Huh?" the other six ponies said in unison.

"He's only done it seven times." she replied with a shrug.

"Yes, I suppose seven would be the about right." Dream Scape replied, almost completely recovered from Pinkie's startling clairvoyance.

"Well you just keep yerself safe, ya hear?" Applejack ordered.

"Yeah, dying is definitely not cool," the other five turned towards Rainbow Dash and glared, "What? It's true."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Rarity said, "While I don't approve of her lack of sensitivity, I do agree with Rainbow, it would be simply terrible if something happened to you."

"Oh, that would be awful if something happened. You could be hurt, or worse," added Fluttershy.

"I know you'll be fine. See you in two months," Pinkie’s farewell was met with more confused glances.

"Well, I'll be off then." With that, Dream Scape started down the trail that would take him to Manehattan, and hopefully, the beginnings of his new story.

Dream Scape really did enjoy the experience of the outdoors; it always felt to him like a place where his mind could wander and inspiration, not a mix of nitrogen and oxygen, filled the air. But today he wasn't able to relax; he tried wondering about his new story. However, with little information, that did him no good. He tried to just enjoy the beauty of the spring-time environment. The air was filled with birdsong and the slight rustling of the breeze through the trees that lined the dirt path. Beyond the trees were gently rolling hills covered in grass and vibrant wild flowers in all the colors of the rainbow. Rabbits and other small animals scampered from bush to bush, enjoying the spring time sun. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, Dream Scape’s thoughts always turned back to Night Shade. Did I really abandon her? The question plagued his mind. Would things really have been different if I had looked for her? Canterlot is huge, I wouldn't have been able to find her by myself, but I could have at least tried… He was too lost in his own thoughts to notice the blue unicorn pulling a rather large trailer until he had literally run into her. The blue mare now sat bit front of her trailer her disheveled silver main now fallen in her face.

Dream Scape apologized hastily, "Oh, I am so sorry, I didn't see you there."

"It's alright, no harm done, at least to me. Are you okay?" the blue mare replied.

"I'm fine. Surprising though, with a trailer that large, I would have expected you to run right over me. It looks like it takes quite a bit of effort to stop that thing."

"Actually, with my ‘come to life’ spell it's rather easy to move and stop. Doesn't weigh much more than a feather."

Dream Scape noticed there was a faint silver blue aura surrounding the trailer. "Well, that must come in handy. I'm sorry, how rude of me not to introduce myself. I'm Dream Scape."

"Nice to meet you, Dream Scape, I am the Great and Powerful Trixie," she started enthusiastically, but her voice faltered when she got to her title.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, Trixie is fine she, I mean I just can never get my introduction right."

"What is it that you do that requires such a grand title?"

"I am a performer as my father was before me; I travel all throughout Equestria performing the greatest feats of magic ever witnessed...or at least I would if I wouldn't freeze up on stage."

"So you’re just nervous. Well that's not hard. All you need to do is believe in yourself. If you know that your magic is truly great and powerful, others will see that it is too."

"Yes, but I just don't know if I can live up to my father’s title; I'm not sure I truly am great and powerful. Oh my, look at the sun; I don't believe I will be making it any further tonight. Would you care to join me and camp at this crossroads?"

Dream Scape took the opportunity to look around for the first time since his collision. They  were standing in a small clearing at a fork in the road, the trail he had been walking led back to Ponyville, the road Trixie had came from led to Hoofington, and the third branch led off to Manehattan. "Well, it looks like I'm not going to be getting much farther either. So, why not?" And with that, Dream Scape levitated the tent out of his saddle-bag and began to set it up while Trixie put the stopping blocks under the wheels of her trailer.

By the time the sun had set, Dream Scape had built a sizable fire and had begun to cook a hearty carrot stew. Meanwhile, Trixie had been setting up a rather large and intricate two story tent, complete with its own balcony. "Are you sure that tent’s big enough for you?" Dream Scape asked with friendly sarcasm.

"I admit it is a bit large and unnecessary. However my father had a few eccentricities and one of those was this tent. It is one way that I keep him close."

"What exactly did your father do?"

"He was a magician like me. He was better with sleight of hand where I specialize in illusion myself. I guess you could say his second job was taking care of me."

"Was your mom not around?"

"Nope. As soon as I was born, she sued my dad for foal support, took the money, and then left me with dad anyways."

"So you don't know your mom?"

"Oh no, I've certainly had the displeasure of meeting her. After my dad died, she showed back up and tried to get part of my inheritances too."

"So, she didn't get any then?"

"No, in fact I sued here for the foal support my father gave her plus interest. I donated it to my father’s museum. Not that there was any money for her to take anyways, my father never worked for profit. He would only take as much money as he need to feed me and him and give us our basic comforts. I donated most of his belongings to the museum as well."

"Wow, he sounds like a pretty great stallion. Who was your father, by the way? He sounds pretty famous."

"I surprised you haven't heard of him. He was and shall always be The Great and Powerful Peter Prestige."

"Of course, I knew that title sounded familiar. I never had a chance to see one of his shows, but my parents told me he did a show in our town when I was about five months old."

"After I was born, he didn't travel much from Trottingham, but if you ever get the chance you should go see the museum there. But that's enough about me; what do you do?"

Dream Scape got up to check the stew, "Well, I am a storyteller. My work isn't exactly interesting, I just go from town to town, picking up stories and sharing them with others." Deciding that the stew was done, he filled a bowl and floated it over to Trixie.

"Come on, you must have something interesting to tell me, you must meet a lot of ponies," Trixie looked up at the blanket of stars that were casting their light on the clearing below. More contemplatively, she said, "I guess I'm going to be meeting a lot of ponies too."

"I certainly have met a few interesting ponies, that's for sure. You heard about the Nightmare Moon incident, right?"

"Of course. The former mayor of Trottingham motioned to not let Princess Luna return to rule. Celestia relieved him as soon as possible, which was as soon as she finished lecturing him on how it was accusations and propositions like his that caused this problem in the first place."

"Really? I'll have to look into that. But would you believe me if I told you I was there?"

"Actually, yes. You seem like an honest pony. Why?"

"Well, I had gone to Ponyville to watch the summer sun celebration, and as you know that's when the whole Nightmare Moon thing happened. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony went off to stop her, but the citizens of Ponyville were absolutely terror stricken. So, there was only one thing I could do...I stole their fear," Dream Scape had meant for that last part to sound heroic and epic, but as he spoke a shiver ran down his spine and chilled his bones. Was that laughing?

"What do you mean you ‘stole their fear’?"

"Well, that's what my magic does. I can take emotions from other ponies and change them, and if necessary I can just take them into myself. But that can cause problems..."

"Like what?"

"Terrible nightmares, and moderate cerebral trauma."

"Is it really that bad?" Trixie asked a bit skeptical.

"I was in a coma for two weeks."

"Oh...wow." Trixie looked down at her hooves a moment, then her head shot up with a look of inspiration on her face, "If you can take away negative emotions from ponies, could you give positive emotions to somepony else?"

"Well I suppose I could, I don't think that would be a good idea though, especially since I'm still a bit disoriented emotionally speaking,"

Trixie looked a bit crest fallen, "Oh...alright then."

A silence fell between the two, and Dream Scape began to clean up the remnants of their dinner. He collected up the bowls and used a quick burst of flames to clean and sanitize this dishes, I owe you that one, Night Shade; fire does make doing the dishes easier. Dream Scape looked over and saw that Trixie was still sitting sadly in front of the fire. "Cheer up. I know that performing in front of an audience is hard, but I am sure that you can do it. You had quite the father and you know what they say about apples and trees." Dream Scape added a bit of magic to his words, lightening her spirits a bit, Oh, good. That's working again.

"Yeah, you’re right. I guess there's no point in worrying about something that can't be changed. Still, it would be a bit easier with some magical confidence." Trixie looked at him with a teasing smirk.

"Maybe. We'll see. Anyways, despite the fact I've been sleeping for the past two weeks I am as tired as can be. Sleep well, Luna keep you."

"You too. Good night."

~~~~~

Authors Notes: First and for most...No Dream Scape and Trixie do not currently have any feelings for each other, they are both traveler and as such prefer to camp with company at night. Second, yes Trixie is not acting prideful, I will explain why, or more like Why she ends up acting prideful. Third, props to Parakalo for letting me borrow the waitress from his fic A Comet's Tale, (though between you and me, a big part of her character came from me). Plus a few more references in this chapter, internet points to anypony who finds them. Also as always, all suggestions and criticism is welcome.

Lastly: Thank you so much Parakalo for coaching my writing and helping me to correct my error's. Hopefully you enjoy this next chapter, if not it's his fault just as much as it is mine. Bwahahahaha.