Writer's Training Ground Entries!by pertelote345ChaptersOh... I guess we could do that...One Pie to Rule them All...Becoming BetterThe First Prince: an Unexpected MeetingOh... I guess we could do that...Oh… I Guess We Could do that… Twilight stared at the blank stone wall. It seemed so small, a glance too long at the loving reunion of father and child, a kind word to her friends… and then they were trapped. Twilight’s new antennae twitched. What was she going to do? It had been her idea to cast the spell that turned them into breezies so they could guide the wayward crew in manually… It was her fault. She twitched, a little hairline crack was forming in her psyche. All her friends were trapped forever in an alien world because of- *THWAK* A cyan hoof slammed into the princess’s head and she stumbled to the ground. Rarity stared at Rainbow Dash. “What- but? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?” Dash raised an eyebrow. “What? She was getting that whole “I’m going to go crazy and make evil dolls” look! We had a lesson about not ignoring that junk!” Fluttershy hurried over to help her fallen friend. AJ buried her head in her hat. “Sugarcube… I think you might’ve overdone it just a smidge.” “I’m fine!” Twilight announced, rising to her hooves. “I’m fine! Okay… It’s not panic time, just think rationally and reasonably…” She cleared her throat. “Excuse me! Mr. Sea Breeze?” The father in question excused himself from his family. “Ms Twilight… Why are ye still here! The portal is-”. He spotted the blank space where the portal used to be and his eyes somehow become wider. “Sweet squeaky voiced gods…” Twilight put her hooves on his shoulders. “Is there any other way back to Equestria! Any way at all?” Sea breeze closed his eyes. “Aye lass… there is one way…” His wife fluttered down to meet him with a look of horror in her eyes. “Sea breeze no!” she cried. “It isn’t safe! Think of our child…” He took his wife and held her close. “Oh my gorgeous sunflower… you know we can’t go on like this. The charity of ponies will only last us so long. We have to ask ourselves. Do we want our child to survive, or live?” Pinkie giggled. “Silly breezie! Those are the same thing!” He blinked “Nay, I meant…” He groaned, rubbing his head with a hoof. “Look, why don’t we discuss this inside…” Later… About the last thing Twilight had expected this morning was that she would find herself in a Breezie military command center. The castle they had been lead to was nearly as impressive as the castle of the two sisters. Unfortunately, it was in even worse condition. Efforts had clearly been made to patch the cracks forming in the heavy stone walls and shore up support on its towers… but it was no true fortress. The war room itself was neat, but cluttered with maps and reports. Twilight had glanced them over, but quickly realized that everything was written in the Breezie’s native tongue. She really wished she’d had the time to pick that up in school along with zebran and griffonian. After this fiasco, she definitely needed to crack open a book on it once she was finished with “Donkey Linguistics: a Basic Primer on Talking to Asses”. Once the rest of her friends were more or less sitting down, Sea breeze laid out a map before them. “It’s time to let ye know why we dared to fly such a treacherous route through half of Equestria just so that we could pollinate our crops.” He sighed. “We breezies have always been creatures of two worlds. The phroem berries on which we subsist leave us with no choice. The male flowers for phroem berries only grow in Equestria, while the females grow in our world. The plants produce their own special magic that opens portals to your world from time to time, like the small pinhole that we came through…” “Awesome!” Dash said, perking up. “So all we have to do is find another portal and we’re home free!” He shook his head. “If only it were so simple. Portals between our worlds used to litter the phroem fields, but… We grew greedy.” “Krizon, one of our most powerful botanical sorcerers proposed a great project to our Council of Elders, a crystalline array that would focus all phroem and breezy magic into a large, permanent portal that would bridge our worlds and allow us to harvest and distribute pollen with ease. There was talk of establishing permanent settlements in your world, of never ending feasts!” Sea breeze grimaced, “Foolishly we gave Krizon all the help he could ever need. Nearly all of our small portals vanished as the magic of the world was siphoned into Krizon’s castle, but we didn’t think it mattered. We were at the dawn of a new age!” His face grew very grim. “We never saw the betrayal coming. Krizon launched a bloody coup and seized control of the capital. Much of our world has already fallen into his iron grip. And how could it not? With his portal he controls our entire food supply... save for the fruit we can ripen with the pollen we managed to smuggle through with your government’s cooperation.” Twilight’s eyes went wide. “I… I had no idea your situation was so dire…” Sea breeze looked up at her with solid steel in his eyes. “Ye hath given us a chance. With the fruit ye have provided, we can supply our troops as we march on the Krizon’s foul fortress and seize back the portal!” He turned to Fluttershy, his expression softening. “I have to thank ye again for putting down that mutiny… Honestly I can hardly blame my forces. Far too many think our cause is lost.” He pointed to the map. “Krizon’s fortress lies over four miles away. Flying that far with no breeze will be difficult. Worse, there are rumors that Krizon has hired chipmunk mercenaries from your world… It will be a costly battle, but if we’re ever to be free of his tyranny and bring you home, then-” Applejack raised a hoof. Sea breeze blinked. “Yes…?” “So… This Krizon feller who’s been causin’ all the trouble… He’s a breezy?” Sea breeze blinked. “Eh… Yes?” “So he’s like, five whole centimeters tall?” “Well…” Sea breeze replied, somewhat taken aback, “There are some rumors that he’s that tall and imposing, but I haven’t met him personally.” “Right…” AJ continued, “You realize we’re all around 12 hands tall and weigh 700 pounds each”. Rarity coughed. “Or, 650 in Rarity’s case.” “Thank you.” “Applejack! Hello!” Rainbow interjected. “I get where you’re going with this, but we’re breezies too now remember?” The farmer turned to Twilight. “And you can’t reverse the spell because…?” Like all of Two Hours Later (Mostly Travel Time) “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I AM THE RULER OF ALL BREEZIES!!!” Cried Krizon, banging his tiny hooves against the jar. Rainbow Dash grinned at the little fellow. “Who’s a little evil tyrant? Who’s a little evil tyrant?” Rarity grimaced. “Dear, don’t taunt him.” Rainbow looked up. “Why, can he hurt me?” She shook her head, “No… It’s just tacky.” “Now now, you go home to your families little ones.” said Fluttershy, shooing away a small group of chipmunks. “Remember, you’re not bad chipmunks, you just made some bad decisions…” Sea breeze hovered next to her, staring at the impregnable three inch thick walls of Krizon’s fortress lying in ruins around him. “Psst- Sea breeze!” Pinkie pie whispered in the bewildered breezie’s ear. “I know if I jump up and down right now I’ll cause an earthquake and demolish all those cute little houses, but I just want you to know that I’m doing it on the inside.” “Uh huh…” He said, watching a 700 pound orange mare chase an entire division of Krizon’s elite guard off the field. “Whoo-we!” said Apple Jack, wiping her brow. “There ain’t nothin’ like a little exercise to get the blood pumping.” “Ugh, speak for yourself…” said Rarity. “After trotting all those miles to get here, I’m starting to feel a bit sweaty.” Fluttershy smiled. “I’m just glad we got a chance to help out while we were here. Oh! I bet all of this will lead to some major savings in the wildlife conservation fund!” “Has anyone seen Twilight?” Dash asked. The girls trotted into the tiny, mostly demolished castle and found their Alicorn friend sitting in a dark chamber, staring at a small, shimmering hole no bigger than a hoof. “We’re stuck…” The purple mare said, her voice completely empty. “We’ll never fit through something that small…” She wriggled her hooves at the opening, desperately willing it to be larger. Finally, she stopped. “We’re trapped.” She said. “Forever…” She curled herself into a ball. Rainbow tilted her head. “Why can’t you just turn us into breezies again for like five seconds?” Twilight blinked. “Oh…” The purple pony got up and dusted herself off. “Sorry girls, I guess I just lost my head there for a sec.” Rarity patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry dear; it happens to the best of us.” END Author's Note I like comedy, I really want to do more of it after all the bleak stuff I keep churning out. One Pie to Rule them All...One Pie to Rule them all I'm a simple stallion with simple tastes. It's not that I don't appreciate how a crafts-mare can make the ordinary into the extraordinary but... Well, when Granny Smith created a pie so perfect that it threatened all of existence, I sort-of wished she'd just used regular apples. Maybe I should back up a bit here, my name's Big Macintosh. I live in a little town called Ponyville on a farm called Sweet Apple Acres. I live there with my two younger sisters and my grandmother. We don't have a lot, at least not most years, but we take really good care of our home and the town sees us as mighty respectable (heck, my sister AJ's a bit of a hero, but that's another story). Anyway, my whole family's pretty amazing, but I think the thing that really keeps us going is Granny Smith's incredible skill as a house-mare... I beg the pardon of all the mares reading this, that came out wrong (plus it ain't fair to Granny, the woman used to wrestle timber wolves). What I mean to say is that Granny is one of the most amazing bakers I've ever seen. And not just with the kind of treats you can find in sugar-cube corner, she knows magic. Not Unicorn magic of course, we're earth ponies through and through, but Granny has spent her long, long life harvesting and experimenting with all of the magically infused produce the Everfree Forest has to offer. She's made zap apple jam, giant apples, and even a mess of things that didn't have anything to do with our namesakes like medicines and adhesives, and she's always tinkerin' with more. When I saw her bring in those juicy golden apples and start slicing them up, I didn't think anything of it. Even if they smelled sweeter than anything I ever smelled before and I found my head drifting towards the counter with a look of... I shook myself. I plum had no idea what came over me. I chalked it up to Granny's expertise with spices and went out to buck some trees and clear my head. When I came back inside in a few hours I'd all but forgotten about any kitchen experiments. I just wanted to get inside, take a long hot bath and forget about my troubles. I was mulling over how many of my little plastic battleships I could squeeze in when I poked my head in the kitchen and saw Granny staring at the counter like she'd seen a ghost. I followed her gaze to an ominously steaming pie on the counter. I shivered. It wasn't instantly obvious why that pie felt ominous, but when you live in Ponyville, you learn the value of treading lightly real quick. I crept over to Granny Smith and asked "What's wrong?". "Read the pie..." She said, her voice hushed. I blinked and slunk over to the intimidating baked good. Sure enough, there were little cracks in its crust that formed tiny letters in some form of archaic script. I picked it up to read it. To my surprise, it felt quite cool. One pie to rule them all, One crust to knead them One pie to bring them all And with darkness feed them I turned to Granny, confused. She looked grim. "Back when I was a little filly my Granny told me a myth, that the bakers of old once created confections of great power. They were meant to bring harmony to the land... but one of the bakers, with a heart blacker than a burnt browny used his sugary ways to bake a pie of incredible power. He used this pie to rain terror on all of the ponies of the land and it took an army to finally bring him down. The commander of that army had the chance to destroy the recipe right then and there... but they were corrupted by its power. They hid the recipe away and after they died from Type II Diabetes it was lost for ages... Until it fell into the hooves of a most unlikely pony." She shivered. "I saw the degenerated result, she was more sugar-coated monster than pony. It was a miracle we managed to re-rehabilitate her as much as we did, but she's scarred by it to this day, hunting down the recipe that we burned." She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "I saw a glimpse, only a glimpse when I threw it into the fire... I didn't realize that what I'd collected today shared so much in common with that list... I... I... thought if I substituted whole-wheat flour..." Finally she started crying in earnest. I walked over and cradled her while she let it all out. After a little while, she calmed down. I offered her a tissue. She cleaned herself up and tromped over to the shelves. "There's nothing else for it. Big Mac, you have to take this pie to Princess Celestia in secret. She was there at the battle, she'll know what to do." I stared at the pie... It smelled so delicious, it almost felt like it was calling to me. I shook myself. Granny was right. There was something very wrong with that baked good. Then something occurred to me. "Granny, not to doubt your willpower or anything, but if this pie is so tempting and corrupting, now that you've nailed down the ingredients won't you just remember the recipe and make another one?" Granny Smith slammed a bottle on the counter. "Not if Jack Daniels has anything to say about it!" The next day we had a family meeting. We didn't tell AJ the exact details, but we made it clear how desperately I needed to do another pie run and Granny Smith needed to see her sponsor. We decided to leave Apple Bloom to hold down the fort. I was pretty sure she was mature enough to handle it, AJ had some doubts, but we convinced her. Though her plan worked out for the most part, Granny still remembered the vague gist of what was going on, so in spite of her hangover she managed to come out and help me load the cart with supplies for my trip. She winced in the dim light of the barn as she helped me load. "Now here, you have my sword." "Eyup." "And my bow." "Eyup." "And my lingerie." My face was a study. She rolled her eyes. "Now don't you give me that look. I've been on plenty of adventures in my time and you almost always need to seduce a stallion for some reason or other." I opened my mouth to object... but then closed it and packed the bundle away. She did have a point. I locked up the pie in the cart and Granny gave me a hug. "You come home safe now, you hear? Creatures are going to sense that pie. You get to Canterlot as fast as you can and go straight to the castle." She gripped me tighter. "I'm so sorry for leaving you with such a terrible burden." I hugged her back... and then it was time to go. I walked with AJ for the first stretch. I'm not too proud to say that I felt safer having my tough little sister along, even if just for a little while. She actually left even before we reached the fork in the road, she felt way too skittish about leaving Apple Bloom alone. Maybe if I wasn't so distracted I would have talked her out of going back to check on her, but, well... AJ's not the only one who gets over-protective sometimes. Some distance between me and her seemed like it might be for the best. So off I trotted through the hillside towards Canterlot. It was a gorgeous day out. the wind blew over the grassy fields and cooled me down as I made my way along the winding road. Celestia's warm sun was incredibly uplifting. For a moment I started to think that this trip might not turn out so bad after all... Little did I know that watching me from the hillside was a certain pony with a frizzy pink mane, desperate to get another taste of her pie-recious. Becoming BetterMaud smiled at her sister. She thought she had gotten quite skilled at it over the years. She bid Pinkie's friends farewell and walked back towards the farm. It had been a long day and she really needed to recharge. It was energy well spent though. She'd made new friends. That didn't happen very often. She made her way to the shed behind the house. Her father was there, hammering away at some new contraption... she couldn't tell which one. It always amazed Maud that he could come up with so many new things to work on. She wished she had that kind of creativity. Her father looked up at her and smiled. It was that perfect, natural smile of a father that loved his daughter. Maud did her best to return it. Her father put down his hammer and put a hoof on his daughter's shoulder. "Did everything go alright with Pinkie's friends?" Maud nodded. "They are good ponies. They cared enough about Pinkie that they worked very hard to try to connect with me. I am happy that Pinkie has ponies that make her happy." She lay down on a long couch by the far wall and waited. Her father rubbed his beard as he rummaged through his tools. "You know, it may not have just been Pinkie." Maud raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "I do not understand." Her father clipped a pair of wires to a small metal box and checked it over for leaks. "I'm saying that those nice ponies might have seen something special in you as well." "I am not good enough for that." Maud stated simply. Her father put a grease stained hoof over his heart. "My dear child, you wound your creator." Maud looked down. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply..." He held up a hoof. "Maud, I know I'm not perfect. And as much as it pains any father to say it, I know that you are not perfect either. But simply because we have flaws does not mean that we are not incredible ponies. If a mare as amazing as your mother could see somepony she could love in an old fool like me, then there are definitely people out there who will see all of the things that make you special." Maud raised her eyebrow slightly higher. "I thought we specifically wanted to avoid that." Her father sighed. He slung himself over a standing bike and started pedaling. "That's not what I meant... and the only reason we want to avoid that particular bit of specialness is just because a lot of ponies would be horribly unfair to you." He wiped the sweat from his brow and pedaled faster. "What I mean to say... huff... Is that you shouldn't sell yourself short. And you shouldn't think that just because you're a little different that no one in Equestria would want to befriend you." Maud felt at her pocket for Boulder, her first friend. When she was younger all she used to do was look for rocks like boulder and identify them. It was important work, but she couldn't say she remembered enjoying it until her father made her better. Then she started to enjoy things, just a little. When she found Boulder, an igneous rock in a field of sedimentary rocks, she at first just picked it up because it was out of place. There was a lot of other work to be done that day, so she didn't have time to put it in the igneous field until much later. When she left to go to the field it was already dark, so her father got worried and followed her out to ask what she was doing. When she explained her situation and showed her father the rock, he smiled and said that it was so small it would hardly matter come the next harvest. He asked if she wanted to keep it. At the time Maud did not understand wanting things very well, but when she thought about boulder, how it was out of place and she was out of place... She felt she did want to keep it. She told him so. Her father was ecstatic. He even suggested naming it. At first Maud was confused, as it was already called an igneous rock, but her father pointed out that not only was that his name, which could get very confusing, but also that this specific rock was her rock and it deserved to have a name. "Something creative!" he said. Maud had always been confused by creativity. It was very hard for her to do, but as this was one of the first times she had wanted something, she put a bit of extra processing power into it. She knew that the rock was small, and that creativity was sort of like doing something unexpected, so she decided to name it Boulder. At first she just used it to test herself. When she had some free time she would throw it into a pile of rocks and scan through them until she found it again. Her sisters thought it was a game, so she let them join in. Though their presence messed with the test somewhat, she found that it made her sisters like her more. She asked her father to make her even better so she could enjoy playing the game with them. So he did, and she became friends with her sisters as well. Her father said she shouldn't pick favorites, but she liked Pinkie the best. It was so easy to tell what Pinkie was feeling, and she worked so hard to help Maud feel. Over time her father made her better and better, and she started doing things like writing poetry and moving around just to see more of the world. She even went to school and learned so much there... But she didn't make many more friends. And now she had done so well in college that she was going to grad school. Which meant she wouldn't be close to her friends for a very long time... She hoped to keep in contact though. After a while, her father got off the bike and let out breath. He smiled at Maud. "I have something new for you. Something to make you better." Maud turned to him, curious. Her father walked over with the little metal box and Maud lifted up her dress. Her father pressed down on her back in just the right place and her access panel popped open with a hiss. He pulled out one of her old batteries and slipped in the new one he'd charged. Maud felt a slight surge of energy. She was getting more out of the new battery than the old one, and not just because it was freshly charged. Still, she felt disappointed. She found herself lowering her head. Her father gave her a concerned look. "Is there something wrong with the power cell?" Maud shook her head. "It is performing better than my old one. I am grateful. It is just that when you said you had something to make me better, I thought it might be something that could help me care about my new friends... I care about them, but I want to care about them more." Her father smiled. "My dear, after saying that I'm not sure you'd need it." The First Prince: an Unexpected MeetingAuthor's Note This story is a side story to my larger fic The First Prince, which can be found here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/07/story-first-prince_31.html This story jumps forward in time a bit so WARNING, MINOR SPOILERS Also fun, this story has a text adventure, with a picture of two of the characters mentioned: http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/wounded-an-mlp-text-adventure/31437/view.html The First Prince: an Unexpected Meeting One The stallion of my dreams flew, literally flew over to the bed and laid down on his back, giving me a sultry look as he spread his gorgeous white wings over the covers. I climbed on top of him and let my long golden mane tickle him as I whispered in his ear. "So Captain... what would you like to do tonight?" In lieu of responding he nibbled at my neck. I bopped him playfully on the nose and brought my lips to his. He held me tight and our tongues wrestled as- "Wow! It's exactly the same!" Came a high pitched, chipper, and very familiar voice. My eyes bulged. I rolled off of Heart and frantically yanked the covers over myself. "LUNA, NOT COOL!" Luna stepped back, shocked. "I- " I fumbled for a candle and grumbled. "Luna, seriously we've been over this. If a door is locked, that means you're not supposed to teleport through it. It's common courtesy! If you need me, you're supposed to... " I blinked. I think my white coat got paler. I leapt off the bed. "Oh no, sweetie are you alright? Has there been another attack? Has Empire-?" She held up her hooves. "No! No! Everything's fine Blueblood! I just wanted to see if I could come inside and talk." I let out a breath. Okay, so not an emergency. I rubbed my head with a hoof and considered fishing out my glasses. I only used them for reading, but I swear they added just that right air of dignity that a good lecture needed. "Luna," I began "We're all very impressed with you're blooming magical abilities, but just because you can teleport through a door doesn't mean it's the right thing to do so." "But I didn't teleport!" The alicorn filly protested. "So what, you picked the lock? The same principle applies." I turned back to the bed. "Heart can you-" I froze. Lying on the bed where Captain Heart once lay was a massive, curvy banana with huge white wings. I staggered back. I couldn't breathe. MY COLTFRIEND WAS A FRUIT! ... Okay, shut up. A soft object plopped itself onto my head. I shook myself in panic and a giant popcorn kernel rolled off my forehead and into my closet where it began dancing with one of my legal textbooks. I blinked. I turned back to young alicorn. "Luna, explain." She smiled. "I'm in your dreams! Isn't it cool?" My eyes went wide. "Wait... so you can go into people's dreams now? Like all of their personal, private..." "Yes, yes she can." Came another voice. Heart walked in the door. He was trailed by a giant doughnut. The banana from my bed hopped up and slipped itself through the doughnut's hole, wearing it like a ring before flying off out the window. We paused for a moment as we all tried very hard not to think about that. I turned to the newly arrived Guard Captain. His hair was a bit tousled, but he'd slipped his armor on with the careful, military precision to which I'd become accustomed. Still he looked more than a little tired and confused... I walked right up and gave him a hug. It was him. I could tell. He hugged me back. "Good to see you too." Luna grinned. "See! This is awesome. Now you can spend time together when you sleep just like you wanted." Hart immediately started to say something, but had a bit of trouble forming words. I stepped in to rescue him. "Luna, that's very nice of you, but we really need to talk about this new ability of yours. It could be really dangerous." I regretted those words almost as soon as I said them. Luna looked down. "Oh..." This time Heart saved me. "Luna, it's not like that, we just want to make sure this new ability of yours isn't going to..." "Destroy the world?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. Heart grimaced, "I was going to say hurt you." She wasn't convinced. "You know what?" she said. "Just forget about it, I'll just hide this one away. Like everything else." That said, she vanished. The second she left Heart turned to me and asked, "We have to follow her. How do we pull it off?" Then, being the single best being in all of creation he went over to my end table and offered me my glasses. I slipped them on and started pacing. "I love you so much... Right, okay, so we're still sleeping and if she just faded away then most likely she's out of our dreams and off sulking in her room or on the battlements somewhere... But we can't get to her from here." I turned back to him. "I need you to hit me as hard as you can!" "What!" He sputtered, backing away. "I'm not going to hit you!" I put a hoof on his shoulder. "Heart, we have to wake up! Otherwise who knows how long we'll be stuck asleep?" Heart groaned. "... How do you even know that will work?" "I don't," I replied, "but we have to try something." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, second question, why should I hit you? I move faster. If you hit me, I could wake you up and get us searching like that!" He said clapping his fore-hooves together I sighed. "Look, why don't we just headbutt each other! Then if pain works we'll both wake up." He blinked. "I... guess we could try that?" He took off his helmet. I took off my glasses. We put our hooves on each other's shoulders and eyed each other awkwardly. Heart Grimaced, "This really isn't the kind of physical activity I was hoping for tonight." I nodded. "I know the feeling... On the count of three?" He let out a breath "One... Two..." One "So..." I began, slipping up next to the alicorn filly on the battlements. "It turns out psychosomatic pain is very real..." I jiggled the ice pack strapped to my head. She didn't respond. She just stared out at the horizon. I followed her gaze to the stars over Everfree. The moon.shone down so bright and full that the trees around us seemed to glow. "It's really beautiful out here." I said. She looked down. "You're about the only one who thinks so." I put a hoof on her shoulder. "You are a talented, incredible filly. Someday you're going to grow into an amazing mare and ponies are going to learn to appreciate you." She shook her head, "Blueblood, every power I get, every time my magic get's stronger or something changes ponies just get more and more scared. Now I can barely stay up during the day and... I guess I can see into dreams?" She looked up at me. "For a moment there, for just a moment... I felt like this time it was going to be different, like I'd have a chance to go in there and talk to ponies, to help them." She paused for a moment. "Did... Did you know that Wind flies in her dreams?" I blinked, my friend Wind was a pegasus who had lost her wings a long time ago. "No..." I said. "I had no idea." "In her dreams she just flies around in a maze of clouds. She's free, but she's always alone." She turned away. "I know she likes Celestia a lot more than me..." "Luna, she's your sister's cardiologist!" I interjected, "Wind spends time with her because we're worried about her heart condition." She groaned "I know, I know, but I feel like she's important to you and I never talk to her. I felt like maybe if I could visit her in her dreams then maybe... we could fly together, and I could have another friend for real." There was a pause. "I think..." I said finally, "I think that might be a really good idea." She looked up at me. "What?" "Don't get me wrong," I said. "Dreams are private. You'll have to treat this power with a lot of respect and have some rules... But I think you can do a heck of a lot of good with this." I ruffled her mane. "And if you ever want some company, don't be afraid to call on your big bro... After knocking. I mean, I'll have to figure out a way to hang a door on my subconscious, but with all the magic we throw around here how hard can that be?" Luna smiled. It was so darn good to see."Want to see some shooting stars?" She asked. "I'd like that." Twenty Three "And that's how I became guardian of dreams." Luna said, taking a sip from her tea. I groaned and levitated up my own cup, wishing it was something stronger. "You know, you could have told that story without the graphic descriptions of my ancestors sex life." The goddess of the night rolled her eyes. "If you think that was graphic young Blueblood, then this millennia is even more prudish then I thought." *Tick... tick... tick..." She eyed the clock and put down her cup. "In any case I must be going. Twilight Sparkle wanted to consult with me on some of her findings from our old castle. Thank you for the tea." She made her way to the door. "Um... Luna." I croaked out. She paused. "Yes?" she asked. "Two things..." I began. "Firstly, I... I thank you for agreeing to speak with me about this." She blinked. "You are welcome, I suppose." "Secondly..." I continued. I let out a breath, wondering what I was getting myself into. "Would... Would you still like some company? In your dream duties, I mean." She tilted her head, her expression was unreadable. "I will consider it." She said finally. Then she left.
Oh... I guess we could do that...Oh… I Guess We Could do that… Twilight stared at the blank stone wall. It seemed so small, a glance too long at the loving reunion of father and child, a kind word to her friends… and then they were trapped. Twilight’s new antennae twitched. What was she going to do? It had been her idea to cast the spell that turned them into breezies so they could guide the wayward crew in manually… It was her fault. She twitched, a little hairline crack was forming in her psyche. All her friends were trapped forever in an alien world because of- *THWAK* A cyan hoof slammed into the princess’s head and she stumbled to the ground. Rarity stared at Rainbow Dash. “What- but? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?” Dash raised an eyebrow. “What? She was getting that whole “I’m going to go crazy and make evil dolls” look! We had a lesson about not ignoring that junk!” Fluttershy hurried over to help her fallen friend. AJ buried her head in her hat. “Sugarcube… I think you might’ve overdone it just a smidge.” “I’m fine!” Twilight announced, rising to her hooves. “I’m fine! Okay… It’s not panic time, just think rationally and reasonably…” She cleared her throat. “Excuse me! Mr. Sea Breeze?” The father in question excused himself from his family. “Ms Twilight… Why are ye still here! The portal is-”. He spotted the blank space where the portal used to be and his eyes somehow become wider. “Sweet squeaky voiced gods…” Twilight put her hooves on his shoulders. “Is there any other way back to Equestria! Any way at all?” Sea breeze closed his eyes. “Aye lass… there is one way…” His wife fluttered down to meet him with a look of horror in her eyes. “Sea breeze no!” she cried. “It isn’t safe! Think of our child…” He took his wife and held her close. “Oh my gorgeous sunflower… you know we can’t go on like this. The charity of ponies will only last us so long. We have to ask ourselves. Do we want our child to survive, or live?” Pinkie giggled. “Silly breezie! Those are the same thing!” He blinked “Nay, I meant…” He groaned, rubbing his head with a hoof. “Look, why don’t we discuss this inside…” Later… About the last thing Twilight had expected this morning was that she would find herself in a Breezie military command center. The castle they had been lead to was nearly as impressive as the castle of the two sisters. Unfortunately, it was in even worse condition. Efforts had clearly been made to patch the cracks forming in the heavy stone walls and shore up support on its towers… but it was no true fortress. The war room itself was neat, but cluttered with maps and reports. Twilight had glanced them over, but quickly realized that everything was written in the Breezie’s native tongue. She really wished she’d had the time to pick that up in school along with zebran and griffonian. After this fiasco, she definitely needed to crack open a book on it once she was finished with “Donkey Linguistics: a Basic Primer on Talking to Asses”. Once the rest of her friends were more or less sitting down, Sea breeze laid out a map before them. “It’s time to let ye know why we dared to fly such a treacherous route through half of Equestria just so that we could pollinate our crops.” He sighed. “We breezies have always been creatures of two worlds. The phroem berries on which we subsist leave us with no choice. The male flowers for phroem berries only grow in Equestria, while the females grow in our world. The plants produce their own special magic that opens portals to your world from time to time, like the small pinhole that we came through…” “Awesome!” Dash said, perking up. “So all we have to do is find another portal and we’re home free!” He shook his head. “If only it were so simple. Portals between our worlds used to litter the phroem fields, but… We grew greedy.” “Krizon, one of our most powerful botanical sorcerers proposed a great project to our Council of Elders, a crystalline array that would focus all phroem and breezy magic into a large, permanent portal that would bridge our worlds and allow us to harvest and distribute pollen with ease. There was talk of establishing permanent settlements in your world, of never ending feasts!” Sea breeze grimaced, “Foolishly we gave Krizon all the help he could ever need. Nearly all of our small portals vanished as the magic of the world was siphoned into Krizon’s castle, but we didn’t think it mattered. We were at the dawn of a new age!” His face grew very grim. “We never saw the betrayal coming. Krizon launched a bloody coup and seized control of the capital. Much of our world has already fallen into his iron grip. And how could it not? With his portal he controls our entire food supply... save for the fruit we can ripen with the pollen we managed to smuggle through with your government’s cooperation.” Twilight’s eyes went wide. “I… I had no idea your situation was so dire…” Sea breeze looked up at her with solid steel in his eyes. “Ye hath given us a chance. With the fruit ye have provided, we can supply our troops as we march on the Krizon’s foul fortress and seize back the portal!” He turned to Fluttershy, his expression softening. “I have to thank ye again for putting down that mutiny… Honestly I can hardly blame my forces. Far too many think our cause is lost.” He pointed to the map. “Krizon’s fortress lies over four miles away. Flying that far with no breeze will be difficult. Worse, there are rumors that Krizon has hired chipmunk mercenaries from your world… It will be a costly battle, but if we’re ever to be free of his tyranny and bring you home, then-” Applejack raised a hoof. Sea breeze blinked. “Yes…?” “So… This Krizon feller who’s been causin’ all the trouble… He’s a breezy?” Sea breeze blinked. “Eh… Yes?” “So he’s like, five whole centimeters tall?” “Well…” Sea breeze replied, somewhat taken aback, “There are some rumors that he’s that tall and imposing, but I haven’t met him personally.” “Right…” AJ continued, “You realize we’re all around 12 hands tall and weigh 700 pounds each”. Rarity coughed. “Or, 650 in Rarity’s case.” “Thank you.” “Applejack! Hello!” Rainbow interjected. “I get where you’re going with this, but we’re breezies too now remember?” The farmer turned to Twilight. “And you can’t reverse the spell because…?” Like all of Two Hours Later (Mostly Travel Time) “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! I AM THE RULER OF ALL BREEZIES!!!” Cried Krizon, banging his tiny hooves against the jar. Rainbow Dash grinned at the little fellow. “Who’s a little evil tyrant? Who’s a little evil tyrant?” Rarity grimaced. “Dear, don’t taunt him.” Rainbow looked up. “Why, can he hurt me?” She shook her head, “No… It’s just tacky.” “Now now, you go home to your families little ones.” said Fluttershy, shooing away a small group of chipmunks. “Remember, you’re not bad chipmunks, you just made some bad decisions…” Sea breeze hovered next to her, staring at the impregnable three inch thick walls of Krizon’s fortress lying in ruins around him. “Psst- Sea breeze!” Pinkie pie whispered in the bewildered breezie’s ear. “I know if I jump up and down right now I’ll cause an earthquake and demolish all those cute little houses, but I just want you to know that I’m doing it on the inside.” “Uh huh…” He said, watching a 700 pound orange mare chase an entire division of Krizon’s elite guard off the field. “Whoo-we!” said Apple Jack, wiping her brow. “There ain’t nothin’ like a little exercise to get the blood pumping.” “Ugh, speak for yourself…” said Rarity. “After trotting all those miles to get here, I’m starting to feel a bit sweaty.” Fluttershy smiled. “I’m just glad we got a chance to help out while we were here. Oh! I bet all of this will lead to some major savings in the wildlife conservation fund!” “Has anyone seen Twilight?” Dash asked. The girls trotted into the tiny, mostly demolished castle and found their Alicorn friend sitting in a dark chamber, staring at a small, shimmering hole no bigger than a hoof. “We’re stuck…” The purple mare said, her voice completely empty. “We’ll never fit through something that small…” She wriggled her hooves at the opening, desperately willing it to be larger. Finally, she stopped. “We’re trapped.” She said. “Forever…” She curled herself into a ball. Rainbow tilted her head. “Why can’t you just turn us into breezies again for like five seconds?” Twilight blinked. “Oh…” The purple pony got up and dusted herself off. “Sorry girls, I guess I just lost my head there for a sec.” Rarity patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry dear; it happens to the best of us.” END Author's Note I like comedy, I really want to do more of it after all the bleak stuff I keep churning out.
One Pie to Rule them All...One Pie to Rule them all I'm a simple stallion with simple tastes. It's not that I don't appreciate how a crafts-mare can make the ordinary into the extraordinary but... Well, when Granny Smith created a pie so perfect that it threatened all of existence, I sort-of wished she'd just used regular apples. Maybe I should back up a bit here, my name's Big Macintosh. I live in a little town called Ponyville on a farm called Sweet Apple Acres. I live there with my two younger sisters and my grandmother. We don't have a lot, at least not most years, but we take really good care of our home and the town sees us as mighty respectable (heck, my sister AJ's a bit of a hero, but that's another story). Anyway, my whole family's pretty amazing, but I think the thing that really keeps us going is Granny Smith's incredible skill as a house-mare... I beg the pardon of all the mares reading this, that came out wrong (plus it ain't fair to Granny, the woman used to wrestle timber wolves). What I mean to say is that Granny is one of the most amazing bakers I've ever seen. And not just with the kind of treats you can find in sugar-cube corner, she knows magic. Not Unicorn magic of course, we're earth ponies through and through, but Granny has spent her long, long life harvesting and experimenting with all of the magically infused produce the Everfree Forest has to offer. She's made zap apple jam, giant apples, and even a mess of things that didn't have anything to do with our namesakes like medicines and adhesives, and she's always tinkerin' with more. When I saw her bring in those juicy golden apples and start slicing them up, I didn't think anything of it. Even if they smelled sweeter than anything I ever smelled before and I found my head drifting towards the counter with a look of... I shook myself. I plum had no idea what came over me. I chalked it up to Granny's expertise with spices and went out to buck some trees and clear my head. When I came back inside in a few hours I'd all but forgotten about any kitchen experiments. I just wanted to get inside, take a long hot bath and forget about my troubles. I was mulling over how many of my little plastic battleships I could squeeze in when I poked my head in the kitchen and saw Granny staring at the counter like she'd seen a ghost. I followed her gaze to an ominously steaming pie on the counter. I shivered. It wasn't instantly obvious why that pie felt ominous, but when you live in Ponyville, you learn the value of treading lightly real quick. I crept over to Granny Smith and asked "What's wrong?". "Read the pie..." She said, her voice hushed. I blinked and slunk over to the intimidating baked good. Sure enough, there were little cracks in its crust that formed tiny letters in some form of archaic script. I picked it up to read it. To my surprise, it felt quite cool. One pie to rule them all, One crust to knead them One pie to bring them all And with darkness feed them I turned to Granny, confused. She looked grim. "Back when I was a little filly my Granny told me a myth, that the bakers of old once created confections of great power. They were meant to bring harmony to the land... but one of the bakers, with a heart blacker than a burnt browny used his sugary ways to bake a pie of incredible power. He used this pie to rain terror on all of the ponies of the land and it took an army to finally bring him down. The commander of that army had the chance to destroy the recipe right then and there... but they were corrupted by its power. They hid the recipe away and after they died from Type II Diabetes it was lost for ages... Until it fell into the hooves of a most unlikely pony." She shivered. "I saw the degenerated result, she was more sugar-coated monster than pony. It was a miracle we managed to re-rehabilitate her as much as we did, but she's scarred by it to this day, hunting down the recipe that we burned." She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "I saw a glimpse, only a glimpse when I threw it into the fire... I didn't realize that what I'd collected today shared so much in common with that list... I... I... thought if I substituted whole-wheat flour..." Finally she started crying in earnest. I walked over and cradled her while she let it all out. After a little while, she calmed down. I offered her a tissue. She cleaned herself up and tromped over to the shelves. "There's nothing else for it. Big Mac, you have to take this pie to Princess Celestia in secret. She was there at the battle, she'll know what to do." I stared at the pie... It smelled so delicious, it almost felt like it was calling to me. I shook myself. Granny was right. There was something very wrong with that baked good. Then something occurred to me. "Granny, not to doubt your willpower or anything, but if this pie is so tempting and corrupting, now that you've nailed down the ingredients won't you just remember the recipe and make another one?" Granny Smith slammed a bottle on the counter. "Not if Jack Daniels has anything to say about it!" The next day we had a family meeting. We didn't tell AJ the exact details, but we made it clear how desperately I needed to do another pie run and Granny Smith needed to see her sponsor. We decided to leave Apple Bloom to hold down the fort. I was pretty sure she was mature enough to handle it, AJ had some doubts, but we convinced her. Though her plan worked out for the most part, Granny still remembered the vague gist of what was going on, so in spite of her hangover she managed to come out and help me load the cart with supplies for my trip. She winced in the dim light of the barn as she helped me load. "Now here, you have my sword." "Eyup." "And my bow." "Eyup." "And my lingerie." My face was a study. She rolled her eyes. "Now don't you give me that look. I've been on plenty of adventures in my time and you almost always need to seduce a stallion for some reason or other." I opened my mouth to object... but then closed it and packed the bundle away. She did have a point. I locked up the pie in the cart and Granny gave me a hug. "You come home safe now, you hear? Creatures are going to sense that pie. You get to Canterlot as fast as you can and go straight to the castle." She gripped me tighter. "I'm so sorry for leaving you with such a terrible burden." I hugged her back... and then it was time to go. I walked with AJ for the first stretch. I'm not too proud to say that I felt safer having my tough little sister along, even if just for a little while. She actually left even before we reached the fork in the road, she felt way too skittish about leaving Apple Bloom alone. Maybe if I wasn't so distracted I would have talked her out of going back to check on her, but, well... AJ's not the only one who gets over-protective sometimes. Some distance between me and her seemed like it might be for the best. So off I trotted through the hillside towards Canterlot. It was a gorgeous day out. the wind blew over the grassy fields and cooled me down as I made my way along the winding road. Celestia's warm sun was incredibly uplifting. For a moment I started to think that this trip might not turn out so bad after all... Little did I know that watching me from the hillside was a certain pony with a frizzy pink mane, desperate to get another taste of her pie-recious.
Becoming BetterMaud smiled at her sister. She thought she had gotten quite skilled at it over the years. She bid Pinkie's friends farewell and walked back towards the farm. It had been a long day and she really needed to recharge. It was energy well spent though. She'd made new friends. That didn't happen very often. She made her way to the shed behind the house. Her father was there, hammering away at some new contraption... she couldn't tell which one. It always amazed Maud that he could come up with so many new things to work on. She wished she had that kind of creativity. Her father looked up at her and smiled. It was that perfect, natural smile of a father that loved his daughter. Maud did her best to return it. Her father put down his hammer and put a hoof on his daughter's shoulder. "Did everything go alright with Pinkie's friends?" Maud nodded. "They are good ponies. They cared enough about Pinkie that they worked very hard to try to connect with me. I am happy that Pinkie has ponies that make her happy." She lay down on a long couch by the far wall and waited. Her father rubbed his beard as he rummaged through his tools. "You know, it may not have just been Pinkie." Maud raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "I do not understand." Her father clipped a pair of wires to a small metal box and checked it over for leaks. "I'm saying that those nice ponies might have seen something special in you as well." "I am not good enough for that." Maud stated simply. Her father put a grease stained hoof over his heart. "My dear child, you wound your creator." Maud looked down. "I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply..." He held up a hoof. "Maud, I know I'm not perfect. And as much as it pains any father to say it, I know that you are not perfect either. But simply because we have flaws does not mean that we are not incredible ponies. If a mare as amazing as your mother could see somepony she could love in an old fool like me, then there are definitely people out there who will see all of the things that make you special." Maud raised her eyebrow slightly higher. "I thought we specifically wanted to avoid that." Her father sighed. He slung himself over a standing bike and started pedaling. "That's not what I meant... and the only reason we want to avoid that particular bit of specialness is just because a lot of ponies would be horribly unfair to you." He wiped the sweat from his brow and pedaled faster. "What I mean to say... huff... Is that you shouldn't sell yourself short. And you shouldn't think that just because you're a little different that no one in Equestria would want to befriend you." Maud felt at her pocket for Boulder, her first friend. When she was younger all she used to do was look for rocks like boulder and identify them. It was important work, but she couldn't say she remembered enjoying it until her father made her better. Then she started to enjoy things, just a little. When she found Boulder, an igneous rock in a field of sedimentary rocks, she at first just picked it up because it was out of place. There was a lot of other work to be done that day, so she didn't have time to put it in the igneous field until much later. When she left to go to the field it was already dark, so her father got worried and followed her out to ask what she was doing. When she explained her situation and showed her father the rock, he smiled and said that it was so small it would hardly matter come the next harvest. He asked if she wanted to keep it. At the time Maud did not understand wanting things very well, but when she thought about boulder, how it was out of place and she was out of place... She felt she did want to keep it. She told him so. Her father was ecstatic. He even suggested naming it. At first Maud was confused, as it was already called an igneous rock, but her father pointed out that not only was that his name, which could get very confusing, but also that this specific rock was her rock and it deserved to have a name. "Something creative!" he said. Maud had always been confused by creativity. It was very hard for her to do, but as this was one of the first times she had wanted something, she put a bit of extra processing power into it. She knew that the rock was small, and that creativity was sort of like doing something unexpected, so she decided to name it Boulder. At first she just used it to test herself. When she had some free time she would throw it into a pile of rocks and scan through them until she found it again. Her sisters thought it was a game, so she let them join in. Though their presence messed with the test somewhat, she found that it made her sisters like her more. She asked her father to make her even better so she could enjoy playing the game with them. So he did, and she became friends with her sisters as well. Her father said she shouldn't pick favorites, but she liked Pinkie the best. It was so easy to tell what Pinkie was feeling, and she worked so hard to help Maud feel. Over time her father made her better and better, and she started doing things like writing poetry and moving around just to see more of the world. She even went to school and learned so much there... But she didn't make many more friends. And now she had done so well in college that she was going to grad school. Which meant she wouldn't be close to her friends for a very long time... She hoped to keep in contact though. After a while, her father got off the bike and let out breath. He smiled at Maud. "I have something new for you. Something to make you better." Maud turned to him, curious. Her father walked over with the little metal box and Maud lifted up her dress. Her father pressed down on her back in just the right place and her access panel popped open with a hiss. He pulled out one of her old batteries and slipped in the new one he'd charged. Maud felt a slight surge of energy. She was getting more out of the new battery than the old one, and not just because it was freshly charged. Still, she felt disappointed. She found herself lowering her head. Her father gave her a concerned look. "Is there something wrong with the power cell?" Maud shook her head. "It is performing better than my old one. I am grateful. It is just that when you said you had something to make me better, I thought it might be something that could help me care about my new friends... I care about them, but I want to care about them more." Her father smiled. "My dear, after saying that I'm not sure you'd need it."
The First Prince: an Unexpected MeetingAuthor's Note This story is a side story to my larger fic The First Prince, which can be found here: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/07/story-first-prince_31.html This story jumps forward in time a bit so WARNING, MINOR SPOILERS Also fun, this story has a text adventure, with a picture of two of the characters mentioned: http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/wounded-an-mlp-text-adventure/31437/view.html The First Prince: an Unexpected Meeting One The stallion of my dreams flew, literally flew over to the bed and laid down on his back, giving me a sultry look as he spread his gorgeous white wings over the covers. I climbed on top of him and let my long golden mane tickle him as I whispered in his ear. "So Captain... what would you like to do tonight?" In lieu of responding he nibbled at my neck. I bopped him playfully on the nose and brought my lips to his. He held me tight and our tongues wrestled as- "Wow! It's exactly the same!" Came a high pitched, chipper, and very familiar voice. My eyes bulged. I rolled off of Heart and frantically yanked the covers over myself. "LUNA, NOT COOL!" Luna stepped back, shocked. "I- " I fumbled for a candle and grumbled. "Luna, seriously we've been over this. If a door is locked, that means you're not supposed to teleport through it. It's common courtesy! If you need me, you're supposed to... " I blinked. I think my white coat got paler. I leapt off the bed. "Oh no, sweetie are you alright? Has there been another attack? Has Empire-?" She held up her hooves. "No! No! Everything's fine Blueblood! I just wanted to see if I could come inside and talk." I let out a breath. Okay, so not an emergency. I rubbed my head with a hoof and considered fishing out my glasses. I only used them for reading, but I swear they added just that right air of dignity that a good lecture needed. "Luna," I began "We're all very impressed with you're blooming magical abilities, but just because you can teleport through a door doesn't mean it's the right thing to do so." "But I didn't teleport!" The alicorn filly protested. "So what, you picked the lock? The same principle applies." I turned back to the bed. "Heart can you-" I froze. Lying on the bed where Captain Heart once lay was a massive, curvy banana with huge white wings. I staggered back. I couldn't breathe. MY COLTFRIEND WAS A FRUIT! ... Okay, shut up. A soft object plopped itself onto my head. I shook myself in panic and a giant popcorn kernel rolled off my forehead and into my closet where it began dancing with one of my legal textbooks. I blinked. I turned back to young alicorn. "Luna, explain." She smiled. "I'm in your dreams! Isn't it cool?" My eyes went wide. "Wait... so you can go into people's dreams now? Like all of their personal, private..." "Yes, yes she can." Came another voice. Heart walked in the door. He was trailed by a giant doughnut. The banana from my bed hopped up and slipped itself through the doughnut's hole, wearing it like a ring before flying off out the window. We paused for a moment as we all tried very hard not to think about that. I turned to the newly arrived Guard Captain. His hair was a bit tousled, but he'd slipped his armor on with the careful, military precision to which I'd become accustomed. Still he looked more than a little tired and confused... I walked right up and gave him a hug. It was him. I could tell. He hugged me back. "Good to see you too." Luna grinned. "See! This is awesome. Now you can spend time together when you sleep just like you wanted." Hart immediately started to say something, but had a bit of trouble forming words. I stepped in to rescue him. "Luna, that's very nice of you, but we really need to talk about this new ability of yours. It could be really dangerous." I regretted those words almost as soon as I said them. Luna looked down. "Oh..." This time Heart saved me. "Luna, it's not like that, we just want to make sure this new ability of yours isn't going to..." "Destroy the world?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. Heart grimaced, "I was going to say hurt you." She wasn't convinced. "You know what?" she said. "Just forget about it, I'll just hide this one away. Like everything else." That said, she vanished. The second she left Heart turned to me and asked, "We have to follow her. How do we pull it off?" Then, being the single best being in all of creation he went over to my end table and offered me my glasses. I slipped them on and started pacing. "I love you so much... Right, okay, so we're still sleeping and if she just faded away then most likely she's out of our dreams and off sulking in her room or on the battlements somewhere... But we can't get to her from here." I turned back to him. "I need you to hit me as hard as you can!" "What!" He sputtered, backing away. "I'm not going to hit you!" I put a hoof on his shoulder. "Heart, we have to wake up! Otherwise who knows how long we'll be stuck asleep?" Heart groaned. "... How do you even know that will work?" "I don't," I replied, "but we have to try something." He rolled his eyes. "Okay, second question, why should I hit you? I move faster. If you hit me, I could wake you up and get us searching like that!" He said clapping his fore-hooves together I sighed. "Look, why don't we just headbutt each other! Then if pain works we'll both wake up." He blinked. "I... guess we could try that?" He took off his helmet. I took off my glasses. We put our hooves on each other's shoulders and eyed each other awkwardly. Heart Grimaced, "This really isn't the kind of physical activity I was hoping for tonight." I nodded. "I know the feeling... On the count of three?" He let out a breath "One... Two..." One "So..." I began, slipping up next to the alicorn filly on the battlements. "It turns out psychosomatic pain is very real..." I jiggled the ice pack strapped to my head. She didn't respond. She just stared out at the horizon. I followed her gaze to the stars over Everfree. The moon.shone down so bright and full that the trees around us seemed to glow. "It's really beautiful out here." I said. She looked down. "You're about the only one who thinks so." I put a hoof on her shoulder. "You are a talented, incredible filly. Someday you're going to grow into an amazing mare and ponies are going to learn to appreciate you." She shook her head, "Blueblood, every power I get, every time my magic get's stronger or something changes ponies just get more and more scared. Now I can barely stay up during the day and... I guess I can see into dreams?" She looked up at me. "For a moment there, for just a moment... I felt like this time it was going to be different, like I'd have a chance to go in there and talk to ponies, to help them." She paused for a moment. "Did... Did you know that Wind flies in her dreams?" I blinked, my friend Wind was a pegasus who had lost her wings a long time ago. "No..." I said. "I had no idea." "In her dreams she just flies around in a maze of clouds. She's free, but she's always alone." She turned away. "I know she likes Celestia a lot more than me..." "Luna, she's your sister's cardiologist!" I interjected, "Wind spends time with her because we're worried about her heart condition." She groaned "I know, I know, but I feel like she's important to you and I never talk to her. I felt like maybe if I could visit her in her dreams then maybe... we could fly together, and I could have another friend for real." There was a pause. "I think..." I said finally, "I think that might be a really good idea." She looked up at me. "What?" "Don't get me wrong," I said. "Dreams are private. You'll have to treat this power with a lot of respect and have some rules... But I think you can do a heck of a lot of good with this." I ruffled her mane. "And if you ever want some company, don't be afraid to call on your big bro... After knocking. I mean, I'll have to figure out a way to hang a door on my subconscious, but with all the magic we throw around here how hard can that be?" Luna smiled. It was so darn good to see."Want to see some shooting stars?" She asked. "I'd like that." Twenty Three "And that's how I became guardian of dreams." Luna said, taking a sip from her tea. I groaned and levitated up my own cup, wishing it was something stronger. "You know, you could have told that story without the graphic descriptions of my ancestors sex life." The goddess of the night rolled her eyes. "If you think that was graphic young Blueblood, then this millennia is even more prudish then I thought." *Tick... tick... tick..." She eyed the clock and put down her cup. "In any case I must be going. Twilight Sparkle wanted to consult with me on some of her findings from our old castle. Thank you for the tea." She made her way to the door. "Um... Luna." I croaked out. She paused. "Yes?" she asked. "Two things..." I began. "Firstly, I... I thank you for agreeing to speak with me about this." She blinked. "You are welcome, I suppose." "Secondly..." I continued. I let out a breath, wondering what I was getting myself into. "Would... Would you still like some company? In your dream duties, I mean." She tilted her head, her expression was unreadable. "I will consider it." She said finally. Then she left.
