Chapter I: Lucid Is The Dreamer...

Lucid is the dreamer who walks along the stream,

Following the wanderer among the many worlds.

Lucid is the dreamer who walks behind the seam,

Searching for the keeper of the lost and broken souls.

Lucid is the dreamer who walks where no stars gleam,

Travelling to places he could not reach while awake.

Lucid is the dreamer who walks within the dream,

All until the moment he is bitten by the snake.

Lumin Aria sighed as she read Star Swirl's poem. She remembered her elder brother, Lucid. She wondered what her friends, Dolphin Dream and Aurora Flash, would think about the poem, and if they would think it had a connection to her lost brother. DD would probably say that Lumin and her bro were in love, and Aurora would probably say that the poem meant something. Lumin closed the book and went into bed. But no matter how hard she tried, she could not get to sleep. Lucid is the dreamer... what does that even mean? Lumin thought to herself. I wish Aurora were here to tell me. It's probably symbolic about my lost brother. Wherever you are, Lucid, I swear on Star Swirl's beard that I WILL find you! After about sixty minutes of awkward silence, Lumin finally went to sleep. She had a strange dream, like every night for the past three years since she lost her brother. It was always the same one, too.

Lumin was in a beautiful sunny land with lots of beautiful flowers. Her brother, Lucid was there, calling her name. "LUMIN!" He yelled.

"I'm coming, Brother!" Lumin yelled back as she ran towards her brother. He was hanging over a cliff when he fell down. Fortunately, he was able to teleport in midair, but unfortunately, he accidentally forgot to set coordinates in his mind, making him teleport right into a portal, which lead to the other side of Equestria.

Lumin woke up from her dream with a fright. She looked at her clock, which said that it was 3:42 AM, and thought to herself I really need to sleep, but I just can't with this poem stuck in my head. Maybe I should go to Aurora's house. It's right across the street, and if it's too dark, I could just cast a simple light spell. Then she thought But what if Aurora is asleep? I can't wake her, she'd challenge me to another sing-off, and that would just be a waste of time!

Lumin tried to think about something other than the poem, so she thought about her favourite wizard, Star Swirl the Bearded. She thought about all the spells he invented, poems he wrote, stopped thinking about poetry, thought about how he transformed into Discord when he tried casting an incomplete spell. "From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled." And she thought about his wing in the Canterlot Archives. From whence she found this poetry book. She stopped thinking about Star Swirl the Bearded and started thinking about her friend Aurora, whose house she wanted to walk to.

To her unsurprise, when Lumin went to Aurora's house, she was awake. She usually stayed up late pondering poetry, and probably read the same poem that Lumin did. "Hi, Aria!" Aurora exclaimed with joy. "So nice to see my best friend at a time like this!"

"Thank you, and it's nice to see you too!" Lumin replied. Then she thought for a second before saying "Wait, a time like what? 3:45 AM, or did something happen?"

"Well," said Aurora, who then held her breath, and then quickly said "I was trying a new spell called Dreamwalking for the past two hours and I couldn't get it right after 6,999 tries and then I thought maybe Aria could help me! and I was just about to go to your house and get you when you showed up about 45 seconds ago!" Then, in a more calm voice and pace, she asked "What did you need me for?"

"I need you," Lumin replied, "to decipher a poem I read in Star Swirl's Poetic Prophecies. It's called 'Lucid is the Dreamer' or something like that."

"Then I am just the pony for the job, Aria!" Aurora exclaimed with delight. "After all, poetry is my Special Talent, represented by a scroll on my flank!"

"Yes, Aurora, I know what your Cutie Mark is!" Lumin replied "Stop 'breaking the fifth wall' or whatever you call it."

"It's 'fourth wall', Aria!" Aurora exclaimed "And it's not something I or anypony else made up, it's real! There really are two-legged animals who call themselves humans and made up this universe and invented the fourth wall, which ponies rarely break, and they believe they're smarter than the ponies of their own universe and..."

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Aurora." Lumin interrupted. "HUMANS AREN'T REAL!!! You're starting to sound like Lyra! And aren't you forgetting something? What's a Dreamwalking spell?"

"Oh, right, the spell!" Aurora exclaimed. "It's a spell that allows Unicorns and Alicorns to enter a pony's mind while he or she is dreaming. If used properly, the caster can use the host's mind as a gateway to faraway places, like the human universe, the bounds of Equestria, The moon, wherever that pony is dreaming of."

"So I could use it to find my lost brother!" Lumin exclaimed with elation. "This is just fan-pony-tastic!"

"There's just one teensy weensy problem, Aria." Aurora replied in a surprisingly normal tone of voice, even though she could easily be the second bearer of the Element of Laughter. "Only an Alicorn or a high-level unicorn can cast this spell without drastic results! Are you sure you're a high enough level?"

"Yes!" Lumin replied. "Let me see that book."

Aurora handed Lumin the book written by none other than her favourite author, SS the B, and entitled Magical Marvelles.

"Page 67!" Aurora exclaimed with glee.

Lumin flipped to the page, and sure enough she found what she was looking for. Dreamwalking. She cast the spell, and immediately entered DD's dream.