Author's Note

As a heads up in case the title didn't get that across, this is a series of time skips from child Dream Weaver to young adult Dream Weaver. Next chapter the adventure truly begins.

As always a big thanks goes out to my editor Requiem and to all of you!

Lessons Over the Years

Dream sat quietly, focusing her mind to feel the energies of the world around her while surrounded by about a dozen other coven acolytes doing the same. She had to try and unravel the enchantment placed on a book without looking at it. Usually, magic looked like a series of strings to her, with different colors and vibrations displaying their source or the type of magic they represent. An enchantment like this would usually look like a knot of different spells wrapped up within the center of the object. She could feel the knot with her mind, but she was having trouble distinguishing between the different threads without any visual input.

The sounds of other colts and fillies getting up and stretching signaled that they had finished their exercise, while Dream still struggled. She felt around until she found a string she recognized. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the one she needed. She needed to find the keystone spell, the thing holding the different enchantments together. She could have pulled away that spell, but then she would have failed her exercise. She had to find the keystone if she wanted to pass.

As more students left, she began to panic. She didn’t want to be the last pony to figure it out. She felt around more desperately, her frustration only making it harder to distinguish between the different threads.

Realizing her mistake, she stopped and took a few deep, calming breaths to relax herself. Then, she tried again, feeling more carefully. At that moment, she found it, by several other strings that had covered it to hide it from her senses. Letting out a relieved sigh, she tugged on the keystone spell with all of her might, feeling a sense of satisfaction as it slid away. She smiled and opened her eyes in time to see the different magic lines falling away as the enchantment was broken.

Her teacher, Calm Caster, stepped forward with a proud smile.

“Excellent recovery, Dream. Nice work calming yourself down at the end there. You cannot always rely on your eyes to tell you about a spell. Sometimes you must be able to use only your power to deduct the nature of the magic you deal with. Now then, go get some rest. You’ve earned it.”

Dream nodded and stood, looking around for the first time in she didn’t know how long. There were only a hoofful of other students left. While disappointed that she was one of the last ones to finish, she was still glad that she got it done.

Stepping out into the main room of the coven’s home, she met up with Fang. Being a ghoul, Fang didn’t have access to the same sort of powers Dream did. Instead, Fang was only attending the lessons because her mother, the current queen of the local ghoul pack, felt it would be good if her daughter learned to be more like ponies, in hopes that future generations of their race would fit in better in pony society. Accompanying her were two adult male ghouls, the kinds she often saw wandering the town. From what Fang told her, they were a lot less intelligent than her and her mother, being almost completely feral. Evidently no male ghoul had been able to learn to speak yet, though most seemed to have a basic understanding of what ponies said to them as long as they spoke slowly and used simple words.

The ghouls looked down at Dream as she approached Fang, letting out threatening hisses before calming down upon recognizing her. They were very protective of their charge, and tried to chase away any pony they didn’t know, which unfortunately was pretty much every pony.

Fang scampered forward on her long gangly legs, excitement in her blind eyes. “How was your test? Did you do well?”

“Yeah. It was tough, but I got it. Hey, you mind if we get a snack? That really made me hungry.”

“Sure!” Fang exclaimed before turning to her guards. Her eyes began to glow, and soon so did their eyes as well, as she mentally commanded them. The glowing ceased, and they let out short, guttural barks of acknowledgement before rushing out of the room to feed, relieved of their duty for a little while.

Dream trotted over to where her pack was to pull out the lunch Stardust had packed for her. Fang sat with her as she ate, waiting for her own lunch to arrive. At first, she had found Fang’s feeding habits odd, but after spending a month in Hollow Shades, she became a lot more comfortable around carnivores like the ghouls. Soon enough, the two guards returned, one of whom came forward to drop a fat dead rat in front of his princess. With a pleased squeal, Fang dove in, snatching it up in her jaws as she began to tear into it. Dream had to look away as she ate. While she was comfortable with the idea of carnivores, she still wasn’t quite used to seeing it yet.

A few months later, Dream’s training was coming along nicely. She had learned how to master several spells relating to her talent, giving her the ability to send a pony into a deep sleep with little difficulty, as well as the power to cause and dispel nightmares. She was also fairly adept at levitating objects and dispelling simple enchantments, and had a beginners knowledge of how ley lines, moon cycles, and other natural phenomenon enhanced or hindered a witch’s power.

She had also learned a lot about the creatures she’d seen when she first discovered her powers. They were literal Nightmares, beings made of dream magic that fed off of fear in the same way that changelings fed off of love. They slipped into ponies bedrooms and caused bad dreams to feed off of the distress, only to later be chased away by Luna. Evidently, these monsters had grown greatly in numbers during her banishment, meaning they were now a lot bolder and more common than they once were. It would take a long time for Luna to deal with them all.

However, Dream also learned that Nightmares’ had a vital function: the frightening dreams they created helped ponies reflect on their faults, flaws, or doubts. Thus, she shouldn’t be stopping the Nightmares the way she had been doing; when she chased them away prematurely without actually resolving the nightmare, the victim would have no chance to learn from it. She was doing more harm than good. The only way to really help would be to enter the dreams and resolve the issue the same way Luna did. Unfortunately for Dream, the spells used for dream walking were a long forgotten secret, one that seemed only Luna herself remembered.

So it came as quite a surprise to her when, one night, she received a visitor in her dreams.

It was a common nightmare for her. She was trapped in her old home, tormented as a monstrous version of her mother hunted her down while an angry mob with pitchforks and torches sat outside, roaring for her head. Chants of ‘Burn the witch’ rang out through the night as her mad mother cackled, tearing apart the house to get to her.

“Come out you little monster! I’ll make you pay for being born!”

Dream sat crying in a closet, huddled in the corner as she heard her mother growing closer. She curled up tighter, squeezing her eyes shut as she anticipated the worst.

Then the door opened, and all the tumultuous noise stopped. She sniffled and looked up.

Standing there was the most beautiful sight Dream had ever seen. Princess Luna, alicorn of the night, was standing before her, staring down with what seemed to be confusion.

“So you are the one I have felt interfering with the Nightmares. I must say, I am quite surprised that somepony of your age could accomplish such a feat. Tell me your story, young one. I wish to understand how you came to my attention.”

And so, after wiping away her tears, Dream told her tale, from the moment she discovered her true nature to the present. Luna sat and listened attentively throughout the entire telling, and only when Dream was done did she speak.

“Ah yes, Hollow Shades,” she said with a nostalgic sigh. “It has been far too long since I last visited. You are in good hooves there. As for your talent… well, perhaps I should bring back the fine art of dream walking. What do you say? Would you care to learn a thing or two? With the widespread nature of the nightmares, I find myself stretched a bit thin. I believe the time has come to seek help.”

Dream was stunned by this sudden development as the implications of what the Princess had just said. This was an amazing opportunity for her, a chance to help Luna with her sacred duty, to develop her talents further, and maybe even a chance to truly fulfill her talent!

Luna smiled down at her calmly. “If you would like to, I believe that I may be able to make time to train you. I will come for you the next time I visit the town so that I may instruct you in the basics of dream walking and manipulation. If you wish, you could even be my protégé, should you demonstrate the appropriate skill and dedication to the role.”

Dream couldn’t contain her excitement and began to express her gratitude quite vocally, bouncing about the room as she chanted “Yes!” repeatedly. Luna couldn’t help but chuckle at the display.

The rest of the dream went well after that, with Luna calming Dream down to have a serious discussion with her about her issues with her mother. Dream would wake up the next morning well-rested and excited for her future, knowing what she’d learned in the dream was true.

Years passed, and Dream grew. Luna had made good on her promise and had taught Dream the ancient art of dream walking, or at least the basics. After some time it became clear that while she did have a knack for it due to her cutie mark it wasn’t really what she wanted to do with her life. She left Luna’s tutelage, grateful for the opportunity to learn under her. Luna was happy to let her go find her own path, assuring Dream that she would find other talented ponies to enlist to help her.

Now a young mare in her teens, Dream found herself entering an awkward phase of her life: her first estrus cycle. Her body was burning with unfamiliar sensations and desires, as every stallion she saw was suddenly much more appealing to her. However, while her body craved stallions, she found herself able to ignore the urges, as her mind told her something completely different.

She was out on the town that day in particular. She had her estrus mostly under control, and couldn’t stay in her room any way. Night and Star had officially wed last year, and this was their first estrus as a couple. Dream was more than happy to give them some privacy to get intimate and maybe even produce a sibling for her. While she missed Wishy and knew nothing could ever replace her, Dream did want to feel like a big sister again.

She considered going to visit Fang, but remembered that estrus was a particularly bad time to go into the ghoul’s den area. The female ghouls got particularly aggressive during that time from what she remembered. She didn’t want to rub one of them the wrong way by encroaching on their territory, especially since they’d likely all be fiercely mating. On top of that, pretty much all of the other fillies in her class were holed up at home, trying to beat back their own estrus cycles. Dream was alone.

She wandered about the town, looking for something, anything to occupy her and cure her boredom. She happened to be near the inn when she heard it, the familiar howl of one of her favorite ponies in town. She didn’t know why Grassy was behind the inn or why she was howling out, but she found herself excited to learn she was around and in her lycan form.

Dream couldn’t explain it, but she felt happy whenever she saw Grassy Knoll in her strong, confident wolf-like form. Not happy in any way she could normally describe though, it was a strange sort of happiness that she couldn’t compare to anything she’d ever felt. As she trotted closer, she began to hear more sounds. Sounds that made her slow her pace and reconsider. Thumping, bumping sounds. Moans and growls, coming from Grassy and a stallion.

Dream suddenly didn’t feel so happy to hear Grassy as she put two and two together. She felt something else as she turned away to leave her be. She felt jealous. Confused and frustrated, Dream sat down in front of the inn to try and ponder these feelings tumbling around her mind. She wondered why she felt jealous. She wondered why she cared what Grassy did with some stallion. She wondered why she wished that she was that stallion, so close to Grassy in a way that Dream could only imagine.

Her eyes widened as it dawned on her. With a groan, she hung her head, realizing why the lycan mare made her so happy, why she didn’t crave stallions in the same way that other mares did. She had a crush on the older mare, who was like an aunt to her. The mare who always greeted her with a smile no matter what form she took. The mare who was always a caring ear to listen to all of her problems. The strong, dominant mare that Dream looked up to and wanted to grow up to be like.

As Dream tried to sort out these thoughts, Grassy came around the corner, a smug grin on her face. She made her way past Dream, before pausing to look down at her.

“Hey squirt, what’s eatin’ you?” she asked, kneeling down by the distressed looking pegasus’ side. “C’mon, you know you can talk to your Aunt Grassy!”

Dream looked up to her, finding it hard to look her in the eye. She wanted to give her some lie, say everything was fine, but she knew Grassy wouldn’t buy something like that. Steeling herself, she let it out.

“Grassy… I think I’m in love with you.”

There was a brief awkward silence as Grassy seemed to freeze up. Dream was terrified by the lack of response. ‘Oh Celestia, I’ve ruined everything!’ she thought in a panic. Finally though, the older mare broke the quiet with a slight, awkward chuckle.

“Oh wow… jeez kid, I’m flattered, really! But… well…” she coughed, blushing. “Ah hell, I ain’t good with this. Um… lemme get the other me to talk about this…”

Dream was stunned. She’d never seen Grassy’s lycan self be anything other than cocky and self-confident, and she surely had never seen her turn to her meek pony form to solve her problems.

Sure enough, Grassy shrunk down, her body returning to its natural state. Pony Grassy was back, giving Dream an almost motherly smile.

“Now Dream,” she began in her quiet voice, “I’m really sorry, but I don’t feel the same way. I can’t. I’m attracted to stallions. And if I’m guessing right, you aren’t?”

Dream stared at her blushing before giving a slow, unsure nod. She’d grown up thinking that she was supposed to find a nice stallion someday, at least by what her mother had taught her. Now though, she found the idea of settling down with some guy unappealing. She’d much rather spend her life with a mare like Grassy. Well, a mare like the lycan Grassy. While it was hard to grasp, she slowly began to accept that she just wasn’t into stallions the way other mares she knew were. She loved mares.

“And that’s perfectly fine!” Grassy continued. “But I’m afraid it just wouldn’t work between us. I have to be true to myself, the same way that you have to be true to yourself. Someday, you’ll find a mare your own age, somepony perfect for you in every way. I promise.”

It hurt, being told there was no chance of her ever being with Grassy. A part of her wanted to get angry about it and deny that it was hopeless between them. But she already knew it was true. She knew that the difference in age and preferences was a deal breaker. The sooner she accepted it, the sooner she could move on with her life. She gave Grassy a sad smile, and the two were soon hugging it out.

Dream sighed, hoping to high heavens that Grassy’s promise was right, that someday she would find some mare that was just as perfect as she was.

It was a year later when Dream finally began to chase her true passion: Freelancing. She began to train under Stone Lance’s guidance, learning how to fight from him and his teammates, the Lancers.

“Remember darlin’,” Stone had told her on her first day, “A good freelancer never goes into a fight without backup close by. You never know what kind of sticky situation you’ll find yourself in, so it’s a good idea to have a pony or two watchin’ your back. We like to build up a good reserve of members with all sorts of different skills for all sorts of different missions! That way, you can prepare for most anythin’!”

Stone Lance taught her the basics of hoof-to-hoof combat and the rules of running a freelancer team. A slim pegasus stallion named Katana taught her the fine art of fighting in mid-air, using her wings as weapons whether just on their own or covered by bladed wing-guards. A strange plant-like pony, a mandragora from what she was told, named Tulip Vine taught her about wilderness survival, with some home tutoring by Nightshade to help her along. A griffin, Janine, showed her the general area around Hollow Shades, from the lake and swamplands to the north to the castle ruins and deep woods to the south. Psychedelics, a strange unicorn of ambiguous gender, helped her hone her magical skills into combat applications as well as train her in mental defense techniques to protect from mind warping magic.

After months of training, the time came for her final trial. She had to defeat Stone Lance in one-on-one combat, by any non-lethal means necessary. She equipped herself with faux-leather wing guards to replicate her wing blades and cleared her mind to focus on the task at hoof. She stepped into the ring, facing her big, burly mentor. He wore nothing, relying only on his body as his weapon.

“You ready, little lady?”

“You know it, you big lug!”

With that, she lunged forward, breaking into a full gallop straight for him. As he raised up on his hind legs to strike down at her, she darted away just as his hoofs came crashing down where she once was. She swung her wing at his legs with enough force to disable a regular pony, only for him to jump out of the way and turn his back to her, bucking out at her head.

She skidded out of the way before leaping up into the air, winging into the air above him. Stone turned to look up at her, frowning as she hovered out of reach. While in the air, she activated her magic and stared down at her adversary with her other sight. She saw him grounding himself, using the ancient earth pony technique of borrowing magic from the ground to increase his own physical abilities.

She knew that if she waited too long, he would be able to attack her despite the distance using his enhanced strength. She twitched her flapping wings, tugging at the magic strings of his mind. He was too intensely focused on the battle to put to sleep, but she did stagger him with a sudden burst of drowsiness, giving her the opening she needed.

Falling into a dive, she swooped low to strike at him with her wing-guard. Time seemed to slow. If she landed this hit, it would be considered a killing blow. She could see Stone shaking off the drowsiness and look at her diving towards him. She took aim, even as he struck the ground with his hooves, using his grounding for a little bit of geomancy. She spun, swinging her wing for the nape of his neck even as the pillar of stone shot up and struck her in the leg.

Her blow hit home. It only jarred him a little, but if she’d been wearing the actual blades she would have cut deep, fatally wounding her foe. She came out of her spin roughly, tumbling along the ground with a bruised torso and a sprained hind leg. But she had won the fight. Stone Lance popped his neck and laughed out, going over to help her up.

“Great match kid! I’d say that’s all the proof I need to see! I, Stone Lance of the Lancers, proudly award you the prestigious position of a Hollow Shades freelancer captain!”

While Dream wanted to be a freelancer, the unfortunate truth was that none of the town’s teams were taking on new members. In order to become a freelancer, Dream had to start her own team. She’d been urged against it by many, but she wanted this. She wanted to be a freelancer captain.

Two members of the town guard came over, presenting her with her official license as her friends and family gathered to congratulate her. Despite the pain, Dream couldn’t help but beam. She was finally going to live her dream of excitement and adventure!

That day, Dream Weaver’s adventure truly began.