Canterlot was pitch black. Heavy, dark clouds blocked out the moonlight and stars, rumbling empty threats of a storm that would never come. Far past midnight, the last lights had been snuffed out within the castle. Luna had requested it specifically; she said it was crucial for what she and Twilight needed to do.
Twilight thought it odd then that Luna led her towards the lower levels of the castle, far from any window or source of light except the gentle blue glow of Luna’s horn. Their hoofsteps echoed off the cold stone of the spiral stairwell. For a few moments, it sounded to Twilight as if a compliment of guards were marching in step behind them.
Eventually, they came to the bottom of the stairs, which opened into a wide stone hall. At the edge of Luna’s hornlight, Twilight could make out torch sconces on the wall and what looked like ash along the edges of the floor. As they continued their journey, Twilight finally spoke up. “Prin—Luna, you said this was important, but you still haven’t told me exactly what it’s about.”
Luna did not cease her march forward, nor turn her head to look back at Twilight. Instead, her voice reverberated off the walls. “What we must do tonight cannot reach the ears of another, Twilight. I’m sorry to keep it from you; it will just be a few moments longer before I can explain.”
She came to a halt, her head turning to the left at a blank portion of the stone wall. As she approached it, the glow of her horn took on a silver hue, and within its light Twilight saw the stones fade away. What remained of the wall surrounded a simple archway, the top only a foot or so taller than Luna.
Luna gave a glance to Twilight over her shoulder, and Twilight followed wordlessly into the new tunnel. It was narrower, and she noticed that the stone seemed older and worn. After only half a minute of walking, the tunnel opened up into a room. Luna’s hornlight was enough to fully illuminate it, and she walked to the other side.
The room was a simple dome, about a dozen feet across. There were no markings on the walls or the archway that led back to the tunnel. There was plenty of space for both of them to stand, so Twilight stepped across the threshold of the entrance. Once she did, Luna’s horn returned to its natural blue glow; the path out of the room faded with the silvery magic.
Luna lowered herself to the ground and sat, taking a slow breath through her nostrils. “We’re safe to speak of it now. Sit, Twilight.”
Twilight did so, crossing her forehooves. “What was all of the secrecy for, Luna?”
“Precaution. Word of what we are to do here tonight could have attracted the attention of those who desire power. As for the other preparations, they are crucial for the ritual.”
“Ritual?”
Luna nodded. “Celestia and I have both already passed our ability to control the sun and moon to you, and our rule. However, there’s one capability that I could not pass on to you in that ceremony.” Luna closed her eyes, her horn glowing brighter. As it did, a faint wind began to rise in the room, and Twilight saw dirt and dust that she had ignored on the floor being whipped away towards the walls.
In their wake, a series of runes came into view. Twilight recognized a few from books she had read. Her hoof traced one which she remembered meant thought. “These runes are from early unicorn magic.”
As the runes were fully cleared, Luna opened her eyes and smiled. “That they are.”
“But Canterlot was built… it must have been centuries after these saw use!”
“Common use, yes. However, even when spellcraft was invented, it did not make the most ancient of magic obsolete. There are some things unicorns were never meant to do naturally.”
Twilight looked at a few other runes, trying to recall meaning from the edge of her memory. Their shapes were hard to tell in some places, worn from their original etching. “Another… One… Mind… Search.”
As Twilight reached for another, Luna’s hoof met hers. “It has been some months since you came to power, Twilight. Knowing you, I’m certain you were focused on a great many things, either alone or with your friends. It probably never occurred to you that you had yet to wander the dreams of ponies throughout Equestria.”
Twilight’s smile sank as she met Luna’s gaze. There had rarely been a spare moment to herself for so many months, and she hadn’t been one to question the calm embrace of sleep, devoid of yet more work to do. “I… hadn’t, no. That’s what this is about?”
“Yes.” Luna let go of Twilight’s hoof, and focused her attention on the runes. As her horn flared with brighter light, the runes on the floor were consumed by a blue glow. Those that were worn became more defined and clear, while others hummed gently. Once they were all correct, Luna began to trace a line of magic between them. The tone of humming magic shifted with each one connected.
“Long ago, this ancient magic was used to tame the nightmares of ponies, by unicorns and pegasi and earth ponies alike. It was the only thing strong enough to affect their dreams. But it took great focus and it could only help so many. When it came time for my sister and I to rule Equestria, Starswirl knew that it would fall to me to handle the task of watching over the dreams of Equestria; he knew I could quell its darkest nightmares.”
With every rune that Luna connected, her magic glowed brighter. Twilight tried to watch the act, to read the runes, but she pulled her vision away to focus on Luna. “And you think I can too?”
Luna smiled softly. “I know, Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight lifted herself up with her forehooves, enough to look down at Luna. She still had to fight to keep her eyes from drifting down into that blinding glare of magic. “You’ve… You must have been doing this since the coronation. Why can’t you keep doing it?” A lump rose in her throat as her tail curled against her flank.
The spell continued, but Luna’s expression softened. “Do not feel shame for what you ask, Twilight. It’s natural to be curious.” She closed her eyes for a few moments, letting out a gentle sigh. “All magic, no matter how ancient, requires a font from which it must draw power. Dreamwalking simply requires a prodigious font.”
Twilight felt the tension from her question seep away, and she sat back down. She never looked away from Luna. Even though the older alicorn’s smile returned, there was something beneath it Twilight couldn’t place. “Won’t it be tiring, wandering through dreams all night?”
A light, flittering laugh came from Luna’s lips. “For a while. It will be like a muscle, though. Same as any spell or magic: the more it is used, the easier it will become.”
There were countless questions lingering in Twilight’s mind, but the glow of the magic grew and grew. She knew there wouldn’t be time for all of them. “So this ritual, did Starswirl create it?”
“It is more fitting to say that he… deciphered it so that I could take this ancient magic within me. He said that a time might come when I would have need to pass it onto another, and so he made sure that any castle within Equestria would be built to allow it. I’m glad Celestia took his lessons and words well.” She closed her eyes again. “It is ready. Are you?”
Twilight was about to nod, but stopped herself. “What happens if it doesn’t work?”
“It will. If you do not… I can always find another. No harm will come to you, Twilight.”
Wordlessly, Twilight reached her hoof to gently touch one of Luna’s.
Luna began to sing.
“Away from the gaze of light both day and night, within the dark of the underground, two secluded that shall be bound.”
The hum of the runes grew louder, but Luna’s voice rose above them. “From one to another the veil shall be lifted, for the power of the Dreamwalker to be gifted.”
While the runes glowed brighter, the rest of the room about Luna and Twilight grew blacker. Twilight could no longer see the walls, but she felt the wind once more swirling about her. “Luna, I…” she started, but then felt a warmth spread over her body. Every inch of her muscles relaxed, and her eyes grew heavy.
Luna stopped her singing. Even as she spoke softly, her voice carried over the hum of magic. “If it opens to you, enter. If it resists, do not fight. If it vanishes, awaken. Until then, walk.” Luna’s words reverberated in Twilight’s mind, and her vision went black.
From nothing, a myriad of colors came into view. They coalesced into shapes and then solidified into objects. With every glance or blink, they shifted and changed. Suddenly, they ceased and faded when a door appeared, alone amidst a void of nothingness. It creaked open, revealing yet more void beyond. Hesitantly, Twilight stepped through.
Her first hoof over the threshold felt a cool breeze. It touched the nothing that was the ground, and warm grass came into being about and beneath it. Her second hoof had the same result, a larger patch of grass springing into existence that was dotted with wildflowers. With every step, more of her surroundings came into focus.
She soon saw where she was: a sunny meadow, with a cloudless bright blue sky overhead. She heard and felt the cool breeze, along with faint birdsong from a nearby tree. There, in its shade, she saw Fluttershy curled up with her head resting on her tail.
Careful, soundless steps turned into a gallop as Twilight ran to meet her, slowing to a trot once she entered the shade. “Fluttershy?” she asked, but her ears heard nothing but the ambiance. Fluttershy did not move.
Twilight looked out into the meadow beyond the tree, and saw all manner of animals great and small. Another familiar sight, Angel Bunny, hopped over towards the tree. Only when his chittering reached Twilight did Fluttershy stir.
“What is it, Angel?” Fluttershy asked, her voice melodic, yet tired. Angel bounced up and down in place, motioning to the various animals. “Everycreature is fine, Angel. There’s nothing wrong here. No danger or…”
As Fluttershy trailed off, Twilight looked to the meadow. She saw storm clouds forming spontaneously within the blue sky. Inch by foot by miles, they blocked out the bright sun, casting the meadow in a dreary grey. Within the darkness, Twilight saw the grass and flowers wilt, while the animals began to fidget. “Is it just your dream?” Twilight asked, silent.
Angel bounced over to Fluttershy, jumping into her mane and clinging to her neck. The pegasus reached a hoof up, gently stroking his ears and back. As her cyan eyes scanned the meadow, Twilight saw a glimmer of bright purple within them. “Why can’t it stay perfect?”
Twilight reached a hoof out to Fluttershy, but the pegasus stood up, spreading her wings. A rumble of thunder echoed in the clouds, a bolt of lightning struck, and everything turned to blinding white. Twilight shielded her eyes with a hoof, but when she lowered it, she was alone in nothingness.
“Fluttershy, are you still there?” she asked, able to hear her words. Turning about, every hoofstep brought a click to her ears. When she looked down, a familiar floor pattern circled her hooves. Her surroundings came into instant crystalline focus.
Twilight was standing in Carousel Boutique’s main showroom, and the ticking of a sewing machine reached her ears. She looked to its source and saw Rarity, as she had suspected.
The unicorn was bent over the machine, running fabric through it at a leisurely pace. Every few moments she would look at the walls of the boutique, sigh and then return to her work. Twilight took careful steps to approach her.
Once closer, she could see the fabric more clearly; with every tug and stitch and motion Rarity made it shifted and changed. Deep purples, cosmic silvers, vibrant oranges, passionate reds and blinding yellows all mixed and replaced and consumed one another. “It’s beautiful, Rarity,” Twilight said only within herself.
Rarity pulled a section of the dress free, holding it with her magic and then gently in her hooves. She glanced up at the ceiling and Twilight followed her gaze. There was no Carousel Boutique where she looked. Instead, there was only a floating menagerie of more dresses than Twilight could count. Some sparked memories, and others only tickled the boundless and deep creativity nestled within her mind.
When Twilight looked back down at Rarity, the sewing machine was empty and a new dress floated in the air beside her. It slowly ascended into the collage of creations above, before all of them parted to reveal the vast nothingness beyond. From that nothing, an outline of white came into view.
Twilight trotted around Rarity’s workstation. The unicorn’s eyes were transfixed skyward. In the blue, she saw a glint of purple, then gold and then everything. Rarity smiled, looked down at her machine, and another length of fabric appeared out of thin air. It was pure white at first glance. On second, as it swept over Twilight’s vision, it was an absence of color.
She was left, once more, alone.
“Their dreams… that’s what they have to be,” she said, her ears perking up as she heard her words once more. “Is this what Dreamwalking is like? But then why was there a door...” Twilight trailed off as a door appeared before her out of the expanse of nothingness. She waited for the door to open, but it was still.
She walked to her left, attempting to circle the door, but it always faced her. There was no sound to accompany her movements, even as she broke into a gallop. Slowing to a trot, and then to a stop, Luna’s words returned to her.
“Is there something I don’t understand? That you don’t want me to see? That you don’t want to show me?”
The door gave no reply, her words reverberating off of it. After a few moments she heard the knob slowly turn. The lock clicked open. Then, the door swung wide open to black, accompanied by a gust of wind at her back.
Twilight felt herself tugged and forced past the threshold, spinning head over tail. Her wings fought for balance to right herself, but just as she seemed to regain it, gravity exerted on her in a different direction. She blinked, and the blackness about her turned to vast blue sky.
She flapped her wings as she turned her body over, legs and barrel pointed down towards where she was falling. The rush of wind turned into a gentle breeze as she came to rest in the air. Twilight had only a moment to relax before a streak of colors blazed past her.
A mountain was nearby, and looking up she could see the sun shining down from the peak. Covering her eyes with a hoof, she could make out the shape struggling to rise higher. Blue wings flapped rapidly against what must have been a hurricane’s gale. From at least a hundred feet down, Twilight could make out the strain on Rainbow Dash’s face.
There was a crack of thunder, and Twilight saw a bright streak of rainbow colors flying closer to the peak. An explosion of light spread out in every direction, tinting the mountain in its colors. Its wake passed over Dash as she struggled to pass the invisible barrier, and its force sent her spinning out of control, back down to Twilight.
Twilight made a move to try and dodge Dash’s spinning body, but she wasn’t fast enough. Dash faded into a puff of smoke as she passed through Twilight. The pegasus reappeared several feet below her as she righted her spin. The look in her eyes was determined, and a glimmer of rainbow colors sparked in them. Twilight thought for a moment that the purple was the brightest.
Rainbow Dash reared back, wings flapping rapidly before she took off like a rocket, another explosion of rainbow colors left in her wake. So close, Twilight was blinded by the burst of light. Her entire world became a myriad of colors once more, and then faded to a kaleidoscope of chromatic shapes. One by one, the colors faded until she was left in a strange array of pink, yellow and blue.
Twilight’s own wings continued to flap, but she felt something graze against her forehooves. She lowered herself, coming to rest on an unseen ground amidst the tricolored visions. Then she heard a click, and something came to rest; it was a corner, lines of blue encasing a set of pink walls and a yellow floor. One by one more small sections of what must have been a room came to a stop, and with one section of yellow floor came a familiar pink pony.
Pinkie Pie was staring off at a section of wall, upon which Twilight saw a portrait of herself. She moved behind Pinkie, cautiously side stepping the portions of floor that still moved with strange patterns. By the time she had closed the gap, some other portions of the walls and even a yellow ceiling showed pictures of her other friends, and even ponies that she knew from Ponyville or their shared adventures around Equestria.
Twilight made no attempt to speak as she walked in front of Pinkie Pie. The pink pony’s stare was unbroken by her obstruction, but her eyes did drift slowly over the portraits on the wall. She smiled and giggled with each one she passed, but stopped when the walls and ceiling were covered.
Then the walls began to expand, widening along each side of the room until new portraits had space to appear. The growth was slow at first, but became faster and faster by the moment. Pinkie’s smile faded, the wall containing the portraits of Twilight and their moving closer to the pair, until those six portraits took up Twilight’s vision.
Even with portraits so large, they seemed small within the frames.
“I won’t leave you, girls,” Pinkie Pie whispered. As Twilight turned to face her, Pinkie was looking directly at her. “I promise, Twilight.” There was a glow of purple in her eyes and then behind her. Twilight’s portrait faded to black and the room turned. While Pinkie remained stuck to the ground, Twilight was sent tumbling down into the abyss, until all was dark about her.
The fall was short, coming to an abrupt end when Twilight felt herself simply stop. She was standing, as if she had not been turning wing over wing in the air trying to halt her fall an instant before. There was still nothing about her, but she felt a sense of calm wash over her. “It’s supposed to happen,” she heard herself mutter.
She stood and waited. The black nothingness slowly gave way to fog, though not one around Twilight. Instead, her eyes seemed covered by a faint haze, tinting her hoof as she waved it in front of herself.
A voice cut through the silence, one that Twilight could tell was singing. She began to trot in its direction, and some things began to come into focus and being out of the black. Creaking wood floors, aged walls, the scent of fruit and humidity, the buzz of crickets behind it all.
As Twilight continued to walk, none of these things came closer or clearer. Like the door before, it was as if they were always ahead of her, even when she shifted and moved to the side.
The words the voice sang did not come into focus, but Twilight felt safe hearing them. There was a tinge of sadness with them as well. A faint hue of purple mixed with the haze over her eyes.
She began to cry, and wiped her eyes with a hoof. When she pulled it away from her face, she was alone in the emptiness again. Falling onto her stomach on the floor, she wept.
More images and emotions and memories she never had swarmed into her mind and vision. They moved and shifted and blinked one over another within another about another around another throughout another…
She felt as if she were tumbling, even when she was grounded. Her ears rang when cacophony when there was silence. She felt nothing and everything at once.
Twilight felt a voice speaking, but could not hear it. She heard a figure appear, but could not see it. She saw it embrace her, but could not feel it.
Twilight focused as hard as she could, and clarity was restored.
She was no longer alone in the nothingness.
The figure was dark, a glimmering blackness that shifted within the pitch black void. At first it seemed taller, but the more she focused on its writhing shape the more it shrank to her height. Wings opened and closed on its back, reminding Twilight of ink blots. A horn shimmered with starlight atop its head.
Its touch felt warm, but suffocating. She could not move away, though no part of her wanted to.
Its voice reminded Twilight of a lullaby she had never heard, but could sink into the security and comfort of.
“You, that shall be warden over them. You, that shall be guard for them. You, that shall comfort them. You, that shall guide them. Accept me. Become me. Dreamwalker.”
Twilight felt a chill run through her, fighting against the warmth of the figure’s touch. She watched as it moved towards her, about her and then into her. She was alone in the black, and yet not.
Twilight awoke with a start. The faint blue glow of Luna’s magic had returned to the room, but the alicorn was facing away from her.
“Luna?” Twilight asked.
“Did you accept it?”
Twilight took a slow breath, coughing for a moment as her throat felt dry. “Yes.”
“Did you walk?”
Twilight felt tears run down her cheek. She wanted to take another breath, but paused. “Yes.”
Luna turned around slowly, and smiled. Closing the gap between them, she wrapped a comforting, warm wing about Twilight’s withers, while her hoof pressed Twilight’s muzzle down into the crook of her neck.
Her coat felt soft, and warm, and Twilight made no effort to pull away.
“Then now you can begin to run, Dreamwalker.”
