Soul Saga: Catching Dreams

As ponies, we tend to take our lives for granted. We have houses, warmth and food in plentiful abundance. Neighbors, friends and loved ones to keep us company. Entertainment to keep us amused. A sun to keep us warm, and a moon to light our path by night to keep us safe. We think we have it good, in comparison to say; maybe the Zebra or the Diamond Dogs. Living the life of luxury in our quaint towns, sprawling suburban metropolitan areas, and vast cities.

So why would that change when we sleep? We dream of our families, our friends. We dream about work and the activities of the coming day. Some of the more fortunate ones get to dream about big profit margins or expanded territories. That's all well and fine to do; nopony could fault you for it if you do.

But that's just it. In the end: nopony can fault you for having dreams. No one can take them away either. As long as they live in you, they are as eternal as you will them to be.

Eternity though, is a very long time. Especially to be trapped in a dream turned nightmare.

You'd like to think you know; think you can pretend to know how you'd react in your darkest dream turned to life. But I can tell you that you can't. You don't know. You never will...unless you experience it first hoof. I have to say; coming from experience: it's not pleasant.

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My name is Dream Weaver. I'd love to say that I'm your typical, average everyday pony. I'd love to regale you with stories of how I graduated from school, met a nice mare, settled down and had a few foals. I would give anything to tell you about how I attained my dream job of working in the Lunar Guard directly under Her Majesty Princess Luna. About how I served my time dutifully and received an honest pony's discharge, retired to a home in the country and spent the rest of my days lounging in the peace and tranquility of nature.

But I can't. I'd be lying. Mostly because physically, I'm not old enough to even have a real job. I'm not strong enough to serve in the Guard. I don't even have the ability to clearly see where I'm going. Objects in motion are my line to life, while stationary objects are the mortal enemy of my body. Sound and touch are the only things alerting me to the idea that I may be seconds away from my life being over. My world is a black canvas upon which sketchy gray lines of motion and sound echoes are scrawled every so often to help guide my way.

I am blind. The world I live in is as bleak as the darkest of shadows on a moonless night, disturbed only by the inhabitants and forces of nature around me. You can imagine that I keep to myself most of the time, living in my simple three room abode. It's a quaint little hovel off of the Courtyard Promenade that surrounds the Town Hall of what could be jokingly called 'Downtown' Ponyville. In all the time I've lived here, the town has grown and prospered, but it hasn't changed much from that simple little settlement it was founded as so many years ago.

Ponies are still friendly, holding open doors for me. The streets are arguably the same as they were when they were first paved with cobblestone and packed with dirt. The shop owners are as industrious as they always have been, peddling their wares with nary a care in the world. Sure, we've had our occasional disaster once in a great blue moon. The parasprite infestation caused a lot of damage to the town and surrounding countryside. The Changeling Invasion of the Royal City of Canterlot had its own security ramifications here, even so far from the capital. But life itself remains relatively undisturbed. Ponies still get married and have foals. Foals still become young colts and fillies, going to school and growing up. It could be painted as the most quaint, picturesque town in existence.

That is, if it truly was that simple.

I'm not going to lie to you, every settlement has its own troubles. Bad crops, tainted water, crime. You name it. But there's always one element of darkness that out shadows everything else. This isn't just Ponyville's problem though. This devious void threatens all of Equestria's borders; probably Her allies as well. I wouldn't know in truth. I'm only one pony destined to fight against it. Even then; for all the good I serve to the cause, there's so much more that slips through my hooves every time I go into the fray.

You see, my adversary is tricky. It's not only insubstantial...but metaphysical as well. It's not something you can go out and bludgeon with the nearest two-by-four. It's not anywhere near as simple as putting my enemy in handcuffs and taking it to jail, no. That'd be far too simple.

My enemy exists on an altered level of the subconscious.

My enemy is a Nightmare.

You think it's funny? I would've laughed too when I was first told of it and what it can do. If somepony would've walked up to me on the street and out right told me that I was in danger from a bad dream, I would've laughed in their face.

The stark, black and white reality of it is though...it's true.

There's sure to be some skeptics out there, no doubt.

'How is a bad dream dangerous?'

'How is having a nightmare going to hurt me?'

Before I get into that, there's a few things you need to know about this vile interloper into our mind's eye.

For starters, this is no ordinary bad dream. It's possessed of a consciousness all its' own. It can think, reason, and feel, just as you or I do. It reacts to the things you do to it, sometimes punishing you for being incredibly stupid enough to fall for one of its tricks. Other times rewarding you for surprising it. It even provides ways for you to escape it, if you're aware of yourself enough to notice the little hints and clues it drops along the way. You see...this Nightmare treats your mind, your memories, everything you've ever experienced...like a game. It takes things you once loved and twists them into the most hellish shades of black and red that you've ever seen. Things you fear become hundreds of times more frightening. Things you enjoy become so unpleasant as to make you wish you'd never known their joys.

Worst of all: ponies you know and love will die before your eyes.

'Oh. But still, this is all a dream, right? It's not really doing these things.'

Some cases? No. It doesn't have the power to reach out into the real world to affect others while it's focusing on you. That's one boon that I consider myself lucky for. However, it can draw the sleeping minds of others into this altered reality with yours. It can make them do things you've never thought possible. Warping them into ponies you never knew. Sometimes...showing you things yet to happen.

That's how I first discovered this malevolent force. In order to understand how things eventually turned out though, you're gonna need a bit of my back story first. So let's get the boring part out of the way.

When I was still just a young colt in my very first day of school no less, it brought me a vision. In it, I saw my own mother killed in an accident involving a thundercloud. Not more than twelve hours later...it happened. My life never was the same after that.

About two years later, I met a Plains Pony from the Bad Lands, peddling Buffalo Tribe regalia and trinkets. He was the first to tell me the truth behind my vision...and what lie in store for me. See...I'm what's known as a Dream Catcher. Original name, right? Yeah...tell me about it. But fact of the matter is...I'm a pony who's capable of helping to filter out negative things in dreams to make sure you all sleep peacefully at night. Talents of the mind have run in my family since before my great grandfather. My father was a psychiatric therapist. My brother was skilled in creating mental illusions.

Me? I get to glance into others dreams and see to it that nothing bad is happening.

Or at least...that's how it would work if I was a unicorn. But there's the trick to my life. Not only am I blind...but I'm a blind pegasus. As if to make matters worse, even if I could see...I can't fly. Accidental wing damage at a young age led to degenerative bone disease. Yep. That's really something I like telling others. In the living world, I'm about as useful as a sack of hammer handles.

I found a way around my racial handicap though. I may not be a unicorn, but I can still borrow their magic. That's how I get into dreams and work around in them. That's how I take the fight to the Nightmare.

The Plains Pony taught me a trick to allow me to do more than just view dreams without my own source of magic. Enchanted artifacts, as it were, allow me to physically enter one's dream and do my thing. All I need to do is find a unicorn able to perform the enchantment. Let me tell you, that in itself is no easy task, as there's few enough around these days that still specialize in dream magic. There just isn't too much of a call for it in the mechanics of the universe I guess. Another way to do it is to utilize runes, sigils and symbolic magic...but to do that, you need to combine the three different practices...and let's just say that there's more recorded history about the tragic accidents involved than the successes in that avenue of magical theory.

To get back on track though, as it seems I'm wandering...I use these methods to get into your dreams. Do you want me there? Probably not. Do you need me there? Questionable. Do you have a better chance of surviving the Nightmare if I'm there?

Given my lengthy experience with this thing...I'd say that you've a 1 in 4 chance. But that's better than no chance at all. I'm no super-pony. I can't just flex my muscles and make it go away. But I can help.

You see...the Nightmare has a strict set of rules that it adheres to. If they're not followed...punishments are dealt accordingly. I found that out the hard way. Let's just say that now, I can 'see' the rules more clearly.

Soon after discovering my talent, I discovered these all too important rules. I know these rules. I bend them to help you survive. It's my job to make sure you get through it alive and in as few pieces as possible. The Nightmare plays by them, and expects you to as well. If you don't, consequences can be more dire than ever. See, when you're preyed upon by the Nightmare...your very life becomes the stakes wagered for you. As if that wasn't bad enough...the Nightmare plays to win. As should you. It'll use every trick in the book to beat you into submission.

So how do you win against an all powerful force of the mind that's subverting your own senses and memories, pitting you against the things and ponies you love the most? Well, to know the enemy is to know victory. I've spent what feels like two or three lifetimes in subconscious combat against this monstrosity. I can tell you now that after all this time, I know this thing better than most. It's that accumulated knowledge that's going to help you when some stranger comes barging in on your dreams. I don't expect thanks. I don't even expect you to tolerate me. But you'll eventually see that I can help you.

For all of my experience though...I'm a broken pony. For every life I save, three are lost. You might think to yourself that such numbers are inexcusable. But you don't know the horrors I face. If you did...you wouldn't be reading this. You wouldn't have to read it...because you'd already know.

I say this with the most clarity I've ever had on any matter in my life: the Nightmare is no savior. It may pretend to be, showing you things you've repressed in order for you to come to terms with them, or showing you misdeeds in order for you to repent. Don't fall for it though. It's only out to keep you for itself. Trapped forever in its fog filled streets. Its fun-house mazes of death and decay. It is maleficent to the very core and harbors you no good will. It will kill you if you allow it to.

When I look back on all the lives I've saved, I sit and think to myself: "What about the rest?"

Everytime I visit the subconscious realm of the DreamScape, where the Nightmare lives, I'm visited with a hallway of faces. Twisted. Tormented. Defiled. All ponies I couldn't save. All ponies who were counting on the strange, black pegasus who showed up in their dreams to help them get away. I look at them all and I'm assaulted by a dark feeling.

It's a feeling not unlike walking on a floor of mirrors. You tread carefully, trying not to break such pristine glass ornaments. But then one of them cracks. In an effort to keep it from getting worse, you back away quickly, accidentally stepping on another mirror too hard and cracking that one as well. Soon, you're tip-hoofing across the floor in an effort to save at least one mirror while all around you, the glass is shattering...and you know there's nothing you can do to stop it except try to save as many as you can from breaking. Each of those mirrors represents a pony. Each of those cracks is an instance of the Nightmare.

I've seen too many broken mirrors in my life time. Far too much death for somepony who's not even technically out of their late colt-hood. I'm young, I'll admit. Given a wager, I'm probably only physically around fourteen to fifteen summers old. But I've been fighting this monster for as long as I can remember. No headway has been made as far as I can tell. The Nightmare's just as strong as ever. I'll keep fighting it for as long as I can. I know there are others out there with this ability of mine, and they're fighting just as hard.

So for them, and for all the ponies I couldn't save...I won't give up. I can't give up. It's all I have to live for. That and this book. Told within are stories from my life. Stories that will relate to you, as best as I can, what my struggle has been like. How this entity of darkness took from me everything I had and left only a meaningless war to be fought.

Kind of a sad notion, huh?

I'm living to fight and endless battle.

I'm living for a Nightmare.