//------------------------------//
// Lesson One: Acceptance 
// Story: The Magic of Dreams 
// by MegaTJ 
//------------------------------//


Lesson One: Acceptance


As Princess Celestia once again raised her majestic sun for another wonderful day in Equestria, she once more read over Twilight Sparkle's letter. The smile under her nose couldn't grow any wider as she read it over for the eighth time since she had received it the night before. She was so ecstatic at the news, that she almost raised the sun fast enough to set the morning time to three in the afternoon.

Princess Luna couldn't help but notice her sister's growing excitement. Especially since Celestia was about to burst into a fit of giggles at the breakfast table. "A bit of good news, Sister?"

She didn't answer immediately. She was too busy contemplating on what to do about the predicament Twilight had wrote to her about. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she had completely forgot about replying to Luna entirely.

Luna gave an annoyed huff. She levitated the letter from Celestia. Giving it a quick read, she found she didn't understand why Celestia was so giddy. "It seems as if Twilight Sparkle has developed a crush, and this 'Dream Runner' is in need of help. I'm afraid I don't share your enthusiasm."

"Isn't it GREAT?" Celestia blurted. "Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn who has only fallen in love with books has fallen in love with a colt! I never thought I would see the day!"

Luna frowned, "The letter doesn't entail falling in love, Celestia."

"You must read between the lines", Celestia explained, "Can you not tell how concerned she is about him?"

"I will admit, the words 'urgent help' and 'immediate assistance' do appear often", Luna said. She read it again, and noticed something else. "It also appears she does not want him to leave. That she has stressed several times."

"Exactly." Celestia sipped her orange juice. "I can't tell you how lucky Twilight and Dream are. That the poor colt happens to be a Dream Chaser. I know I may seem insensitive at the moment, but this could be an opportunity to make two ponies very happy. Especially since we both know the solution for—"

"The Dream Chaser Quandary?"

"Precisely."

Luna was beginning to understand where Celestia was taking their conversation. Celestia was always meddling in the personal lives of the subjects of Equestria. She wondered exactly what happened during all those long years she was stuck on the moon.

"Luna", Celestia said suddenly.

"Yes, sister?"

With a smile, Celestia asked, "How would you like to help me play matchmaker?"


D


By the time Twilight and Dream made it outside, the day had already blossomed with beautiful weather. The heat was only barely moderate, and a cool breeze had blown in a dry cold front from the north. To Dream's satisfaction, the breeze ruffled his mane continuously, making him feel even more content as he walked alongside Twilight. Dream had immediately taken notice of the many Pegasi flying around Ponyville, and for a second he found himself imagining what it would be like to be flying among them.

"Nervous?" Twilight asked, giving an interruption to his thoughts.

"A little", he lied. Inside, Dream was shaking like a leaf. Guilt from the previous night was still caught in his throat. It wasn't something he could just forget. Something like that he couldn't even control scared him. He was in absolute terror that it might happen again and knew that he would have to do everything in his power to make sure it didn't happen again. Before anymore of the thoughts could form, he hurriedly cleared his mind of everything except the breeze, where he was going, and Twilight.

"Don't worry, Dream, I have every bit of faith that you will do just fine", she assured.

To Dream, she sounded as if he were taking a test for school. To be honest, he wished he was. It would be so much easier to do. "You think?"

"I know", she said as-a-matter-of-factly.

He wondered just how she could be so sure about it as his mind was full of doubts against succession. He once again shook the negative thoughts from his mind. He wanted to ask where his lesson would be since Twilight wasn't leading him back to the meadow, but decided against it in case it would be a place he would second guess and want to leave. The wind picked up a little more, erasing all thoughts from his mind.

Twilight had pulled ahead by a few steps, and was hoping to get Dream to pick up the pace. They were late already and Rainbow Dash didn't exactly have a lot of patience. She knew that Dream wouldn't learn properly from an irritable teacher. Her incentive worked; Dream quickened his trot to catch up.

"I hope it won't take long to learn", Dream stated.

"Why's that?"

He blushed sheepishly. "I kinda want to start flying as soon as I can."

"That's the spirit!" Twilight cheered. "Have confidence!"

Dream gave her a smile. Twilight's enthusiasm was welcoming, and he really wanted to hear more support, so he said, "I'm going to be flying by tomorrow, just watch!"

Twilight opened her mouth to commend him again, only to be interrupted by a cyan mare. "Twilight, where have you been!?"

Dream jumped and nearly suffered an adrenaline overdose. The anxiety kicked in with full force. He froze over with nervousness.

Twilight didn't notice. "Sorry Rainbow, breakfast lasted a bit longer than I thought", she apologized. Then she added teasingly, "And Dream decided to be lazy this morning."

The joke snapped Dream back to his senses. "Don't let her fool you, Rainbow", he replied, "She's only covering for how slow she cooks."

"Oh, please", Twilight countered, "I had to literally drag you out of bed this morning."

They glared at each other until Twilight burst into a fit of laughter. "Hahaha!"

Dream couldn't help himself and started laughing with her. It was odd, laughing for the first time in a very long time.

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. She didn't know what was up, but was eager to get on with the lesson before her shift started at the Weather Patrol Post. "Come on, guys", she said, "We don't have a lot of time today."

The two lightened their laughter until they were barely giggling. Rainbow Dash, finally happy that they could start, said, "Okay, so today, I'm going to just see what you know and then go from there. We have until one before—"

"Twilight!"

They all turned to see an angry Spike walking towards them. He was making fast pace for some reason. "Twilight you have to get back to the library! There's an army of complaining ponies outside the door and I can't get them by myself. And how long's the library been closed? Pinkie Pie says she's been waiting forever to return her books!"

Twilight shivered. She had been so preoccupied with Dream that she completely forgot about her daily responsibilities as Ponyville's librarian. She nearly had a heart attack. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Spike. Quick, you go ahead and start taking care of what you can, and I'll be right behind you. Oh, I hope Princess Celestia doesn't hear about this!"

Dream Runner almost passed out. Guilt ran his conscience over like a train. He immediately felt like the biggest burden in Equestria. Luckily for him, before any fear could set in, Twilight came to his emotional rescue.

"Don't worry, Dream. It's not your fault. Everypony will understand when I tell them I've been helping you", she said.

He nodded, not fully convinced. He just hoped he hadn't got her into too much trouble.

"Will you be okay without me?" Bad question Twilight, now he might get discouraged!

In the back of his mind, Dream felt the burning sensation of wanting to prove himself a braver pony than he was for her. It gave him the energy to smile, nod, and say, "Yep!"

Twilight wasn't sure his reaction was forced or genuine, so she went with the benefit of the doubt. "Okay, Dream. When you're done, you know where you can find me."

Dream watched her gallop away, somewhat longing to chase after her, somewhat happy that he had managed to pull off such a hard decision.

"Ready, Dream?"

Dream turned to see Rainbow Dash waiting for him to walk with her to the training ground. He nodded and followed behind her. It was when he looked past her that he saw they were at a lake. Taking a look around, he saw that he had walked with Twilight to the outskirts of Ponyville. The only sounds he could hear were from the small clearing around him. That brought some comfort. He wouldn't embarrass himself in front of anypony other than Rainbow Dash.

"Okay, open your wings", Rainbow instructed. He replied with a confused stare. "So I can make sure they're strong enough. You can really hurt yourself if they aren't."

"Oh." He opened them up. "They're pretty average in strength. I exercise them regularly."

She inspected his feathered appendages. They weren't at all bony, and he was right when he said he exercised them; both wings were just slightly more muscular than Fluttershy's, and that was more than enough for his lesson.

"They should be good enough", she observed, then added, "And if not, a few wingups won't kill ya."

Dream nodded and followed her to wherever he was going to learn to fly. He was feeling sick to his stomach with nervousness and guilt and many other negative emotions. With Twilight now gone, he felt so unprotected. He got so lost in his thoughts that he barely noticed the water of the lake nipping at his hooves. There was a small boat nearby and when he looked out onto the lake, he noticed that there was a small platform with a high diving board floating in the middle. He gulped. I'm going to learn on that!?


D


Twilight sighed as she signed another small stack of books out to another one of the library's members. It was nothing but busy work ever since she arrived. She had never seen the library so packed before. She was enthused that more ponies seemed to be focusing more time on reading, but did there have to be so many at once?

"Whoa!"

On instinct, Twilight used her magic to catch Spike before he hit the library floor. The books he was carrying to the top of the ladder, however, weren't so lucky. "Spike, what have I told you about carrying too many books while climbing the ladders?"

"Sorry, Twilight", he said as she set him down, "I'm just trying to get done faster so I can go over to Applejack's."

"Well, how much do you have left?"

"Just a couple of stacks."

Twilight sighed, "Go ahead and leave early, Spike. I'll get to them later."

Spike wasn't going to ask Twilight if she was sure. Any chance to get out of the library and head to the farm pony's house was going to be snatched up by him in a heartbeat. Twilight watched him leave the library as quickly as he could and wondered exactly what had happened to his work ethic. She would have to have a talk with him about it later. For now she merely focused on serving the ponies in the library. It wasn't much longer before there were only three ponies browsing the shelves. Now that all of the excitement was over, she was left wondering how Dream was doing. Her thoughts were interrupted by Owlowiscious, who landed on top of her desk. He let a scroll drop from his beak and, after a scratch on his head, flew back to one of his perches.

Twilight immediately saw Princess Celestia's seal holding the scroll together. She hurriedly snatched it up and began reading.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

It is most unfortunate to hear of Dream Runner's predicament. Fortunately, Princess Luna and I both offer you our services to help him through it. We do require an audience with the two of you so that we can become further educated in exactly what a "Dream Chaser" is. We have no specific date in mind at this time and would like to work around your schedules, so whichever day you are free and would like to meet will be fine with us. We hope to see the two of you soon.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia

Excited relief filled Twilight's mind. She was going to get Dream help! The librarian nearly jumped up and began dancing. She giddily levitated a quill and parchment over and began writing a thank you letter explaining that she and Dream would be in Canterlot by morning the next day. The remaining ponies in the library checked out their books. Twilight followed them out and hung an "Out to Lunch" sign on the door. She couldn't wait to tell Dream they were going to Canterlot!


D


"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH—"

SPLASH!

Dream once again experienced the shock of the lake's cold water before he swam back up. Being suspended in the water was the closest thing he could ever come to flying, and he didn't understand why it was so much easier to swim. Once his stomach stopped stinging, he decided to break the surface of the lake. He looked up to see the diving board looming over him. Rainbow Dash grabbed him from under his wings and flew him back to the platform.

"Okay, Dream, I know where we have to start now", she stated. She observed his trial jumps and found that the colt had to start from square one and forget everything he tried to teach himself. When he jumped, he instantly panicked and flailed around helplessly. He wouldn't be able to fly like that. "Get back to the top of the diving board."

Dream followed the order hesitantly. He mentally prepared himself for the queasy sensation of his fear of heights. He climbed the ladder as fast as he could. Any non-solid ground scared the feathers off him.

"I want you to jump off again, but this time, just keep your wings straight out", Rainbow instructed, "You'll want to learn to glide first, so that you can learn how to weight shift."

He nodded and closed his eyes. There might have been water underneath him, and he might be a very good swimmer, but falling was still falling, no matter how he looked at it. He stepped to the end of the plank. He stretched his wings out and locked them into position. He took a step over and…

Rainbow Dash facehoofed. The second the colt stepped over the side, he instinctively began to flap his wings and flail his hooves wildly. "A Pegasus afraid of heights", she sighed, "Great."

Dream Runner surfaced again and swam back to the floating island. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash!" he called, "I'll get it right this time!"

Back at the top, he shook himself free of as much water as he could. "Okay, wings straight out…"

"Hang on." Rainbow landed in his way.

"What?"

"Close your eyes, and when you jump off this time, hold your breath." She was sure that if he could get rid of the sensation of falling, then maybe he wouldn't panic.

Dream closed his eyes and walked to the end of the diving board again. He took a huge breath. It's just water... He stepped over the edge and it was as if nothing had happened. He was sure he wasn't touching the platform anymore and that he had jumped. Only a couple of more seconds passed before his hooves felt the lake water. The cold caused him to flinch and close his wings. He fell the rest of the way into the water. He swam back up immediately. What just happened?

"Good job, Dream Runner!" Rainbow shouted as she drifted back down to lift him out.

As she grabbed him, he asked, "What did I do?"

"You glided!"

"I did", he inquired, amazed. "I didn't feel anything though."

"We'll work on that", she replied. She carried him to the lake's beach. "I don't have a lot of time left before I have to get to Weather Patrol. So, uh, lesson over for today I guess."

Dream stopped her from flying off. "Hey, Rainbow Dash…"

"Yeah?"

The colt wasn't sure what to say exactly, so just put it simply with, "Thanks. I swear I'll return the favor."

"Don't worry about it", she chuckled, "It's what friends do."

With that, she was off. Dream watched after her. When she was gone, he turned back toward the lake, then looked up to see that the sun wasn't even close to the position of one o'clock. He didn't know why she left early, but that wasn't on his mind. He took a look at the ground. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. "Friends", he repeated. It's almost as if he finally realized it. "I have friends…"

The words gave him more confidence. He gazed out onto the lake to the diving board. It wasn't a long swim, and he still had some time before he was supposed to be back to the library, so he waded through the water and swam to the board. Thoughts of possible insanity wandered into Dream's mind when he looked up the long ladder. He drew a deep breath and climbed the ladder as fast as he could. Doing as he did before he opened his wings and locked them outwards. He closed his eyes and held in a deep breath. Once again he stepped over. Just like before he felt nothing. A few seconds into it, he dared to open his eyes. A gasp escaped his mouth when he saw that he was slowly drifting over the lake. He slowly exhaled. Dream found that nothing bad was happening, so he tried to change direction. He leaned right. To his misfortune he leaned too far and went head first into the water. He swam back up. Almost, he thought.

On his second attempt he managed to jump off without closing his eyes. He kept his breath held to keep calm, and let it out as he progressed farther out over the lake. This time he leaned to his right slowly. He gradually yawed right. Then he leaned left. He kept it up until he was zigzagging over the surface of the lake. He let himself drop when he reached the water. On his swim back, Dream got an idea. "What would happen if I leaned backwards?" he pondered to himself.

Once again back at the top, he contemplated how far he should lean. He didn't want to lean too far and fall, so he figured just a little should do. He jumped off and almost immediately shifted his weight to his tail. He was elated to find that he rose higher. I'm going up! Celestia, I'm basically flying! He leaned a little more and more, until the inevitable happened. His ascension slowed to a halt.

"What?" Absolute horror gripped him as he started to fall back down. "NO!" he screamed, "Nonononononono!"

His instincts kicked in and forced his hooves and wings to move on their own. He fell like a rock as he vainly tried to regain altitude. He hit the water with a loud smack. Underneath the surface, his tears of pain, trauma, and failure dissolved into the fresh water. He looked up at the mirror of water and air above him. He refused to go back up. He felt that the moment he gasped for breath, he would be subjected to painful teasing by a hundred skilled flyers. His oxygen reserves were starting to evaporate, and it wasn't long before his heart was pounding in his ears. Dream's lungs were by then screaming for him to go back up, yet his mind refused to listen to them.

Two voices began arguing in his head. Stupid colt, one—a mare's—said maliciously, You'll never fly…

Yes you will! Screamed the second one, which sounded a lot like Twilight's, Look how close you came just now!

You're a joke, a mediocre pony…

No! You're a wonderful Pegasus with a bright future!

You are the lowest of the low. A disgrace to your kind…

You've only had a bad past! You can't possibly call yourself a Pegasus if you don't try! Be positive!

No pony cares if you win or lose or if you just wither away into nothing…

I care, Dream! I know you can do it! I believe in you!

He's a horrible Pegasus!

He's an amazing Pegasus…And I…I…I lo—

He couldn't hear anything else. The water overtook his body. He faded into darkness as he gasped in a mouthful of water. All cognitive functions in his body stopped. He couldn't tell he was drowning.

What happened next was a sure sign of his luck…


D


"No Dream, don't leave me!" Twilight screamed as she pounded her hooves into his chest another time. Her tears streamed from her eyes as she desperately attempted to revive the almost drowned colt. She tried mouth to mouth again. She blew as much air into his lungs as she could. He still ceased to show signs of life. She slammed her hooves into his chest over and over. Her sobs got louder the longer she took to bring him back. When she thought it was all over for him, she slammed both hooves and her head down on him.

Dream was brought back to the living coughing and sputtering water. He opened his eyes in shock to see Twilight crying over him. She instantly pulled him into a tight hug and sobbed into his soggy mane. Dream Runner didn't move. Confusion and embarrassment kept him from moving. She held him close for several minutes before letting him go and holding him out.

He didn't need to ask what happened. "Twilight…I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry", she cried. "I should have gotten here sooner…"

Instead of arguing, Dream Runner did the unimaginable. He closed the space in between the two and put his hooves around her. Tears left his eyes as he hugged her with happiness. He was so overjoyed to be cared about to the point of being resuscitated. H-have I once again fallen in love? Twilight's hooves around him confirmed it. Yes. But I think it'll be different this time…

They held each other until Dream was mostly dry. Silently, they let each other go and stood up. Dream grabbed his satchel from the top of the rock back where the grass met the sand of the lake's beach.

The walk back to Ponyville was peaceful. Well, with the exception of Dream's shivering. The cold air mixed with his still damp fur was a formula for Shuddering Colt. Twilight took immediate notice. Remembering a spell she was taught a couple days ago, Twilight conjured a blanket over the Pegasus. She draped it over him. His new wind shield brought instant warmth. "Thanks Twilight."

"Would you like some hot chocolate?"

He nodded.

She turned and started in the direction of Sugarcube Corner. Both were thinking about what had just happened, but didn't want to say anything about the traumatizing experience. It was evident that Dream wasn't going to scare Twilight like that again. And that it was her who had levitated him out of the lake. No explanations were needed.

Dream stuck close to Twilight. It was different this time. He only wanted to be close to Twilight not to use her as a shield, but because he wanted to be close to her.

I love this, he thought, I love this new life. And, he smiled, I love Twilight…