Moondancer's Journal
You pant as you struggle through the tall, sweet-smelling grass that covers Lindel-Leaf Hill, wishing you'd never asked to see Moondancer's home. The fact that Moondancer and Baby Moondancer are running up the hill without turning a hair does not help.
You legs nearly buckle as you finally reach the top of the hill, and you hardly notice the beauty of the hut you are leaning on for support.
"Careful!" Moondancer warns. "Don't uproot it!" Only then do you realize that you are leaning on an exquisite white vine with light green leaves. Stepping back, you realize that the "structure" is really made of many of these vines, magically woven together to form a living sanctuary. Too bad you are too tired to really appreciate it.
"What do you want to do now?" Moondancer looks, if anything, envigorated by the steep climb. "Let's run races!" Baby Moondancer shouts happily, jumping up and down with excitement. "Tha-a-a-t's all right," you pant. "I think I'll just sit here for a while."
Unperturbed, Baby Moondancer quickly challenges Baby Glory and Baby Surprise (where did they come from, you wonder!) to a race. Mother Moondancer is quickly called away to settle a dispute (whether Baby Surprise is allowed to fly in the race,) and you are left alone.
Breathing more easily, you step into Moondancer's home and take a look around.
A well-worn book, bound in leather, catches your eye from a vine-woven shelf, and you carefully examine it. You gasp as you open the cover, for the words have been written have been written in light. As you stare in awe, your face faintly illuminated by the radiant script, you realize the glow if much like moonlight, and you are not surprised to see that the first two words spell "Moondancer's Journal".
Click here to flip to the latest entry.
The book is full of hastily scribbled writing, and small charts, notes, and drawings decorate the margins.
| Moondancer |
| Cotton Candy |
| Peachy |
| Skydancer |
| Parasol |
| Baby Moondancer |
| Baby Cuddles |
| Fizzy |
| Honeysuckle (injured) |
| Peach Blossom (injured) |
| Angel |
| Baby Heart Throb |
| Baby Bouncy |
| Baby Lickety-Split |
| Dibbles |
| Nibbles |
| Bouquet |
Each dreamworld has a different initial appearance--this one has swirls of blue, black and silver mist swirling about. I will explore this part of the Dream World today and rejoin the other seventeen tomorrow. We will discuss our options.
March 24, 1998
The Dream World seems safe and predictable, very similar to the ones I've explored in Ponyland. The one thing that disturbs me is that I cannot seem to wink in it. I do not understand this, as unicorns can usually wink farther in dreamscapes, and can sometimes even take their friends with them. However, everything else seems fine, so perhaps this is just a fluke. I have held a conference with Cotton Candy, Skydancer, and Parasol, and we have decided to enter the dreamscape even with this inconsistancy. It shouldn't make too much of a difference as I am as Bouquet and I are the only two unicorns in our herd.
March 27, 1998
Almost the entire herd is now in the Dream World. Of course, the lack of water in the dreamscape meant that Water Lily had to wait behind in the river. Once she enters the dreamscape, we will not be able to return to the "natural" world, for we will have no anchor ponies to help draw us back (unless we located some other ponies, but the chances of finding other ponies seems unlikely.) Still, I am optimistic; we no longer have to worry about getting enough food (never easy to do when constantly travelling) or about facing predators (if I never see another raal, it will be much MUCH too soon. Honeysuckle and Peach Blossom are still recovering from our confrontation with the beasts.)
We are now discussing exactly what kind of a land we should shape. This is important, as it will be impossible to change the basic foundation of the Dream World once we start focusing on the details. Obviously we will need some body of water for Water Lily to live in; perhaps a sea or a lake. Even possibly an ocean. We will decide tomorrow.
| Group 1 |
| Moondancer |
| Honeysuckle |
| Parasol |
| Baby Moondancer |
| Baby Cuddles |
| Bouquet |
| Dibbles |
| Nibbles |
| Group 2 |
| Peachy |
| Angel |
| Peach Blossom |
| Fizzy |
| Baby Bouncy |
| Baby Lickety-Split |
| Baby Heart Throb |
Cotton Candy and I were going to link back to the natural world and ask Water Lily if she would prefer a lake or a series to rivers. I reached out with my mind so Water Lily could pull us out of the dreamscape . . .
. . . and there was nothing. No presence, no indication that there was anything there at all! The dreamscape runs above and parallel to the natural world, so Parasol and I split up and followed in the direction that the river ran in the natural world. I ran, ran through the swirling mist under the starless sky.
Hours later I sadly followed the river back to rejoin the herd. Tomorrow we will split into two groups and will each follow the path parallel to the river in the "real" world. Hopefully we will find Water Lily . . . still, it is strange that there was no sign of her at all! Peach Blossom cautiously suggested that Water Lily might be injured or (Light forbid) dead, but had there been any other creatures around, Cotton Candy and I would have been able to sense their presence. And even if Water Lily were dead, there would still be an aura of her presence hanging about the place where she'd died . . .
Hopefully there is a simple explanation we haven't thought of . . . undoubtedly we will find Water Lily tomorrow.
March 29, 1998
Today my party and I struck out eastward and Peachy led the other party westward. We agreed to keep following the river for two weeks. If one party finds Water Lily, we will send a flutter pony (the fastest flyers) to go alert the other party and we will then rendezvous at our starting point. If we do not find her within a month, we will turn back as well.
March 30, 1998
No sign of Water Lily yet, but she could easily have gotten ahead of us, especially since we are going downstream.
March 31, 1998
No sign of Water Lily.
April 1, 1998
No sign of Water Lily.
April 1, 1998
No sign of Water Lily. (How far could she have gone??)
April 2, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 3, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 4, 1998
No Water Lily. The river is twisting more.
April 5, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 6, 1998
No Water Lily. I wonder how the other party is doing . . .
April 7, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 8, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 9, 1998
No W.L.
April 10, 1998
No W.L.
April 11, 1998
No W.L.
April 12, 1998
No WL.
April 13, 1998
No WL.
April 14, 1998
No WL. If Skydancer pulls one more practical joke, we're going to be missing TWO ponies from the herd.
April 15, 1998
No WL.
April 16, 1998
No WL.
April 17, 1998
Today we came to a fork in the river. We decided that Honeysuckle and I would take the left fork (with Baby Moondancer and Cuddles) and Parasol, Skydancer, and Bouquet (with Dibbles and Nibbles) would take the right fork. We will still turn back on April 23 and meet at the fork on April 29.
April 18, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 19, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 20, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 21, 1998
No Water Lily.
April 22, 1998
No WL.
April 23, 1998
No Water Lily. Today we head back. I pray that one of the other parties has had better luck.
April 29, 1998
Met Parasol and the others at the fork in the river. No luck.
May 29, 1998
Met Peachy and the others at our starting point. They found no sign of Water Lily. I can't imagine where she could be! Even if she were dead, we should have found some sign of her aura! And she surely couldn't have gotten too far ahead of us (and why would she want to anyway?)
Regrettably, we must now give up our search and begin establishing a homebase. We will continue sending out search parties to survey the surrounding areas once in a while. In the meantime, our first act shall be to create a shrine to Water Lily . . . the lost pony.
June 2, 1998
Today I created a pond surrounding by weeping willows. Reeds and iris grow in the shallows and fish splash in the deeps. And under the biggest weeping willow, surrounded by darting dragonflies, we raised the memorial.
It reads:
THE LOST PONY
Friends who set forth at our side,
Falter, are lost in the storm.
We, we only, are left.
June 8, 1998
Today I created a forest surrounding us, but it turned out darker than I had expected. I must be more tired than I thought.
June 10, 1998
Created two small wooden buildings leading two a larger dimension inside. I am not entirely sure what we will use them for yet, but we will undoubtedly think of something later.
June 16, 1998
Bouquet reported seeing movement in the bushes of the forest today. This is impossible, of course, since there can be nothing in this dreamscape except those that I create.
June 27, 1998
Today both Cotton Candy and Peach Blossom told me they had definately seen some kind of animal stalking through the forest!
Now I am worried; there is something out there and I have no knowledge of or control over it. And yet, according to all the theories of pony-scholars everywhere, that is impossible! Could there be some residue of a former dreamer's world left over here? Is that why unicorns cannot wink here?
I have moved the herd into one of the dimensional buildings where we can be more protected; hopefully we can discover what is out there soon.
June 28, 1998
Today a scouting party composed of myself, Parasol, Skydancer, and Angel set out to find out what's going on in the forests.
We found some strange footprints in the forest that seemed to be a mix of large cat-like prints and bird prints. We cautiously followed them to a low, cave-like lair and felt it was unsafe to continue further. We quietly headed back home.
Much to our dismay, all the babies except the newborns had formed their own scouting party and headed out without telling anyone!
Of course, we immediately headed after them. When we found them, they were deep in conversation with two small bundles of fur and feathers; half lion, half fledgling bird, they told us (telepathically) that they were "gryphons". Their parents had lived here a long time, they told us, hunting through the mists, but they did not know if the gryphon clans had originated inside or outside the dreamscape.
We told the gryphon fledglings to tell their clan that we meant them no harm and left to spend an uneasy night in the dimesional building. I will not sleep tonight; guards will be posted until dawn.
June 30, 1998
No attacks tonight, which makes me hope that the gryphons mean us no harm. We managed to contact one of the fledglings again and arranged a meeting with the gryphon clan tomorrow.
June 31, 1998
The meeting went well; the gryphons were merely trying trying to determine if we were a threat. They are pleased to find someone who can control the unpredictable dreamscape and are quite friendly as a result. Indeed, they provided us with much information about the dreamscape. It turns out that the forest does indeed lead to various other dreamscapes as well as the prime reality. The result is that many creatures wander through particularly magical places which connect with the forest and cannot escape this dreamworld. The unconscious thoughts of these creatures form a sort of primitive landscape around them as they travel. (Only an experienced magic user can create permanent changes, of course.)
Among the creatures that the gryphons have seen are woodland creatures (deer, rabbits, wolves and the like,) dragons, goblins, elves, orcs, fairies, a different breed of gryphon (able to speak,) and *shudder* raals. The result is that our world is much more dangerous than I had originally supposed. On the bright side, we now have allies. I have asked the gryphons to let us know if any potentially dangerous creatures come near our home (especially raals!!)
July 4, 1998
Today the gryphons told us more about this world. There are certain places, boundaries surrounding the areas they know, where they fear to go. Midnight, the leader of the gryphons, led us to the edge of one of these boundaries; the "Darklands", they call them, and I understand why. As I stood staring into the swirling black mist, I felt a shiver of fear. This was not the normal amorphous material of a dreamscape; this seemed dangerous, malicious, almost alive.
We quickly returned back home. Although Midnight was reluctant to talk about it, he told me that sometimes . . . things . . . were seen moving through the mists. He would say no more than that . . .
I think it might behoove us to expand the sculpted lands as soon as possible and as far as possible.
July 10, 1998
Well, today I met the other breed of gryphons. They are must smaller than Midnight's clan. Midnight and his pack are the size of lions. These gryphons are about the size of large dogs--much more compact. Midnight and his breed mainly have feathers which blend with the forest--greens and browns and blacks--while the smaller gryphons have bright primary colors on their feathers. They are also more intelligent (in the human sense of the term--better at problem solving and mathematics,) and actually speak out loud instead of using telepathy. Predictably, there is some bad blood between the two breeds, but they maintain a fairly peaceful existance.
Anyway, a small purple-feathered gryphons, Resin, agreed to stay with the herd and help us manage things. We have built a grandiose marble building for him to live in and manage things in. It was immediatly dubbed "the Office" by Skydancer, and I have a feeling the name will stick.
July 11, 1998
We decided to make a Library out of one of the dimensional buildings. Honeysuckle has offered to be in charge of it.
July 15, 1998
Exciting news! Midnight told us that he has seen ponies a few miles away! I'm going to check it out immediately!
July 16, 1998
I can't believe it! There are five other ponies in the dreamscape! They are all from Dream Valley: Sparkler, Sugarberry, Moonstone, Firefly, and Baby Glory!
Evidentally they had an experience similar to ours; when Dream Castle was destroyed, they too were pulled through a black hole to an unknown place. They do not know if we are anywhere near Ponyland, or indeed, if Ponyland still exists as it did . . .
Well, it's better not to think about that; the fact that we have found other ponies gives me hope that we can find even more of the lost ponies and discover the way back to Ponyland and Flutter Valley.
July 20, 1998
Luck must be with us! We found a few more ponies wandering through the dreamscape! Gusty, Ember, Mimic, and Masquerade were relieved to find our home.
Also, today Moonstone discovered how to control the magic of the forest to allow us to travel to other dreamscapes! What's more, he has agreed to patrol the forest on a regular basis. Cotton Candy suggested that we call the forest "the Forest of Portals" based on its new abilities.
July 24, 1998
Sugarberry has offered to make the second dimensional building into a Museum.
July 27, 1998
I hope Baby Cuddles stops trying to collect frogs soon.
August 1, 1998
Strangely enough, two very odd creatures--a moose and a llama--found us today and are asking for permission to join the herd. It's very irregular, but I can see how dangerous it would be for only one or two creatures on their own.
August 15, 1998
Gusty suggested that we have a Harvest Festival and I think it's a wonderful idea! We are working on many aspects of it right now! We'll elect a Harvest Queen and have contests--it will be just like being back in Dream Valley! Well, almost like being in Dream Valley . . .
August 20, 1998
Discovered a colony of Bushwoolies and Grundles living in the dreamscape!
September 21, 1998
After over a month of work, the Harvest Festival has finally started! It will run until December 10th!
September 29, 1998
Finished "My Little Labyrinth: the Movie" and donated a copy to the Library.
November 11, 1998
Many reports of Weird Links around . . . told Raincurl to keep an eye open.
November 15, 1998
Some of the ponies have offered to show visitors around in a Walkthrough of Ponyland.
November 17, 1998
The Dream won an award from Baby Gingerbread! Also set up Moondancer's Pony Power Award and made navigating the Dream easier (tables).
November 30, 1998
Added more stories to the Library.
December 1, 1998
I can't believe it's December already! The weather has changed to cold, cold rain, but soon there will be snow. Baby Blossom is already looking forward to Christmas and is making Christmas tags for all the ponies.
December 10, 1998
Well, the Harvest Festival has almost ended as the official start of winter draws closer! It is a busy time here; Posey has started spreading pamplets informing people of the dangers of fading hair and the whole herd has begun to inventory all the accessories we have lying around.
December 14, 1998
Today Woosie helped me set up the
International Tour of Ponyland with the other foreign ponies. Also, we now have the complete script of My Little Pony: the Movie here in the Dream!
January 11, 1999
Baby Graffiti made some more graphics for our free pictures in the Art Gallery. Also, Fizzy reported seeing a shadowy figure moving in the early fog this morning . . . however, knowing Fizzy, it was probably just her imagination.
January 24, 1999
I donated a copy of Fire, Air, Water . . . to the Library. Kind of a strange name, I know, but what can you do?
January 29, 1999
A copy of The (Non-Acoholic) My Little Pony: The Movie Drinking Game appeared in the library . . . I suspect that Skydancer donated it, but I'm not positive.
February 4, 1999
February 5, 1999
March 20, 1999
March 27, 1999
April 12, 1999
April 16, 1999
April 21, 1999
August 20, 1999
November 29, 1999
I still worry, though. It is not just the killing frost, but the land itself which disturbs me. It is . . . changing. Our little valley remains the same, but I can no longer control the dreamscape surrounding it as I once did. Perhaps it is becoming unstable? We do not really know much about these strange dimensions--I have never heard of a group of ponies trying to permanently settle in one before. Angel and Shamrock have suggested that we begin looking for a new home, and I see the wisdom of their words. But we will have to wait for the winter to pass first, I think.
With the temperature plummeting, we try to stay indoors and have resumed our Prettiest Pony contests to pass the time. The two ponies competing at the moment are Brilliant Blossoms and Sparkler, the carousel ponies. As Parasol and Moonstone argue over their merits (and about anything else that comes to mind,) I have once again turned to writing. The tales are far from complete however.
Must leave now--Baby Cuddles has fallen into the pond!
December 13, 1999
Today Skydancer returned from a surveillance flight to report that the some of the distant mountains surrounding our known world had disappeared. Of course, as Angel pointed out, the mountains are--or were--hundreds of miles away. (We sent surveying teams out earlier this year, and they traveled quite far.)
But though the threat seems distant, I am worried. When asked where the mountains had gone, Skydancer answered "Nowhere," and in response to further question he added "There was nothing there . . . literally nothing."
Tomorrow I will take my journal and a knapsack and begin searching for a new land.
Angel donated a copy of "The Ballad of Barnacle" to our Library.
Now visitors can view profiles of the nineteen original ponies of this herd!
Today we began the Prettiest Pony Poll in the Dream . . . Two ponies are compared and residents vote on which of the two is the most beautiful.
Well, Skydancer's done it again. The prankster devoted a section of the dreamscape to Ponies from the Wrong Side of the Rainbow. I must confess, it is pretty funny . . .
Today Honeysuckle officially opened the Bookstore, an extension of the Library.
Added a bunch of pictures to the Museum.
A momentous day! Peach Blossom finally kicked off her page of Expert Advice, while Parasol let some of her opinions fly.
It's been a long time since I've had a chance to write . . . things have been so busy here! Two new stories, Dorm Room Disaster and Sunbeam's Secret, have been donated to the Library, and Speedy and Fizzy are now facing off in the Prettiest Pony Opinion Poll.
At last I have a chance to return to my journal! It has been a hard time here in the Dreamscape; an early frost came in October before we had a chance to store away food for the cold, dark winter months. Thus the efforts of all ponies were turned towards finding food--any food!--before the first snowfall. Even the paltry amount of magic required for writing in this journal could not be wasted on such a frivolous pursuit. But after arduous labor, we appear to be safe once more. The winter will be lean, but we will survive!
Something is very wrong here.
