Selene of the Shifting Dreams

by Lord King Cocoon

Prologue

…Running…
…Falling…
…Pain…

You’re having a dream. A dream that you can’t quite remember. A dream that’s not quite a dream, but a collection of thoughts.

…Bright light…
…Pain…
…Fear…

This dream that is not quite a dream, this collection of thoughts, are all broken; unintelligible; jumbled; confused.

…Cold…
…Wet…
…Silence…

These jumbled thoughts aren't quite aligning with each other. Contradictions and inconsistencies are everywhere in these thoughts. But there are a couple of thoughts that are consistent among the entire dream. The dream that is not quite a dream, but jumbled thoughts.

…Loneliness…
…Darkness…

---

Your senses begin to return to you… No, they don’t return to you. That would imply that you’ve had senses before. Then again, you’re not quite sure whether or not you’ve had senses before. It’s confusing not knowing if you’ve had senses before or not.

The first thing that you notice is the sensation of something cold and hard against your… against your… confusion overtakes you as you don’t know what your body is supposed to be covered with. This disturbs you because this is something you should know… or should you?

You open your eyes. The world is… sideway? No, the world isn’t what’s sideways, you are. You’re lying on the floor on your side. A stone floor… no, crystal. Cold, hard, light blue crystal… and wet.

…Cold…
…Wet…

You wet the bed! No, wait… the liquid is too thick to be pee. It’s more like some sort of slime. And you can’t wet the bed if you’re not in a bed.

You lift your head, feeling the sensation of the slime separating as your head leaves the floor and the slime tries to keep its hold on your head and the floor. You see an eggshell. You realize that you must’ve hatched from it… no wait, you’re a mammal. You don’t hatch from an egg… No, you’re not a mammal, you’re a… what are you?

You get up onto your two hooves… no, four hooves. That’s right… or is it? You look down at your legs. Holes. Why are there holes? Is that normal? That can’t be normal… but it is.

You look around and find yourself in familiar ruins… no, not ruins. Why did you think they were ruins of a castle? There’s no castle here. Why did you even think about a castle in the first place? Because it’s your home… no it’s not.

You look out a window. A vast forest. You look up and see the moon. It is nighttime. The night sky is comforting to you… no, it scares you… no, you’ve never seen the sky before.

You’re even more confused.

“Hello?” You cautiously call out as you begin to traverse the building, “Is anycreature out there?” ‘Anycreature’? That’s not right… wait, yes it is.

…Silence…

As you leave the building, you come across a stagnate puddle of water. You look at your reflection. You have ethereal hair… no, mane. It flows in an ethereal wind. It’s a reflection of the night sky with holes popping in and out near the end… no, that’s not normal. Or is it?

You have large, green, reptilian eyes. Shouldn’t your eyes be blue… no, aquamarine? No, you’ve never seen your own eyes. Your coat is navy blue… shouldn’t it be black? No, it’s not a coat, it’s chitin. There’s a long crooked navy blue horn on your forehead. Why is it crooked? Because it’s normal. But a horn isn’t normal… is it?

You look behind you to see a tail. A reflection of the night sky, just like your hair… mane. Why do you even have a tail? At the end of the tail, like your mane, holes are popping in and out.

You look back to where you came out and see a giant crystal… treehouse? With a sky blue crystalline trunk and pink crystalline leaves. It looks comforting compared to the forest outside. But it’s lonely…

…Loneliness…

You need to find somecreature… anycreature! “Hello?” You call out again with more volume. You twitch your ears… no, fins to narrow in on any response.

…Silence…

None. How were you able to move your ear fins? Because it’s normal… isn’t it?

You hear something! A twig snapping. A reply? No, why would anycreature who’s trying to help you try to sneak up on you? And what is that horrible smell?

A howl! Another howl! A pack of wolves? You turn to run back to the treehouse. You trip! A tree root got caught in a hole in your left hind leg! You see them coming out of the trees as they stalk you! Wolves made of wood! Three… four… no, five of them! Maybe more! You struggle to get your hoof free! But your panic isn’t making it easy!

…Fear…

The wolves charge at you! You pull your hoof free, Breaking the root!

…Pain…

You run… no limp back to the treehouse! Your now injured hoof slowing you down!

…Running…

The treehouse is getting closer… closer… closer… almost there… You leap! You open your wings prepared to feel the wind in your feathers… no, not feathers! A membrane… why do you have wings? You’re tackled mid-air by one of the wolves!

…Pain…
…Falling…
…Pain…

“AHHHH!!!” You scream as you tumble into the treehouse in a mass of chitin and wood! The wolf bites down!

…Pain…
…Fear…

“AHHHH!!!” You scream again as another wolf approaches!

…Fear…
…Bright light…

Beams of light came from the treehouse itself! Three… four… five… maybe more! Each beam of light hitting a wolf! The wolves shatter into nothing but piles of wood!

…Bright light…

A shimmering form appears in front of you. A shimmering violet… pony? It smiles down at you.

“Do not worry. You will be safe here,” the shimmering pony said.

…Pain…
…Fear…

“Help… me…” you say as you grow tired. Your eyelids grow heavy as the world around you fades away…

“Help is coming. You will be safe here.”

…Silence…
…Darkness…

…Safe…

Author's Note:

This story is NOT going to be told from a 2nd person perspective. I just did this for the Prologue. I began the story in a way to have you feel like you're the character in question. And this is to help the idea that you will be learning about her alongside her. Many stories like these show the events leading up to the main character coming into this world. I simply chose to take a different route. (Should I add a mystery tag to this story as well?)

I'm sure you can figure out the name that will be given to the youngling. I chose the name based on Lauren Faust's original name for Luna. That and the simple fact that it's the name of the Greek goddess of the moon.

This story takes place roughly one year after the epilogue episode, which I estimated to be about ten years in the future. I estimate that there's roughly a ten year age gap between the Cutie Mark Crusaders and the Mane 6. Seeing as the CMCs are roughly the age that the Mane 6 were, the math is obvious. Although, I suppose that that means that the Young 6 aren't exactly "young" anymore either. But I digress. This was just to help to provide some context into what kind of setting this story takes place in.

This story has several sources of inspiration. The primary sources are Past Sins and Living Nightmare (which is itself inspired by Past Sins). I'm also taking moderate inspiration from Soaring on Little Wings. And slight inspiration from Cadance's origin story from An Early Reunion (a story from The Lunaverse). And a decent amount of inspiration also comes from a variant of Past Sins I had in mind that takes place in Chrysalis's timeline from the Season 5 Finale. So yeah, I'm not just relying on a single source for inspiration here.

I'm also curious as to whether any readers can figure out the meaning of that dream. Or rather, the dream that isn't quite a dream. It will be explained eventually. Let's just see if anyone can figure it out before then.

This Author's Note has gone on long enough, so I think it's safe to say I should end it before it ends up being longer than the Prologue itself. With that said...

Until next time, I'm King Cocoon, and I'm out.

Comments

[BezierBallad]

Is it just me, or is anyone else getting Past Sins vibes from the description?

[Lord King Cocoon]

10663183
Well, if you've read the Author's Note (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, considering how long it was), you'd see that this story has several sources of inspiration. The primary sources of inspiration are Past Sins and a story that's inspired by Past Sins. I also used inspiration from a variant of Past Sins I once had that took place in Chrysalis's timeline from the Season 5 Finale. There's also a little inspiration from another story that possibly could've been inspired by Past Sins but as a Lunaverse story.

So yeah, there may be a slight Past Sins vibe to it.