To make up for that grimdark chapter, let us do a light hearted chapter, with lots of story exposition. Happy reading.
Ion Clockwork slowly forced his eyes open, a thick stupor fading away like a waterfall.
“Oh drat!”
Ion shook his head, and turned towards the sound. Then he looked again, and again. Before finally just accepting what he saw. A line of softly glowing sheets of glass, covered in images of dreamscapes. Covering a wall that stretched into the distance, impossibly far. However this was not the strangest thing in the room, that particular award went to Luna, who was floating roughly half a meter away from him. she waved her hooves frantically in the air.
“Buck buck buck buck, you were not supposed to be awake yet!”
Ion noticed that he was unable to move, a soft translucent bubble surrounding him.
“Where am i?”
Luna stopped panicking. Letting herself slowly sink to the floor, touching gracefully down on her hooves.
“I guess there is nothing for it. Welcome to dreamland.”
Ion attempted to raise an eyebrow, but found his facial expression stuck as if frozen.
“You cannot show emotion here. You are not in your’ body at the moment.”
Ion continued to stare at the princess of the night, somehow much less intimidating in this world. Luna sighed, looking over
at one of the screens.
“Why am I here, what happened?”
Luna looked at him for almost twenty seconds before answering.
“Your’ mind has experienced a trauma too powerful for its safety measures, and put you into a coma. We found you and the other students knocked out on the floor of the classroom. We felt the spatial tear interacting with the world there but arrived too late. I am currently discussing with the guard captain, new security measures.”
Ion observed her.
“How can you be here at the same time?”
“I am the magical representation of my soul, I have a certain amount of autonomy from myself, though both me and me are aware of each other.”
“Why am I in this bubble.”
“The bubble as you see it is a repre- Hold on.”
Luna spread her wings and with one giant leap and a flap of her wings, landed next to a glass sheet far away. The images depicted a pony running from an angry manticore in an abandoned town.
“This will not do!”
Luna’s horn started glowing and the pony fell down into a deep pit, only to land in a giant cake. Obvious delight on his face. Luna flew back over to Ion.
“This is also the realm of dreams, all ponies dreams take place here and I as the princess of night have responsibility to make them all happy.”
Ion would have nodded if he could. However the continued containment within the orb constricted his available methods of expression.
“And why am I not experiencing any dreams?”
“You would not survive it, your mind is weakened by the traumatic events of the night and the strain of bringing forth dreams would cause you to go the same way as Bonebird, into madness. The bubble is your minds way of representing the hold I have on you at this moment, the reason you are incapable of moving is your mind logically assumes the bubble keeps you captured, I see you wearing a straightjacket binding your front hooves together.”
And as she said this, the bubble faded and he appeared to himself to be wearing a straightjacket as well. The impact with the floor as the bubble ceased to exist did not instill any sensations in him at all. He decided to ask about Bonebird later, the name awoke a certain amount of feeling in his incorporeal form.
“So this world is completely subject to my own interpretation?”
Luna shook her head.
“In its essence, no this world is my world, and as such it is subject to my whims, however you can see it in a guise that your mind finds logical. Should I wish however, for you to see something specific then I may force it upon your mind.”
And with that, a soft pressure filled Ions form and he was standing, a rope bound around his waist. A continued representative of his captivity in this realm. Ion walked around tentatively, the ground was a shade so deep that it did not appear to be ground at all, it would be much more comfortable if the ground was stone or something similar. And as he thought this, the immaterial ground became cobblestones, a road leading into the infinity beyond the dreams.
“Come the morning, all these dreams will be gone, forgotten by those who held them. And the only dreams will be those in her realm.”
Luna gestured towards the direction opposite to the dreams. And even as he turned, Ion noticed a severe increase in the levels of lighting; the area was a deep cyan blue, like the midday sky. And even as he watched. The cobblestones he had imagined flowed to cover the ground there as well. There were soft clouds there, shining slightly as they drifted lazily over the ground. An especially large cloud hung suspended in the air, a freeze shot of the maddened creature was visible on the screen. Halfway through the hole in reality that had let it- her escape. Ion saw himself too, standing alongside his fellow students. Cinderpile, Colgate and Honeysuckle, and for a moment he wondered what had happened to them.
“Why are my fellow students not here as well?”
Luna butted her two front hooves together a couple times.
“Their minds took it better than yours. Upon examination you have a very ordered and logical mind, however this also means you are that much more in danger of madness when encountered with situations like this.”
This seemed reasonable, and Ion turned to study the picture again. That abomination, he wondered what had happened just before they arrived, what had caused the creation of this creature.
“My sister’s essence is currently asleep; she spends much of her time asleep after my one thousand year absence, catching up on lost rest no doubt.”
That was when Ion noticed the soft plush sofa underneath the giant cloud image. Upon with the royal sovereign of the equestrian nation was strewn out in a most undignified position, her wings splayed wide over the side of the couch, each limb lying limply. A small drop of spit drooped out of the corner of her muzzle. Bobbing slowly up and down as it was suspended above the ground. A large amount of small white dots lay all over her, making her look like she had contracted some odd polka dot disease. An empty bucket that proudly proclaimed “CANTERLOT POPCORN EMPIRE” was lying on its side on her belly.
“She insisted on ‘snacks’ while we reviewed your memories.”
If Ion had not been incapable of emotional response while in this world, he would most certainly have laughed, however he did no such thing.
“Is her real body asleep as well?”
“No, she found herself a way to rest without actually sleeping during her solitary reign. She leaves her magical essence asleep here most of the time. Alicorns are beings of magic, and as such the only part of us that needs rest is magic, that being her magical essence means that she is currently feeling quite refreshed. However she has taken to real sleep as well.”
Ion felt an odd sensation, tugging at his navel.
“What the…”
Luna turned to him.
“Time passes differently here, you are probably waking up. It was unfortunate that you had to wake while in this state, however armed with the expanded repertoire of knowledge I have given you, I hope you do not feel wronged by us because of the memories we took from you.”
Ion wanted to say more but he felt a sharp push from behind and toppled into the floor, he turned around as he fell to see for a second celestia's face framed by the sudden hole he had fell through.
Ion wanted to ask her where her usual archaic method of speech had gone but then he blinked and was staring at the roof of his room instead. A small note materialised with a soft pop and floated gently down onto his muzzle. The words inscribed on the page were simple.
"Gotcha."
Luna eyed the representation of celestia. "
"Really? Was that absolutely necessary?"
Celestia stared back at her
"Maybe not"
Luna slammed one hoof into her forehead
"You absolutely amaze me sometimes sister."
"I love you too luna."
The next chapter will go be the lesson they had with Twilight, and will contain lots of joking and general sillyness.