What's in a dream? More like, what isn't in a dream? Dreams make up a strange semblance of memories within a mare's mind. A peculiar mixture of influences brought on by memories of the real world, mixed in with the downright bizarre and eccentric fabrications that the borderless mind of a soul can create. A vivid display that flees from the mind like running water the moment the dreamer awakes, conflicted and confused, attempting to decipher and discern just what exactly they were dreaming about.
Most of the time, a dream tends to be the loosely stuck together bits of memory from the day's events, jumbled together to form a ill conceived display that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Occasionally however, they may be the type of dream that actually has the faint glimmer of coherency to it, for dreams are but another way of the deep, dark places of the mind to express the troubles of oneself. For when the head ticks itself off for the night; no longer is the mare bound by the rationale of their physical world, for the realm they now inhabit is a realm where rational laws do not apply themselves to, where anything can potentially happen, and where anything can potentially not happen.
For what lingering troubles could an alicorn possibly confront in a world that exists only in the mind...
For Princess could not recall for the life of her, being in such a dream, like the dream she found herself in as she slept on that particular bewitched night.
He dreamt that he was in the beginning, middle and end, of a particular dark forest. He was not too sure if a forest could even have a beginning, middle and end, but regardless, it was a forest he found himself dreaming in. At least, he was sure it was a forest, it wasn't like it could be a large wood, because... well, he did know. In fact, maybe it was a wood, or maybe it was a wood of woods, or a forest containing woods within a wood. Maybe the Princess was losing her mind, losing her mind within her mind? Maybe...
The point being, dreams are kind of weird, and the Princess's dream was no exception. But being the mighty alicorn ruler of Equestria, Celestia had more willpower than most that allowed her a decent level of control over her mind, even within the dream world she found herself. In truth, she rather would not have been dreaming in the first place, she really could have done with the good night's rest, for the events of the day (which felt like they had dragged on for months, somehow) had rendered her in desperate need of a... well, a good night's rest, for lack of alternative words.
Yet somehow, she found herself dreaming a very lifelike dream. The best thing any alicorn can do in a situation like this is to simply wait it out. So she simply sat on the grass within the wooded wood, and tried to collect her thoughts.
When all of a sudden, high in the sky above her, another alicorn descended towards the Princess on the ground. This particular alicorn has been somewhat out of focus, considering the events that had befallen the nation over the past few days. But if there was one thing she was involved in, it would have to be the dreams of others. For Princess Luna, Alicorn of the Night, has a natural affinity for visiting the dreams of all living creatures across Equestria, and her sister was no exception.
"Dearest sister." She announced to the much larger alicorn sitting on the ground. "What troubles you this fine eve?"
"How do you know I'm troubled?" Celestia asked in return.
"You are my sister, are you not?" Luna retorted. "And since it is my royal duty to visit those in their dreams, or nightmares, I would have assumed I could read you like a book, could I not?"
"Well in that case." Celestia began. "You ought to know exactly what's troubling me."
"I suppose I could hazard a guess." Luna replied, settling herself on the grass, next to her sister. "Let me guess. Twilight's done something that's put the entire nation at risk again, hmm?"
"Nopony is at risk. Yet." Celestia declared. "But you are right. Twilight has done something very colossal again."
"She certainly has a knack for doing the big, fancy magic... stuff. Doesn't she?" Luna remarked, losing her elegant tone for a moment. "Such a bright young thing, is she not?"
"Again, true." Celestia agreed.
"Certainly alicorn material, isn't she?" Luna continued her admiration of Celestia's student.
"All in due time, sister." Celestia said. "After we sort out all this business, then can we discuss that."
"Maybe if Twilight resolves this spell, she may earn the right to declare herself an alicorn." Luna went on.
"Maybe she..." Celestia was about to agree, before another matter pressed into her mind. "Hold on. What do you mean: resolves this spell? I thought you had no idea about that?"
"Oh!" Luna exclaimed, caught off guard. "Well, I put two and two together, you understand? You know, reading you like a book, hehe."
"Right." Celestia said, disbelievingly. "Are you feeling alright, sister?"
"Alright?" Luna exclaimed, quite shrilly. "Oh, I am splendid, sister. Simply splendid, sis... oh."
"Simply, splendid." Celestia repeated. "Are you serious?"
"Serious?" "Luna" parroted back. "Serious. SSerious, ssserious. Sssserious. Ha! Funny! Witty remark. SsssSilly anecdote. You one silly, sssssssilly sssssssiter!"
Celestia jumped away from her "sister" in a flash. It was so transparent, but knowing that did not make her feel better.
"Where you going to. Sssister?" The mockery of her sister hissed at her, getting to its hooves in a flash.
"You again!" Celestia exclaimed, angered, yet slightly fearful too. "Oh of course."
"You again? Who again? Me again? You again? Sssshe again?" The alicorn continued her inane hissing, making twitchy movements towards the Princess.
"Enough!" Celestia bellowed, and in an instant, a brilliant flash of light issued from her horn, directly at the image of her sister.
An even brighter flash of light swept the scene where Celestia's beam hit. Her entire vision was blinded by the swirling display of magic, causing her to shut her eyes. Soon, the magic from her horn subsided, followed by the light fading. Celestia opened her eyes, and found the spot where "Luna" had been standing to be completely devoid of any alicorns. The Princess initially felt relieved, but fear soon took her as she heard a laugh echo all around her. A laugh bringing to a voice that belonged to no mare she was aware of.
"You call yourself a Princess?"It went. "Well what power does a Princess have, if her kingdom exists entirely within her mind?"
"Oh you clever spell, you." Celestia found herself complimenting its craftiness.
And before she knew it, she felt the world around her changing. Shapes twisted and turned, changing the once blank forest into a disorientating mixture of colours. Celestia braced herself as best she could, uncertain as to where this would go. The swirling aura of magic surrounded her until all she could see was an immense bright light, growing and growing until it was inside her very head, her very mind...
Celestia opened her eyes. At least she thought she did, for there was a distinct lack of feeling to her head. In fact, there was a distinct lack of feeling about her entire body. She felt conscious, but that was about it; her usual alicorn figure seemed absent, with only her thoughts occupying the empty space she found herself in.
Maybe that was why she felt so ethereal, for there was nothing to perceive. Her only sight, if she could call it that, was composed entirely of an immense blackness on all sides. This strange sense of purgatory seemed to be all around her, and yet all about her at the sane time. She would have called it a rather eccentric feeling, but she had no feelings to feel. The only thing she was aware of, was that she was unaware of everything about her. Just her empty being occupying an empty realm.
When suddenly, directly ahead of her (or as best as her perceptions allowed her), a light shone. Wide and bright, it illuminated the darkness with a newfound shine. And out of the light did a figure emerge. Celestia observed the figure approaching, unable to discern it properly until it stood right in front of her. And then, a dull surprise flashed into her ethereal conscious, for it was the spitting image of her that stood before her, observing her silently until it soon chose to spoke.
"The mind is truly the most bizarre place within all realms, is it not?" It went.
And for a second time, Celestia found herself shocked ever so slightly. For the way this copy of her spoke was not at all like the copy of Twilight had spoken. Where there, it was an uneasy uncanniness to the unicorn, both feminine and masculine with a strong sense of playful arrogance to it. Yet here, there was none of that; rather it spoke with drearily dull, deep masculine groan, like it was barely paying attention to what was coming out of its mouth. And for some reason, this managed to irritate the Princess to no end. She wanted to answer it, but found herself in lacking of a mouth, and so was silent.
"Yet somehow." The copy continued. "There is nothing bizarre at all about this pitch darkness we find ourselves in, wouldn't you agree? It is almost as if we are just too lazy to bother conjuring up anything particularly dreamlike, hmm."
"Nonsense!" Celestia found herself overcoming her speechlessness and yelling. "We were just in the middle of a dream!"
"Huh, were we now." Her duplicate acknowledged. "Funny, I seem to have forgotten. Looks like all this excitement has rendered us a little forgetful. Why are we here, again?"
"Stop... stop, talking gibberish!" The Princess demanded.
She desperately tried to seize control of the situation, trying with all her might to find her horn and get a grip on the magic that eluded her. But just speaking was proving more than a challenge, for her form was still quite nonexistent. Her copy watched her struggle with a dull expression on its face, which only increased the fury Celestia's conscious was feeling.
"For the love of..." She cursed herself. "I am the Princess here! Why can't I cast a simple spell?"
"You know what you are?" The Celestia in front of her went. "Tired. All these things happening to your subjects seems to have taken a toll on you. Why don't you take a nice rest?"
"I'm already sleeping, you... thing!" The Princess barked back, sincerely wishing the copy would stop talking.
"Aren't you just tired of it all?" It continued, paying her no heed. "I know I am. Why don't you just go to sleep for a while. The world will continue on without you."
And then, the ethereal conscious felt something else awaken within her. An immense exhaustion, which could only be sated by sleeping. She imagined her eyes fluttering shut, but through a greatly subdued strength of willpower, she managed to stay alert.
"Stop.. talking." She slouched, finding talking difficult. "You will not cast your spell on me. You will not take my mind. It's mine, my own... mine.."
"Hush now Princess." Her copy went, its voice now an alluring lullaby of sluggishness that only increased the urge to sleep. "Have yourself a nice rest. I think you've more then earned it. Let others take over for a change."
Slowly, one by one, Celestia could feel everything about her drown in a soft sea of sloth, the thought of sleeping seemed an alluring prospect. Yet still, one particularly loud part of her resisted.
"No... I won't, I can't... my subjects, they... they need..." She croaked, barely conscious of what she was saying.
"Sshh..." Her copy went. "Don't worry about a thing. Everything will be just fine."
And with that last bewitching note, the Princess felt completely and utterly to its charms, everything little thing within her psyche all but shut down as sleep took ahold of her and she remembered no more...
The last weary rays of moonlight left in a hurry as dawn... dawned upon the city of Canterlot. The sun would have quickly rose to its place, but that particular action required a certain alicorn to initiate first.
Down upon the balcony that led to the Princesses's royal chamber another alicorn landed. Luna, the real Luna, quickly made her way through to rouse her sister. There she found Celestia, still lying in bed, completely and utterly dead to the world.
"Sister? Sister!" Luna pleaded, shaking the mighty alicorn on the bed in a hurry. "It's time to get up. It's time to rise the sun."
In due time, her sister soon stirred and her eyes slowly fluttered open. It took some time for her to properly register where she was, but when she did, a mighty yawn did she issue from her mouth.
"Sister? Are you okay, sister?" Luna asked, deep with concern, for it was not unlike her to sleep in like she did.
Celestia heard her. Then she saw her. For a moment, she observed her little with a curious glance, like it had been sometime. But soon enough, her look subsided and was replaced by a wide smile.
"Splendid, sister." She said. "Simply splendid..."
To be continued... in the following chapter