A chance at a new life or just the same old same old?

by Belendu Armshire

The black abyss.

I opened my eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time in the past 24 hours. I sighed and looked around to try to see where I was. When I get a good look at my surroundings I nod in comfort and relax. I'm in the Black abyss that I know so well, otherwise labeled (By me) the Dream bubble. I spent over five years in that tube at the lab, all of it spent sleeping. After so long you learn to control your dreams and by extension, have better focus. I smiled to myself and poofed a comfortable armchair under me. I let myself drift in the inky blackness for what seems like hours before feeling... something.

I snapped my head in the direction of the disturbance to find another one of those horses. Not the little pony things, but a full grown horse. Though this one was smaller than the white one. This horse in particular had a bluish purple fur color, both wings and a horn just like the last one, regalia that looked very similar to the last horse, but this set matched the darker horse more. When I craned my neck I could see that she had some sort of splotching on her flank, a black splash with a crescent moon. Her hair and... Sorry mane. Her mane and tail flowed just like the other but instead of being made of rainbows and sunlight, this one was crafted from what looked like the night sky itself.

The horse in question seemed just as fascinated by me as I did by her. She slowly floated circles around me, eyeing me from top to bottom, almost as if she was seeing if I was a threat or not. I held a hand up and snapped my fingers, throwing the both of us into a large hallway, lined with paintings of various scenes of battle.

I stood from my armchair as it dissolved into smoke and turned to face the horse. "Let me guess. You're some sort of construct? Capable of entering the dreams of people?"

She smiled at me and shook her head "We are the Princess of the night. Princess luna!" Her voice blew a huge gust of wind my way that, had it been in the real world, would have blown me to my ass.

I rub a finger in my ringing ear and hold a hand about head level. "You're here. You need to be," I lower my hand to my waist "Right about here. Too damn loud."

She blushes faintly and replies "Sorry... We- er... I... Have been trying to learn the ways of the ponies in the current day. Being away for a thousand years leaves me with a few outdated habits..."

Before I can ask what she means about being away for a thousand years she points a hoof at one of the paintings. "What is this? Depictions of battle?"

I smile and nod, walking closer to the painting in question "Yes. The Alamo battle. Fought in 1836. The pivotal fight in the Texas revolution. Fewer than 200 Texan men guarded this fort." I tapped the form of the Alamo fort in the distance of the picture. "Wherein roughly 1500 Mexican soldiers led an assault on the fort." I chuckle a bit "Those Texans defended that fort with their lives, holding out for thirteen days before the Mexican soldiers broke through their defenses and slaughtered the remainder of the Texans that surrendered. But. Of the 1500 Mexicans that fought, around 600 were wounded or killed."

Princess Luna nods and points at another picture. It continued this way for around 4 to 5 hours. She would pick a painting and I would explain the history given to me by the scientists behind said battle. Around the five and a half hour mark she finally relented.

"This... Is morbid yet inspiring. It is strange to think that so much destruction can be caused by weapons crafted without magic." She lightly smiles at me and holds out a hoof. At first I think she is pointing at another painting but at her silence I realize that she is wanting to shake my hand.

I smile and reach out, shaking her hoof firmly "I am Belendu." She nods and tells me to just call her Luna. "Well Luna. You say you're the princess of the night? Does that me the other horse is the Princess of the Day?"

She giggles when i say horse but nods again "That is true. My sister and I share the responsibility of the day and night cycle here. I raise and lower the moon whilst my sister, the sun." I scoff the idea of horses raising the moon and sun but don't say it out loud. Horse or not, they have magic. If they can make things vanish and knock me out, who knows what else they are capable of?

Luna walks around, looking the paintings that we hadn't discussed yet as she talks "My sister told me to look into your dreams to see what your subconscious was like. I had no idea you would be aware of my entry." She says with a side long glance at me "But it is clear to me that you are a warrior. Someone who fights to the death without remorse for the killing you do in the process. In other words, a threat."

I open my mouth to argue but close it when I realize that she is right. So instead I sit in the armchair that appears behind me and stare her down. "And just what do you and your sister plan to do to me? Kill me so that i'm no longer a threat?"

She narrows her teal eyes at me. "And if I said that was the case. What would you do?"

I chuckle darkly and grin at her, baring my sharpened canines "Kill everything that stands in my way to freedom. I may have been bound by my creators but they are not here. You are NOT my creator and I will not be treated as a prisoner or an animal. If you leave me be I will do nothing. However. If you decide that killing me is the best decision I will make you sorely regret it."

She keeps her eyes narrowed for a while before smiling "Then let us not get to that point." She turns her gaze upwards before looking back at me. "It is nearing dawn. My sister and I will have a servant come get you for breakfast where we will discuss what shall be done with you. I bid you goodnight Belendu Armshire." I blink at her use of my last name. I hadn't given it to her... How did she know it? Before I can ask she vanishes from existence, leaving me in the art gallery in silence. I sigh heavily before starting the process of waking myself up.

Its going to be a long day....

Author's Note:

Sorry about the long wait. Im getting eye surgery soon to get my vision corrected and had to have my contacts out for a certain amount of time. Ill try to get a chapter out every 2-3 days so... Yeah :D