Dream's End

by zaleacon

Chapter I - End 2

Dream’s End
~ Chapter I – End 2 ~
Twilight’s Dream ~ The Silent Library

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“What?”

Twilight’s knees buckled beneath her. With such a short, succinct statement, Luna had confirmed her worst fears. Her friends were trapped within their dreams, just as she had been, and were likely being hounded by their worst aspects even now.

Their Disparities.

Twilight looked over at Dawn, who still lay unconscious on the ground. She looked so terrified – surprisingly so, given what she represented. How could a creature such as her be made from Twilight’s worst aspects?

Luna lowered her head. “I… I apologize, Twilight,” she said. “I did not know how exactly to break this news. But I feel it would be better if I were to show you for myself.” She sighed and looked over her shoulder. “It’s… It is very hard to explain, honestly. I’ve wandered through dreams for centuries, but even I have not seen so many doors at once.”

Twilight looked away from Dawn and up at Luna. “’Doors’?” she repeated. “What do you mean by… doors?”

“As I said, it would be far easier if I show you myself.” Luna nodded towards the room’s entrance. “Actually, before I do that, there is something I need to know. Twilight?”

“Uh, y-yes, Princess?”

Luna waved a hoof. “Luna,” she said. “Please, just call me Luna. We’ve been on the same level for quite some time, now. Or would you rather I call you Princess Twilight?”

Twilight flushed. “O-oh, right. I’m sorry, Prin- Er, Luna.”

“It’s a start, I suppose.” Luna gestured at the book on the nearby desk. “Now, Twilight, I need you to do something for me – use your magic to lift that book.”

“Oh, okay.” That sounded easy enough. But why was Luna so curious about it?

Twilight concentrated her magic on the large book that Dawn had been so adamant on protecting, but quickly realized that it was not moving an inch. She tried again, only to get the same result. Strangest, though, was the state of her horn – despite everything, it did not even get an aura around it.

“Wh-What the heck’s wrong with my magic?!” Twilight shouted to nopony in particular.

It had never done this before. Even when she had failed at lifting things – or casting magic in general, for that matter – her horn at least lit up to show there was magic being used. But now there was nothing. How could that be?

“Just as I feared,” Luna said, stepping over beside Twilight. “My magic was not the only one that was neutralized.”

“Neutralized?!” Twilight desperately tried to cast magic on everything nearby. She quickly discovered that it was completely useless; by some strange, horrific coincidence, her horn was not longer functioning properly.

She started hyperventilating. What had happened to her? What was going on? Were her friends in this state, too? What was she going to do without her magic? Nothing made any sense.

Twilight suddenly became aware of Luna grabbing her and forcing her to turn around and meet her gaze. “Don’t waste your energy like this!” she shouted. “Calm yourself!”

“How can I calm myself down?!” Twilight shouted back, not caring whom it was she was so angry at. “I lost my magic! Magic’s the only thing I’m good at, and if I can’t cast it, how can I do anything?!” She pressed her hooves to the side of her head.

This was not good. This was not good at all. What kind of alicorn could not use magic? Worse, what kind of princess could not use magic? And what Luna meant when she said she was–

Twilight’s thoughts came to a sudden stop. She stood still for five, ten seconds, fearing the question that now came to the front of her mind.

Eventually, however, she managed to force the words out. “Princess Luna,” she said quietly, before shaking her head. “L-Luna, you said I’m not the only one who was…?” Her words trailed off. How could she finish the question? She was too scared to finish it.

“Neutralized?” Luna guessed. At Twilight’s nod, she sighed. “Yes, Twilight. As I’m sure you fear, even I lost my magic to the beasts of this world.”

Twilight choked. Luna was one of the most powerful creatures in existence. Even if her abilities paled in comparison to Celestia’s, that was still a fact; the average unicorn could not even hold a candle to her power.

But somehow, she had been bested. The princess of the night, who routinely walked her subjects’ dreams, had been bested. She was a master of dreams, and she had been bested.

Luna had lost on her strongest terrain.

Twilight shuddered. Did she even want to meet a creature strong enough to stop Luna? Did she even want to know a creature such as that could exist?

“But wait,” she asked. “If you can’t cast magic, then how did you do… well…” – she gestured to the massive hole in the wall – “that?”

“I’ll explain everything I can once we escape this place,” Luna said. “But for now… Yes, let’s just get out of here as soon as we can.” She glanced around. “This library’s silence is quite… chilling.”

Twilight nodded. “Right. Let’s just get out of here.”

But just as the two turned to leave, Twilight heard a voice from near the desk. “H-hey… Wait…”

Dawn slowly pulled herself up from the floor, but seemed unable to reach the full distance. She looked at Twilight and Luna for just a moment, glancing between the two of them. “You… You’re not gonna take this…?”

“T-take what…?” Twilight asked.

Luna’s horn began to flare up again. “You would do well to stay down, Disparity,” she growled.

Dawn flinched, but she did not move. Her entire body shook. “How stupid…” she muttered. “That bastard tells me to guard this thing with my life, and then you don’t even take it? Bastard…”

Luna stepped towards Dawn as she growled, “Do not play games with us! What do you mean, ‘that bastard’? Who is in charge of this accursed game?! Answer me!”

“I-I don’t know!” Dawn said. “He never gave his name… Or I don’t remember it; I-I wasn’t really paying attention.” She grimaced, and as Luna’s horn began to shine even darker, she suddenly blurted out, “But! But, but, but! I-I do remember something! He was… uh… H-he was sandy! And! And, he, uh… I-I can remember something else, I swear!”

Luna stepped closer. “’Sandy’? I got as much from my own Disparity. Do you know what I did then?” Her horn was now level with Dawn’s face. “I vaporized it.”

“Listen to me! I-I can help, I swear!” Dawn said, though she was clearly babbling. “I-I get the other Disparities, you know? T-take with you, a-and… and I can help you out with them! I can… uh… I-I can…” Her eyes darted about, before finally landing on the book. “H-here! Here, you take this thing, okay? It’s… It’s got all kinds of cool stuff in it!”

“Too little, too late.” Luna’s horn only glowed darker and darker, becoming that disturbing blob of pure darkness once more. “Besides… we can take that book on our own.”

Dawn’s eyes went wide again as her mouth began to droop. Staring into the abyss that was Luna’s horn, she whimpered, “W-wait… I can…”

“Luna, stop it!” Twilight shouted.

Luna suddenly turned towards her, the magic evaporating from her horn. “Twilight Sparkle! Stop making a habit out of this!”

“No, no, please!” Dawn said quickly. “Please keep making a habit of it!”

Luna turned around to glare at Dawn before glancing back at Twilight. “I already told you why Disparities cannot be trusted! And this creature is no exception! Leave her be, Twilight, and I promise you she will stab you in the back at the nearest opportunity!”

“I know, Luna–”

“You don’t know!” Luna shouted. “Do not pretend that you do.”

Twilight stepped towards her. Even as Luna clearly dwarfed her, Twilight still looked up at her defiantly. “But you can’t just kill her!”

Dawn nodded furiously. “Y-yeah! Yeah, listen to her!”

Luna grit her teeth. The look on her face was one of sheer, abject anger. “Fine,” she growled. “Do as you wish. But if that thing attacks you again, you’ve no right to object.”

She turned around and began towards the door. “I will be waiting for you outside. Don’t take too long.” Luna opened the doors and closed them behind her harshly, leaving a sound that resonated throughout the room.

Dawn, for her part, started laughing. Not a psychopathic or murderous laugh, but one of nervousness and fear. Which, given that she had just nearly been killed twice by an incredibly powerful alicorn, was not entirely undeserved.

She sunk down on the desk again, pressing her hooves to her face. “I-I can’t believe it,” she muttered. “I can’t freaking believe it…”

Twilight just paused as she looked over at Dawn. It was strange, really. As much as she knew that Dawn was just a monstrosity born from her worst traits, Twilight still could not stand to see her killed. It just was not in her nature, she supposed.

Stepping over to the desk, Twilight was careful not to step on Dawn as she went passed. She reached out with her hooves (it felt so strange, really; Twilight had not used them like this in so long) to grab the large book sitting on top.

Last. The word was still printed on its cover, still bright and shiny in the lights. Twilight bit down on her lower lip for a moment and opened it.

The first thing she saw was a table of contents. Fair enough, given it was a book, but it struck her as odd nonetheless. None of the other books in the library had had one.

Still, Twilight looked it over. There were three main sections, from what she could tell. Each section was divided further into five chapters, complete with a foreword at the very beginning and an afterword at the end. In short, it appeared very normal.

At least, it appeared normal until she read over each section more clearly. The sections were all written in large, bold text with their starting page numbers listed off to the right. The first section was labeled “Fire,” the second was “Ice,” and the third was “Lightning.”

That’s weird, Twilight thought. She knew that fire, ice, and lightning were three very important elements overall, and that they were definitely three of the most common elements when it came to magical attacks, but why were they inside this book?

Wait a second. Magical attacks? No, that was impossible…

On a whim, Twilight opened the book to the first page and read the title more clearly.

“’Last,’” she read aloud, before turning her attention to the subtitle. “’The Final Stage of a Mage’s Training’?” Twilight paused as the truth became very obvious. “This is… a magic book?”

“Yep,” came Dawn’s reply as she looked up at Twilight from where she sat. “Go on – take it. I don’t give a damn about that stupid thing, anyway.”

“But weren’t you supposed to protect it?”

“Eh, screw that crap.” Dawn waved a hoof. “Just take it and get outta here before that crazy chick with the moon on her ass gets back.”

Twilight paused. “Wow,” she said. “You… You’re really vulgar.”

“Yep.” Dawn yawned. “Comes with bein’ a Disparity. Probably. I mean, you seem pretty vulgar, yourself. You know. On the inside.”

“I-I’m not vulgar!” A little rude, maybe, but Twilight certainly was not about to refer to Luna, a princess of Equestria, with such a crude title.

“Mm… Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Dawn teased. “But hey, who gives a crap, really? I mean, I represent all sorts of things about you. Laziness, obsession, feelings of insecurity, narcissism…”

Twilight flushed. “I… A-am I really that bad?”

“Nah, not really. You’re pretty okay.” Dawn leaned back a bit further. “Heh… It’s kinda funny, actually. You think the whole world’s gonna stop if you screw up even once. That ain’t a healthy outlook on life, Twilight.” She grinned. “Don’t be so full of yourself all the time. You can stand to screw up once in a while. Just don’t be a lazy slob like me and you’ll be fine.”

“Um… Th-thank you, I guess.” Twilight rubbed the back of her head with one hoof.

“Hey, don’t get all embarrassed!” Dawn said. “I mean, yeah, I kinda like you. Or… I would, but hey, it turns out I don’t have the emotions for that.”

Twilight paused. “Wait… what do you mean by that?”

“Ah, right. You don’t know anythin’ about Disparities, do you?” Dawn sighed. “Sheesh, it looks like I’ve gotta give you the crash course.” She grimaced. “Okay, so here’s the thing: Disparities are weird. We don’t have emotions ‘cause we’re technically not sentient. I mean, yeah, we can feel things, but we don’t really have emotions.

“So yeah, Disparities only feel emotions that make up a pony’s worst traits. You’re terrified of everything? Well, your Disparity can probably only feel fear. You’re all angry or whatever? It only feels rage. They mix-and-match a bit, but they’re still pretty limited.”

“And what about you?” Twilight asked. “What emotions do you feel?”

Dawn paused as if in thought. “Well, since all your worst traits aren’t really emotional things, I’m pretty freaking apathetic. Hence,” she said, grinning, “why I don’t care that you’re taking that book.” She waved a hoof. “So get goin’. Find your friends, do a little dance, I don’t care.”

“Except when Luna was about to kill you,” Twilight muttered. “You seemed pretty lively then.”

“Survival instinct. It’s pretty common, I hear. Now, are you gonna get outta here or what? I can take you to the entrance if you need me. Otherwise, just get the hell outta here and let me sit in peace.”

Twilight paused for a moment. She knew she was going to regret her next question, but she could not resist asking it. “Why don’t you come with us?”

Dawn perked up. “Come again?”

“Come with us,” Twilight repeated. “You seem to know more about Disparities than me, and you probably get them more than Luna. So why don’t you come along?” She looked away toward the massive hole in the wall. “I mean, if my friends really are trapped in this weird dream land, I’d be stupid to not get all the help I can get.”

Dawn yawned. “And what’s in it for me? I could get killed out there – besides, you really want me to team up with that crazy chick?”

Twilight cracked a small grin. “Which one? Luna or me?”

“Ooh, self-deprecation! Your insecurity’s showing, Twilight.” Dawn giggled, though it sounded far less sinister now. She stopped for a moment. “You know what? I’ll take you up on that offer. I’m bored stiff around here, anyway. You have the worst dreams, Twilight.”

“I’ll try to remember that next time.”

“Mm, make sure you do.” Dawn stood up and dusted herself off. Her wings fluttered a bit as she stepped over to Twilight. Then she suddenly stopped about halfway over, placing a hoof on her chin. “Wait a sec… You just want an excuse to study me, don’t you?”

Twilight grinned. “Of course! Since there’s so little information about Disparities out there, and since I’m going to have first-hand experience on the matter, I figure this is the perfect time to conduct some research!”

Dawn paused for a few seconds. “But… you do realize it’s all going to go away when you wake up, right?”

“Not if I memorize it, it won’t!”

Dawn simply stared at Twilight. “Twilight… I, uh… I know you’re a genius and all, but I don’t think your memory’s that good.”

Twilight seemed to deflate for a moment. “O-oh, right…” She suddenly had another idea and perked up. “But what if I give my notes to Luna? Then she can keep them safe until I can teach myself how to lock my dreams – so I don’t accidentally lose those notes in my head, of course –”

“Of course,” Dawn deadpanned.

“– then all I’ll have to do is train myself how to write in the real world while I’m asleep! I can copy down all my notes, publish them, and add Disparities to the common knowledge of the Equestrian public. Easy enough.”

“Wait,” Dawn said after a moment’s pause, “couldn’t you just give them to Luna and ask her to write them down for you?”

Twilight waved her hoof, smiling at Dawn as one would a small child. “Don’t be silly,” she said. “Luna’s way too important to worry about something like this.”

Dawn’s eye started to noticeably twitch. “You… You’re insane.” She suddenly broke out in a wide grin. “Yep, that does it. I’m coming along.”

“Huh?”

Dawn stepped up beside Twilight and wrapped a foreleg around her neck. “Hey, you’re clearly one torn page away from killing somepony. How the hell could I miss something like that? I need to see what kinds of crazy adventures you’ll get into.”

“I… I’m starting to think you’re not as apathetic as you’re saying…” Twilight pushed Dawn’s leg off and stepped away uneasily. What did she mean when she said Twilight was insane? Did she say something weird? Whatever, it hardly mattered.

“Eh, don’t worry about that. So let’s see, here…” Dawn stepped forward again and looked Twilight up and down. “You know what? I think I’ll just hang out in your head a bit. It’ll probably be safest, since that crazy princess chick won’t be able to smear me on a wall.” She tapped Twilight’s head and disappeared in a flash of white light.

Yep! Twilight heard from inside her skull. I’m in here now. Cool, huh?

Twilight blinked, trying to understand what had just happened. “So… you’re hanging out inside my head… inside my head?”

Don’t think about it too much and you’ll be fine. Dawn giggled. Now, let’s go grab that uptight moon chick and I’ll lead you both outta here. Onward, steed! Or, you know, whatever.

Twilight rolled her eyes. Well, she had been the one to offer, so it was only natural she would have to deal with the consequences. Although, if she was not yet insane, she feared that Dawn’s interference would lead her to that point very quickly.

Sighing, Twilight tucked the magic book under her left foreleg and began walking towards the massive door leading out to the large, ornate room near the stairwell. Twilight pulled it open with her hooves and walked through, fully prepared to meet with Luna on the other side.

As soon as stepped into the other room, Twilight saw Luna sitting near the wall with a book in her hooves. She was reading it furiously, as though she were captivated by its words, to the point where she clearly had not heard Twilight leave the other room.

She pulled the door shut behind her, relieved to hear that it closed with an actual sound instead of just silence.

That’s ‘cause you met with me, Dawn said, and Twilight almost certain she was grinning. See, I was basically told to keep this whole place silent while you were exploring, but I turned the sound back on when we met.

“You can do something like that?” Twilight asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the clearly engrossed Luna.

Sure, sure. I can do lots of things. For example, uh… HEY, LUNA! STOP READING THAT BOOK AND PAY ATTENTION!

Luna let out a cry of shock and dropped the book suddenly. She flushed deeply before she noticed Twilight, at which point she tried to recover by taking on a more regal stance.

“Ah, Twilight,” she said, clearly trying to regain control of the situation. “I was… I was just about to go in and see how you were doing.”

Of course you were, Dawn said, snickering.

Luna stopped. “Twilight, did you just say something? I could have sworn that I just heard–”

Hi, Luna! Hi! I’m Dawn! I’m in Twilight’s head! Dawn called cheerfully.

It took all of Twilight’s effort not to press her hoof into her forehead.

“The Disparity!” Luna gasped, stepping back. “Twilight, did you bring that creature out here with you?!”

“Um… K-kind of, I guess?”

“You ‘guess’?! Twilight, this is a serious matter!” Luna looked furious as she looked around the room. “Where is she, Twilight?! Is she following us?!”

Twilight fidgeted. “Not really. She’s kind of… uh… in my head.”

Luna stopped and looked at Twilight sideways. “Well… of course the Disparity is in your head, Twilight. We’re all in your head. Because this is your dream. You… You do remember that little detail, right?”

“Yes, but… This is pretty literal.”

I’m tagging along in her skull in her skull. Dawn laughed. Dammit, this is so weird! I love it! Also, hi Luna!

Luna’s face fell as the truth hit her. “Oh. Oh, I see. So she’s… in your head inside your head? That’s… That’s very strange.” Then she seemed to remember the most important part. “Twilight! You can’t just cart around a Disparity like this! I already told you how dangerous they are!”

“Luna, I get that.” Twilight said. As Luna opened her mouth to speak, however, Twilight added, “Listen, can we just head back to the entrance? I need to see what’s going on, here. Besides, Dawn told me she knows the way out.”

Hi! I’m Dawn! Did she just get off on being obnoxious? Twilight was slowly becoming positive that she did.

Luna glared at Twilight’s forehead, presumably at where she thought Dawn was located, and muttered, “I can lead you out. We’ve no need to take directions from a Disparity.”

Okay. Then you can just enjoy getting lost in the dark, endless hallways up above. Dawn paused, and Twilight was almost positive that she was grinning evilly. Forever.

Luna grit her teeth. She stared at Twilight for several agonizing seconds. “Fine,” she finally spat. “Let’s just get this over with. But Twilight,” she added, “I want you to tell me everything that Disparity said to you in that room when we escape your dream.”

“R-right.” Twilight lifted up the book. “I’ll also let you look at this, if you want.”

“What is that?” Luna asked, looking over its cover. “That book sitting on the desk? I see, so that’s what your Disparity was hiding from you…” She waved a hoof. “Let’s not worry about that. The sooner we can escape this place, the sooner we can be free of this thing inhabiting your skull.”

Aw, but what if I wanna stick around? It’s pretty damn comfy in here.

“Silence!” Luna shouted. She sighed. “Let’s just… Let’s just get out of here, Twilight, before that beast drives us both insane.”

“R-right.” Twilight turned toward the stairs leading up to the main, labyrinthine portion of the library and gulped. “Let’s go.”

Author's Note:

This was originally going to be the first intermission chapter, but it ran too long, so I just decided to make it the actual end of Twilight's dream. Next time, we can get more into the actual explanation of what's going on here. We'll also get an idea of whose dream is next, but that won't be explored for a little bit.

Comments

[Arzoo]

The disparity character is obnoxious and I really wish it had been left behind instead of being a permanent voice.

[Magic Song]

*crosses fingers for Discord next chapter*
Can't wait ^.^