How to Disappear Completely

by shortskirtsandexplosions

Wane

All was silent... until another silence permeated it.

Flash's eyes flickered open.

A face stared back at him from across the shadows. A blank face. A sad face. A human face.

It was the reflection off the dead computer monitor on the opposite side of his room.

Flash Sentry was home. It was night. Everything was predictably, recognizably miserable. Stagnant.

Jolting, the teenager sat up. It would be the only burst of energy he would expel. When he breathed, he felt like choking. His nostrils were so tiny. His mouth too small to register the frown that his soul was fermenting.

"Mmmmm..."

He rubbed his eyelids with his forelimb. All the fuzz was gone. He looked down at his hands, fingers flexing... grabbing at the traces of something fully faded into oblivion.

"Of course," Flash murmured. "Of course it was all a damned dream."

There was no response. There was never a response. The greatest epiphanies he had in life were merely echoes of a lost, hopeless mind.

He felt that the world might implode with the resulting sigh. To his meager surprise, it was merely a rhythm his heart and mind were ready to slip back into. Like an old coat, laced with dust.

He closed his eyes to it, ready to embrace the usual darkness that he could never sleep to—when something out of the ordinary distracted him. He tilted his head to the left... gazing towards his closet. A thin sliver of light persistently glowed from beyond the narrow doorframe. At first, his mind conjured wild, stupid things: a flashlight that had been left on, a discarded tablet that was cycling through a slideshow, or even a god-forsaken house fire.

But none of these explanations—be they generic or hyperbolic—could explain the persistent pale glow emanating from the shallow chamber.

So... with aching limbs... Flash swiveled his human body out of bed. He leaned forward... and fell squarely on his chest. "Ooomf!" Wincing against the carpet, he cursed beneath his teeth and pushed himself up—wobbling—until he stood on two bipedal legs. Another sigh, and he limped tiredly towards the light. Squinting. Examining. But not even remotely understanding.

Soon, he was inches away from the doorframe. His toes scuffled to a stop right before the sliver of light. A pale sheen glinted off his nails.

Flash tongued the inside of his mouth. Something tingled deep inside him... a curiosity with righteous purpose. He reached a hand forward, opened the closet door... and boldly stepped inside.

Only until he was several feet past the entrance did he realize two strange things: 1) This was his bedroom closet, only it wasn't. Chiefly, it was at least forty square feet larger than he remembered... and bereft of any clothes, junk, or forgotten heirlooms. 2) Secondly... the barren beige walls of the compartment were lit up by a giant round orb that simply... floated there.

But it was no mere sphere, but rather a thing of character: with craters and pale mountains and dark ravines and irregularly shaped maria. The thing was millions of times the teenager's body mass, and Flash was left wondering how it didn't somehow rip up the foundation of the house from underneath him.

"Uhm..." Flash squinted into the pale brilliance. "...what's the Moon doing in my closet?" His eyes settled on a crescent of dark maria situated in the center of the body in question. "And why can't I smell my gym socks?"

It was at precisely that moment when a muzzle moved along the nape of the dark splotch. "Your dreams do not belong to this world, strange creature."

"Aaaaaagh!" Flash fell backwards like a lopsided anvil. He scrunched backwards into the door-less wall, flinching. "Butt nuggets!"

"And, as a matter of fact..." The source of the ethereal voice was—in fact—the equine-shaped head and neck in the center of the sphere. It was presently turning to face the teenager, peering from beyond a pair of glowing eyeslits. "...neither do you."

Comments

[RoboRed]

Gah. I can't believe I had completely forgotten about Luna and her dreamwalking being a thing.

[Czar_Yoshi]

I saw the chapter titles, and for a very small moment thought they were Wax and Wayne...

[ProjectRabbid]

Luna, dont be a bitch

[IceKitsune]

Well, this is going to be one heck of an interesting meeting.

[Pretentious Narwhal]

Luna's dream walking form is a literal moon? Nifty.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Come on Luna, just let him have this...

[AppleTank]

whups

[Cold Bolt]

Luna's word choice feels relevant. She says that he doesn't belong to, not in, Equestria; not that he is an intruder, an imposter who needs to leave... but simply that he's not a native. I'd wager she'll be more curious than admonishing.