• Published 22nd Dec 2016
  • 5,490 Views, 1,260 Comments

Perchance to Dream - David Silver



Linda settled for bed, only to awaken in the middle of a garden of statues of horses. She was one of them, only not so stone. When she eventually slumbered there, she returned home. Living two lives, can she make sense of it all? Fix it, or enjoy it?

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36 - Pony on Earth

Thank all the various gods, Starlight stayed put and we got back as quickly as we could with food for us all. We ate our to-go boxes in the van, though I'm not afraid to admit that both Kevin and I were more curious about how Starlight would like the meal than on finishing our own. It wasn't like any of it was new to either of us, so we ate on auto-pilot while watching her and explaining what things were.

"This?" She was pointing at a slice of bacon and we told her as much. "And what..." She sniffed. "What animal is this from?" She paled a bit when told. "Pigs aren't the smartest things around, but they're far from... stupid." She nudged it curiously. "Still... I suppose crying for it isn't going to make it come back, so..." She lifted it with her magic and into her mouth it went.

Starlight chewed thoughtfully for a quiet moment. "Salty..." She swallowed. "Not awful, but I wouldn't order it myself. I never met many pigs myself, still..." And on she went. She did draw the line at beef. "Nope! Cows cross all the lines. They're hoofed, and talk, wear clothes. There's really just no way I can justify turning cannibal on them unless I was starving." Her eyes were already on the french fries which she gobbled without moral issues, on to the varied vegetables, and she slurped down the cola we had gotten her without delay. "Mmm, most of it was quite good." She sat up and wiped her snout clean with a napkin and her magic. "A little sweet all around, and there's this odd aftertaste I can't place, but I'm not starving anymore, so it'll have to do."

Kevin gathered up the trash and hopped out quickly to toss it all away. While he was gone, I showed Starlight how to buckle in properly. "It's for safety."

"Safety?" She eyed the cloth strap. "It barely covers me. Unless I sit up like you are, I doubt it's going to make much of a difference." She arched a brow. "I doubt you want me doing that."

That I had to agree with. "We'll work with what we have."

Kevin slid back into position. "Onward!" And on we went, pulling out onto the highway and continuing our trek west as our forefathers had done long ago, seeking their fortunes. Ours just involved a lot less dead oxen and failed river crossings.

Starlight's head began to rise as she sat up and peeked out of the windows at the scenery going past. "Don't you get nervous with all those other carriages that go past? Most of them are even larger than this one, and I thought this one was plenty large enough."

Kevin shrugged softly. "You get used to it. So long as everyone follows the rules, we're pretty safe. Say, Starlight?"

"Hmm?"

"You don't have a human spell, but you know a lot of other spells, right?"

Starlight turned to Kevin. "You should know the answer to that."

Kevin tapped his fingers together lightly. "Yes, but that doesn't mean I want to assume, or be rude. Besides, I've only seen little slices of your life, not a play by play. I don't know exactly what spells you know or not, and I bet some of them you have to get out of a book before you do them."

"True enough..." Starlight nodded. "I didn't bring much magic with me, but there are plenty of spells I have dedicated to memory, like this one." She lifted a precious inch from the seat. She was still wearing the seatbelt, and pushed against it as her horn glowed and she hovered there in defiance of gravity. "Ta da..."

Kevin looked quite delighted, and I might have smiled a bit too. It was different seeing it in... the human world, versus in ponyland. The clash of realities made me tingle a little. It was odd, and out of place, but in a way that almost made me want to giggle like a girl. We were living the dream.

He was more focused. "That's pretty amazing, but what else can you do?"

She hiked a brow. "I can make a variety of shields, which I hope will not be required. I can... Look, you saw it. You know I know how to fight." She settled back on the seat. "I'm not here to fight though."

I made a little calming gesture with one hand as the other kept the van pointed straight down the road. "I don't think he's trying to imply that, are you Kevin?"

"'Course not. I'm way more curious about the other spells. Like can you turn things into other things?"

Starlight hiked a brow. "Twilight actually has more experience with transfiguration than I do, but, yes, I know a few. None of them seem particularly useful right now though, unless you want birds."

I had to ask, "Birds?"

Starlight nodded. "Certainly. I can turn things into viable bird eggs. It was one of the tests Twilight had given me."

Oh... the implications... "You can make life, just like that?"

Starlight tilted her head. "And you can't? All this magic you're surrounded by and that trick is beyond you? Very curious..."

Kevin clapped his hands, drawing her eyes. "That's just it. What we do effortlessly would give ponies fits, and vice versa. We are the solutions to each other's problems."

It was my turn to raise a querying brow. "And just how do you plan to get those keys to either lock? Ponies are happy in Equestria. Bringing humans to them would almost assuredly result in tears. There is no happy ending here. Let's be rational about this before we end up in one of those cliche endings I was warning about before."

Starlight shrugged. "I'm already here, but, from the sound of it, if I jumped out and proclaimed I had all the answers, it wouldn't go over well."

Kevin gave a little shrug. "Sorry, not trying to upset the cart. Just thinking, you know, if we could..." He sat up in his seat. "I'll be happy enjoying my little slice of pony. Thanks for sharing, Starlight."

Starlight smirked faintly and a beam of light ran from her horn over Kevin, head to toes and back again. She turned in place to face me and did the same odd scan. It tingled where the light hit.

"Exactly what are you doing?" I dared to ask. "I'm driving this van, I remind. Unless you want to verify how fast we're traveling the hard way, using magic on me isn't a good idea."

"Yes yes." She waved a hoof. "I was just looking. I had a theory, but testing it will require some... testing."

Kevin peered at her with wonder and suspicion in equal amounts. "What kind of testing?"

Starlight flashed the brightest smile. "The kind I feel you would be quite willing to help with, if you like unicorn magic so much. You did say you wanted to see some transfiguration, did you not?"

I put up a hand. "No, thanks. I already get all the transformations I need every night."

Starlight waved a hoof at me. "I wasn't asking you, my student. I was asking Kevin." She was watching him rather intently. "I think I can see it..."

Kevin was looking more and more nervous. "See what?"

"You're the kind of pony that gets a thrill out of a unicorn willing to take command." She sat up straight. "I once raised an entire town to be that way. You know that, don't you?" Her nose twisted a little. "You probably also know I freaked out when they asked me to do it again after being away... But I never did wrong by you. If you want that..."

Was Starlight honestly propositioning Kevin to be his dom? I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the idea. Kevin didn't look much more certain, and he was glancing at me, probably waiting for me to either laugh the whole thing off or set Starlight in her place. I did neither. "This is between you two. I spend my nights as a pony. If I turned around and told you two whatever you wanted to do was wrong, I'd feel like a heel. Just keep it quiet and don't blow our cover with it."

Starlight looked quite pleased at my permission. "I'll be gentle with him, True Shot." She prodded Kevin with a hoof. "Now before we get too far, I bet you're thinking of all sorts of depraved things, well, stop it. We've only just met and I hope you don't think so little of me that you think I'm looking for that out of you."

Oh the laugh he made. It was obvious, to me, he was thinking exactly that. "No! No... So, uh... what do you have in mind?"

"That's a secret." A slender journal slipped from her fur and floated before her as she began scribbling in it. "A secret I'll work on while we move. I won't be ready to try it until this evening at the soonest, so you'll just have to imagine what it could be until then."

Author's Note:

What is Starlight plotting, and let's hope there are no typos in whatever she's writing down.

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