Chapter 10
I didn’t dream that night. Sleep was a blessed reprieve from my worries.
Starlight brought me breakfast in bed. I heard her talking with Trixie in the hall outside my quarters. After downing the waffles and toast and grapefruit, I pulled the drapes open. Even with my shades on it was too bright; I discovered that the thin silk scarves Rarity gave me as a coronation gift blocked out just enough light to make the morning sun bearable while not rendering me blind.
I went out onto the east balcony to watch the town wake. The sun was well over the horizon by then, this being in mid-summer, and I closed my eyes. Even behind my lids and the silk blindfold and the sunglasses I could see it. It was warm and huge and filled with love and life. I let its glow seep into me, penetrating through my coat and flesh all the way to my bones. The memory of yesterday’s freezing shower faded like a bad dream.
The pegasi were all aflutter this morning. I watched their shadows through my closed eyes. One of their cavorting forms was slow, clumsy, uncoordinated. She flapped her wings too hard and too fast and skidded through the air like a pony on ice. But even from my balcony I could hear Applejack laughing. She sounded happier than I’d ever heard her.
Time to pay her a visit.
Starlight came with me. I didn’t ask for her company, but I was glad for it anyway. I waited by the entrance while she fetched her saddlebags from her room.
“Okay, ready!” She was a bit out of breath from the stairs. “You know, we could probably magically shade your eyes. Then you wouldn’t need all those.”
“That’s… actually a pretty good idea,” I admitted. I should’ve thought of it myself, but my own issues were frankly at the bottom of my list of concerns. I could tackle my problems after I’d solved everypony else’s.
We started down the road through town toward Sweet Apple Acres. Starlight stuck close to my side, so close that our shoulders brushed and I could keep the scent of her in my muzzle, even as we passed through the fragrant summer market with its endless ripening produce -- cabbages and apples and carrots and ginger and mustard and sunflower oil and cinnamon and everything else a pony’s kitchen might need. It was like she thought she was some kind of seeing-eye dog, and I a blind master in need of guidance. Her devotion was so touching I didn’t try to push her away.
I could see fine, though. Everything might be too bright to my eyes, but the sun was perfect in its illumination. I could count the strands of hair in her mane.
There was a small crowd around one of the last booths at the edge of the market. I veered toward it, curious. Starlight made a little sound of surprise and hurried to catch up with me.
It was Roseluck’s flower stand. Ponies crowded three and four bodies deep before it, all straining to see what she had on display. I squeezed through without much difficulty – I was taller these day than all but a few stallions, and ponies tended to be deferential around me, even going so far as to bow despite all my attempts to get them to stop.
It was useful when trying to get through a crowd, though. Couldn’t deny that.
Roseluck was alone behind the counter. The other Flower sisters must be off doing their own thing. She had her usual stock in trade out for display, dozens of roses of every variety and scent and hue. But what had everypony’s attention was the single enormous potted pink rose in the center of the counter. Its bloom was nearly the size of my head, sitting on a stalk as thick as a sunflower’s. Each of its dozens of petals was larger than my hoof and vivid as the dawn sky. Tiny beads of water sparkled like diamonds.
Starlight managed to squeeze up beside me. “Whoa! Where did you get that, Roseluck? Did you grow it?”
“I think so?” She sounded unsure. “It bloomed overnight. I mean, it must’ve. It was in a patch of Sunset Beauties when I woke up, but I’ve never seen this cultivar. I’ve never even seen a Grandiflora get this big, much less grow from a bud in a single day.”
“Magic?” I asked. We’d all seen magical flowers grow that fast. The town was attacked by magical plants that grew that fast not too long ago.
“It is, princess.” She ducked her head toward me. “And that’s not all. Watch.” She leaned forward and touched the tip of her nose against the nearest petal.
The bloom shuddered. It twitched. The petals all waved frantically like the legs of a centipede pinned by a needle. And then they changed. As quick as thought, they turned the same pale yellow as her coat. The crowd oooh’d in appreciation.
“It grew overnight?” I asked. I reached out and touched the flower’s edge with the tip of my hoof. It shuddered again, flexed, wriggled, and a new color flowed over it, the same lavender as my coat.
“Yes, your highness.” Roseluck ducked beneath the counter and emerged with a spray bottle. She spritzed the rose a few times. “I think I’ll call it a Chameleon.”
“Appropriate,” Starlight said. She started to reach for the rose, then froze when she noticed the eyes of everypony on her, waiting to see it change again. She coughed and set her hoof down. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Roseluck’s eyes shifted toward me. “Would you like it, princess? A magical gift for a magical pony.”
“Ah.” Celestia had warned me about this. Be careful what you show appreciation or desire toward – ponies would make gifts of such things simply to see us smile. “Thank you, Roseluck. But it will never change if I am the only pony who ever touches it, and that is what makes it so magical. Better it stays here on display, where you can demonstrate its beauty to everyone who loves flowers.”
A quiet, positive murmur swept through the small crowd. For once I’d said the right things. Maybe Celestia was right – I was growing into these wings.
Certainly, Roseluck seemed to appreciate my words. And she got to keep her flower. She smiled and bowed again, and was still bowing as I extricated myself. Starlight caught up a few steps later.
“Dreams?” she asked.
“Must be,” I said. “Harmless, at least.”
“They’re all harmless so far.”
“And that’s where I have to disagree.” I let a bit of heat into my voice. We were far enough from the market and other ponies that I could cut loose. “Even if – if – you don’t think Trixie’s… change is harmful, it’s just the start. Less than a week and already ponies are transforming into other tribes. What will things be like next week? Next month?”
“I don’t know. What if we wait to see what happens next week?”
“It might be too late by then.”
We were quiet the rest of the way to Sweet Apple Acres. The sounds of the town never quite faded away, lingering with us as we walked the path. By the time we reached the Apple Family orchards, though, I was ready to hear the sound of another pony’s voice again.
So, as fate would have it, the first Apple we came across was the laconic Big Macintosh. I saw him from a quarter-mile away, a strong red figure doing something with the split-rail fence that bordered the Apple property. Mending it, probably. I don’t know how fences work. But he saw us coming and put down the tool in his mouth and trotted toward the path to meet us.
“Morning, ladies.” His voice shook the hollow spaces in my chest. He spent an extra few moments staring at the layers concealing my eyes. “Come to see AJ, I bet.”
“Is she around?” Starlight asked.
He motioned with his muzzle at the sky. “Up there, somewhere. Was with Miss Dash earlier. Might wanna check in the orchards.”
We thanked him and turned down the path away from the barn and toward the orchard’s neat rows. His scent, so similar to his sister’s – sweat and hay and a sun-baked coat, with just a hint of musk to let you know it was a stallion – dredged through my mind and snagged on a memory. I stopped and turned back.
“Have you had any odd dreams lately, Big Mac?”
He seemed to consider that for a while. Long enough that I thought I might not get an answer at all, but finally he nodded. “Eyup. Don’t everypony?”
I nodded. Starlight nodded. We both waited for him to go on.
He didn’t. Finally we got the message and went on our way.
“What I don’t get,” Rainbow Dash said to me, “is why you’re still down there, when you could be up here.”
Up here was in the boughs of an apple tree, a dozen-or-so feet above my head. She lounged like a cat along one of the sturdier-seeming branches, her legs and tail dangling beneath her, and wore the smug look of one who’s figured out the perfect place to nap and escape all their responsibilities.
I’ll be honest. For a moment I was tempted. Then I saw Applejack on the branch beside her, equally smug.
“We just came to make sure you’re alright,” I said. “Applejack, I mean. Not you. Though I do care about you as well.”
“I…” Applejack drew the word out, stretching her wings and legs as well. “Am better than ever, sugar. Very kind of you to come all the way out here and ask, by the way. Yer eyes alright?”
“They’re fine. Just a little sensitive.”
“Mhm.” She stared at me for a little longer than was strictly necessary, then shifted her gaze to Starlight. “What about you? How’re you changing?”
My heart jumped. I spoke before Starlight could say anything. “She’s fine. She’s not.”
Silence followed. Starlight chewed on her lip. Applejack raised an eyebrow. Rainbow Dash looked confused, which – to be honest – was a familiar expression on her.
Finally, “Yeah,” Starlight said. “I’m fine.”
“Mhm,” Applejack said again. That little sound carried a lot more meaning this time.
“We just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” I said. “It’s… I mean, ponies aren’t supposed to just grow wings overnight.”
I realized, as I said it, how utterly stupid that was. I pulled my wings tight against my side and continued gamely on. “I mean… How’s your family taking it?”
“Fine, I guess. Didn’t know they needed to take it one way or another.”
“Wait.” Rainbow Dash finally caught up with us. “You think this is a bad thing? She has wings. Wings! That’s awesome!”
“Sure, it’s great,” I said. “But it’s not supposed to happen. The world has certain rules and if ponies can just randomly sprout wings or lose their horns or who knows what else is happening out there, then nothing is safe! Everything we know could be voided in an instant! Is that a world you want to live in?”
“Uh, if you mean a world where awesome things just happen overnight for no reason, then yeah, sign me up.”
“Stop saying it’s awesome!” I stamped my hoof. “Haven’t you ever dreamed that your wings came off while you were flying, Dash? I have! Do you want that to come true?”
Dash jerked like I’d shoved a live wire under her tail. Her eyes went wide, so wide I could see the whites all around the vivid mulberry. It only lasted for a moment, and just as quickly she scowled down at me. “That’s a nightmare, not a dream. And… No! I’ve never had that!”
“How much difference is there between a dream and a nightmare?” Starlight asked. “Everypony acts like they’re two separate choices… like when you go to sleep you might experience one or the other. But that’s not really true, is it? Every nightmare is a dream.”
“Woo wee.” Applejack smirked down at her and waved a hoof through the air. “Somethin’ about these orchards must bring out the deep thoughts in ya’ll.”
“She’s right though,” I said. A hint of anger, a tiny ember, began to smoulder in my breast. It didn’t matter if Applejack was my friend or not, nopony disparaged my students! “Physiologically, there’s no difference between a dream and a—”
“Nope. I know what you’re gonna say already, and it’s wrong.” Applejack shifted on the branch. She wasn’t as graceful at is as Rainbow, and the whole canopy shook over our heads, raining down bits of leaves and insects on us. “Here’s a simple idea: I’m sad when I wake from dreams; I can’t wait to wake from nightmares.”
“Yeah, that,” Rainbow said. She somehow rolled completely over on the branch, coming to rest on her back, without disturbing a single leaf. “Talk all you want. My best friend has wings now and that’s awe—great. It’s great.”
“I’m not saying that… this particular change is bad.” I had to carefully weigh each word before letting it escape. There were too many emotions charging around inside me to speak freely. “What happened to Applejack is… special, but it’s not natural. It’s unnatural! Applejack, of all ponies, you should know how bad unnatural things can be!”
“Well shucks, I didn’t realize that was so bad.” She turned her head back to nip at the root of her wing, scratching some itch in the feathers. “You want to magic these things off me so I can go back to bucking apples? That make you happy?”
“I... No. I mean, it doesn’t look like they’re hurting you. They won’t stop you from working. From, uh, being yourself. Your old self.” I glanced behind us. In the distance, through the trees, I could hear the steady knock-knock of Big Macintosh working on the fence. “But, uh, shouldn’t you be working now? What about all these apples?”
“They’ll be fine on the trees.” She snagged one off a nearby branch and bit it clean in half. Juice dribbled down her chin and dappled her chest. “Want one?”
“Maybe later.” I huffed quietly and glanced at Starlight. She just shrugged. “Have you been dreaming of this all your life, Applejack? Being able to fly?”
She snorted and chomped down the rest of the apple. “Maybe once or twice. Who hasn’t, right? But I told ya, that wasn’t what I dreamed of before I woke up with these puppies.” She stood on the branch, balancing easily with her wings outstretched. For a moment she looked like a natural-born pegasus.
“Being free, right?” Starlight tilted her head. “That’s what you said.”
“Yup. Being free. And you know what? It’s nice. I recommend it.” Applejack flapped her wings, stirring the branches into a frenzy. After a few laborious seconds, she rose above the canopy. Stray apples pelted the ground around us. “C’mon Dash. Race ya!”
“Oh, you’re on!” Dash left her branch with much less effort, leaping into the air like the branch was a springboard. She circled Applejack for good measure, then took off to the west in a blur. Applejack spared the time for a final wave in our direction before following.
A few final apples hit the ground around us with quiet, deep thuds that shook in my bones. The sound continued far longer than it should, and only then did I realize it was my heart hammering in my chest. Anger, anger like I’d rarely ever felt, beat at my heart like a drum. It stirred my blood and burned through my veins and for a moment it gave birth to terrible ideas – I could catch Applejack, and bring her back here. I could ensorcell her hooves to weigh dozens of stones each, grounding her. I could tear the feathers off those wings and—
I stopped with a gasp. I hadn’t been breathing, and air flooded back into my lungs, sweeping away those vile urges. I closed my eyes and reminded myself that this wasn’t her, that Applejack was one of the bravest, kindest and most noble ponies in the world, that I was lucky to call her a friend. I imagined all those negative feelings, the anger and hurt and betrayal I felt, and I shoved them into an invincible crystal bottle and cast it into the deepest dungeons in my mind.
There. I took another breath, held it, and exhaled. All better.
A cold nose against the side of my neck brought me back to reality. “You okay? You looked, uh, a little out of it there.”
I returned Starlight’s nuzzle. The scent of bed linens and sweat and candle wicks was like a balm. “Yeah, sorry. Just… frustrated.”
“Reasonably so.” Starlight peered up at the sky. The faint, flitting shapes of pegasi darted between the clouds. “Let’s head back.”
Best idea of the day. I picked up two apples with my magic for later and passed one to Starlight. So at least our trip wasn’t a total waste. Just mostly one.
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'tis true, Twilight is blind in many, many ways.
I'm enjoying this, 'tis a nice break from routine.
derpicdn.net/img/2018/12/19/1913132/large.jpeg
Jeezy Pete's, I can totally get Twilight's frustrations (up to the point where I she went psycho about it).
Ok, Twilight's going off the deep end now.
It's such a perfect horror story. We haven't seen the monster quite yet, we don't know what it is let alone how to beat it, but we can feel it's shape in the shadows around us...
And that artwork: really good too.
So, takeaways here:
Applejack's change was mental as well as physical. She didn't just sprout wings -- something important about her changed. She dreamt of being free, didn't she? Free from responsibilities. Free from tasks. Free from worry and cares. So she is.
I've gotta agree with Starlight and Twilight -- dreams aren't particularly binary. Most dreams you wake from without knowing what to think of the weirdness you just experienced. And I don't think the dreams that Twilight, Starlight and Fluttershy have been dreaming are very safe ones to dream just now.
Rainbow has absolutely dreamed about losing her wings mid-flight before.
Starlight is not fine.
Twilight's eyesight is steadily becoming more and more oversensitive, enough so to become a serious impediment in her daily tasks, but it still doesn't occur to her to connect it to the dreams.
This is going to end up being the Color From Space, isn't it.
If you don't take care of yourself, you may find yourself in no shape to take care of anyone else.
And the shift in Applejack is disquieting on numerous levels. The most reliable pony in Ponyville just discarded every obligation she ever felt. Overnight. I shudder to imagine where it goes from here, especially since Fluttershy is still unaccounted for.
Ponies don't want to hear it but Twilight is heading towards a point that shouldn't be ignored: if everything can change on a whim then everything starts to lose meaning. Also everyone being fine with it is seemingly involving some mental changes, particularly with regards to their previous dreams.
Just a tip from the deep end.
If Twilight actually does end up changing everything back, the fallout might be worse than what she assumes could happen otherwise. From the perspective of everyone else, she would literally be taking their dreams away.
She's right to be concerned, but it seems like she's more worried about things being correct than them being right. Her opinion on the proper order of things might not be what's actually best.
9554971
i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/291/166/e50.gif
Something something Mysterious colors unlike any seen on Earth.
It's interesting that everypony seems to be unknowingly becoming their own archetype...
9555064
Wow, Fluttershy. In tune with and unafraid of animals, and yet fearing ponies. I feel like she's heading into that feral heart of darkness...
9554911 Oh she knows, she just won't admit it.
9554911
"Twilight's eyesight is steadily becoming more and more oversensitive, enough so to become a serious impediment in her daily tasks"
Except... it hasn't, really, as I read it. It looks to me like it's becoming so oversensitive that she's now able to see clearly through things she shouldn't be able to. And the effect seems to be increasing in strength. And is including her eyelids.
How long until she can see the daylit world in exceptional color and clarity even with her eyes closed under a heavy blindfold?
And what happens after that stage?
I'm also interested in knowing whether her eyes are magically oversensitive to light or just to sunlight...
9555068
Well, in a dream, drastic changes can indeed occur with little feeling of significance. Oh, I walked out the extra door of my childhood bedroom and now I'm on the side of a mountain looking at a four-sided triangle; this seems normal.
Nothing unusual for a dream.
But aye, while Twilight does have her issues... I agree that she's not entirely wrong here. The liquefaction or reality, as were, is marvelous, and seductive, and quite possibly the end of the world.
9555669
Granted, but consider what the dream had been abut -- light so bright, so intense, so omnipresent that she was blind. She couldn't see -- the light flooded everything out, burnt out shapes and colors, made her sightless. If this keeps up in the real world, it follows that eventually she will be blinded in the same manner.
9556003
Hm, yes, it's possible it could go that way, good point, but consider the recent example of Applejack, for instance: the changes in reality are related to what she dreamed about but not exactly the same. I suppose we'll have to wait and see how the blindness in Twilight's dream is reflected.
AJ has clearly been mind-F'd.
Her family and the farm were the MOST IMPORTANT THINGS to her. She had several chances in the show to leave them behind... and fought tooth and nail to save them.
That's not the action of a pony who wants to be 'free'.
Trixie has clearly been mind-F'd. Magic was incredibly important to her. She worked hard to make even a minor improvement in her skills. Now suddenly losing her horn means... nothing.
I suspect Dash will feel nothing when she loses her wings.
Discord, I've changed my mind. Prepare for hentai tentacle molestation... I'm thinking "Berserk"-level.
The blindfolded pony can see the clearest.
I feel like someone should have asked Roseluck if she had seen her sisters today.
I enjoyed the imagery of it, and so it instantly sprang back to mind:
Dreams are where the dungeons in our minds overflow.
I imagined all those negative feelings, the anger and hurt and betrayal I felt, and I shoved them into an invincible crystal bottle and cast it into the deepest dungeons in my mind.
Loving the pace and atmosphere of this story so far, and even more given the spoilered stuff.