70: In the heat and the rain, with whips and chains.
In the heat and the rain, with whips and chains
Chapter published 18th May 2014
**************
she runs, runs in fear, through the darkness, through the cold. the cold, the dark, it shouldn’t bother her but it does. she runs, through the dirt and the slime, through pitch black tunnels and gloom darkened caves. other creatures, all around, creatures of every size and shape and colour, some watch mindlessly as she flees, others reach for her, limbs reach for her. they cry out, screams of pain, of madness, of insanity, shouts of anger and frustration, cries of terror. she slips, catching herself just in time, a hand outstretched, pale pink under layers of dirt, sharp pain, tears on her palms and her fingers leak blood, smears on the ground. it’s hers, her hand. no time to wonder, to ask how, must run, now, must flee. she runs, no time to think, just run, they were coming after her. both legs trembling, shaking as she runs, heart beating in her chest, about ready to explode, pulling breath into her lungs, it won’t come without a fight. the worn rubber soles of her tattered shoes slip again and again, she wipes sweat from her face, fingers pulling dirt from her eyes, matted tangled hair from her face. she runs, she doesn’t look back, voices cry for help, for release, for liberty or death. she runs anyway, leaves them behind, she can’t help them, not now, not without being caught herself, dragged back into the pits, to a fate worse than death, a fate that would have been unimaginable if only she had not already seen it firsthand so many times before. so she runs, through tunnels and chambers, halls and caverns, out through undergrowth, heading only god knew where, anywhere, anywhere but here. limbs, lungs, senses, all screaming, an opening, a clearing, up ahead, an ethereal glow, a swirling mass, a tunnel of light, swirling pink and green and blue and purple, twisting and rolling as if blown by a strong wind. she feared those twisting ribbons of colour, feared them like nothing else. but it was better than going back, anything was better than going back, even death would be a better choice. without another thought she throws herself into the swirling maelstrom, screaming, flailing, arms and legs swinging wildly as she’s pulled, sucked into the vortex, accelerating, flying, falling through the air, the ground coming closer, ever closer, so fast. branches, brambles, thorns, ripping into her skin, pain, so much pain. the world turning, spinning, sky, ground, sky ground, sky, ground. it’d stopped. no, she’d stopped. sky, pale blue sky, wispy white clouds. the sun, heat on her face. how long had it been since she had seen such a sight, felt such a feeling. trees towering above, leaves blowing in the breeze. no noise, no cries, no screams, save that of the wind through the trees, no smells but that of springtime, fallen leaves, flowers in bloom. for the first time in forever she doesn’t want to gag with every breath, doesn’t want to scream, to cry out, to close her eyes and wish it all away. she’s out, she’s free. it was over, she was free. tiredness comes, waves washing over her, so tired. she can’t keep her eyes open. sleep, sleep comes. no, had to keep moving, can’t sleep. couldn’t, shouldn't, mustn’t. should move, keep moving. distance, need distance. but, just for a minute, eyes close, eyes, just for a minute. sweet sleep, sweet sleep comes and takes her away, takes her aw...
******************
Princess Luna, Guardian of the Dreamtime, Alicorn of the Night, Defender of the Realm, Co-regent of the land of Equestria, and one of the most powerful beings in existence... opened her mouth and screamed.
She screamed like a tiny filly terrified of the boogiemare... she screamed like a mother whose only child had just been brutally murdered right in front of her... she screamed like a mortally wounded soldier breathing her last on the fields of battle... she screamed like her very life depended on it.
Around her, glass shattered; stained glass windows becoming nothing more than coloured piles of glass on the floor, glasses of juice spraying their contents across the breakfast table, vases dumping water and freshly cut flowers from their pedestals and onto the floor below.
Fine china exploded; earl grey, chamomile, mint, all enjoyed newfound freedom as it soaked its merry way into the tablecloth; plates shattered, razor sharp ceramic shards piercing buttered toast and morning muffins alike.
The princess screamed with such might that guards patrolling nearby corridors covered their ears, those few unfortunate enough to have been guarding the door to the royal breakfast room writhed in agony on the floor.
...and she did not stop screaming until large, warm, pure white wings wrapped themselves around her body, pulling her into a powerful embrace.
.
As reality returned, Luna found herself held against her sister’s chest, the elder sibling looking down at her, eyes full of concern... and fear.
“My sister, what happened?” Celestia asked frantically, “What affected you so?”
Luna shivered, blinking away tears as they came to her eyes but making no attempt to push away, to free herself from her sister’s embrace.
“I... I do not know,” she stuttered. “Where was I? Just now? Have I left this room these last few minutes?”
Resting her chin against her younger sibling’s forehead, Celestia pulled her even closer than before, if such a thing was even possible.
“No, you were right here the entire time.” The alicorn of the day gently rocked her little sister, just as she had done on the very day that the former pegasus had first been turned so many centuries before. “You have not left my sight since dawn. Just a few moments ago you stopped talking, mid sentence, becoming motionless, just staring into space. Then, after a few minutes of silence, you started screaming. It was only when I held you thus that you woke up.”
Tears running down her cheeks, and feeling incredibly small, Luna pushed herself into Celestia’s chest, taking comfort in the warmth of her sister’s body, the steady beating of her heart in her chest, the safety to be found within the cocoon of her wings.
“I believe... that I may have just been pulled into one of Master Lero’s nightmares.” Luna closed her eyes, letting her mind relive some of the images, the emotions, that she had so recently been witness to. “Though I pray that I am wrong, I would deduce that the first of his memories regarding his time before Equestria are now starting to force their way back to the surface of his mind.”
“That is indeed the gravest of news.” Celestia opened her wings, releasing the younger alicorn, though keeping her just as close as before. “Then you should go to him, my sister. No pony knows more the pain of reliving the ordeals of past than you, and he will need a friend by his side, now more than ever.”
“Yes,” Luna agreed, though as before, she made no attempt to move away, “I will go to him now. As you say, he will most likely...”
Her voice trailing away, fresh tears fell down the princess’s cheeks as her eyes fell to the floor.
“Would you like to stay here a few minutes longer?” Celestia asked softly
Without looking up, Luna nodded, a single forehoof pushing across the soft fur under her eyes.
”Yes.”
Wrapping her wings around the younger alicorn once again, Celestia pulled her sister back into her embrace.
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Tyr?
I know that song
Well, that was well and truly horrifying. The first part was quite evocative, but the second, the sheer, unbridled, destructive terror...
Disquietingly well done.
I could see that, after all having a sex-change while watching someone murder your child in front of you would snap anyone's mind
You know this is an interesting angle, this whole universe I mean. Lero is portrayed as physically weaker than ponies, pound for pound, which is only mitigated by his mind and his size advantage.
However, there's seemingly something underneath that continually baffles ponies: Lero's sheer will to overcome. Where most ponies would just lay down crippled with fear, Lero gets up and keeps going. We see this in the changeling arc, where bloody and broken he gets the queen to submit to him. We see it in the side fic with Honeybee and the lake, where Dash, Twi and Lyra are crippled with indecision and he immediately rushes in. And again we see it in the Blank Plague arc, with everyone he knows and loves being sapped of all that they are. And we're seeing it now, in this chapter, a mere dream which is bringing an immortal goddess to tears. I mean sure, he can't exactly remember it all, but by all accounts according to ponies Lero should be insane, and he isn't.
I feel like this is a dream of Lero's mother or, now I may be going on a tangent here, a new member of Lero's herd.
But hey, that's just a theory. A Game Theory. Thanks for watching.That's ominous. He is starting to remember.
4408816
Like in Mass Effect, where each race had its own 'hat,' and humanity's hat was ambition and adaptability.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlanetOfHats
4408772
You know what's truly terrifying about that?
That's within he capacity of the Fair Folk to do to you.
4408816 em. The bit with the lake is actually from the original story. These are the SIDE stories.
4409043 Aha, Game Theory. (\
In other news, we've seen that Luna, when in somepony else's dreams, will occupy a space that would seem "natural" to the pony having the dream, unless Luna steps out and reveals herself.
For example, I've seen a fic where Nyx was having a nightmare, and when Luna tries to intervene, she cannot do anything because Nyx hadn't yet figured out if she and Luna were the same or not. I've also seen a fic where Luna was once again on the moon, and while trying to break herself free of the dream's natural state, had to watch as Applejack relived watching her parents die, and then go through a cycle of watching Granny Smith, Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Dash, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and then Twilight. It wasn't until Applejack was completely broken that her own subconscious control over the nightmare released, letting Luna finally interfere.
Most fics (and I can't remember for sure, but I think it was stated as such in Sleepless in Ponyville as well) have Luna act in this way. She is usually stuck as an observer, and can only take the reigns if the dreamer is calm enough to speak with, or she can overpower the dreamer.
With this being Xenoverse/Leroverse, I'm not sure exactly on how her powers are stated, but I could see her being a passenger as Lero runs through this, as he wouldn't think to put a Luna effigy/expy in a memory where she wasn't there originally.
4408816
Calling now: Lero just shrugs off the bad dream because humans have that much mental fortitude.
I'm worried about the fact that she replaced him in his dreams... and here I was thinking another human had made into Equestria.
(comment in the wrong chapter sorry).
4411297
The way I've been writing it in DR is that Lero's dreams don't function like Pony dreams, and she can neither hide from him, nor overpower them like she can with pony dreams, unless she takes preventative measures before going in- so being caught full-tilt in a nightmare if she didn't take those precautions is totally feasible (and she might not, as they're not easy to do and time consuming.)