“... And so Luke, Han, and Chewy were all given medals for their courage, and named heroes of the Rebel Alliance.”
“And what about Dark -” Luna began
“Darth,” I corrected.
“ - Darth Vader? What happened to him?”
“Well, his ship survived the explosion,” I explained. “So once he managed to regain control, he used the hyperdrive to get to a nearby Imperial outpost. He’s not done for. Not by a long shot.”
Both Celestia and Luna fell silent, allowing me a moment to myself. I’d met the two sisters in the library after my… encounter… with Starswirl. The two had finished their lessons early, and so had some time to kill before dinner. It was only a few minutes after they sat down at my table that Luna had asked me about the myths and legends of my homeworld.
So of course, I had to start with Star Wars.
Trying to describe the events of a movie in words was… difficult, to be sure. Trying to explain the concepts of spaceships and blasters and lightsabers to individuals for whom primitive guns were revolutionary was even more difficult. But if I was doing a bad job of it, they didn’t show it. Both Celestia and Luna had given me their undivided attention as I’d told the tale of A New Hope. I’d had to pause halfway through it as we went to dinner, but had resumed the story as we settled in for food.
I just hoped they didn’t ask me why Darth Vader was the way he was or where he came from. I really didn’t want to have to explain Jar Jar…
The story had had the unintended side-effect of distracting the princesses from the snippets of conversation floating between Serenity and Solaris. They’d sat next to each other, breaking the normal seating arrangement and causing us to shift a few seats down the table. Throughout the meal, they’d spoken in hushed whispers, and so my own voice covered theirs for the majority of the meal. Still, during the pauses - when I was thinking of how to describe the the Millennium Falcon, for instance - I was able to catch snippets of their conversation. Isolated words. Griffons. Heart. Amythest. Empire.
War...
“So… what happened next?” Luna asked, snapping me from my thoughts. “I mean… Darth Vader is still out there...”
“Sorry, Luna,” I smiled sheepishly, “But I’m afraid I’ll have to continue the story another time.” Almost immediately, both princesses deflated. I won’t lie, I felt pretty bad about it. It was clear they’d been enjoying listening to the story, and truth be told, I was enjoying telling it.
But I knew I couldn’t continue any longer that evening. Not if I was going to have Starswirl and Serenity helping me in the Dream World. “Sorry,” I continued. “But Queen Serenity asked me to meet with her, and I need to get to her as soon as I can. I’ll finish the story another time.”
Though clearly disappointed, that seemed to be a sufficient explanation for Celestia. She turned to the right and walked away from the door to the dining hall. I watched her for a short bit, until she turned into the stairwell.
“Good cover.” I nearly jumped as Luna’s voice broke the silence behind me. I’d assumed that she had gone in the opposite direction. Clearly I’d assumed wrong. My head spun towards her as she continued with a small smile. “I’d almost forgotten that Celestia doesn’t know about our our lessons.”
I turned to face her more fully, shaking my head. “Sorry again, Luna,” I sighed. “I really do have to go meet Queen Serenity here in a few minutes.”
Luna’s smile quickly faded. “Wait… so… we’re not having our session in the library?” she asked, to which I once again shook my head. “But why? You’re so close! Tonight you could -”
“I know. Trust me, I know,” I cut her off. “I want to break through that door too. But this is important. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t be skipping our session. And no,” I continued, cutting off Luna as she opened her mouth to speak. “I can’t tell you what this is about. Not yet. Maybe once it’s taken care of. But not yet. Sorry.”
Luna raised an eyebrow, and her tail twitched behind her. “Alright,” she muttered as I turned away from her and followed Celestia down the hall. I didn’t look back as I entered the stairwell and began to ascend, though I could feel Luna staring at me. I knew she wasn’t satisfied with that answer. And I couldn’t blame her. I wouldn’t have been satisfied with my answer either. But I wasn’t ready to talk about this. Not yet, not while I was still being sucked into someone else’s dream every night. I couldn’t rightly explain what was happening when I myself didn’t understand it.
Getting ready for bed didn’t take long. As I walked into my room, I noticed that a few candles and torches had been lit in the bathroom, and sure enough, a hot tub of water was waiting for me. I bathed quickly and dried off before throwing on some clothes and crawling into bed. Much like the night before, I could feel a small pocket of tension building in my stomach as I closed my eyes. Having Serenity poking around in my head was weird enough. Letting Starswirl in too… it was going to be an interesting night.
I had to have been laying down for half an hour before I felt something poking my shoulder. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Serenity standing next to my bed. “Good evening, Chris,” she greeted me as I pulled the covers back and pushed myself out of the bed.
“Queen Serenity,” I nodded. I glanced around the room before returning my attention to her. “Where’s Starswirl?” I asked.
“He’ll be along shortly,” She replied. “He has a certain process he always sees to before going to sleep. I’m certain you noticed he was a bit… eccentric.”
“Has he always been that way?”
“Yes and no,” Serenity shrugged. She waved her hand, and a chair appeared behind her, which she proceeded to sit down in. “He’s always been different. But he was still relatively normal up until about thirty years ago.”
“What happened?” I asked, sitting down in my own chair that had materialized beside me.
“He took interest in an old legend,” Serenity explained. “Well, took interest is putting it lightly, I suppose. He became enthralled. Obsessed with it, really. The tomb of the last Alicorn. It nearly drove him mad. Or, perhaps it did...”
I raised an eyebrow. “The, uh… the what now?”
That drew a chuckle from Serenity. “I forget, you are not familiar with most of our legends. The tomb of the last Alicorn. Ask Luna to tell you about it tomorrow. But for now… I believe I promised you an explanation.”
“Last night, I told you that the other presence here in the Dream World is leaving behind echoes of itself. Decoys. This is true. I also told you that I had never seen anything like this before. This is also true… to an extent. I have witnessed two souls meeting to share a dream before. Oftentimes, they will stay and talk for a while. Invariably, however, one will wake before the other. When this happens they leave behind an echo, similar to how our mystery dreamer is doing. To this extent, I have seen these echoes before, but never in a situation or to a scale even remotely close to yours.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but found myself cut off as Serenity raised a hand. “Just one moment, Chris. You may ask questions in a bit, but for now, let me finish. Now, you already know that, while only Unicorns and a few special members of other species may actively control magic, other creatures have magic flowing through them. It is how a Pegasus flies, though physics would dictate that they should not be able to. It is how Earth Ponies are able to grow such bountiful harvests year after year, and how they have much greater strength than they should. Every sapient creature has magic flowing through them. Bringing this back to your situation, the echoes left behind by a dreamer who has lingered in one place are actually the echoes of their magical signature. Do you understand so far?”
Slowly, I nodded my head. “I think so… So, is each one of these… magical signatures… is it unique to an individual? Could we use it to…” I trailed off for a moment, trying to find the words.
“They are unique to an individual, yes.” Serenity replied. “Though creatures of the same species tend to have similar magical signatures, each one is unique. Much like written signatures. But no, we likely could not use this magical signature in the waking world to track down our mystery dreamer. Tracking a magical signature isolated in the Dream World is difficult enough. In the waking world, where it would get jumbled with so many others? No, it’s not really feasible. It would be like trying to follow one particular set of hoofprints when thousands of others cross over and intersect it.”
“I do bring this talk of echoes and magical signatures up for a reason, however. As I said, each individual signature is unique, but those of the same species tend to… feel similar, for lack of a better phrase. Now, I have been Dreamwalking for a long time. Likely longer than you’ve been alive. I’ve felt the magical signatures of every well-known sapient species on Gaia, and many lesser-known species as well. But this signature is unlike anything I’ve dealt with before. It is no Pony, of that I am certain. Nor is it a Minotaur, a Griffon, or Dragon… nothing like that. In fact, I’ve only ever felt one magical signature that comes close.”
“The only other signature that has ever felt similar to this one, Chris… is yours.”
I blinked. “Wait… what?”
“Our mystery dream has a magical signature that matches your own. I was able to confirm this last night, after you woke up and left this dream. It’s not a perfect match, not by a long shot, but as similar as one Unicorn’s signature to another Unicorn’s.” Serenity leaned forward in her chair, closer to me. “What I’m saying, Chris… is that I believe our mystery dreamer may be another Human.”
Silence followed. Stunned silence, pure and unbroken. I simply sat there, staring at Serenity at yet not truly seeing her. I was too busy trying to grapple with the information she had just given me.
Another Human. Here, in Gaia. In Equestria. Nearby. I wasn’t alone.
But they were trapped here too.
“Now Chris,” Serenity’s voice jolted me from my thoughts. She was standing up now, and she moved forward to place a hand on my shoulder. “I have to ask… I know you’ve been with us for a while, and so I’m hoping you’ll trust us… if you know anything… anything at all about where this other Human could be…”
“I don’t,” I shook my head. “I… I honestly thought I was the only one here.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “But… if there is another Human here, we have to find them. Quickly.”
“Of course we do,” Serenity agreed. “Not just for your own sake, but for theirs. This other Human has been dreaming for quite some time now. Does your kind hibernate by any chance, Chris?” she asked.
My heart skipped a beat as I realized what Serenity meant. “No… No, we don’t hibernate,” I replied. “Which means, if they’ve been asleep and dreaming continuously for a long time…”
“There’s something wrong,” Serenity finished my thought. She shot me a worried glance. “So the faster we find our mystery dreamer, the better.”
I nodded as the door to the room creaked open. Serenity and I both turned our heads towards the door as a chair hovered in through the door. Not a simple wooden chair, as Serenity and I had conjured, but an ornate, double-padded armchair more akin to a throne, with a matching footstool. And sitting upon it, with his hooves propped up and a cup of tea in his hands, was none other than Starswirl the Bearded.
“Perfect timing, Starswirl,” Serenity smiled. “As usual.”
“Quite, my dear, quite,” Starswirl replied, taking a long sip from his cup. I watched as he set it back down upon the saucer, and was instantly filled back up. “It’s good to see you again, Serenity.” His eyes drifted over towards me. “And of course, you too, young Thingummywhat.”
“Human,” I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “Hello, Starswirl…”
“I’ve just finished explaining to Chris the details I sent to you this afternoon,” Serenity continued. “You… did get around to reading that letter, right? Didn’t misplace it?”
“Hmm?” Starswirl glanced up from yet another mouthful of tea. “Oh, oh yes, of course. I’m old, my dear, not senile…”
“Good, good. So you know why we’re here.”
“Yes, yes of course. Looking for magical signatures and echoes, trying to figure out where their originator is located in the waking world. Just give me a moment will you?” Starswirl took yet another gulp from his cup. “I’m enjoying a rather excellent cup of tea.”
Serenity and I shared an exasperated glance, but had no choice but to settle ourselves in. I watched as Starswirl took yet another sip of tea, draining his cup dry. And yet, the instant he set it back down, the cup would refill again with more tea. A never-ending cycle of tea.
I could feel frustration building up inside me. We were wasting precious time just waiting for Starswirl to enjoy a cup of tea! A fake cup of tea, at that! I glared at the cup as he set it back down, dry once more, only to refill. We were going to be here all night at this rate! While this other person out there was in trouble!
That’s when it came to me. An idea. Perhaps not the most… polite of ideas, but one that would hopefully break the cycle and allow us to actually get something accomplished. As Starswirl drained his cup dry for the fifth time, I narrowed my eyes and focused my will towards the cup. Sure enough, as the cup touched the saucer, this time it did not refill, but instead remained dry.
I had to stop myself from grinning as Starswirl reached back for the empty cup. He glanced down toward it, an amused expression on his face. “Well, would you look at that,” he murmured, glancing in my direction. “All out. Well, all good things must come to an end.”
“Finally,” I heard Serenity mutter. Clearly, she had been growing as impatient as I had. “So, are we ready now?”
“Indeed, I believe we are. Now, let us away!” Starswirl’s chair raced towards the window and phased right through it, leaving no trace of his passage. In unison, Serenity and I both sank a half-foot into the ground before flying through the wall after him.
Much like the night before, I found myself more wobbling along behind Starswirl rather than flying in a straight line. I found that focusing upon the chair he was resting in would help me focus my flight, but any little distract would send me veering off-course. Flying low over the rooftops as Starswirl was, I was thankful that I had become immaterial as I crashed through more than one roof.
And, much like Serenity the night before, Starswirl seemed to be heading this way and that, turning at unexpected moments, plowing through buildings only to pop out a moment later. And judging by the expression on his face, i was willing to bet that he wasn’t having much more success than I was.
An idea sprang to mind. An idea that might be able to help with the search. Before I could do anything about it, however, an object had already manifested itself in front of me. I reached out to pluck it from the air. It was a map - of Everfree, I was guessing - with at least a dozen various points marked. As Starswirl dove down through another building, I watched as yet another point on the map became marked.
And so we continued through the night. Starswirl continued to zigzag this way and that, all over the southern quarter of the city. His turns were becoming more and more erratic as the night wore on. Each time he stopped or dove through another building, the map would mark yet another point. And Serenity and I continued to fly behind him, watching and waiting.
Finally, Starswirl came to a complete stop. “This is ridiculous!” he snapped, a previously-unknown trace of anger in his voice. “How in the world could all of these echoes have been left by one individual? Nopony could sleep this long!”
“We think there may be something wrong with our mystery dreamer that has kept them locked in a long-term slumber,” Serenity explained.
“Well… That explains it, I suppose,” Starswirl muttered, running a hand through his beard. “But that doesn’t help us. There could be over a hundred of these echoes all over the city. And half of the ones that we’ve been to tonight are old - the dreamer hasn’t been there in at least a fortnight.”
“Wait…” I began, the gears in my head beginning to turn. “You can tell how long each echo has been around?”
“I’ve been doing this a very long time, young thingummywhat. I’ve had a lot of experience in studying the echoes left behind by dreamers. The stronger an echo is, the more recently the dreamer has been there. The problem is that I can’t tell how strong an echo is until I get right up close to it…”
“Well… let’s try this.” I wobbled through the air over towards Starswirl’s chair and handed him the map, pointing towards a few of the marks that had been made. “Can you… make each mark’s appearance be based on the strength of the echo found there?”
Starswirl raised an eyebrow for a moment before grinning. “Ah, very good, young thingummywhat! Very good! Yes yes, by overlapping that information onto this map… I watched as Starswirl pressed the palm of his hand onto the map. As he removed his hand, the size of the marks that had appeared on the map began to change. Some of the marks began to fade, while others still became bolder and more pronounced.
And very quickly, a pattern formed.
“Bingo,” I smirked, holding the map up and examining it. “Our mystery dreamer, at least in the dream world, seems to be heading… north.” I announced. “And that would be…”
“Towards the palace,” Serenity finished.
“A breakthrough!” Starswirl exclaimed. “Now, let’s go see if we can’t -”
Starswirl cut himself off as a sound echoed past us. A low, rolling boom, not unlike thunder off in the distance. I glanced behind myself, towards the horizon where the sound had come from. At the horizon, I could see a small patch of darkness begin to form. A patch that quickly moved forward, expanding and filling the horizon with a dark cloud.
The cloud continued to move forward, spreading away from the horizon and towards us. Like a storm, rolling across the sky, blocking out the sky. A gust of wind blew past us, chilling and bringing with it the promise of rain. Another roll of thunder could be heard - closer this time, more pronounced. Flashes of lightning arced between the clouds, illuminating them as they drew ever closer.
Illuminating the clouds, and the serpentine creature that lay waiting within.
My blood ran cold. I knew that creature. There was no mistaking it. The beast from my dreams. My nightmares. Glancing to my right as the first droplets of rain began to fall, I could see that Serenity recognized it as well. Even Starswirl seemed to understand what was happening, for he rose from his chair for the first time that evening to float beside us.
“You are mine, little Human,” The beast growled from behind the cover of the approaching storm. “You just don’t know it yet…”
“Chris. Serenity. We have to get out of here,” Starswirl announced, all hints of joviality gone. “Now.”
“Uh… yeah,” I nodded quickly, floating backwards away from the approaching beast. “What… what is it?”
“We cannot tell you here,” Serenity explained. The rain was falling harder now. Serenity glanced towards the approaching beast before returning her attention to me. “To do so would only empower it. After breakfast. I promise. Now wake, Chris.” Her horn lit up with a dark-blue aura, and pulsed brightly. I felt my eyes growing heavy, and I began to descend towards the ground. “Wake!” Past my barely opened eyes, I could see the rain-slicked ground fast approaching. I braced myself for impact...
And jolted upright in my bed.
My heart was hammering away in my chest, and a cold sweat had formed on my forehead and down the back of my neck. I had to take a few minutes to calm myself down, all the while running through my head the events of the night.
Another Human, trapped in Equestria. Lost God-knows-where. Stuck within the Dream World, at the mercy of that… whatever it was. The monster. The beast. What was it? Where had it come from? Why had it appeared this time, when the night before it had not? What did it want with me?
There was only one way to find out. Dawn had just arrived, and the sun was streaming in through my windows, so I pushed myself to my feet and headed towards the bathroom to prepare for breakfast.
Serenity had promised me another answer. And I was going to get one.