The dreamland was a very odd place for a fresh refugee like Max. It was an odd place for anyone. He did not have any control over anything here, not even his body. He floated in a void surrounded by ever brightening stars. It was cold. Very cold. Max felt as if he had been left in a freezer. Not a single sound was heard, not even his own breathing.
He finally broke out of his paralysis, but found himself weak and with a horrible dark pit in his stomach. He also couldn’t help but feel there was something there with him. Missing him by no more than fifty feet, a satellite whizzed past him at an incredible speed. He turned around and was astonished to see the dark side of his homeworld sitting right in front of him. The North American continent was easily identifiable, with the city lights on the coasts clearly defining the shape of the landmass.
A sudden pulse hit Max hard. He couldn’t see it, but he could definitely feel it. His strength returned to him and the nausea disappeared in a flash. But once his senses returned to him, the city lights of Earth began to flicker and darken. One by one, New York to Los Angeles, Chicago to Houston, Toronto to Mexico City, the dancing lights of the failing power grid awed the young stallion until it all went black. An inland portion of the American southwest, however, was still lit in a fascinating display, the brightest of them all being the jewel of the Mojave Desert: Las Vegas. But soon enough, his city went dark as well, not before a blinding spotlight from Los Angeles briefly shone in his eye.
It wasn’t long before he saw the Gulf Coast violently ignite with bright white light and the vast majority of the American West Coast began to glow an eerie amber red. When the refinery fires of Texas burnt out and the wildfires of California settled, small specks of light began flickering across the empty planet. The brightest seemed to be originating from Colorado, Illinois, and Southern Ontario. Even Las Vegas’ light began to return. But without warning, the lights shut off for good.
The sun began to peek out from over Earth’s horizon, illuminating his homeland. Nothing was left, the land was wiped clean. The Midwest’s farms had been replaced with massive forests and grasslands. The swamps reclaimed their rightful ownership of the south and the grey scars of the once great cities had healed and painted green.
“The most important part is done, Maxie,” a familiar female voice echoed through the atmosphere. “You let go of the past to live for today. Just like Mother Earth, you’re finally free to start anew.”
“Mom? I really hope you’re not here to haunt me for letting Rose adopt me,” Max said, looking for the angelic image of his mother from his past dream.
“Quite the contrary,” his mother said with a giggle. “I’m very happy you’ve found somepony to look up to that will love you like I did.”
He put his hooves on his head and exhaled. “They got you saying those stupid pony puns now?”
Max felt a light tap on his shoulder. He spun around and came face to face with a unicorn mare a similar size to himself. Her wine red coat shimmered in the unfiltered sunlight and her silky cream-colored mane wafted in the low gravity of Earth’s orbit.
“Let’s just say, I grew into it,” she said with a large smile.
“Mom? You… You returned? Where are you? I have to find you,” Max said as he held his hooves up to her.
She put her hooves against his as her ears flattened. “I’m… dead. Buried somewhere around here a couple thousand years ago. I don’t know where they took my body.”
“Oh… so you really are haunting me,” Max said with a forced smile.
“I did it to Amber when she returned and I’ll do it to Kelly too.”
“Well, now I don’t feel so special anymore now that I know you’re haunting the girls too,” Max deadpanned.
“I know this is gonna sound really corny, but my love for you guys didn’t end with my death. I want to make sure my babies make it out of this okay.” She twiddled her hooves together anxiously. “I promised.”
Max moved to his mother and wrapped his hooves around her. “I love you, momma. Thank you for visiting me again.”
She gave him a kiss on the nose and let him go. “I love you too. I’ll be here when you need me, Maxie. Now, I think it’s time I let you go again. It's the dawn of a new beginning and I want you to make the best of it.”
“Goodbye ma-AAAAAAAAH.” Max screamed as the gravity took hold of him and pulled him back home.
“Don’t forget to shave your fetlocks!” His mother yelled to him before he fell out of hearing distance.
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Max jolted awake, sitting up straight in his bed. After he caught his breath, he let out a small laugh. He rolled out of bed onto his hooves and looked around his barren room. The light blue walls seemed to glow in the dark with the sunlight peeking through the sides of the tall curtains.
After he dressed himself, Max opened up the curtains and let the morning sun into his room. A knock on the door interrupted him. Katie opened up the door to his room and trotted over to him. "First time I've seen you up before eight. You seem refreshed."
"I feel free," Max said with a smile. "I always said I would give anything to start from scratch. Fix the mistakes I wish I never made. My wish came true... but at a heavy cost." He kicked the ground. "But I'm glad this happened. If it wasn't for this fairytale bullshit, I would have never met you."
"In a way..." Katie mumbled, leaning against him "I'm happy this happened too. You're the only person that has truly felt like a friend in my entire life."
"Heh... I was gonna say 'something, something, friend zoned'." he chuckled. "But I don't think that's appropriate right now."
Katie giggled and pushed him. "Yeah, yeah. We can banter later. Now let's go. Rose is taking us out for breakfast."
With Katie by his side, Max trotted out of his room thinking about all the things they could do, what they could see. But there was plenty of time for adventure later.
This was their first day in the new world after all.