Spike darted in through the door moments before the arrow went thunk into the wood, and Sweeping Stroke slammed it shut. He sank down against it and wiped his brow.
“Are dreams… always like this?” he managed.
There was a window, and Princess Luna stepped up to look through it at the danger they’d only just evaded. “I confess I usually deal with nightmares,” she said, studying the window’s structure. She seemed to have shaken off that last encounter, but Twilight suspected she was just hiding it well. “Reeds Melody’s dreamscape has destabilized more than I initially suspected. I did not think the reverse bleed would be so serious with only two previous encounters.”
“Either that, or she’s got a really active imagination,” Twilight supplied. “But that would explain how everything got so bad out there.”
“I never thought I’d have to run so far again…” moaned Spike. “My legs hurt…”
For all that, though, Spike was doing well. Sweeping Stroke was doing better, considering that most of this was going over his head. It was surprising that he hadn’t had a breakdown yet.
The stallion picked himself up, took a few steps and started hyperventilating. Whoops, she’d spoken… er, thought too soon.
“This is… this is lunacy!” he all but shouted. “Going into dreams, and time travel, and, and, what did you say those things were? Changelings? I…” With a flumph, he collapsed to the floor again. “I just… I don’t…”
Princess Luna flared her wings, and stepped up to him. “Sweeping Stroke, let me make one thing clear.” He looked up, and Twilight was surprised to see that despite his breakdown, he had lost none of the determination his eyes had shown before. “I am not forcing you to do this. You need only ask, and I will return you to the waking world. I understand being exposed to this is overwhelming.”
“Trust me,” she muttered to herself. “I do.”
If Twilight was honest, she had expected him to abandon ship at the first sign of danger. Here he was, a stallion from the uncomplicated year of 611, thrust into an experience that abandoned all logic and mashed together several of Twilight’s own most complicated moments. She had expected a few things from Reeds Melody’s dream, but not… that. She had underestimated just how dangerous dream bleeding was, not considering for even a moment that dreams could go both ways.
Sweeping Stroke’s mouth opened and closed a few times, but then he tightened his jaw. “No. Let us continue. Even if I must keep this all a secret as long as I live…” he turned to gaze all around them. There was a certain twinkle in his eye, something Twilight herself had seen many times in the mirror when something had caught her attention that demanded further study. It was like she was looking at an alternate version of herself. “…I want to see more.”
“Very well.” The Princess offered a hoof up, and he graciously took it. “Let us continue.”
Continue where? Where exactly were they? Finally, they had reached the castle, but this part was one Twilight had never visited. The direct way to the school had been blocked, so… Vaguely she remembered that the building they’d now entered had been called the maids’ lodge, where the castle cleaning staff had lived before Princess Celestia insisted they all move into the castle itself.
She had never been inside the main lodge itself. Its doors had been locked ever since some older students had tried to practice magic in the dining hall and destroyed some priceless antiques, and not even the cleaning staff were allowed back in. Every time she thought of it she thought of the corridors gathering dust. That certainly was the state of the entrance hall they were standing in, the only room Twilight had ever seen the interior of, briefly.
Ignoring Spike’s protest about walking some more, Twilight followed Princess Luna as she headed for the doors that continued into the lodge proper. If things ahead were as dire as they were behind, they needed all the advance warning they could get if they needed to abandon the attempt. Cautiously, the Princess pushed on the door, and Twilight tried not to think about what might lay beyond. If a pony like King Sombra was in there with them…
The door slid open with nary a creak, and Princess Luna exhaled.
Twilight leaned to look past her, and her eyes widened. “This is…”
“Yes.” The lunar diarch smiled and rested a hoof on the doorframe. “This is where the we begin the hard part.”
“Begin what?”
The Princess stood up. Nothing had changed. They stood on the floor of Sweeping Stroke’s cottage. Their water flagons were discarded. The fire was still burning. Its smell, and the smell of paper, were still strong.
Twilight was confused. She was sure that Princess Luna had been about to… had she changed her mind?
“Whoa!” Spike’s exclamation drew her attention. “Tw— Starshine, look!” She followed his pointing finger, and gave a startled whinny. At the Princess’s hooves there was… nothing. Reeds Melody had vanished. In a brief moment of panic, she looked around, and noted with alarm that the Iris was also nowhere to be found.
Their host was similarly startled. “What kind of magic is this…?” Sweeping Stroke muttered, his eyes darting around the room. “Where did she go?” Then his eyes fell on Princess Luna, standing at her full height with her wings outstretched, and they practically popped out of his skull. “An alicorn?!”
Okay, okay. Twilight’s brain was taking far too long to catch up to what her eyes were seeing. Things had changed. Reeds and the Iris were gone, Princess Luna’s disguise had been dropped, and something about the interior of the cottage seemed off, artificial. It was almost like…
Princess Luna nodded. “Yes. As you may surmise, my name is not Moonshine. Please call me Princess Luna.” She looked around. “And to answer your question, she has not gone anywhere. She is still sleeping soundly on the floor of your cottage. As are you.”
One of Twilight’s internal organs did a somersault as she processed what she’d already figured out.
“But I’m not…” the implication took just about as long for the stallion to process. “But that would mean…”
“That we are inside Reeds Melody’s dream,” Twilight finished. They were going to fix this now. “How is she aware of the cottage?”
“This is actually Sweeping Stroke’s dream,” the Princess explained, gesturing around. “A gateway, if you will. I thought it best to provide Sweeping Stroke with an environment he recognized before we transitioned to Reeds Melody. It would not do well to cause him too much immediate shock.”
They paused for a moment and watched the clerk as he tried to comprehend what he’d just been told. How would he react? In his position, she’d go into denial, then immediately start experimenting. Thanks to Princess Celestia’s lessons on lucid dreaming, she’d had no need to go through the denial phase, as she’d been in control of it from the very start (well, mostly). Sweeping Stroke…
As it turned out, he followed her example.
One of the books that had been on his desk exploded, its pages scattering out into mid-air around them. Ink seemed to flow off the pages to draw connections between them. A few sparks were emitted from the fire, which began glowing purple. Above them, the roof disappeared, replaced with a starry night sky, which to Twilight’s delight was completely accurate. Not only was Sweeping Stroke experimenting, but he was doing so masterfully. Even the Princess was impressed.
“This is amazing…” he breathed, reaching out to touch one of the floating pages with his hoof. “To be dreaming, yet completely in control… and you do this often?”
“Dreams are my domain,” Princess Luna confirmed, gently pushing aside some of the pages. “It is my charge to put a halt to the nightmares of Equestria.”
“I…” Sweeping Stroke turned around and around, trying to take it all in, then suddenly stopped and looked at the alicorn seriously. “I’m sure I would have heard of such a thing.”
Now was the time for Twilight to step in. “That’s the other thing that we really shouldn’t be telling you. You won’t have heard of Princess Luna, and nor will anypony else in Equestria.” Leaving out Princess Celestia, of course, and Stalleonardo da Colton, whose painting of her was still a few years away. “Not for another three hundred and eighty nine years.”
To his credit, Sweeping Stroke picked up on Twilight’s subtext almost immediately, and his eyebrows went up. “Do you mean to say you’re from the future?”
“Yes.”
“That’s…” Impossible? Crazy? “…just about as plausible, actually…”
“It’s tr—” Twilight started, then coughed on her words as she realized what he’d said. “Uh, right. Anyway, I’m obviously not Starshine, either. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”
“But my name really is Spike!” piped up the dragon from the ground. “I didn’t lie about that!”
Right, that was the introduction out of the way, and they had business to attend to. Twilight looked around; the front door was ajar, and through it she could see a glimpse of a dirt path in the sunlight. “We can explain more once we get started. Princess?”
“Very well. Let us proceed.”
The realm beyond the door of the Raven’s Town cottage was bathed in the daytime sun, a far cry from the torch-light night in the real world, and even though it was a dream and they weren’t physically there, Twilight’s eyes still took a minute or so to adjust to the brightness. Reeds Melody’s dream was nice and sunny, thank goodness. It was also set somewhere familiar - once she’d gotten a look around, Twilight immediately identified that they were in the Lower Canterlot Park, the reverse of the cottage door opening out into the pond island’s gazebo. Canterlot, as it should look in the present. They were back, even if it wasn’t permanently.
In fact, they were only a couple of blocks south of their departure point at the hospital. From where she was standing, she could just about see the emergency pegasus landing pad on its roof above the buildings at the edge of the park.
Though… there was at least one thing that didn’t belong. Over there, against the wall that stopped the citizens from falling out of the city, was an old, wooden construction, much out of keeping with the white marble of the wall itself. Oh, of course; it was the old weather patrol station, the one that had fallen apart after the sonic rainboom and subsequent magical explosion. Past the rather plain entryway, a door through the wall would take the patrol pegasi into a spherical building that gave the views of the surrounding area necessary to coordinate the weather. The present building was much more advanced, of course. This one had just served the forecast well enough for decades and there had been no reason to think it wouldn’t for decades more.
Nobody had— okay, well, maybe one pony had predicted the explosions.
On top of everything else, there were actually other ponies in the park with them. None of them seemed to notice the new arrivals, the student, the alicorn, the baby dragon, or the oddly dressed stallion whose jaw had hit the floor. They just went on with their imagined lives, playing, chatting, picnicking, occasionally vanishing into thin air.
With all the information available, it was pretty easy to guess exactly when Reeds Melody’s dream was taking place. CE 990, the moments before the sonic rainboom, the minutes that had bled from the pegasus into the unicorn. It made sense.
And only seconds later, Twilight’s theory was proven correct.
BANG.
Amongst the dreamed ponies, there was suddenly alarm and curiosity, pointing up towards the colors flashing across the sky. If she hadn’t been occupied with something else at the time, Twilight was sure that her past self would be awestruck and would already be searching for studies on the effect (not that there were any).
If Sweeping Stroke’s jaw dropped any further, it was going to make a hole in the floor. “What in the world was…” he began, stepping forward, but Princess Luna’s wing shot out and prevented him from advancing.
“Please wait a moment,” she cautioned, eyeing the distant castle with concern. “There is something further yet to occur.”
Twilight closed her eyes and tried to remember how long it had been between the sonic rainboom and the magic explosion. A minute, maybe? Less? Adrenaline had distorted the previous two times she’d been through the sequence, and the first time she’d really been preoccupied by the flood of magic to concentrate on how long things were taking. Everything there from the rainboom to her cutie mark was really blurring together.
Nineteen… twenty… twenty one… twenty t- FLASH. A bright light from the castle, followed by a rapidly approaching shockwave that blew out every window it reached, and it wasn’t long before the weather patrol building was being blown apart and there was a wall of purple bearing down on them-
“STOP.”
Everything stopped. The sphere of magic was paused at Princess Luna’s outstretched hoof. Around them, the ponies, the ones that hadn’t vanished again, were in various states of flinching and shielding others. The dream was… halted.
The Princess closed her eyes, and muttered to herself briefly. “As you may have surmised,” she said, without opening them, “we find ourselves in the memory that bled into your dream. The dreamer can be found where the memory began.”
Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns. That was where Reeds Melody was, with a weather balloon. Shouldn’t be too hard to find, right? …Right?
Twilight made to move off, and like Sweeping Stroke had, found herself stopped by one of the Princess’s wings. “There is a… complication,” the diarch said, finally opening her eyes again. “I cannot keep this memory paused while we travel. I must release it before we can continue.”
“What happens when the magic reaches us?” Twilight asked. Somepony had to ask it, the concern was all over Spike and Sweeping Stroke’s faces. “It’s only a dream, but will it affect us?”
There was a pause. “I do not know.” Then Princess Luna grinned mischievously. “Let us find out. Spike, please close the door behind us.”
“Wait, wh—”
FLASH.
The daytime sun shone down on Lower Canterlot Park. All around, ponies were going about their imagined lives, playing, chatting, picnicking, occasionally vanishing into thin air. The weather patrol station building was a wooden blot against the marble city wall. Nopony noticed the new arrivals in the gazebo, who looked particularly concerned.
“What…” Twilight managed. “What just happened?”
“Everything’s back the way it was!” Spike said, looking all around the gazebo. “It’s like nothing happened!”
What Twilight expected was an explanation from Princess Luna. So when that explanation came from Sweeping Stroke instead, she could only stare in amazement. “I believe that is because it hasn’t happened yet,” he said slowly, his eyes scanning the edge of the park. “You said this was a memory? It is logical to think that it has simply returned to its start.”
“Very well done, Sweeping Stroke. Yes, it appears the memory has reset. The events we just witnessed will repeat until we reach the dreamer.”
“Then we’d better get moving.” Twilight set off again and this time wasn’t halted. “We need to reach Reeds as soon as possible.”
A quick agreement of route later, they were running out of the gazebo, across the bridge and making off across the park towards the castle. The sooner they reached Reeds and healed the bleed, the less time they’d spend asleep on the floor of Sweeping Stroke’s cottage. Yes, the Iris was full of magic, but she had no idea how long it could keep up its concealment. If Princess Celestia found them there… instant paradox.
One thing remained constant as they crossed the park, the bizarre flickering of the ponies, who seemed to thin out as they approached the buildings. Twilight voiced her concerns.
“Remember, this is a memory, Twilight Sparkle,” said Princess Luna from the front. “This area may be distant from the dreamer, but Miss Melody is populating it from her own experiences, and if she cannot see it, she cannot remember it.”
Right. Pegasi had good eyesight, and from a vantage point at the castle, Reeds would have been able to see most of Canterlot, that which wasn’t obscured by buildings. True, any ponies would still be specks from that distance, so the ponies they did see were probably random ponies that she was calling up from other memories. Even as she thought that, Twilight swore that she saw a few instances of herself among the crowd.
The most direct route to the castle would be to take Thunderbolt Street past the old communications tower to the Broadway at Equinox Square, and from there the Broadway itself would be the only street they needed. It should be simple. There were no complicated junctions to traverse, they didn’t need to worry about crashing into anypony, it was just a run from point A to point B.
Upon entering Thunderbolt Street the first complication arose, which came from within their own party, as Sweeping Stroke kept slowing down to stare in wonder at the storefronts, and Twilight had to keep stopping to go back and get him. This was probably doing the trick of erasing his skepticism over the whole time travel thing, but he was seeing so much that a pony from 611 really shouldn’t. Everything from clothing to magitek DJ equipment filled the windows of Thunderbolt Street, and though Twilight admitted she’d be doing the same thing, the less he got a good look at the better.
BANG. The sound of the sonic rainboom echoed across the city as they hit the small plaza around the communications tower. There, between the buildings, the ponies weren’t flickering; according to Princess Luna, these streets were now entirely populated based on Reeds’ past experiences, which explained the shopping arguments and the occasional screaming foal. Still they turned to look up at the sky as the intruders ran past. What pony wouldn’t look at this previously mythical event?
And then, twenty-one seconds later…
FLASH.
In the mid-morning sun, the old communications tower rose like a misplaced thimble in the tourist information centre’s model of Canterlot. It didn’t quite cast enough of a shadow to be used as a sundial, the spell that curved the light around the mountainside not hitting it at the right angle, but it still rose above the surrounding buildings. Of course, the wooden structure that used to sit upon its top was long gone, and had been for generations, but at least it retained its identity. It was a popular tourist spot, with plenty of good photo opportunities, and there certainly were plenty of tourists about.
Everything had reset.
And half of the ponies in the street had suddenly turned into Changelings.
Princess Luna skidded to a stop, and Twilight didn’t notice until she smacked into the back of her leg, Spike smacked into her leg and Sweeping Stroke tripped over Spike, both smaller ponies and dragon ending up in a heap.
“What…” Sweeping Stroke whispered, the embarrassment of the situation overwritten by the mix of curiosity and fear that could be expected when one suddenly encountered Changelings. “What are… those?”
“Changelings,” Princess Luna hissed, taking an active stance. “Interlopers! They are not native to this dreamscape!”
Things were just going to get worse from here, weren’t they? Twilight cautiously untangled herself and stood up, helping the stallion to his hooves also, and allowed Spike to climb onto her back. “(What are they doing here, Princess?)” she whispered. None of the Changelings had moved yet, and none of the remaining ponies seemed to have noticed their presence. “(Is the remembering the Invasion?)”
“(Invasion?)” Sweeping Stroke echoed in disbelief.
“No…” the Princess murmured, gaze flicking from one Changeling to the next, waiting to see what their first move would be. “They come from elsewhere…” she looked back at Twilight, and her eyes widened. “Oh.”
Oh what, was what Twilight would have said, had one of the bug creatures not launched itself at her. She threw herself flat onto the cobblestones to avoid it. Instead, she said “Ah!” and fired off a magic bolt towards her aggressor, who took the blast in the face and vanished. “Princess, what’s going on?!”
“Reverse bleed!” the alicorn shouted, shooting down a few more Changelings, who also stopped existing the moment they took a blow. “I failed to consider that when Miss Melody’s dream was bleeding into yours, that elements from your dreams would also be entering hers!”
Then… Twilight looked around, her own eyes wide. “These Changelings are from my dream?!”
“Yes!” With a cry, Princess Luna loosed a ball of magic that cleared the street in front of them. “We may have already left it too late! Run!”
More Changelings appeared on the street ahead as they ran, and the magic users of the four were hard pressed to run and defend themselves at the same time. Well, apart from Sweeping Stroke, who very quickly admitted that he knew no such spells and in a one-to-one fight he was going to end up on the floor almost immediately. He was a scholar, he wasn’t used to this!
It didn’t stop him from attempting to find out more about it, though. “You’ve encountered these creatures before?!” he yelled, as Thunderbolt Street opened up into the market being held in Equinox Square.
“Yes!” Twilight crashed through a watermelon stall and had to dislodge the upturned punch bowl from her head. She really shouldn’t be telling him this, but if he was anything like her, which in a lot of respects he was proving to be, he wasn’t going to let it go until he found out. “A month ago - that is, a month ago from my perspective—” BANG. “—Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings invaded Canterlot! But they were defeated!” Upon glancing back at the look in Sweeping Stroke’s face, she couldn’t help herself and elaborated. “They’re creatures that can disguise themselves as other ponies!”
“I should count myself fortunate that I won’t encounter them, then!”
“Guys, look!” Spike pointed up ahead, to where the Broadway’s exit, the Equinox Gate, was completely barricaded. The Changelings comprising it looked suitably baffled by the windrush from the sonic rainboom, but they weren’t getting through that without a—
FLASH.
Equinox Square was at Canterlot’s heart, physically if not culturally, on the outside of the Equinox Wall which bisected the city. It was usually more of a festival square than one for markets, though it did claim the fame of hosting the toned down but more centralized Canterlot version of the Rainbow Falls Traders Exchange. So far it had been a fairly promising day. Boy, that had gone south rather quickly.
Everything had reset, which included the barricade, which apparently hadn’t been built yet. Twilight did vaguely remember reading that during the invasion, a barricade had been constructed in the Equinox Gate, but surely this couldn’t be an element from her dream - she’d been nowhere near this area. Maybe Reeds had been here and seen it herself. She supposed it made sense. If the Changelings came from Twilight’s dream into Reeds Melody’s, then Reeds was merely repurposing them into her own memory.
The Changelings were still there. Only now there were also jet-black crystal shards sticking out of the cobbles and the walls.
They were still running towards the now clear Equinox Gate when Princess Luna diverted their momentum towards a door in the gate itself. “Things are escalating too quickly!” she shouted. “We must get inside!” As the one in front, she reached it first, and wrenched it open, allowing the two smaller ponies and dragon to enter before following and slamming it shut.
Once inside, they paused to catch their breath. No question, that had been Twilight’s memories of the Crystal Empire’s return at the beginning of the month. If it went so far as to duplicate King Sombra… she shared a glance with Princess Luna. The night after, despite the elation she’d felt at freeing the crystal ponies from the evil king’s tyranny, she had suffered a nightmare about the place behind his secret door, and if she’d read the Princess’s subtext at the time right, so had Spike. A door of dark magic which tapped into your biggest fear… it would be very hard to not have any lingering terrors about it.
The last thing they needed was for the bleeding dreams to turn into nightmares.
“I beg your pardon…” said Sweeping Stroke, who was facing the other way, “But where are we now?”
Twilight knew without even turning around. She could tell by the way she could see her face reflected in the backside of the door. “This is the Crystal Castle.”
Unless Reeds Melody had been to the Empire since it appeared three weeks ago, this was undoubtedly from Twilight’s own experiences. The interior was exactly as she remembered it, right down to the remnants of Sombra’s rule that hadn’t been tidied away by the time she left.
Sweeping Stroke looked as if he was going to faint, but if anything, the Princess looked even more disturbed by this revelation. “This is not a good sign,” she said, stepping forward, and casting her gaze about the antechamber. “We should do our best to minimize our interactions with the foreign elements of the dream.”
“Um…” Spike raised a hand. “Does that include… us?”
He had a good point. What were they to this dream?
“At the moment, we are but visitors, but if we allow it, it will ensnare us.” The alicorn was already moving. “Twilight Sparkle, how is your memory of this place?”
“I think I can get us through.”
“Do so then, and hurry. The Changelings were only character manifestations. The bleeding of an entire setting can be catastrophic. She does not know this environment, and it could separate from the main dream at any moment.”
Oh great. At Twilight’s best guess that was going to be the next pair of explosions, which were a few minutes away and rapidly closing. They needed to find a way out. Fast. The main entrance was behind them, so where would the exit be? One of the balconies? Or…
With a grimace, she realized that there was only going to be one door that would get them out of the castle. That meant… the throne room! She took off at a gallop, with the others close on her hooves. They needed to get to the very top, which meant re-using the trick she’d used last time. The gravity spell was still at the edge of her mind. They were going to need it if they were to exit before the flash.
One hall, two staircases, two halls, throne room! Right where it was supposed to be, the shadow of dark magic and the hidden well where Sombra had hidden the path to the Crystal Heart. This time they didn’t have time to take the stairs. Checking her magic was strong enough for a cushioning spell, Twilight formed the matrix and jumped, Spike and Sweeping Stroke behind screaming as they realized what exactly they were doing. If she judged this wrong, they’d be pancaked. But she had confidence born of necessity now. She couldn’t fail.
And they didn’t. The cushioning spell kicked in moments before they hit the floor, and two sets of hooves touched down lightly, followed closely by a third set as Princess Luna landed herself. That was step one.
Step two, the door. Twilight didn’t have time for fear-inducing shenanigans. The instant the door appeared she was shooting it with everything she could muster. The door was going to open, and it was going to open now.
She was a little surprised when it opened without any complaint.
Evidently the surprise was written all over her face, as the Princess responded. “Dreams have different rules to the real world. The dark magic has lost its effect.”
“Dark magic?”
“Eh, you open the door, you have to experience your worst fear,” Spike explained. “No biggie.”
“I… see,” Sweeping Stroke said, in a tone of voice that suggested he didn’t see, but realized that the urgency prevented any more in-depth questions from being answered. “Very well. What next?”
That was easy. Through the door, and then they were on the outside of the well, which went up far higher than the inside did. Last time, it had been distorted by dark magic, but this was probably going to be dream magic again making the space bigger.
Spike was complaining about having to climb the previous sets of stairs, but they just didn’t have time to climb this set, just like they hadn’t had the time to climb it in the real world. They needed the gravity spell, and to hope that friction would cause any—
BANG.
They only had twenty-one seconds left. No time! She hoped the Princess would forgive her for snatching her so roughly, but if any of them ended up trapped there… she didn’t even want to consider it. To have one’s mind lost in an infinite dream was something she didn’t want to experience. One quick cast of the gravity spell, and they were away!
Nine, ten, eleven…
Come on, come on… Twilight could only will that they were moving faster.
Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen…
She could see the top of the tower! They were so close! Just a couple more seconds!
Nineteen, twenty, twenty one, twenty t—
FLASH.
What Equinox Square was to the whole city, Shetland Yard was to Upper Canterlot, the richer district, home to the higher class shops and also the oldest buildings. Dominating the yard was one of the last remnants of the very first iteration of the city, the Shetland Gate, now just an isolated monumental archway, marking where Canterlot once ended and the wilds began. Most notably it was home to the Upper Canterlot Watch House, where those members of the Royal Guard not on duty at the castle would be tasked with protecting the city. Twilight’s own home wasn’t far away. This was familiar territory.
Groaning, Twilight carefully picked herself up off the cobblestones. Around her, Princess Luna, Spike Sweeping Stroke - good, they’d all made it out. They were lying at the foot of the stairs to the Watch House, which must have been the exit portal from the castle. At least they were closer to their destination now. They only had a quarter of the city left to cover.
Naturally, the reset had left the yard populated with Changelings. And this time, they weren’t alone.
“Run!” Princess Luna bellowed.
A hooffull of Changelings they could probably manage. Having to juggle running to the school, blasting Changelings whilst at the same time dodging whatever Queen Chrysalis was shooting at them was something they very really could not. There was no time to stop for a breather, or ask questions. It was all or nothing. Get to Reeds Melody, or… Twilight really didn’t want to consider the alternatives.
Last time she’d been running from Changelings through Canterlot she’d had her friends backing her up. Six of them together had been enough to beat the bugs back. Four, where one of them was a dragon and despite another being one of Equestria’s diarchs, wouldn’t be so lucky if they were cornered. She really wished her friends were with her. This was the sort of thing they had to do together. It didn’t seem right to be flirting with disaster without them present.
Two more loops passed as they ran for their lives up the Broadway, each time the streets were filled with more and more, and Twilight swore that she was living through the invasion again, only seeing it from a different perspective. It and the events of 990 were blurring into a single event. When they reached Castle Square she half expected to see herself running the other way to reach the Elements of Harmony.
Almost as if she were reading Twilight’s mind, Princess Luna shouted again. “Going after the Elements would not be wise! They have no power here!” That, and they were halfway back across the city in the direction they’d just come from. Reaching Reeds in the school now was their only chance.
BANG. Again, the wind rush and the tremors from the sonic rainboom. Twilight was getting sick of the noise. When she got out of this, she was going to find a rope and leash Rainbow Dash to a fence or something.
Castle Square was coming up. They’d make it to their destination before the end of the next loop… It seemed like it had been an eternity since they had been standing in the gazebo in the park without a clue what lay before them. She was glad it was only a dream - she couldn’t imagine how she’d cope if she got locked in an endless recursion of time in the real world. She would lose it.
FLASH.
The last milestone before Canterlot castle, Castle Square marked where the city ended and the castle grounds began. Residents, tourists, students, ponies and others from all walks of life could be found on just about every day. The gates would be flanked by the usual pair of implacable Royal Guards. Souvenir shops were predominant. This was where you came to see Princess Celestia. This was (at the time, at least) the most important part of Equestria that wasn’t on the inside of the gate.
Everything had reset.
And there was only one pony in the entire plaza.
Again, Princess Luna slammed to a halt, and again, everypony else crashed into her, except this time, instead of the anger she’d shown upon seeing the Changelings, Twilight would have sworn the Princess looked like she’d seen a ghost. Her eyes were locked on the pony ahead of them, a tall snow-white unicorn mare with a grass green mane and wearing a dull green cloak, and for the first time since they’d entered the dreamscape, the alicorn, the ruler of the night, the almighty moonraiser, was afraid.
Her voice was little more than a whisper. “You… how can you be here?”
The unicorn gave no response.
“Um, your, uh, highness…” stuttered Sweeping Stroke. “…those things are moving again…”
Twilight looked back herself. Though the Changelings had reset in the flash, they were already noticing them and moving to attack. One of them had a crossbow. She really didn’t want to interrupt Princess Luna, and anything she was afraid of they should probably be as well, but they couldn’t just stand there. “Princess…?”
It was as if the Princess had suddenly forgotten everything else that was happening. With trepidation she slowly stepped towards the figure, and as they got closer Twilight realized that, as she now had a comparison, the mysterious mare was taller than she’d realized. She could have matched Princess Celestia for height.
Still she did not react, despite Princess Luna’s cautious approach and the still impending threat of the Changelings now mustering behind them. Both she and the alicorn were in their own world. Now there were so many more questions and even less time to ask them! Twilight risked another glance behind them. The Changelings were getting too close for comfort, and she really didn’t want to give that one with the crossbow an opportunity to—
In one fluid motion, the tall mare withdrew a sword - a sword - from a scabbard on her back and pointed it past the four of them at the Changelings, who… stopped.
“Listen to your sister’s protege, Luna.” Her voice evoked Princess Celestia’s motherly tone, comforting yet forceful. It was hauntingly familiar from somewhere. “You have no time to be jumping at shadows. You must reach the dreamer before she loses control.”
Princess Luna shook her head. “Wh— I— That’s all you have to say?!” Now she seemed outraged more than anything. “You shouldn’t be here! You are not of either dream!”
“You say that with such certainty.” For the first time, the tall mare opened her eyes, and Twilight was startled to see that they were blank white. But this was no fault of magic overcharge. This was something… altogether more different. Her gaze never broke from the paused Changelings, the magic holding the sword was perfectly level, and for a moment, Twilight was reminded of…
Wait, that had to be it! There was no other explanation! “You’re a manifestation of the Iris!”
While the Princess looked surprised at Twilight’s outburst, the tall mare smiled, though without diverting her attention. “Close enough, Twilight Sparkle. But I must repeat that you have no time. The Iris cannot keep you hidden for much longer, and it still has instructions it must follow.” She nodded back towards the castle gates. “Hurry, all of you. The direct route is already closed to you, but there is still a path. I will hold the flood.”
Spike and Sweeping Stroke glanced at each other, the Changelings, and the mare, then took off as fast as they could. Twilight took a few steps, then realized that Princess Luna wasn’t following. When she looked back, she saw that the emotion on the alicorn’s face had changed. All of the fear, the rage, had vanished. Now she seemed… sad. It was the same face that Princess Celestia hid when Twilight caught her walking out of the private Portrait Gallery.
“I don’t know how you can be here…” Princess Luna murmured, either not noticing or not caring that Twilight was still in earshot. “But…” she sighed. “I wish we were meeting again under less pressing circumstances.”
“As do I. Now go. Your subject requires your aid. Every little memory, Luna.”
“That rests calm in me,” the Princess returned, and Twilight had the awkward feeling she’d just been witness to some sort of private trust password. “I will remember you to Celestia.”
“As you should. Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight jumped upon being mentioned.
“Uh, y-yes?!” She couldn’t help but stutter. Something about this pony…
The tall mare inclined her head. Back on the Broadway, the Changelings were starting to move again. “Know that you have not met me yet! Your future and my past are still intertwined! Rest calm, and remember me!” She turned back to the Changelings, and… drew three more swords. Yikes. Twilight wasn’t sure if she wanted to get to know this pony better. She turned to leave, but then turned back. She didn’t want to leave without Princess Luna. Without her, there was no chance of solving anything. The tall mare seemed to be of that opinion, too. “Luna, you must go. You cannot do anything here.”
The Princess sighed again. “Very well. What do you plan on doing?”
“What I have always done.”
“Something catastrophically stupid.”
“Astute as always, Luna. GO.”
Needing no further telling, but clearly not wanting to leave either, Princess Luna turned and, together with Twilight, ran to where Spike and Sweeping Stroke were waiting anxiously at the gate. As they ran, Twilight risked a glance back; the Changelings were charging once more, and the tall mare was still unmoving. She didn’t know what the other unicorn planned on doing, but she didn’t fancy her chances as one pony against the equivalent of a whole army, even if they were only dream projections.
Reunited with the others, they hurried into the castle grounds. So many questions… she had said that her past and Twilight’s future were intertwined, but… how could she know that? How did the Iris project into the dream? And what did she mean by ‘the Iris has instructions it must follow’? Argh! If only she had the time to note this down in her thought-journal!
And that of course was ignoring the biggest question of all: Who was she anyway?!
A thought occurred. “Princess…” BANG. “…who was that…?”
For twenty seconds that seemed like an eternity, the Princess didn’t answer.
“An old friend.”
FLASH.
Twilight wished she could have asked more, but at that moment an arrow whizzed past them. Of course. The tall mare could only hold them as long as the memory held. When it repeated…
“Inside!” she shouted. “We have to get inside!” They crossed the main bridge, and shot in through the gate. There was an open door over to the left, inviting them inside. “There!”
Sweeping Stroke was inside first. Then Princess Luna, then Twilight… Spike darted in through the door moments before the arrow went thunk into the wood, and Sweeping Stroke slammed it shut. He sank down against it and wiped his brow.
“Are dreams… always like this?”