Sour Apple
Sour Apple left his adopted brother tucked into the pile of blankets before leaving with one last look back at Midnight Shine. The colt looked back with solemn silver eyes, but stayed put. After closing the door quietly, Sour Apple left the run-down tenement and started down the busy street. Even this ruined street had a little bit of beauty to it, he thought, looking up at the half-crumbled buildings that were painted cerulean by the moonlight passing through the unicorns' shield. He'd have to give up his 'Manehattan cynic' card if he ever admitted it, but Sour Apple sometimes felt a tinge of wonder looking up at the ruins. They must have been so tall and strong before the winter. And all built by earth ponies just like him, with almost no help from pegasi or unicorns.
He wasn't out tonight to look at his favorite dilapidated towers, though. Sour Apple had a job to do tonight, and this time it wasn't a small-time hustle. No, this time it wasn't rigged games of 'chance' or picking pockets down by the market. This was a heist. Supposedly an old, abandoned private vault had been found, and he was going to be in on it. This was finally his chance to make it, to finally be secure and safe in a fancy apartment somewhere without having to spend all of his time afraid of the police and scrabbling to make ends meet. Sour was going to get his brother a silk robe instead of his ratty old cloak, and they were going to live like princes.
At least, that was the plan. For now, he was on his face after bumping into something hard and rough, so lost in his fantasizing that he wasn't looking where he was going. He stumbled up to his feet to see... a dragon? Sour Apple took a couple steps back and blinked hard. It was... definitely a dragon. A gangly, red-scaled dragon not much taller than him, with huge-looking wings folded back, who then turned around to fix Sour Apple with a glare from its orange eyes.
"What are you looking at? You better watch where you're going, little pony." The dragon's voice was low and raspy, but certainly female, and her gravelly tone made one of Sour's ears twitch.
"You were standing in my way!" Sour Apple stared right back and growled a little. Sure, he'd never actually seen a dragon before, and there were a dozen different ways she could kill him running through his mind, but you didn't get anywhere in this town by backing down.
The stare-off went off for a good couple of minutes before the dragon finally laughed and patted Sour Apple on the shoulder. "Ha... You're not bad for a pony. My name's Talon."
"I, um... thanks. I'm Sour Apple." He smiled at her and patted her arm with one hoof before hurrying away, waiting until he was around the corner before breaking down shaking and gasping for breath. That could have turned out badly.
Midnight Shine
Midnight Shine waited a bit after his brother left, and then sighed. He was tired of sitting around at home, and this was his chance to get out and be at least a little normal for once, even if he did have to hide his features like some kind of freak. Midnight put his cloak and wide-brimmed hat on, careful to make sure the hat properly hid his horn, before stepping out into the world.
What to do with his temporary freedom, though? It was a tough choice... There were so many places to go and see, so many ponies to talk to. Maybe he'd even make a new friend! If he could do that, maybe he could convince Sour Apple that he was being too cautious, that it was worth the risk giving him more freedom. After all... he was a big pony now. He didn't need his big brother constantly watching over him. Maybe the market? Yeah, he had a few bits to spend, and, well... Midnight wasn't sure what he wanted to buy. But he could at least browse and talk to the shop ponies.
The colt slowly made his way through the town towards the old park, where there was an open-air bazaar set up. The shield seemed thinner than normal, and it was starting to gently snow, but a little bit of snow was nothing to worry too much about. It happened sometimes. The weather certainly didn't seem to be bothering anyone else either - the market was packed with ponies of all sorts. Rising above the thronging crowd of pastel horses, ramshackle booths and stands of brick and wood rose to support brightly colored cloth awnings that spread over the crowds, forming narrow, dark corridors between the many market stalls. Even now, after everything, Manehattan never slept. The air was filled with the sounds of commerce, conversations, and fun, and Midnight could smell exotic street foods and strange herbs on the light breeze. With as much time as he spent cloistered at home, the park bazaar was a whirlwind of sensory delights, and he loved every second he spent there.
He slipped in with the crowd to enter the market proper, the darkness under the awnings broken up by oil lanterns that swung a little in the breeze and cast flickering, dancing shadows wherever they lit. He spent a bit on a small bag of hay fries from a stall and sat up on a stool to enjoy it and watch the ponies as they went by. There were ponies and creatures of all sorts in this market, and that was the best part - there were zebras from the far south, dragons from the east, even a yak who sold vanilla cakes and gave Midnight little hard candies sometimes. There were also undesirable sorts too, of course - drunk ponies stumbling from the cider and wine vendors, thieves and thugs, the- Midnight's eyes contracted as he spotted an earth pony in a black suit, with blue fur and a close-cut mane. Secret police. He had to be - he was too stiff and aloof to be a normal visitor to the market. Midnight carefully lowered the brim of his wide hat and looked down at his remaining fries, while looking at the suited pony out of the corner of his eye. With luck, he would just... not notice Midnight. It was a thick crowd, after all, and he was just one small colt in a too-large coat and a big hat.
Then again, it didn't look like he was going to be so lucky tonight. Midnight saw another suited earth pony pushing through the crowds, and this one met his eyes - just a moment, but enough to see Midnight's wide silver irises. His eyes might not have had the unnatural gleam they have in the dream realm, but silver eyes were still exceedingly rare. The Finder looked towards his partner and nodded before starting to muscle his way towards Midnight. This was bad - time to get out of here. Midnight dropped off of the stool and started walking away at a canter. No need for speed yet... a small little pony might get lost among all the adults. After rounding a corner, Midnight started to run. He looked up and saw a pegasus flying over his head, but the momentary distraction caused him to run headlong into a vendor and go skidding across the cracked pavement, losing his hat along the way- leaving his long horn for all to see. Well, too late for hiding now. He picked himself up and started running at full speed, ditching his coat along the way to gasps of surprise from those who saw his cutie mark. The pegasus picked up the pace, following Midnight. So that's three, Midnight thought to himself as he ran. No, four. He could see the fourth now, running to pen him in in the warren of stalls. And it was working. No matter how hard he tried, the trained Finders were on him like wolves, always herding him in until he was backing into a dead end with the Finders closing in ahead of him. No, no, they're going to get me, and they're going... they're going... Midnight started to breathe heavily in a panic, and he could feel his horn starting to flare up with its silver aura of its own accord. No, no, no, no, no- The colt closed his eyes in a grimace, feeling like he was filling with so much magic that he would explode if he didn't let it all out, and then he disappeared with a flash of silver light and a popping noise as the air rushed in to where he was a moment ago. He reappeared on the other side of the earth ponies in the same flash and pop, and once he got over the shock, he started running with a loud laugh of surprise and joy. But unfortunately, his escape was short lived - the pegasus in the air came down on the colt in a swooping blur of purple, and the last thing Midnight felt before blacking out was the pain of a hoof coming down on his head.
Sour Apple
Sour Apple walked quietly into the room with the rest of the ponies, while the boss - a rather tall unicorn mare with a long, curly red mane - was already in the middle of explaining where they were going and what the plan was.
"-now, the Uptown vault has automated security from before the Winter. I'm not sure exactly what we'll run into but I know that it's magical. Golems, maybe. Beam gems. That kind of thing. I'm hoping that most of it will be out of energy, but I don't like to bank on hope. Each team will have a unicorn to help dispel-"
Sour tuned her out for the time being and looked around. His part would come later if it came at all. In truth, he wasn't sure why a lanky teen was here amongst all the huge, muscled earth ponies and scholarly-looking unicorns. What could he possibly do that they couldn't?
"They've got lots of muscle, here, haven't they?" Hearing a familiar, raspy voice, Sour Apple turned to see the dragon he'd met earlier - Talon, if he remembered her name properly. "I guess she's really banking on golems. You see these big stallions getting around a field of spikes or beam gems?" Talon laughed, and Sour felt himself smiling a little himself. It did seem a little ridiculous, after all.
"You're here, too? Wow, they're letting everyone in on this." He punched her in the arm lightly in the arm with one hoof as the boss continued to drone on in the background.
"-and that's where the kid comes in. Kid, are you paying attention?" She paused for a moment. "Sour Apple! Get up here or you're out!"
Sour rushed up to the front through the other ponies and stepped up on the little dais that she was on. "I'm- I'm here, Miss Black. I'm listening. Um, k-kind of."
Black Cherry looked at him with a raised eyebrow and shook her head. "Well you better be listening now, because this is where you and the dragon come in. Whatever is in there, it's going to be good. But I have no idea what's protecting it. It's got to be something, if there's still intact treasure. I'm going to need smart and agile, and that's you two. Security systems like this are powered by a generator. You two are going to get past the last of the security, and turn it off so the rest of it can get in."
Sour Apple felt himself going pale under his coat. "I... I am? Um... We are? Miss Black, I've never, um... I've never.."
She looked down at him coldly. "Well, there's a first time for everything. It's a little too late now, isn't it? You do this or I tell the Crown about your brother."
"My..." The colt felt cold under her glare. "I... alright. Yeah, there's a first time for everything."
*****
An hour later, he was sitting in the lobby of an old hotel in the abandoned Uptown district with Talon, making awkward small talk. The other three teams, each one four earth ponies and a unicorn, had already descended the ruined elevator shaft into what had once been a basement suite. She was actually pretty interesting, he had to admit, once he started talking to her. She'd been raised from an egg by ponies here in Manehattan, and never actually seen the Dragon Lands, but once she got on the subject, it was all Talon would talk about. It turns out, she'd been raised on stories of the volcanic badlands where the line of Dragonlord Ember still ruled and winter never touched the land. In turn, Sour Apple told her all of the old Apple family stories he could remember - most of them were about farming, but it was farming in the old times, when the days were long and warm under the Sun Princess and ponies lived in harmony with the other creatures of the world thanks to the Princess of Friendship.
He was in the middle of telling her the story of how Applejack defeated the Storm King when a big, brown earth pony came up to them. "It's time. We've cleared the way to the vault for you two."
Sour Apple chuckled nervously to Talon. "I guess it's time for us to make the big money, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Talon grinned. "Let's do this."
Midnight Shine
Midnight awoke to find himself in a small brick cell with an iron door and a thick, barred glass window. He was lying on a thin mat pushed against the wall, and a thin blue shaft of light tapered down through the window.
"Ugh... where am I?" he asked to nopony in particular as he sat up on his haunches and looked around. His head pounded where the huge earth pony had hit him over the head, and his horn seemed to throb with every heartbeat. It looked like a jail cell, but... where? Looking out of the window didn't give him any hint, aside from telling him that it was just before or past midnight. He certainly didn't recognize this part of town- it didn't look like anywhere he'd been. In fact, it didn't look like anywhere anypony had been in a very long time. The buildings were reduced to ruins, and from the looks of things they were at the very edge of the shield. Even though they were technically protected, most ponies were afraid to live this close to the edge, for fear of being the first ones frozen if the shield ever fell. So what was he doing in a jail cell in a place where no ponies, or police, actually lived?
A flicker of blue reflected in the window caught Midnight's eye, and he turned around so quickly that he hit his side on the wall, accompanied by a small yelp of pain. The colt pressed himself back with a whine of fear as he saw a shadowy figure seeming to fade in and out of the dark corner of his room. "Who-what are you?" he asked fearfully. It looked like a pony, vaguely, but bigger than any pony he'd seen and draped in a heavy black cloak.
"Nay, child. You have nothing to fear from me." The voice was that of a mare's; deep, careful, and somber, and when she stepped forward, he saw that she had dark blue fur and hair like nothing that Midnight had ever seen- it was the blue of a dusk sky and speckled with stars, and it flowed through the still air as though a strong breeze was passing her. Her unicorn horn was almost as long as his head, and he saw a small black crown behind it. In short, she was the most beautiful - and terrifying - thing that he had ever witnessed in his young life, and his front legs twitched as though they wanted to bow of their own free will. "I am Luna, Princess of the Night. In this world, I was your distant ancestor."
"In... what?" Midnight's fear was momentarily overidden by his confusion, and he stood up and took a couple steps forward. "I don't understand. Luna died... she died a thousand years ago. If you're really her, then how are you here now?"
"I did say, 'in this world'. There are infinite worlds, young Prince. And over each of those worlds is a moon."
"I... a... what?" The word 'Prince' vaguely ticked a red flag in his head, but he was more confused and shocked by the 'infinite worlds' bit. "I don't think I understand. I thought this was the world."
Luna shook her head slowly. "Perhaps I can show you. Have you traveled the dream realm?"
"I... maybe? I don't know." He considered this. "I'm not sure what the dream realm is, but I know that I can touch a pony when they're sleeping, and see their dream. Or... enter it? It's like I'm having the same dream as them." He sat down next to her and sighed. "I don't understand any of it. It's supposed to be my 'special talent', but I don't... I can't do anything. I just... I just watch my brother having a nightmare and I feel so helpless. All I want to do is make it better and make him happy and I'm not..." Midnight sniffled. "I'm not strong enough."
A shadow passed over him, and he looked up to see that she was holding a wing around him - massive and thick, with long, wide pinions, yet also strangely... weightless. As though she wasn't really there. And yet, it was strangely comforting. "Little Midnight... I was weak too, when I was your age. Until I met my other. We take our power from the moon, but you've never truly seen it, have you?" He just shook his head in response. "You'll understand when you do. But for now, let me explain the dream realm. For now, you can just enter one dream. But everyone who sleeps is dreaming, right? It's not just your brother." Midnight nodded at this. "Dreams have their own magic, their own power. Their own rules. A dream is not simply a figment of our imagination. It is a creation of our imagination. If you dream that you are falling, then you create a world where you are falling."
Midnight thought about this for a moment. "But how? Where does it all come from? My brother got me a book by Starswirl, and it said that magic always costs something. So-"
Luna held a hoof up to interrupt him, and he saw that she was wearing shoes of blue-grey steel that traced up her lower legs in an intricate pattern. "No. Starswirl said that magic always comes from somewhere. A pegasus gets their speed and grace from the sky. An earth pony gets their strength from the living earth. A dragon gets their fire from the molten center of our world." She chuckled lightly. "It was a very confusing lesson to learn for me as well, and I learned it from the source. I can see how you would make that mistake."
"So...if you're saying that all magic comes from somewhere, and dreams are a kind of magic, then where do dreams come from?"
"They come from the dream realm - what some unicorns call the Astral Plane." Luna sighed. "But I suppose you wouldn't know what that is, would you?" Midnight shook his head in response. "The dream realm is a reflection of our thoughts, our wishes, our hopes and dreams and fears. Think of every world as an island. You know what an island is, right?"
Midnight laughed at this. "Yeah, I know what an island is. It's a bit of land out in the water - like old Longmane Island where the lighthouse used to be."
"Then think of the world as an island. Now, you can't see them, but there are countless islands out there, and on each one of them there are creatures that live there. Now imagine a sea, a huge ocean that connects them all. In the day, as we go about our lives, we dump everything in our minds into that sea, and at night, when we dream, we fish those things back out, along with a little bit of the magic needed to turn it all into a dream."
It took him a bit to come to grips with all this, and Luna must have noticed his confused expression; she went silent and simply stayed there with her wing around the colt, letting him work through it on his own. "So the, um... the sea..." He stammered slowly as he worked through the metaphor. "So you swam? From another island?"
"I... yes, little one. I suppose I did." She smiled at Midnight. "Eventually you'll learn to enter not just dreams, but the dream realm itself. And from there, you can enter any dream. Or even... another island." Luna stopped at this and closed her eyes, lighting her horn with a dark aura. Midnight suddenly felt dizzy and tried to stand, but only fell forward onto his belly and passed out.
*****
The world was fuzzy and grey, and Midnight felt like he was floating in something warm and thick. Like... oatmeal? Better not think of it that way, he thought. That'll make this even weirder than it is. Midnight saw a sparkling light in the distance and started to swim, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get any closer. Wait... this doesn't feel right. It feels... He stopped to think. It was a sensation of wrongness, like if he could find a string, he could tug on it and the whole world would fall apart. Almost like a weird itch at the base of his horn. This wasn't real - it was just a dream! And if it was a dream, then maybe... Midnight closed his eyes and started pouring magic and will into his horn, and when he opened them he was rushing towards the light. He touched the orb of white light and his hoof went straight through; then he felt a tugging on his hoof.
It turned out it was Luna, pulling him through a hole that was actually a mirror. Not expecting it, Midnight fell forward onto his face and had to find his hooves again with a bit of a blush. "So... where is this? What is this?"
"This is the dream realm. At least, a version of it that's easier to understand, I hope."
"Easier..." Midnight raised an eyebrow as he looked around. The whole world around him was a light grey blur filled with orbs of light. "I don't think..."
"Close your eyes. Breathe. Visualize yourself somewhere comforting or familiar."
Midnight tried to do what she said. He wanted to think of the park, or perhaps home, but now he had mirrors on his mind and all he could think about was the hall of mirrors in the Midtown Circus. When he opened his eyes again, they were standing in a low, garishly painted hallway barely high enough for Luna's head, with dozens of mirrors on either side of them. But the lights were out, and instead of reflecting Midnight and Luna, each mirror was... Midnight gasped. Each one, instead of reflecting, projected a moving image of somepony's dream.
"Hmm... a... carnival? I am not sure this is the best choice, but if it is what's comforting to you..."
Midnight huffed and blushed again. "I... not really. It kind of scared me when my brother brought me here, actually. I got lost deeper in where it's like a maze. But it was all I could think of after coming through that mirror!"
"I see... at any rate, you can see the different ponies' dreams, yes?"
Midnight nodded at this. "But I've never been able to do anything like this. How is this happening?"
Luna shook her head. "I'm letting you borrow some of my power for the time being. But you're the one creating this dream, and you're the one who can take us into or out of a dream - or even further."
"Further how?"
"It's... difficult to explain until you've seen it. Much of this will be impossible to fully understand until you unlock your potential. But let me reclaim some of the power and... alter..." She hummed to herself as she ignited her horn and started moving the mirrors with magic, tilting them all towards each other so that they only reflected one another. "Here. I have these three mirrors here in a triangle. Stand in the middle and look at one of them." As Midnight complied, she started tuning and changing the images on them until Midnight saw a huge round world, with a glowing white moon hanging over it. "This is your world. But look closer."
"I see... a reflection. And a reflection of a reflection. And...." His eyes turned into dots as he was momentarily overwhelmed by what he saw, an infinite regress of worlds and moons, until Luna finally pulled him back out of the dream and back into his cell.
"It will take you years to develop your full potential. It will be a long journey, and you have much more to learn about yourself before you are ready for this." Luna smiled.
Midnight, on the other hand, finally lost his patience with her illusions and advice once he recovered from the shock. "You're not actually telling me anything useful! I don't want to 'develop my full potential'," - this part he put in little quotes with one of his front hooves - "All I want is to get out of this cell and warn my brother!"
"I have not come simply to give you advice." The wan blue moonlight filled the old cell through the window by now - it must have been almost morning. It revealed the faint translucence of Luna's astral form, and reflected in Midnight's eyes as he looked up at her in confusion. "On every one of the worlds I showed you, under the light of every moon, there is a pony who forms a special bond, who shepherds it through the sky and watches over the dream realm with its power. This world has been out of balance for too long, and I will start your journey whether you like it or not!" The moon princess's horn flared white with power and she thrust a vapor-like hoof through Midnight's chest, sending a chill through his body as it passed into him. The world seemed to fade and-
A wheel rolled and filled and surged with moonlight energy magic power-
The tide tugged at a steam ship with a great iron icebreaker and he could feel it like the blood rushing through his veins and-
A timberwolf howled at the full moon and prepared to hunt the shields were down it smelled blood tonight it would not go hungry and-
Pegasi struggled to hold back the clouds and unicorns tried and failed to jumpstart the crystals that powered the shields and earth ponies raced to save their crop-
Luna's hoof moved to his throat, and his eyes opened again to see her before-
Sour Apple ran desperately through tunnels underground with a dragon close behind he'd lost his coat but he wore a thick gold choker with a massive ruby in the shape of a lightning bolt and his shadow was a blue pegasus who raced through the air ahead of a trail of rainbows and the sky thundered from her passage her heart was broken friendship was broken the only thing left was LOYALTY hate love vengeance death-
A gangly red dragon breathed blue-hot fire against the cold, she could not fight forever but she would try, she would do anything for her new friends but her HONESTY would doom them all-
A handsome young pegasus with pale yellow fur and a slick black mane danced and sang on stage for a crowd, but in his heart it felt empty; a brilliant blue sapphire sat in his dressing room and whispered to him of GENEROSITY-
A grey unicorn in a blue cloak looked at herself in a mirror and laughed, at fate and ponies and most at all herself, her life was ruined her family was dead she would never see home again but somehow she could always find LAUGHTER-
Luna pushed her hoof through his head and-
A million dreams stretched out before him an endless sea how could he choose but he didn't have to choose he felt a tug-
A white filly his own age with long, pale blue hair watched the sun with wonder and a white mare with hair of pink and blue and wind touched her shoulder and they danced and played in the sunlight but the mare was fading sadness death beauty-
A patchwork monster hero villain pony dragon trapped in chains and runes and crystals, he japed and laughed and grinned but it never reached his eyes they were fire hate cruelty revenge his name was Discord and he would destroy the world for love-
An alicorn of pure fire flared its wings and breathed pain rage loss at a monster of ice and it had to be stopped had to be saved restore the balance-
Finally, she touched her horn to his. "Awaken." Power surged through him, light filled the room, and-
Steel crunched and ponies screamed, smoke and mist, searing beams of pure power cut through darkness stone metal flesh-
Snow and ice and cold, screaming terrors, drive them back, slowing and freezing but he still fights, he floats through the air but then he's falling fading dying, he sees his brother and his world goes black.