Chapter 2: Dreams and Whiskers.
Not all relationships lasts forever. Me and Mackerella’s relationship would probably only last for a few more hours… as long as it takes for me to digest her.
I’ll freely admit that, that was the strangest thing I’ve ever done. Can’t say the fish wasn’t extremely delicious though! It might just have been the best thing I’ve eaten for ages. Too much junk-food over the years made this meal all the more pleasant.
So, I still don’t know where I am, or in this case, where I was. Yeah, I didn’t wanna wait around for Fishy’s banana-fun to be over. No, I joined a small caravan going to Baltimare (aka, I jumped onto one of the wagons), a place which name I DID know. Yeah, I didn’t exactly know where in Equestria it was, but hey, it’s IN Equestria, right? I just have to go from there. Maybe find a map or something.
Having figured out the difficult matter of ‘running your ass off!’ I’ve set my focus on my gross motor skills. Moving each… (note to self, learn proper cat-anatomy) ‘toe’ of my paw, wasn’t too hard. After having fiddled a bit with them, I was able to pick up smaller things.
I’m going awfully fast with this whole learning process, aren’t I? I know humans don’t learn to walk until they’re a few years old and kittens at least a few months. I essentially did it in 15 minutes (and a chase-scene that would make Benny Hill proud) or so.
Looking out from the back of the caravan wagon, I looked at the night sky.
Back on Earth, when I was but a little lad, I lived in the country-side. Out there you could easily see the stars, a luxury I didn’t have while living in Copenhagen. Imagine the prettiest looking night sky you can think of. Imagine the Milky Way and a few of the constellations. Imagine there not being a single cloud to hinder your view of the stars. Try to imagine this beauty, it’s not that hard. Now take this star-filled sky, and multiply its beauty by at least four. Damn, Princess Luna does a magnificent job with the sky.
Looking around the cart, I noticed a big mirror. I haven’t actually gotten a good look at myself, have I? Time to fix tha- Hello handsome! Well, my first idea was correct, I’m black. And while my facial features wasn’t all too surprising, except for my eyes being a big bigger than a normal cat’s, it was the color of them that struck me most. ‘Heterochromia iridium’ yes, I’m very proud of myself for knowing that word. It simply means having two-colored eyes. My left eye was a light blue while the right eye was green. I retract my statement; I CAN look badass as a kitty-cat!
After a little more studying of my body (and a little impromptu victory dance because of the eyes), I decided that kitty needs a name. ‘Kasper the Cat’, while sounding hilarious, wasn’t what I was looking for. It’s a new life, new body, so a new name should be in order.
…
…Wow, this is harder than I thought. It’s only the name you’re gonna use for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! No pressure or anything!
“I need to sleep on it.” I mumbled to myself, trying not to alert the driver of the wagon. One thing I quickly noticed was how awkward it was for me to sleep as a normal cat would do. I simply started with that position, seeing how so many other things had come naturally already, but it didn’t ‘fit’.
“Screw it!” I murmured, and let myself fall backwards onto the pile of rags I had thrown together as a make-shift bed, letting my limbs sprawl out. “Yeah, that’s the stuff.”
I soon found myself in a deep, comfortable sleep.
When you dream, you find yourself doing something. It can be anything really. But the thing is, you can never remember how you got there. At least that’s what Inception taught me, but this was different. I knew I was dreaming. Nothing stood out in the amphitheater, the sky wasn’t red as blood, and even though I was in my human body, I was still wearing my pants. All in all, this could easily have been a normal vacation to Greece for all I knew. Here’s the thing though; as I just said, you can’t remember how you got there. I knew that I hadn’t gotten here at all. I had just ‘appeared ‘ here… It’s hard to explain, but Morpheus is sitting next to me here with a smile on his face… you’re listening to my thoughts again, aren’t you?
“Indeed I am young one. So, how is your new life?”
I grimaced. “I don’t know… you could have warned me about the whole cat-thing.”
He let out a laugh before leaning back on the steps we were sitting on. “I probably should have warned you, but tell me, are you not satisfied with the body?”
Was I? Well, I’ve always liked cats and I DID look decent. “Well, I can’t say I’m not, really.” I swore that his smile became wider. “But what about the whole ‘power of dreams’ thing you talked about?”
“Ah yes, your abilities. As a matter of fact, it is why I am here.” He took out an apple from a little bowl I hadn’t seen before now. “I shall attempt to make you understand what a dream is.”
I gestured for him to continue, this actually sounded pretty interesting. “A dream is a collection of sensations given to your mind to process. It is my duty to fit these sensations into dreams for the mortals to interoperate, but that is not important in your case. Tell me; are you aware of the 5 senses?” he said, while looking at the apple.
“Ehm, yes. Taste, hearing, touch, seeing and smell, right?”
“Yes, it is these senses that are manipulated in a dream. Here, catch.” He tossed me the apple. I don’t know much about the different types of apples, but from what I remember of my time back on the farm, this was a McIntosh. “Take a bite young one.”
The apple tasted like any other apple in my opinion. Perhaps a bit juicier, but nothing else. “It’s an apple.” I deadpanned.
Morpheus shook his head and stared at me with a small smile. “Yes, but what do you get from it?”
“I…” I started out but stopped myself. The 5 senses... Aha! “I can taste the apple?” Morpheus’s eyes lit up and his warm smile got wide once more. He nodded eagerly for me to continue. “I can smell it, I can feel it in my hand, I can hear the crunch when I bite in it and I can see the colors of it.”
Morpheus began clapping slowly, never losing his smile and composure. Seriously, he’s like that one really nice teacher you had back in school. “Yes, you understand young one. That is how the 5 senses work, but there is one thing you must understand. Take another bite please.”
I did and I had to stop myself from spitting it out again. “What the?! Tomatoes?” I HATE tomatoes! I really, really, really, really HATE tomatoes! And not just my disgust for the vegetable, but it was also the surprise that the taste came from the apple that made me confused. “But… just a moment ago it tasted like an apple… wait…”
I looked at Morpheus who now had a stoic look on his face. “This was your doing, you changed the taste. You messed around with my sense of taste. You cheeky bugger!” OK, calling the god of dreams a ‘cheeky bugger’ perhaps wasn’t the greatest of my ideas seeing as I was currently in his domain, but hey, he laughed.
“Hahahahaha, yes! It was indeed my doing. This is how dreams work. You can always change how everything works here. The same can be said about your powers.”
“Ohpopopo, hold the freaking phone here! Are you telling me that I can change reality?!” Holy crap, oh for the love of god (especially Morpheus in this case), please let that be my power!
Morph’s smile reduced, “No, I am afraid not.” Damn it! “You can only change it in according to the dream-world. Make people see what you want them to see, hear what you want them to hear, etcetera.”
“So… it’s a kind of illusion then?” Admittedly, that’s pretty cool too.
“Yes, but I am afraid I cannot tell you any more, young one. Dawn beckons and we have little time left. How to use these powers are for you to figure out.” The sun over the amphitheater had gradually descended, probably signaling the end of the dream. Morpheus got up and gave me a last smile. “One last word of advice; Whenever you should find yourself in a fight, remember this; ‘Hidden in truths lie lies, hidden in lies hides the truth’
And with that, he turned and shimmered into nothingness. The last words I remember saying before I woke, was:
“Hey! I’ve seen that anime!”