Princess Luna explained the plan to change my body back, and she assured me that Princess Twilight was really good at this magic stuff and wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me. And as soon as I was back to normal she could wake me up.
“I’ll be back to normal…” I felt hopeful after what felt like forever. I could have a shot at a normal life again. “No more stupid pony body!” I remembered my company. “Oh, no offense Princess.”
“No, I suspect this ordeal has been rather inconvenient for you.” She looked at me with a serious expression on her regal pony face. “But your permission is still required for my departure from your dream. Without it, Princess Twilight cannot begin to undo what has been done.”
I wanted to jump up, to wrap my metaphorical arms around this pony princess and shout my blessings into the void.
I hesitated. I wanted my body back more than anything, and everything that came with it. But something was nagging at the back of my mind. That same primal fear of being the other, the skittish ponies waiting for me on the other side.
A certain pink pony who would essentially lose the friend she’d known and tried so hard to help.
She saw my hesitation, suddenly stepping back and standing tall.
“Cornflower, you cannot let your fear define you in this moment.” Her voice echoed through the empty sky. “Without your agreement you will be trapped in this slumber for eternity, your mind lost to the dreaming world.”
“…You can’t let her see me.”
“What?” she looked ruffled again, her wings settling nervously at her sides. “Who?”
“Pinkie Pie.” I slumped into myself, my head hanging low. “She…she was so good to me, and I did everything I could to trick her, take advantage of her friendship.” I felt an overwhelming emptiness inside my chest, tears threatening to spill in my vulnerable state. “She should be allowed to remember me as Bluey, like I wanted. Like she deserves.”
“I’m sure Pinkie Pie would not-”
“No, no please, princess…” I cut her off, losing even more of my will to remain upright, lying flat on my stomach. I was embarrassed to be seen like this, but I didn’t feel like I could control myself. Everything was just spilling out of me all at once. “Just…Let me do this. This is my one condition. I can’t let her see…the real me…”
I couldn’t see her face, but I could feel that she was going to agree with me, if only because she needed to leave and get back to reality.
“Very well…Though I believe you are mistaken this is something we will have to discuss at a later time.” She raised my face to her line of vision with a hoof, her form looking especially powerful. Her mane was whipping around her and there was a swirling light above us. “I must go now, and I will uphold your end of the arrangement. This, I swear to you, as a Princess of Equestria.”
She unfurled her wings, slowly lifting off the ground and towards the light.
“Stay in good spirits, Cornflower Blue!” she called down to me, fading away. “Do not lose yourself to the realm of dreams!”
I was alone again, and I felt tired and empty. She told me to keep my head, she warned me of falling to far into this place. But how was I supposed to protect myself? Especially since the key here was not getting depressed.
“I might be the wrong person to trust on this…” I laughed sadly. I laid my head on my forelegs, trying to get comfortable. “Just gotta wait it out…You can do this.”
I had to stick it out. My real body was waiting on the other side of this. Home too.
“Just gotta wait, just gotta wait…”
“Pinkie’s been here the entire time! She’s the only one who actually knows this…whatever she is!” Rainbow Dash was annoyed, very nearly getting in Princess Luna’s face. “Why doesn’t she want her here!?”
“Bluey doesn’t want me around anymore?” Pinkie whimpered, her mane getting limper. Luna put a hoof under her chin, raising her line of sight.
“Pinkie Pie, your friend is very thoroughly convinced that her natural form will dissipate any good will you have fostered.” she said, turning back to her sleeping friend. “I have tried to convince her otherwise, but she is…stubborn. She wishes for you to keep her in mind as “Bluey”, and not witness her immediate transformation. I suspect the Dreamscape is clouding her mind slightly, and the sedatives she has received have most likely played their part as well.”
“Was she really that scary?” Fluttershy whispered. “Did you see her true form?”
“I visited the memory of her encounter with Miss Roseluck.” She sat, feeling the toll of her journey. “Her form is…foreign, and she is taller than the average pony. But her fear springs from one of…rejection. It seems that there was talk of her form, possibly threats of violence?”
“Hey now!” Rainbow was agitated again. “I only meant that if the monster was gonna hurt anypony, I’d teach it a lesson!”
“She was not aware of that. She suspected that the citizens of Ponyville were planning on chasing her down for her…encounter with Roseluck. That she was thought of as a danger and would be treated as such.”
“No wonder she ran off like she did…” Applejack added, her ears down and guilt in her voice. “She thought we knew what she was and rounded up a posse.”
“I suspect that her kind are not prey by nature. In this pony body, she felt fear and paranoia much stronger than in her own form. It added to her anxieties of being a monster.”
“Just what is she then?” Rarity asked the Princess, and all eyes were on her as well. Twilight was especially curious, given all of her earlier research. She wondered if any of them had been correct.
“I did not ask for the name of her species, but she is…unlike any creature I have ever witnessed. She is bipedal, and her coloration was different, more browns than blues.” Luna looked up in thought, recalling her venture into the dream. “She believes she is not of this world. She arrived through a portal in that forest. Before Miss Roseluck, she had never seen one of our kind before.”
“This is…incredible!” Twilight bounced about, her wings fluttering. “I spent a full day trying to identify where in Equestria she could be from and she’s not even a native creature! And she’s sapient! Where!? Where is she from?”
“I…did not ask.” Luna took a step back from the smaller alicorn. “I was not able to stay with her for very long.”
Twilight was even more eager to meet this creature properly. But it would have to wait until she knew what they knew. That forest and the safety of the citizens of Ponyville came first.
“Princess Luna, I wanted to inform you on what I’ve been researching. The forest didn’t just try and take Cornflower…”
Twilight had delivered her findings to Luna, who was back to Canterlot by now relaying everything to Celestia. Twilight had wanted to begin the reversal spells, but her magic was still replenishing, and Luna had assured them that Cornflower would be safe for the night. She would keep an eye on her during her nightly duties and Twilight would be cleared to begin the process in the morning.
Pinkie didn’t like leaving her friend on her own, but they all needed their rest. On their way out of the hospital, Twilight carried a sleeping Spike on her back and she hung back with Rarity and Applejack as their other friends went on ahead.
“I do hope everything will go smoothly tomorrow…” Rarity tossed her mane, looking a bit worn down. “I feel terrible for poor Pinkie Pie, getting left out like this.”
“Oh?” Twilight asked, remembering their curious reactions earlier.
“I hope this Bluey is as harmless as Princess Luna is makin’ her out to be.” Applejack added. “I stood up for her, but I’m hopin’ I don’t get made a fool of.”
Twilight stopped completely and the two of them turned to her.
“You two seemed…a bit strange in there, when it came to the two of them.” She noted, looking between the two of them. “Did you suspect Cornflower of something?”
They exchanged another strange look, but a bit…different from before.
“Well…It’s a bit…different now I’d imagine.” Rarity hesitated. “I saw Pinkie Pie and…Cornflower Blue I suppose…out and about the other day from my boutique. They seemed…oh, well-”
“Rarity thought they might’ve been sweet on each other.” Applejack said bluntly, impatient with the unicorn.
“…What? Are you sure?” Twilight asked them. This was a complete surprise to her. Pinkie did seem protective of the non-pony, even after her secret came to light.
“They seemed quite affectionate with each other.” Rarity admitted, looking a little unsure.
“And when they came out to the orchard, Pinkie was all hugs and hoof-holding. When they found out about Sugar and Silver, Pinkie looked darn near heartbroken when Bluey got upset.” Applejack added. “And we got to talkin’ with the Cakes at the party. They said that Pinkie was pretty attached to the gal. And as far as they could tell Bluey was fond of her too.”
Twilight guessed that explained their behavior around the two during this whole ordeal.
“I feel just awful for Pinkie Pie.” Rarity fretted. “Falling for a creature from another world! I can’t tell if it’s romantically tragic or just classically so.”
“I almost hope we were wrong about all of this.” Applejack sighed. “I can’t see how any of this would end well for Pinkie. For either of them.”
Twilight pondered this new information. It…might be a bit inappropriate to just come out and ask Pinkie about the situation, but that wasn’t her biggest concern at the moment. Cornflower Blue was involved in this whole thing somehow, though she was now fairly sure not in a conscious way. Being that she was not the cause of anything evil going on. It was very possible that she was just as much a casualty of all of this as the foals, she had almost been a victim of the forest as they had. Hopefully her input could shed some light on the situation they all found themselves in.
“Well…Pinkie Pie seemed willing to look past everything, whether she likes her or not.” She told them, starting to walk again. “If Cornflower is going to help us here in her natural form, she’s going to need that support. I’m sure we can all get along just fine.”
And she really did hope that. This was very likely to be Equestria’s first encounter with an otherworldly entity, if Luna’s findings from her search held true. And how could she not get excited about that?
Sleep wouldn’t come to me here. It was obvious in hindsight that you can’t sleep in a dream but there was nothing else to do but think. And if nightmare me had any point, it was that being left alone with my thoughts usually didn’t do me any good.
So, if sleeping this off wasn’t an option, I would have to find other ways to occupy myself, too keep myself in a good mood like Princess Luna said.
I sat, peering up into the endless starry void, watching the errant swirls of colors drift lazily along the sky.
“It’s kind of pretty here…better than the endless darkness from before at any rate.” I shrugged. I closed my eyes, trying to listen to the ambiance this place had going on. I could hear faint twinkling, and soft echoes of distant songs, like the starlight was chiming all around me.
And it was…getting closer?
My eyes back open, I could see some stars floating gently towards me. But…they weren’t stars?
“Hey…” I said…to them? Maybe. “You look…well not like stars I guess. More like…”
My panicked run through the woods, the forest trying to help me find my way…
“Like those glowy light things along the path. And…”
A fainter memory. One I almost forgot. Back when that bear found me, I had a vision…or a memory? Surrounded by trees all around me…they were in the air then. And then I…
“I can barely remember…” It was slipping away so fast, and it was so fuzzy to begin with. I desperately tried to bring it back to figure it out but before I could blink it was gone.
The lights were drifting around my head, gently chiming near my upright pony ears. They were…involved in all this somehow, I think?
“But…this is a dream.” I shook my head, remembering the obvious. “You’re just what I remember, not the real…weird floating orb things.”
They didn’t respond, not that I expected them to of course. But they did gently float down the path I was on, passing me and going off on their own. They stopped, swirling in place.
“Huh…that’s…Do you…want me to-no. That’s dumb.” I sighed, turning away. I sat, trying to brush off the nagging feeling when the orbs returned to wafting around my head. When I gave them my attention, they went back down the path and stopped again.
“Do you…want me to follow you?” I asked, feeling really dumb for asking a bunch of dream lights a question. They didn’t answer, but they didn’t move either.
“Uh…okay. I’m coming, I guess.” I got up, feeling a bit uneasy but going along with it. “But you guys better not take me anyplace nightmare-y, got it?”
I trailed after them down the path, not really getting the same vibe I got from nightmare me. They went on for the longest time, and the scenery around us slowly got brighter, more familiar.
It was the ring of trees from the vision. The forest was younger, the trees still looming overhead but not as thick or tall. It was barely nighttime, the barest hint of sun still clinging to the horizon behind the tree line. The orbs of light drifted in the air, like fireflies.
But I wasn’t afraid. I wasn’t crying like last time either. I felt more or less the same. I sat in the center, watching the sun go down, wondering why they brought me here. It was surprisingly peaceful.
It was finally dark, and before I could give another thought to why I was there, a clear reason reared its head.
A familiar little pony walked into the ring with me.
“…Silver Maple?” I asked, but she didn’t react to me. She was in color now, different from my nightmare where she was the same sepia tone as her photo. True to her name, she had pale silver fur with a matching mane, and bright green eyes. She sat close to where I was, looking up into the trees wistfully. She was speaking but made no sound.
The little unicorn fell to the ground, crying. I walked to her slowly, knowing she couldn’t see me, but it still felt awkward to just watch her. She looked really upset, her misery slowly giving way to anger. She stood back up, stomping her hoof into the ground and gritting her teeth.
“Hey…It’s okay kid…” I went to touch her shoulder, not really expecting anything of it, when she whipped around and looked me dead in the eye.
“Oh, crap!” I yanked my hoof back, startled. But she just stared…not at me but…through me. I turned around to see Sugar Maple, a worried look on her face. She was a little blue pony with a greyish mane, and if I didn’t know they were twins I would say they looked nothing alike.
Sugar came closer to her sister, still looking worried, when Silver gave her an angry look. They talked, and in their silence, I saw the transformations on their faces. Sugar went from worried to upset and tearful, while her sister’s face only got more and more hateful.
And as they fought, I saw my nightmare reflect itself here. Great ivy vines rose from the dirt and wrapped around their little legs.
“No!!” I tried to grab them like before, but my hooves slipped right through their forms. I was a ghost here, and I had to watch the horrifying scene play out.
Sugar saw the vines and struggled, panicking like I had. But Silver was so enraged she didn’t notice them, the vines worked their way up her body as she shouted, eyes closed in her fury.
I couldn’t watch them disappear, my heart was racing as I shut my eyes, falling to the grass in a terrified heap. I remembered the feeling of being strangled and squeezed, and my body reacted. I curled into myself, trying to fight the panic overtaking me.
My heart was pounding so hard I thought I might actually be dying. I cried out, the only sound in that forest.
“Now hang on there Dandelion, what’s got you all outta sorts?”
I froze.
Only one person calls me that.
My eyes flew open to see I wasn’t lying in the grass any longer, but a fluffy carpet. A familiar carpet. It was dark, save for a sliver of light coming in from the side.
I looked down at my hands, yeah…they were hands again, but so small…
“Come on, puffball, tell me what’s eatin’ ya.”
I looked up.
Grandpa knew I hid under the guest bed at his house sometimes. He found me crying under there, and was trying to coax me out, a concerned smile on his face.
I sniffled, wiping my snotty nose on my sleeve and crawling out from under the bed. Grandpa reached and brushed the dust bunnies from my big curly mess of hair, where I got my childhood nickname. I collected myself before finally piping up.
“Momma and Daddy said that if I got into another fight at school, then I was gonna be grounded for a whole month, and we wouldn’t go to the fair this year. And they said they meant it!” I huffed. “But Clark Dunham kicked a kickball right at a girl’s face and broke her glasses, and he did it on purpose! And she was real upset, so I told him to apologize and he said no and pushed me into the dirt and then!!” I was starting to tear up again, but in anger. “And then he spat! Right in my face! So I got back up and tackled him, and I got in a few good hits before the teacher pulled us apart.”
“Well good!” he seemed mad too, and it felt great to finally have an adult on my side on this. “Sounds like the little punk needed a good knock to the head.”
“Well, Daddy says that violence is never the answer.” I parroted the lesson I’d heard a hundred times.
“No, violence is a last resort. You just make sure you never throw the first punch either. Have you told your teacher about this boy before?”
“Yes. But he always plays like he did things by accident!”
“Did you warn him to leave you alone?”
“About every day!” I stomped. “But he’s a jerk to everybody, and they don’t know how to make him stop!”
“Then you were out of options. “Never the answer” my foot. Sorry to say, honey but your dad’s a moron.” He huffed, his eyebrows scrunched together tight. “Always has been.”
“…Grandpa?” I felt odd asking, like I didn’t know if I would get in trouble or not. “Why do you hate Daddy so much?”
“I don’t hate him, puffball. I just think he’s dumber than a bag of hammers.” He shrugged, a little smirk on his face. “He thinks he knows what’s best for everyone but he’s just as clueless as the rest of us.”
He saw that I was still skeptical, and he sighed, scratching at his stubbly cheek.
“Look…your daddy’s family so I love him, just like how I love all of you. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t piss me off sometimes.” I gasped, and he put up a hand defensively. “Sorry. Got a little blue there. What I mean is…Family is family. Your daddy could do a lot of things to make me mad, but if he needed my help or asked me for a favor, I’d come running. Same with you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. No matter what, I’d never stop loving you. Even if you got into a hundred fights. Even if you turn out as dumb as your dad.”
“…Promise?”
“Of course!” he laughed, scooping me up into his arms. “Now, how’s about we go make some sundaes?”
“Can we make ‘um super chocolatey?” I asked, hopping out of his arms and heading for the stairs.
“Well, what’s the point if they’re not?”
I watched from outside my past self as the two of them walked away. I was drifting away from the panic I’d felt before…But something else was building up inside me.
“Grandpa…”
In all of this pony fuss, I’d barely let myself think of him outside of all of this.
“He said he’d always come through for me…no matter how stupid I got.” I shrugged, recalling all my worst moments. “Guess he was true to his word…even if I didn’t deserve it sometimes…”
You’ve got to be brave.
If words could psychically hurt you, that phrase sent a knife right through my chest. I fell on my backside, scrambling away desperately, tears in my eyes. I shut them tight, covering my ears.
“No no no noooo!!!” I curled into myself, the pain in my chest getting worse. “I can’t remember this!! STOP!!”
“You have to be brave, Lottie.”
It was worse than my nightmare. My lowest moment, my worst mistake, the thing that turned my life into a complicated cesspool. Worse than when I almost lost…
“I…I can’t.” the words spilled out of my mouth uncontrollably, the memory taking over now. “I…I…don’t deserve to…I should’ve-”
I felt the same hard slap across my face that I felt four years ago. The pain was fresh in my mind again and my chest felt like it was on fire.
“Don’t let me hear you talk like that.” He was angry now.
I opened my eyes to see Dad grabbing onto Grandpa’s wrist like a vice, his eyes filled with a fiery rage.
“Dad!” My mom cried, shocked and upset. “Don’t-how could you-…Jesus Christ Dad, she’s hurting! You can’t just-”
“You. Get out. Now.” Dad stared him down.
“You need to get this through your thick skull, Adair.” Grandpa stared back, his voice icy. “She’s gonna wind up dead if you don’t sort out your damn priorities.”
“I said-”
“No. I said.” He yanked his wrist free and stepped to my side, my dad watching him like a hawk. He was scary when he was mad. “Your little girl has been going through hell and you’re too busy to see when she’s hurting.”
“I swear to god Charles-”
“You! Zip it!” Grandpa shouted. My mom looked between the two of them, and to me, worried but willing to listen to her father. Dad just looked like he could blow up at any minute.
“Lottie…” Grandpa looked to me, and I felt the same old fear in my chest, and I held my shaking palms tight to my chest. “You need to tell them.”
No no no no no no
But I couldn’t change the past. I spilled my guts to them. About why we were all here…about where my head was. I saw my mom start to cry but I couldn’t look her in the eye. I saw my dad stand frozen, his expression unreadable. Grandpa never let go of my hand.
“I…I never meant to let it get this bad…” I half-laughed, trying unsuccessfully to lighten the mood. My mom launched out of her chair and wrapped her arms around me, sobbing into my hair. My dad was still frozen, but his face was contorted with a new expression I still couldn’t place.
“I just…It’s my fault…what happened to her.” I was crying now, my voice getting strained with the choking words. “I thought…if I was…maybe she’d forgive me…Maybe she’d be happy.”
“Who, baby?” Mom sniffled, grabbing my other hand.
My insides were on fire now. I was fighting this memory with every fiber of my being. But my body moved against me painfully, like I was stuck inside myself, and I was slamming against the shell of my past self. No matter where I tried to pull away, I couldn’t escape.
Past me fought to get the words out, but soon they knew the whole story. I relived every moment of every awful pain I’d felt, every horrible memory, every time I’d ever slowly slipped into the mindset that almost destroyed me.
“It’s my fault…” I kept crying. Dad lost his composure and sat on the hospital bed next to Mom, squeezing my hand so hard I thought he’d break my fingers.
“It’s my fault…It’s my fault…It’s my fault…”
And eventually, I told them I knew it wasn’t my fault anymore, after years of denying it. But I never stopped thinking it. I never stopped believing it.
It was my fault.
I was alone, in the void, the orbs floating above me.
She tried to warn me. I needed to stay out of my head, I needed to stay positive, or I’d lose myself. But it was a losing battle. Invasive, negative thoughts were kind of my thing.
The pain in my chest was gone, but I wasn’t feeling any better. I looked down to see something that should have scared me. But it didn’t.
My chest had a gaping hole in it, I could see through myself now. I was numb to the sight, my worries of getting my body back and getting home were somewhere far away.
“Hm…Luna will be back soon, I think…” I laid down flat on my stomach, feeling like I was drifting away. “Hope this isn’t too bad. But hey, being stuck here…reliving every horrible thing in my life, seeing visions of kids getting pulled into the ground…could be worse, I guess.”
And with every word, something seeped out of the hole in my chest. A dark mist that floated around me and weighed me down. It was awful to look at, this strange thing, but…it was oddly comforting. I just let it cover me, what was the point of getting upset and fighting it?
“Just gotta wait…”
There was something in the air…A sound. A faint mumbling that sounded oddly familiar. And I knew I should be wary in my current state, but…
“Who’s there?”
Celestia was in her sitting room when she heard her sister calling for her. She was surprised that she was so active during the daylight hours, given her long nights. She had been gone for hours and she would need to go back on duty soon. But when she burst into the room, looking fearful and a little angry, she feared the worst.
“Sister! Twilight Sparkle has…She has informed me of…something terrible!”
“Luna, sit down, tell me everything.” She wondered what could have her usually stoic little sister so…frazzled. But as every word spilled out, her terror and sorrow filled Celestia’s mind as well. A being from another realm, her lingering fate, and the poor, innocent souls lost to the forest and whatever force lied within it.
“I came as soon I as I could…” Luna caught her breath, looking worn down. “But I was far too drained to teleport back to the castle. I just…How could this escape the crown, sister?” she looked hurt and tears were in her sister’s eyes. “How do children lose their lives to…t-to whatever horror lies in wait in those woods, and nothing could be done?”
As much as Celestia hated to admit it, she was fearful this blame would turn to scorn on her sister’s part. Luna was absent for these events, the only one to blame was the only Alicorn in power at the time. But the blame would be just.
“As many horrors we faced a thousand years ago, plague, famine, invasion…We were a single collection of creatures. I could fight to protect them when they stayed close to the capitol.” She sighed, remembering every horror that faced her subjects over the centuries. “As their numbers grew in prosperous times, they sought land of their own, and I was unable to protect them from what the unincorporated land held in store. If I had known…”
Luna was still wound up, but not at Celestia.
“If you had known! If anypony had known there would be a righteous fury upon these evils the likes of which they had never felt!” She stood regally, pain still evident in her features. “And still we know nothing of the enemy that stands before us!”
“We shall have to surround the perimeter of the forest, for now, until more can be learned of the force behind all of this…” Celestia was more than willing to contain this to protect her subjects from further harm. “We should instruct anypony involved to keep a safe distance from the trees, no more souls will be taken by the forest on our watch.”
Luna visibly relaxed, but still looked worn down and slightly agitated.
“Do you believe this Cornflower Blue will hold more information on the force in the forest?” she asked Luna, trying to imagine the creature her sister had described.
“Cornflower! There is no time to waste, sister!” her horn was charging a spell as she spoke. “I must return to our wayward traveler as soon as possible. I fear she is unusually susceptible to the Dream Realm in her current state. I must do everything in my power to keep her mind connected to her body while she is unconscious.”
“Luna, you’ve already been in the Dream Realm all afternoon.” Celestia fretted. “You should rest before going back.”
“There is no time!” she shouted, slipping into her nightly state. “You must take care of things in the waking world, I have to protect her until the morning!”
Luna’s mind was fully separated from her body now, her unconscious form standing in the center of the sitting room. Celestia gently guided the sleeping form to a comfier spot, hoping for the best on her end.
“I’m afraid we’ve entered turbulent times…I will do all I can from here.”
Celestia trusted Twilight to undo the transformation first thing in the morning, and as for herself, she summoned her guards and the royal artificers. Precautions would need to be taken, but subtly as not to panic her subjects.
“I should write to Twilight…” she sighed, wishing her letter could be under better circumstances. “I just hope this creature turns out to be worth all the trouble…”
Luna wandered closely to where she had last seen the creature that called herself Cornflower Blue, but the realm was…unusually unsettled tonight. She feared the worst but hoped against hopes that in her absence little had transpired. Though time was…elusive here, the few hours she had been away could have felt like days for Cornflower.
“I will not let another fall to this evil!” she told herself, a haze raising up to her barrel from the starry path below. She tried to fly above it, but it raised to meet her no matter how far she flew. Luna pushed it out of her mind, her tired thoughts trying desperately to remember why she was there.
“Cornflower! If you can hear me, please! Make yourself known!” she pleaded, feeling as though she was shouting over a storm. “I will protect you! I swear it!”
A faint, distant murmur made her ears stand at attention, and she desperately searched the horizon. She attempted to track it down and get closer, and with every beat of her wings, the voice got louder.
“Cornflower Blue!?” she hoped and straining her ears she was delighted to recognize the voice of the dream traveler. But the closer she got to the thick of the fog, the more what she heard troubled her.
“But why would they lie to me?” a tired voice asked. And to Luna’s horror, the same voice answered back.
It’s just too easy for them, you’re the most gullible thing they’ve ever met.
“No!” Luna panicked. The same entity was back, trying to worm its way into the unconscious mind of the vulnerable creature she had sworn to protect.
“I just…I can’t do this on my own…”
And that’s why it was so easy for them. It’s only a matter of time before they decide you’re too much of a threat and they take you out.
“Do not listen!!” Luna shouted, but everything was…wrong. Her usual command of this realm was waning, and her voice could not dispel the danger. Was she too weakened in her tired state? Or was Cornflower too far gone for Luna to reach her mind? She burst through the fog of the creature’s mind to find her lying in a thick cloud of smoke, two glowing yellow eyes hovering above her within the mass.
“Oh…It’s uh…Luna, I think?” the non-pony in pony form looked up at her with dim awareness, and the princess could see that the dream entity’s smoke was pouring from a hole in her chest. Luna’s heart clenched, she thought she had more time…she had failed.
Oh, she’s come to get rid of you before you can cause any more trouble.
“It is a lie!!” Luna was furious, letting up on the harsh beating of her wings to slowly descend into the smoky abyss, blowing away the whispered edges of the fog. But with every bit closer she came to the scene below, she felt the entity’s smoke envelop her limbs, dragging her down.
Luna slowly lost her control over the situation. Her panic turned to rage, but before she could charge her magic to dispel the attacker, her mind was overcome with so many disparaging thoughts. Sadness, futility, anxiety, helplessness, many familiar feelings crashed into her, the impact like the harsh waves of a restless sea.
“What…What is this?” she clenched her jaw, grinding her teeth in an attempt to force the invading emotions from her body. But it was a losing battle, her body yanked to the starry path by the smoky appendages. She slammed onto her side, crumpling in such a way that should have enraged her, her dignity so callously being trampled. But…
She was afraid.
“Luna…” the mare lifted her head weakly to see the fallen princess. “I’m…I’m sorry. I couldn’t…uh…”
Don’t you get it? She never expected you to survive here. The creature’s voice was harsh and judgmental. You never stood a chance. Why would they go through the trouble of bringing you back? You’re not even a real pony.
“Silence, foul beast!!” Luna screamed, her voice thick with obvious dread. The dream entity laughed, swirling around them both like a predator, but also caressing Cornflower like a tender moment between mother and child. “You have no form, no true power here!! You…cannot take her mind!!”
Oh, her mind’s been mine since the moment she came here. It laughed, Cornflower’s voice sounding sinister coming from it. She was already so worn down, so helpless…And her mind was so…WEAK!!
It stared at her hungrily, and the true Cornflower looked as if she could barely lift her head. It was bearing down on her now, the skies around them turning into an endless inky darkness.
Luna knew of the things that lurked here, the terrible things that came for ponies in their dreams. But this…it was harsh and powerful and unforgiving…If she knew what it truly was, she could banish it as she had at her full strength. She had to do her part. And Cornflower…
“Please listen!!” she begged, and behind the dim eyes of the false pony, she saw an awareness buried deep inside. “I do not know your true name but…hear my words and know that they are true!!”
She summoned all of her strength, barely able to pull herself out of the dark grasp. She slowly got closer to her, the entity giving off waves of spite and maybe fear.
“No creature should suffer…I will not let you suffer!” she pushed through the haze to find her and put a hoof on the still cheek under those hazy yellow eyes. “This entity has a hold of you, but as long as I am breathing, I will not let you perish!”
“I do not know why you are so…vulnerable here.” Her voice was quieter, and she heard the horrible protests of the entity above them, but she focused on the two of them, two living creatures who would make it out of here. No matter what. “Perhaps I was…negligent in my duty. To protect unconscious minds as they pass through this realm. Perhaps your mind is so unlike those I have known that I assumed you would be safe…I do not know you, traveler. But I wish to.”
The pony body stirred, and Luna continued.
“You cannot fall here, young mare.” She laid by her side, pushing the thought of the looming threat aside, refusing to acknowledge the shrieking fury. “You must have those you wish to see again. A family, those who would mourn you if you fall here?”
“…I…I think so.” She pushed against the ground, and the entity screamed into the abyss at its loss of control over her. But their calm interaction pushed the chaos far from their minds. “My…mom…and my dad…my little brother…”
“And you have nothing to fear from ponies.” She promised, knowing full well that some of her subjects would never accept another species they saw as a threat. “I will not let any harm come to you while you lie your head in Equestria. You have ponies waiting to meet you as you are in the waking world.”
Cornflower rolled onto her side, looking pained as the hole in her chest shrank, if only by a fraction. The mare’s eyes reflected life more and more with every passing second, and the color returned to her blue-furred cheeks.
“Ponies…I…P-…Pinkie Pie?” the hole closed even further, and the entity wailed as its smoky projection shrank significantly in size. But it did not dissipate, much to Luna’s surprise. It simply retreated further into the mare’s body, shrieking and cursing them the entire time. But she could not pay it much mind, or she would risk giving it power.
“Yes, your friend Pinkie Pie! She is anxious to see you, even knowing you are not truly a pony.” Luna assured, carefully studying her face. “You are still frightened by this, I know, but this is…simply something you will have to leave up to fate, if you will not trust my word.”
She was silent, and for a moment Luna was afraid she could not reach her. But Cornflower’s eyes grew soft, and she seemed unable to fight a small smile from forming.
“…I…I don’t know about…other ponies.” She admitted, looking up at Luna, seeming small and fragile compared to the larger mare. “I’m not really the type to make friends…but she was nice.”
The hole shrank a significant amount, and now the loud threats and objections of the entity fell to a harsh whisper one could live with, Luna supposed. The air cleared quite noticeably, and the darkness was giving way to familiar starlight.
“I tried to push it out of my head like a stubborn jerk…” she laughed, and her ears fell. “I tried to tell myself that I was just using her for my own ends, and that if she knew me, she’d be smart to stay the hell away from me…”
The hole paused with the self-depreciating comments, but they did not make it re-expand.
“But…I could’ve died out there in those woods…” she grimly remembered, holding a hoof to her throat and looking sullen. “But…they saved me. I have a chance to go home. Home!” she looked Luna in the eye with a fierce determination. “I have yet another chance at life, and I almost lost it again! I almost let myself get swallowed up in this stupid nightmare! I almost lost everything because I can’t cheer the fuck up, even if my life literally depends on it!”
The hole was almost gone now, and the voice was growing desperate.
No! NO! You can’t get rid of me with that flimsy will to live!! It’s only a matter of time! You’ll slip too far, and I’ll be back! If you think you can survive this, you’re sorely fucking mistaken!!
“Yeah, yeah. Get back where you came from and pipe the fuck down.” She rolled her eyes, barely giving it the attention it wanted so badly. “You’re giving me a migraine, I’ve just about had it with you today.”
I WILL NOT BE DENIED
“Okay, bye now.”
The figure was sucked into the opening now no larger than the mouth of a wine bottle. Seeing that it was no longer closing, Luna braced for a final assault, but nothing came. Just a sigh of relief from Cornflower.
“I thought that thing would never leave.” She half-laughed, looking weary but somehow…stronger than before. Luna could not believe what had transgressed since she had departed what seemed like mere hours ago.
“I…I am sorry there was not more I could do for you, Cornflower.” She averted her eyes, once again ashamed at her failure to protect her temporary charge. “I have never encountered that type of dream realm entity before now…perhaps if I had kept after you-”
“Well princess…” she started, also with a hint of guilt in her voice. “I think this one was more on me.” She pointed to the tiny hole still in her chest, which leaked a tiny wisp of dark smoke every dozen seconds or so. “This thing more or less hitched a ride with me here, and with all the power thoughts have here, I’m guessing from what you told me, I let it get out of control.”
Looking at it now, it did seem odd that the smoke had retreated into her rather than leaving altogether. But to think this had all been caused by her, that the danger she worried about came from an internal source rather than a nightmare or a true dream entity.
“You…Do you always harbor such…dangerous emotions?” Luna knew very well that emotions held tangible power in Equestria, and she had just more or less assured her sister that there was no threat from the traveler. But she listened.
“Well…I usually have distractions. Work, family, hobbies…not to mention a therapy session every three weeks…” she looked distressed at the loss of these things. “But a lot of stuff’s been building up these past few days, and I tried to push them down in favor of getting my body back…”
“And you cannot will away the…remnants of this ordeal?” she asked, gesturing to what remained of the hole in her chest. The mare looked down at it, reluctant but accepting it with a shrug.
“I think…it doesn’t work like that.” She seemed upset but determined in her resolve. “I can’t get rid of this any more than I can get rid of the cause or how it affects me. As long as I remember all of that stuff you told me and do a better job to…explore how I feel instead of trying to shut it down, I think I’ll be okay.” She smiled ever so slightly, looking to Luna with newfound hope. “Besides, I can’t see Pinkie acting like a big ol’ sadsack, now can I?”
Luna was concerned, but believed she could work with everything until dawn and Twilight’s attempt to undo all of this.
“Very well.” She smiled, extending a hoof to the mare. “I will keep my promise. I will not let any harm come to an ally. No…A friend.”
She smiled and took Luna’s hoof in a heartfelt hoofshake.
“Alright princess.” She smiled. “But my friends call me Lottie.”