The dream realm was tumultuous, and for once, Allan had no control over what he saw. Instead, he felt something else take the reigns, steering his awareness towards particular facets of his own subconscious. The star filled expanse of the dream realm flashed by in brief momentary explosion of colour and sound as the awareness led him on, deeper into the dream realm than he had ever gone before.
He knew what was down there. Luna had warned him that he was not yet ready to delve so deep into anyone’s mind, even his own. And yet the awareness kept going, diving further away from the light of his creations and down into the dark expanse of memory and abstraction.
Things moved in the dark. Great, titanic beasts that floated among the shadows and gloom, their cries strange and familiar all at once, like the songs of whales and the calls of birds, flowing together. He passed by them, so close he could feel their immensity in comparison to his own mind. They were capable of dwelling within his mind, and yet, should they so desire, they could turn the enormity of their existence on him in an instant and squash him like the insect he was to them. Yet they didn’t. Like all giants, they didn’t even make note of his passing, and so he left them behind, the darkness opening into a strange world of swirling colours, shapes, thoughts and ideas. He was reminded of Discord, actually.
Yet further still they went, the awareness reaching down to something he had no idea existed. The colours and shapes swirled into a vision of order, an oasis amid the violent and unreal plane beyond.
They floated down into an image of a room, with only a single, simple mirror set in the wall opposite of where Allan touched down.
“Where…..where am I? What is this place?” He asked. The awareness did not respond, except to make the mirror quiver, as if it were impatient. He stepped closer, his dream body making no noise as he slowly approached. “Who are you?”
The awareness did not respond. Instead, the mirror rippled like a liquid, its silvery surface showing his reflection. His human reflection. Or….it had been, at some point. There was very little left of the old Allan Ryder left in that mirror, his flat face having pushed out into a muzzle, a pair of large horns jutting out from the back of his skull whilst a unicorn horn poked through what little remained of his hair. His eyes were still blue, but the irises were pale, and had taken on a similarly blue hue of their own. A tail poked out from behind him, and his hands and feet were hooves. Very little remained of the human. It was almost all Changeling now.
He didn’t really mind. “Is this what you wanted to show me?”
His reflection blinked, before it shook its head. The mirror image wavered, the ripples on the surface of the mirror distorting the image until it resembled someone else entirely. Queen Chrysalis. Then she seemed to shatter, leaving behind a smaller figure, one that possessed a warm grey coat, and a bright, vibrant green mane. She beckoned him to come closer, her hoof outstretched as if to shake his own.
His hoof took hold of hers, and she pulled him gently into the mirror.
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Allan opened his eyes. He was standing in front of a familiar stone fountain, its water glowing with the soft light of magic. It was cold, and snowing. The night sky was a cool blue, and his coat did little to negate the chill. His phone was in his hand, and it was pressed up against his ear, yet he did not hear the voice that should have been on the other end.
Instead, he heard a single voice, one that was so familiar, yet so alien, that he couldn’t remember where he had heard it before. “Do you understand?” It asked.
He was not given the opportunity to answer, as an equally familiar, snarling face was suddenly pressed close to his own. Chrysalis began to feed on his love, and he felt the same emptiness as before, only once again, he heard the voice. “It’s your move. What will you do?”
Despite the dire situation, he was oddly calm, and moved almost lazily. “I guess, I could run? Maybe she came from the fountain?”
“Then make your move.”
So Allan flung himself away from the Queen, and watched as the world rapidly shrank from view, time itself seeming to move backward. Unbidden, the image of a chessboard flashed before his eyes, a single black pawn reaching the far side of the board, and shifting, growing taller, and stronger, until a proud knight took its place. A wretched, piebald black and white piece was left behind, its white finish drowning out the black, leaving it bleached, like bone, twisted and warped in an odd, top heavy shape that seemed unsteady on its base.
Then it was gone, and he was watching as Equus rapidly approached.
He watched in mild curiosity as he fingers crumpled up into a ball, their nails stretching to cover the entire circumference of the fleshy ball, merging into a single hoof, that darkened to a bright, shimmering bronze. His arm followed suit, twisting into a shape that was completely inhuman. His face and body were quick to succumb after that, putting him into a shape he was now all too familiar with.
There was a strange glow of light following him through the vortex, that shimmered a soft grey and green, and it seemed to be the source of the voice. “Do you understand?” It asked.
That light flew to his chest, before piercing through the thick chitin plate that grew there, and faded from view. The voice spoke in his mind now, posing that same question. “Do you understand?”
The scene changed, and he found himself trudging along behind King Thorax, his alien body not so much of a painful reminder as it had been. The voice spoke again. “Are you sure about this? Are you sure you wish to give up so easily?”
“I…..I don’t know.” He answered. “It doesn’t seem like I have much to live for.”
“Then make your move.”
So he did, and felt the world become swamped in anguish as Princess Twilight desperately sought to help him.
The chessboard came again, and the Knight piece began to shake, its stone body cracking.
“Are you certain you won’t change your mind?” The voice asked.
Allan was going to respond, but a pair of blue eyes pierced the dark veil that had started to descend. “Actually….maybe I can find a way after all…..”
“Then make a new move.”
The stone slowed its vibrations, and the cracks receded.
The scene jumped again, this time to Trixie’s magic show, where he had stood in her antique closet as the showmare; “Cinnamon”.
“Well go on then.” Came Trixie’s voice. “Tell Fluttershy how you feel.”
Allan wanted to say no. “Can I….not?”
The voice answered him. “Do you truly wish to make a different choice, knowing what comes after this? You could change more than just the outcome of this encounter.”
Allan hesitated, then sighed. “Alright, let’s get this over with.” He began to humiliate himself in front of hundreds.
The knight jumped several spaces back, then one to the side.
The scene jumped. Twilight was stood in front of him, a climbing axe in her hoof. “Well go on. You haven’t got all day.”
“What?” Allan asked, confused. “What am I supposed to do?”
She smiled, before using her magic to turn his head, so he could see what she was talking about. “Come on, go and kill the yeti.”
Allan didn’t have to ask the voice this time. He just sadly accepted the deadly instrument, and marched towards his foe. The Knight captured a Rook, and the cracks faded a little more.
The scene changed again. He was at the Gala, dressed in his red, tailed tuxedo. Luna was standing in front of him, and Fluttershy stood by his side. “Are you going to be my student?” The Lunar diarch asked.
Allan smiled, and nodded his head. “I would be delighted.”
“Thank you….”
The Knight danced across the board to stand beside the Bishop piece
The voice spoke again. “Do you understand?”
The Gala vanished, and he was standing on a rooftop, watching a mare about to jump to her death. He reached out and grabbed her hoof.
“Why are you saving me?” She asked.
“Because I want to.” He replied.
The Knight stopped a bishop from claiming a pawn.
Suddenly it was Trixie looking up at him. “Do you forgive me?”
Allan grinned. “Of course I do! Come back home. Your friends miss you.”
“I…..” Trixie gulped, but then the fire returned to her eyes. “I will.”
The Knight blocked another white piece from taking another pawn.
Kate stared down at him, hoping that she could go to Equus when he returned. He could turn her away, but he didn’t want to. “Of course you can come.”
Two Knights stood to face the world.
The dream faded, before the voice spoke again. “There’s one last thing I want you to see.”
He was watching Chrysanthemum and Bronze again, watching as the Draconequus tore the helpless stallion apart, and used his mangled corpse as a plaything.
Chrysanthemum destroyed that corpse, and the dream shattered into two. One played out exactly the way he knew, with the broken mare demanding death and being rebuffed, sealed in a prison of misery. Allan shuddered as he watched it. He knew what would happen to her, what she would become.
A black bishop, from a game a long long time ago, shuddered, the black sizzling away, leaving behind an imperfect, blemished white Queen, that was bent at odd angles and seemed unbalanced. The same Queen he had seen before.
But the other version of that memory was different. The ground under the mare fragmented, and she fell into darkness, screaming. There was no bottom, and she continued to scream all the way, tears flying from her eyes as she wept for her dead friend.
Chrysanthemum screamed and wept, and slowly, her body began to fade away, becoming little more than a few motes of light that flittered this way and that amid tumultuous seas of emotion. That sea was dominated by anger, hate, and fear. Allan could hear Chrysalis’s voice, hear so many years of madness pass by, as the motes of light cried out for her to stop.
But the Changeling Queen did not listen.
The motes of light fell silent, not willing to even try anymore.
But then, another light appeared. It was a slight, trembling thing, half dead and lacking any fulfillment. The grey and green motes of light flickered with interest, as memories started to flow through that dark abyss. Memories of a young man, a young man who allowed others to tell him what to be, and what to do. A young man who yearned for adventure, but denied himself those pleasures.
Chrysanthemum approached that little light. It was the only ray of light she’d seen in so long, and she wanted, desperately, to nurture it. To help it grow. So she left the darkness behind. And stepped into a world of doubt and uncertainty.
She could not speak to it, to the light that belonged to this place, but she was not going to give up that easily. She flitted back and forth between the dark place and the light place, bringing tiny pieces of that darkness with her to show the little light the truth. She relished in the way the light started to shine brighter as she fed it encouraging little thoughts, and helped to temper the despair it felt. When doubts arose, she worked to limit them. When anger was quick to react, she attempted to reason. When love was denied, she whispered over the falsehoods.
And slowly, the little light blossomed into a flame. And that little light began to burn on it’s own. So she stood back and let it be. And felt the light begin to return the favour.
The little grey and green spark began to shine brighter and brighter. Until an Alicorn stood in the vastness of a living mind.
And she could finally speak to the light she had helped to nurture.
A black pawn reached the other side of the board, and blossomed into a Queen.
“Do you understand?”
*************************
Allan fell free of the mirror, and watched, mouth wide open in surprise, as a figure stepped through. The mare was a very different creature from her counterpart. She was graceful, but a lot smaller than he had originally thought, only barely reaching the same height as Allan himself. Her lime green eyes were soft, and kind- completely alien to the creature who now used those eyes to glare at the world in hatred. Her mane was braided, as was her tail, the soft locks twisted together, starting from the front, and curling around her head, just under her ears. Her muzzle was shorter, more rounded and less angular, and her smile was tinged with regret, sorrow and hope.
Her voice was quiet, possessing a tranquility and peacefulness that immediately brought Fluttershy to mind. “Do you understand now, Allan Ryder?” She asked, quietly. “Do you realize what happened, all those years ago?”
Allan did not speak at first, but offered a nod. Then, he spoke. “Yes. I do.”
“Then you understand what must be done?”
He gave her another nod. “Chrysalis has to die.”
It was the spirits turn to nod. “She no longer possesses the capacity for love, nor forgiveness. The chaos that made her tear us apart has stripped her of these qualities.”
“Which is why you’re here.” Allan stated. “Because you’re what she’s missing.”
“All the qualities she would require to save herself are within me, but she has shut me out entirely. I can no longer journey between you. Here, I shall remain until she is dead. Then I too will pass on.”
“Is there no way to save you?” Allan asked, sadly.
“Nay, child. Even were it possible to give me life. I would not desire it. I only wish to rest, now.”
Allan fell silent for a few moments, before offering her a smile. “Thank you for helping me, even if I didn’t know about it.”
“You needed help.” She said, simply. “And I gladly gave it. ‘Tis a quality we share.”
Allan stepped a little closer. “What now? What else can we do to stop her?”
“You are already taking the path to victory. You need only have faith, now. You no longer need my help. You have all the tools you need."
Allan closed his eyes. “I’ll tell them about you. You deserve to be remembered for who you really were. Not as….her.”
“You have my thanks then, child. I would only ask one other thing of you.”
“Yes? Anything!”
“One last child remains to be born. Look after her. Guide her, so that the fate of her mother will not be one she shares.”
Allan was quiet, but he nodded, his mouth fixed in a grim line of determination. “I’ll protect her. You have my word.”
“Then goodbye, Allan Ryder. I do not think we shall meet again…..though….” She paused, having turned to step back through the mirror. She stopped on the threshold, and gave him the first happy smile he had seen on her face that wasn’t from a distant memory. “I’m glad I got to meet you, Allan Ryder. Thank you.”
And with that, she turned back to the portal, stepped through...and vanished.
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