//------------------------------// // Class Conversion // Story: How the Tantabus Parses Sleep // by Rambling Writer //------------------------------// Although time was a funky thing in dreams, Moondog had a solid understanding of what it meant in the real world. Among that understanding was that “a thousand years” was what historians termed “a freaking long time”. Mom herself could attest to that. The landscape itself could change in a thousand years, even if untouched by pony hooves. When you got into culture… whoof. Equestria would be nearly unrecognizable after a thousand years. You could stick a millennium-displaced pony in a cloud and call it lightning from the culture shock they’d experience. As such, after Twilight and her friends had yanked the Pillars out of Limbo and smashed down the latest Villain of the Week, Mom had asked Moondog to aid her in keeping an eye on the Pillars’ dreams to help them acclimate to modern-day Equestria. Culture shock would be immense, she’d said, almost certainly the number one issue on their minds. It could manifest in many ways, but would usually tie back to an anxiety of not fitting in. So when Stygian was having nightmares that weren’t in the slightest about culture shock or not fitting in, Moondog knew that Something was Up. self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=5374796769616e&lucid=n"); When Moondog popped into Stygian’s dream, it was a swirling miasma of black fog, so dense no light could penetrate it. What was it with evilness, bad feelings, and black? Black was a perfectly nice color, undemanding and soft in the right circumstances, if a little plain. Not to underplay Stygian’s despair, of course. He was in so much torment that Moondog could feel a nocnica lurking somewhere in there, feeding without remotely needing to make the nightmare any worse. Definitely bad. Definitely in need of fixing. The nocnica might complicate things a little, but it wasn’t strong enough to be much of a trouble. Hopefully. A deep voice rolled through the black, the boulder before an avalanche. “I see you have returned, insect,” it rumbled. “Have your so-called ‘friends’ abandoned you so soon?” Stygian’s voice was shaking badly. “T-they were making themselves look good f-for the Princesses.” A cold blue light pulsed through the darkness, coalescing around a unicorn’s horn before illuminating a unicorn in a small part of a large temple. For somepony who’d almost doomed Equestria, Stygian was kinda skinny. “A-all of them. Even Twilight.” His mane was a mess and he looked like he’d been beaten down a dozen times in the past hour. “It w-would have been b-better to remain with you.” “Indeed.” The voice thundered from a carving of the Pony of Shadows on the wall. “And in spite of your betrayal, here I remain, still waiting for you.” “Y-yes.” Stygian put his horn to the carving and space rippled. Mom had told Moondog to get her in case of culture shock nightmares. Moondog had supported that wholeheartedly — how the heck were you supposed to deal with nightmares like that? — but this was hardly culture shock. This was plain old paranoia, with a little bit of self-loathing bubbling beneath the surface. And that, Moondog figured it had a handle on. It needed a bit more hooves-on approach than the usual dream, but that was fine. setLightLevel(85); dreamer.allowLucidity(TRUE); The temple suddenly brightened with sourceless light. “Well, it’s not like he could go anywhere else,” Moondog said as it stepped out of the shadows. “I mean, where is there in Limbo?” “Wait.” Stygian stepped back. “Limbo doesn’t work like this. I couldn’t breach it alone. And Twilight never- Oh. This dream again.” “And also me,” added Moondog. Stygian twitched and turned around. Moondog smiled and waved at him. “I’ve never been aware of dreams before,” Stygian said tentatively, “so I assume you have something to do with that. Who are you?” Moondog spread its wings as its coat darkened. “I’m your worst nightmare,” it rumbled. “Except during the day, when you’re not asleep. And when Mom’s looking over my shoulder. And when being your worst nightmare would be a jerk move. And when I don’t feel like it to begin with, which is most of the time. And… Hmm. I guess I’m never your worst nightmare.” Pause. “Rar.” “So… who are you?” self.addToAppearance(HAT.Plumed); “Name’s Moondog.” Moondog swept an extravagant hat from its head and bowed. “Oneiroturgic golem and assistant dreamweaver, here to-” “Oneiroturgic golem?” Stygian said in disbelief. He barely hid his groan. “Another one of Star Swirl’s fantastic creations, I assume,” he muttered, “here to remind me of his greatness.” “Excuse me,” snapped the Pony of Shadows. “I’m still here.” ponyOfShadows.setVolume(0); --Error; ObjectOutOfBoundsException e Well, poop. The nocnica had already gotten enough despair to be cognizant and manipulate the dream on its own. At least having Stygian confront it would be better for his psyche than Moondog just booting it out. Moondog didn’t miss a beat in responding to Stygian. Laughing, it said, “Not on your life! Nothing Star Swirl did, nothing descended from what he did, went into making me. I, my friend, am one hundred percent Princess Luna’s creation, from start to finish. And believe me, rubbing myself in your face is the last thing I want to do.” --Error; PhrasingException e attemptRecovery(); Moondog blinked. “For a, um, variety of reasons. Holy Mom,” it whispered, “that came out so wrong, ew.” “You,” Stygian said, tilting his head, “are most certainly not associated with Star Swirl.” “And thank the fates for that!” Moondog said with a grin. “Dude’s got a tree so far up his butt he pukes apples.” “…I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean by that.” Natural language progression over time was fascinating, but also sucked. Time to skip over linguistics for the moment. “Never mind,” Moondog said. It dropped onto its rump. “So what’s eating you?” Stygian snorted and turned away. “What do you care?” he mumbled. “It doesn’t,” whispered the Pony of Shadows. “It merely-” “Gonna have to stop you right there,” Moondog said, pointing at the Pony of Shadows. “I care a lot.” “No, you don’t.” “Do too.” “Do not!” “Do too. So there.” Moondog nodded with a great finality. Stygian pawed at the ground. “I can see you’re treating this with all the gravity it deserves,” he said. “What makes you think I’m not? I’ve gotta shut that guy-” With its mane, Moondog pointed at the carving on the wall. “-out before I can talk to you, or else he’ll keep interrupting. Unless you can ignore him.” “Ignore him?” Stygian scoffed. “He’s partly the reason I’m having this nightmare to begin with.” “Hence why you should ignore him.” Stygian rolled his eyes and turned away from both Moondog and the Pony of Shadows. “And he is partly the reason,” he mumbled. “One step at a time, right?” said Moondog, spreading its wings wide. “We’ll get to the Reason, Part 2, once we deal with the Reason, Part 1. And if you can ignore the Reason, Part 1, mission accomplished.” It hoped it wasn’t being too casual and making it seem like this was all a game to it. Some ponies responded well to informal interactions, others didn’t. “I suppose I can try.” Stygian held his head high and sucked in a breath through his nose. He lowered his head again and asked, half-skeptically, “Do you know much of envy? It was what drove me to become a monster in the first place, and had the Pony of Shadows not existed, doubtless I would’ve turned to some other force.” “It is all you can do,” growled the Pony of Shadows. “You are nothing without me.” Stygian’s ears turned towards the Pony of Shadows, he blinked rapidly, and his head twitched, but he kept talking. “I… simply wanted to do something of merit, and methods of accruing power that quickly are limited. Eventually, I lost myself. There were times when I couldn’t even remember why I wanted power, simply that I wanted it. Have you ever wanted to help, yet been so utterly outclassed by your own allies that your own contributions hardly matter?” “I get that feeling every night.” Mom was… something else. She was just so good at sculpting dreams that she was better than a construct purpose-built for that very job. It was hard to not feel envious about that. Mom knew about Moondog’s feelings, of course — it wasn’t about to let feelings of inadequacy stew — and was helping it get better, but dang. It didn’t help that Mom was just about the only pony remotely skilled in dream magic, so Moondog couldn’t shake the feeling that although it was the second-best dream mage in the world, that was out of two dream mages total. ceiling.remove(); Moondog walked up next to Stygian. “I know I make this look easy-” It gestured up at the ceiling. Tile by tile, it broke apart and lifted away, exposing an alien night sky above. “-but I haven’t been doing this for that long. My mother, Princess Luna? She’s been sculpting dreams for over a thousand years. She barely even works; she thinks things and they are.” It snorted. “If I were half as good as she is, I’d outclass myself right now.” Stygian attempted to hide his surprise, but then he sighed and hung his head. “Star Swirl in a few sentences,” he said. “The land had never seen such a wizard before. And from what I’ve heard, hasn’t since. Everything is effortless to him, be it vanquishing monsters or throwing spells. I doubt any other pony has had a larger influence on history.” The Pony of Shadows cut in. “Are you even listening to-” “And the worst part is how he doesn’t even mean it, right?” asked Moondog. “I bet Star Swirl just does magic and he’s such a natural at it that he’s better than just about everypony without trying.” At least Mom was a lot more aware about the skill gap and helped out Moondog whenever it asked. “I don’t think he ever realized,” muttered Stygian, “just how small he made me feel. He designed new spells in his sleep, discovered entire branches of magic while I studied seashells. Anypony would feel a failure next to him.” “Comparing yourself to a giant isn’t the smartest idea.” “He and Mistmane were all I had to compare myself against! And he-” Stygian lashed his tail. “…had the gall to act like he wasn’t anypony special, as if anypony else could have come to the same conclusions he did. If he had simply acknowledged how intelligent he was…” “Maybe he’s smart, but are you sure he’s all that wise? His default method of problem-solving is to pitch something off into the distance, where it’s somepony else’s problem.” Stygian’s face contorted in anger and he advanced on Moondog. “That-!” He froze mid-stride. “Is not… entirely wrong…” “Across dimensions, if possible.” “Don’t listen to it,” hissed the Pony of Shadows. “It doesn’t have your best interests at heart.” “It has more of them than you do,” Stygian said over his shoulder. “You used me for nothing more than-” He abruptly turned back to Moondog. “That thing isn’t actually the Pony of Shadows, true? It hasn’t escaped Limbo?” “Nah, it’s just your subconscious.” Not technically true, but not technically wrong, either; when nocnice started feeding in earnest, they almost always latched onto part of a dreamer’s biggest anxieties. The despair apparently tasted better that way. But one way or another, now wasn’t the time to lecture Stygian on proper dreamworld semantics. “It’ll latch onto traumatic images and project your feelings through them and blah de blah. You know how it is.” “I am far more than your subconscious,” whispered the Pony of Shadows. The carving was contorting, as if it was trying to pull itself from the wall. Probably a last-ditch effort by the nocnica as Stygian’s dream slipped out of its control. “The real you might be,” Stygian said, not even looking at the carving. “You are not.” To Moondog, he said, “If I may ask… how do you handle your envy? My own attempts were… less than valiant.” “Personally, I made Mom’s level my goal and now I’m doing my darndest to reach it through lots of work over time,” said Moondog. “‘Good enough’ isn’t good enough.” It started making gestures with its wings. “Is this technique for dream-sculpting fast enough? Could I make it more efficient? Are there any easier ones that produce the same results? Then I can apply myself to that goal rather than just feeling down. But, granted, that’s just me. You might need to stop working with Star Swirl altogether.” It shrugged. “I dunno. Try something when you wake up.” “I see.” Stygian turned around to face the carving of the Pony of Shadows and sat down. He flicked his ears as he thought. Moondog walked up and sat down next to him, but stayed quiet. Self-reflection like that shouldn’t be interrupted. The Pony of Shadows tried to say things, but its words were distorted, as if the sounds themselves were falling apart. Or the nocnica was losing control. Finally, Stygian said, “Why are you helping me like this? You barely know me. I am… grateful for it, but I don’t see why I deserve it.” “Want the selfish reason or the selfless one?” “…Both. Selfish first.” makePresentation(); Moondog walked in front of Stygian, as if it were a lecturer, and pulled down a blackboard from nothing. “Alright. So I’m supposed to turn nightmares into good dreams, right?” As it spoke, a piece of chalk scribbled out little animated drawings of its words. “Now, I could just kick the Not-Pony of Shadows out and be on my way, but then you’d have the same nightmare again tomorrow night, since you’d still have that ginormous pile of envy and other issues, and I’d have to stop by again. Nipping those problems in the bud now means you have normal dreams tomorrow, and I don’t need to do anything, thereby freeing up countless nights in the future. In short…” Moondog raised a hoof to its mouth, as if telling some incredible secret, and stage-whispered, “I’m kinda lazy.” “Laziness must have changed in definition since I was alive,” Stygian said as he examined the chalkboard, “for increasing your own workload to be lazy. And the selfless reason?” Moondog pushed the chalkboard back up into nothing and sat down next to Stygian again. “It’s the right thing to do. What was I supposed to do, just leave you in your misery?” It spread out a wing and wrapped it around Stygian. Stygian grimaced and quickly pushed away from Moondog. “Don’t get so-!” The two of them slid apart, Moondog’s wing cleanly popping off. “-close.” Stygian blinked at the wing hanging over his shoulder. “I, ah… like my… space.” He delicately held the wing out to Moondog with his magic, trying to look at it without actually looking at it. “Sorry. Won’t do it again.” The wing pulled itself from Stygian’s grip, flapped over to Moondog, and reattached itself. “But really, I-” Stone groaned as the Pony of Shadows suddenly forced itself from the wall. Darkness dripped from it and vanished as if it was disintegrating, its steps were those of a punch-drunk, and when it spoke, its speech was slurred to the point of near-incoherency. “Is worrrrrrds all it hasssss to offerrrrrrr?” it wetly rasped. The thud of its steps were the impacts of awkward stumbling, not the steady beats of a giant. “I can givvvvvve you powerrrr, rrrrrespe-” “YOU HAVE DONE NOTHING FOR ME!” bellowed Stygian, making the entire room shake. “I lost everything I ever knew because of you! I cost my friends the same!” His horn started glowing, but he didn’t look like he noticed. “All you have ever brought me is grief and loss! This- golem has given me more help through words alone! I shall never return to you!” The energy building up in Stygian’s horn exploded, blasting out in a shockwave. The Pony of Shadows wasn’t even able to scream. Bright blue light blotted out the world for a moment; when it faded, the Pony of Shadows wasn’t even a greasy smear in the wreckage of what had been the temple. Pillars had been crushed to dust, ash scored the floor, and a hole had been blown clear through the sky. Stygian himself was standing in the middle of a wide but shallow crater, breathing heavily. He collapsed onto his tail, staring blankly at where the wall had been. He blinked slowly. temple.fix(); Moondog walked up next to Stygian as the temple rippled around them, slowly slipping back to its original state, minus the Pony of Shadows. Moondog couldn’t detect the nocnica; it must’ve fled after realizing it wouldn’t be getting any more sustenance from Stygian. It sat down next to Stygian as the crater beneath them flowed like water into smooth tiles again. It already knew the answer, but still asked, “Feel better?” “No. Not remotely,” said Stygian bitterly. “Envy was just a small part of my… anxiety.” He rubbed his eyes. “I still have to live with the knowledge of what I did — to myself, to my land, to my friends — as the Pony of Shadows, and- I accomplished nothing. Some kind words from Star Swirl is one thing, but… other than that…” He folded his ears back. The few shadows that remained darkened and grew. When he spoke, his voice was a mix of sadness and hatred. “I nearly let that… thing plunge the world into endless despair, and all that happened was that I ripped my friends from their homes and their families! How can I forget something such as that?” If the situation had been less serious, Moondog would’ve given the two of them shirts that said I nearly destroyed all light and hope in the world and all I got was this lousy T-shirt. Even though the lousy T-shirt wasn’t all Stygian would get. “Have you tried talking with somepony about it?” Moondog asked, keeping its voice as free of condescension as possible. “Oh, and I suppose there are groups dedicated to helping those who have gone mad from rejection and nearly succeeded in ending the world,” Stygian said, rolling his eyes. Moondog smiled. “I attempted to take over the world in a past life. And Mom — Princess Luna — she tried to take over the world in her current life. And we both know a guy who’s tried it twice.” Thrice, if you wanted to get technical and include his time with Tirek. And, while you were at it, Moondog itself had that one time with Discord. A dream world still technically qualified as “the world”, in a way. “Befuddled surprise” was rapidly becoming Stygian’s default expression. “…Ah. That is… something.” “Look, I don’t want to force you into anything, and I know I can’t solve all your problems with a single pep talk,” said Moondog. It lightly nudged Stygian in the ribs. “Just know that, if you want to actually sit down and have a serious conversation about this stupidly specific occurrence, there are ponies who can relate. Really, go to Princess Luna — and tell her I sent you, by the by — and she’ll gladly help you. Or Twilight. She’s crazy understanding about this sort of thing.” It considered also mentioning Celestia and Daybreaker, but Stygian hearing that half of the country’s tetrarchs were wrestling or had wrestled with severe issues regarding grandiose villainy wouldn’t be the greatest for his state of mind. “Would they also help me adjust to this new Equestria?” Stygian asked, slightly hopeful. “I know nothing about this world. I merely gathered the Pillars together. Equestria already has its heroes. And I- I might accept my past, but will others?” Moondog shrugged. “Eh, most likely. I mean, the Pony of Shadows didn’t even make the news. It got banished before it could do much.” “I…” Stygian shook his head. “I almost covered Equestria in darkness, and you think ponies will simply accept me? Even if they know what I did?” “Sure. Ponies nowadays are pretty chill about ancient powerful evil dudes running around. It’s happened…” Moondog tapped its hoof on the ground a few times. “…How ancient is Chrysalis? Let’s say she’s ancient. It’s happened with with five unique baddies in the past few years alone! And that’s not even counting you or repeats. But they always get punched out, sometimes reformed. Honestly, you’re not the worst that’s happened recently.” “Should I be enthused,” Stygian asked, taking a step back, “or very, very concerned?” “Yes.” Stygian made a small noise that might’ve been a chuckle. “And Luna or Twilight or whoever can get you a hobby, while they’re at it,” said Moondog, running after another idea. “Just something to fill the time and keep you from brooding.” “You aren’t one to stop easily, are you?” “Dreams can change quickly. Having this-” Moondog tapped its head. “-run fast all the time helps me stay on top of everything. So-” self.giveItem(new Notepad()); self.giveItem(new Pen()); Moondog clicked its pen and readied its clipboard. “Let’s get some ideas down. What do you like to do?” “I, ah…” Stygian shuffled from hoof to hoof, as if nopony had shown that much interest in him before. “I… study legends and folktales. And I…” He massaged the back of his neck and looked away. “…have… long desired to add to those stories with some of my own.” “Well, you can study the legends and folktales that have come around since you were gone,” said Moondog, scribbling Stygian’s thoughts down, “or you can try your hoof at writing. You’ll even have a pre-existing audience that wants to read a story written by somepony from over a thousand years ago.” “An audience? How many ponies could I possibly reach?” “Let’s just say that printing technology and literacy have both advanced a lot while you were gone. Once you’re done, you’ll have ponies from every corner of Equestria reading your book in days. Thousands of readers. Dozens of thousands. And you’ll make money from it, too!” “Thous-” Stygian blinked at that, then shook his head as if to clear it. “But what would I write? All I can think of now is…” He gestured vaguely at where the Pony of Shadows had been. “Would ponies want to read about somepony getting rejected by their friends and sending themselves into a downward spiral of fraying sanity and destructive impulses?” “Dude,” Moondog said, grinning. “That is so metal.” “How is it metallic?” asked Stygian. Moondog’s grin slipped a little. “Cool.” “N-no, this isn’t cold at all.” “Radical?” “Extreme? Revolutionary? I… Perhaps, but…” “…Sweet?…” “…I don’t think you and I are speaking the same language. How is this sugary?” self.setSlang(0); “Impressive. Appealing. Ponies’ll like it. That sort of thing.” Stygian tilted his head and squinted at Moondog. “Why not simply say that in the first place?” (Moondog managed to keep certain uncouth words from jumping out of its mouth.) “And why in the heavens would ponies want to read something like that?” Stygian gestured back and forth as if pointing at something. “It’s- depressing and… so… grim.” “It’s emotional, and ponies like emotion,” said Moondog. It shrugged. “I don’t get it, either, but it works. Trust me.” “Hmm.” Stygian paced back and forth, staring at the ground. “Well, if you say so. But how would I… get it out to readers? You make it sound like there are… systems for that.” “Well, you just-” --Error; NullPointerException e “-um. Hmm.” Moondog rustled its wings and folded its ears back. “That, I actually don’t know,” it said. “Not the specifics, anyway.” Although… “But,” it said, a grin slowly creeping onto its face, “I might know somepony who does. Hang on.” dream.setSetting(ROOM.Library); The walls of the temple spun around, revealing shelves of dark hardwood filled with books on the other side. A little bit of tweaking in just the right way ensured that the contents of the books were coherent. Stone tiles plummeted down out of sight before coming back up as soft carpeting with tables and overstuffed chairs. The ceiling slammed back into place as arched vaults. Chandeliers and lamps brightly illuminated the entire room. Moondog grinned and spread its wings wide. “Ta-daaaaaaaa!” “Stars above,” breathed Stygian. “This is…” He smiled — genuinely smiled — for the first time since Moondog had entered his dream. “I have never seen so many books in one place before.” He tentatively walked over to a shelf and selected a book. Going straight to the title, he read, “Folktales of Zebrabwe. I have never heard of such a place.” A long pause, then giddiness overtook him and he laughed. “I suppose I have some stories to catch up on!” He didn’t even bother heading to a chair; he opened up the book on the floor and stuck his muzzle into it right then and there. “And when you wake up,” said Moondog, smiling to itself, “ask Celestia or Luna to point you at the archives. More books in there than you could read in your life. Now wait here, I’ll be back in a minute.” Stygian didn’t look up. “That won’t be a problem.” self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=446172696e6720446f&lucid=n"); “And with you out of the way, Daring Do,” roared Ahuizotl, “I shall-” dreamer.allowLucidity(TRUE); self.inhabit(blueCatMonkeyThing); “-ask very politely if you’d be willing to help another pony get into writing. Please?” Daring Do froze and blinked at Ahuizotl. “I- I’m sorry, what? I don’t- Why am I wearing a camouflage tutu? On a stage? At the latest DaringCon?” “Because at the moment you’re subconsciously feeling like the intersection of your adventures and your writing means you’re trapped in a role, forced to act a certain way in order to give readers what they want and expect in order to get the money needed to fund adventures to write books to get money to so on and so forth, and each individual adventure is starting to feel formulaic and the same old song and dance all over again, and you just want to go on a quieter, less action-packed sabbatical for once that’d be better for the archaeological community and more appealing to you but less lucrative for your publisher, potentially putting the future of your franchise in jeopardy, and your financial ability and capacity to fund adventures along with it.” timer.start(); Moondog waited. Dreams subtly churned in all sorts of interesting ways as the dreamer thought, and Daring’s was no exception. The stage flickered as she looked at her tutu. The crowd wavered as she looked at Moondog. Her tutu rippled as she looked at the stage. Ahuizotl’s body twisted as she looked at the crowd. All the while, her lips were moving soundlessly. Honestly, from the distant look in her eyes, it was like she wanted to be painted (as was usual for ponies who were thinking deeply). When she finally got it, she returned her attention to Moondog and said, “Moondog, right?” timer.end(); timer.getTime(); return: 43.71s daringDo.isNewPersonalBest(); return: TRUE “The one and only!” Moondog threw a thumbs-up with Ahuizotl’s tail. “Are you really the same person who woke me up by hitting me in the face with a sledgehammer the last time we met?” Moondog smiled in a way Ahuizotl never would. “I’m learning! And, technically, it was the second-to-last time we met, remember.” “…Why is Ahuizotl wearing a sequined unitard?!” “Because your mind is one of many strange, strange places in the collective unconscious, Daring.” self.setAppearance(ALL.Default); Ahuizotl’s outline rippled, and split into thousands of strands, and standing within the strands was Moondog. “So, anyway,” it said as the lines retracted into its mane, “I was wondering if you could help a friend of a friend get into writing. Yes, I know that’s a lot to ask. No, I won’t be offended if you turn it down. No, I haven’t told him who you are. No, I don’t plan to.” Daring ripped her tutu off and tossed it into the crowd, which pounced on it. “Well, maybe,” she said slowly. “I don’t even know who this pony is.” “Stygian. He came back with the other Pillars. You read about them in the newspaper, right?” “Yeah, I heard. Stygian’s the one wh- Hang on.” Daring’s voice jumped up a few pitches and her wings opened up as she got excited. “I could get access to a primary source for the Pillars’ deeds who’s over a thousand years old?” She giggled and rubbed her hooves together. “Sign me up! He could be the worst writer in the world and I’d still want this!” “Glad to hear it.” Moondog opened up a door to the collective unconscious. “I’ll tell him and iron out some more details. Is Canterlot a good place for you two to meet?” “Canterlot’s fine. And before you go, if all this-” Daring gestured around herself. “-comes down to money, could you give me a rich jerk to beat up?” dream.addActor(worstPony); “Excuse me!” said Blueblood as he pushed to the front of the crowd. “Those are not the lines! What do you think I’m not paying you for?” “Be right back,” said Moondog. But it doubted Daring could hear it as she dropkicked Blueblood in the face. self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=5374796769616e&lucid=y"); Stygian was surrounded by books, most of them open. He seemed to be cross-referencing different versions of folktales, as well as different translations of the same version. His ears perked up when Moondog returned. “She’s fine with helping you,” said Moondog. “Her name’s A. K. Yearling. Super popular author. She’ll be a big help. She wants to meet in Canterlot, if that’s okay with you.” “Where in Canterlot? It’s the biggest city I’ve ever seen.” “…Be right back.” self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=446172696e6720446f&lucid=y"); Moondog blipped back into Daring’s dream trying and utterly failing to not look sheepish. “So, um,” it asked, “did you have a, uh, specific place in Canterlot you wanted to meet at?” “Donut Joe’s,” Daring said as she tossed Blueblood across the stage. “Best cafe in town. In the country. And trust me, I’ve been everywhere.” “Great. I’ll tell him.” self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=5374796769616e&lucid=y"); “Is it close to the castle? I don’t want to get lost.” self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=446172696e6720446f&lucid=y"); “Not that close, but not that far, either. Why don’t I give you directions?” self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=5374796769616e&lucid=y"); “Is giving me directions now the greatest idea? I lack anything to record them with.” “I’ll tell her to send you a letter, okay?” self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=446172696e6720446f&lucid=y"); --Error; SoBoredException e “That’s fine. What’s his address?” self.setLocation("adwl://dreamer.uncn/surface?hexID=5374796769616e&lucid=y"); --Error; SoBoredException e “Beyond ‘Canterlot Castle’, I cannot say. Perhaps you could have the servants be on the lookout for letters?” “Hey, Mom?” “Yes, Moondog?” “A. K. Yearling’s gonna send the castle a letter for Stygian in the next few days. Could you make sure he gets it?” “…Certainly, but why is-” “Also, I really need you to teach me how to bring ponies into others’ dreams.”