//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Dreams of a Mechanical Mind // Story: Project Clockwork // by Arceaion //------------------------------// Dreams are a strange thing and you don't realize how much you miss them till they are gone. For Twilight it wasn't just dreams but sleep in general that she truly missed. Sure she could simulate sleep by shutting herself down and enter a sort of sleep mode for repairs and maintenance for a period of time like one would do for sleep but despite the few remaining organic components she still had in her the body she now inhabited was far more machine than organic and as such she didn't truly require any form of rest or sleep. Still it was something she did, if only to make herself feel more pony than a mechanical but even then sleep was not something she could truly attain. As such she could not venture to Luna's domain any longer, of course Twilight was never truly alone when she slept either; she was connected to her children through the link made by the fragments of her soul and as such they all shared a single collective dream. While she and her children could not dream like a pony she still did all she could to fabricate a dream world for them to be free and happy so Twilight had begun to create her own form of dreams. At first they were small and simple but as time grew and her children came into their own the dreams they held grew and shaped the world around them and so the small world of dreams she had first created became a hub for her and her children to do with as they pleased. Despite the technology on the Hub, the dream hub was far more opulent. A world of steam and gears not confined to the caves under the mountain but instead branching out into the city above, here her children had taken the memories Twilight had shown them of Canterlot and reformed it into a masterpiece of engineering. And it was here that she sat in the old castle and watching her children as they moved about all with a goal or purpose, be it to meet friends, shopping in the markets or even work on projects they simply couldn't in the real world do to its restraints this was her domain and world. A place to build and create the impossible and perhaps even find a way to make the impossible in the real world. As Twilight sat quietly watching from the balcony that the Princesses once used to raise the sun and moon she felt something pierce her dream world and heard an odd shuffling followed by grunts and cursing. Twilight turned to see a blue Alicorn tangled in the curtains of the throne room and she giggled. "Well I'm surprised you managed to get in here but you're intrusion is welcome." She said a she turned and approached the Lunar Princess. "So what can I do for you Princess Luna?" Luna grunted as she used her magic to untangle herself from the curtains before looking around. "You recreated Canterlot?" She asked confused. Twilight shrugged. "More like they did but of course they made some changes." She said as she gestured to the balcony. Luna seemed confused and moved to look out over the city only for her eyes to widen. "Increasable isn't it?" Twilight asked as she joined the older mare as she watched the Clockworks once more. "How are they here?" Luna asked in shock. "All my children are connected to me through a link the soul shards make with me. I still don't understand it but I don't think I'll do much research into it." Twilight said with a smile. "Such things need not be understood." Luna frowned. "What are they doing?" She asked. "Building, creating, living, it doesn't matter what they do; this world was made so that they might have more than they do in the real world." Twilight said calmly as she turned and walked back into the castle. "If you like you can come explore or we could walk in the gardens." Twilight said drawing Luna away from the sight of all the Clockworks. "Perhaps the Gardens would be fine for now." Luna replied receiving a nod from Twilight who began to walk away with Luna following close by. "You look like you have a lot of questions." Twilight said and Luna nodded. "I was barely able to find you in the dream realm and when I do finally find you there's this, how are you doing it?" Luna asked. "You couldn't find me in the dream realm because I can no longer go there; that is the realm of the living who dream but for those like us, well we cannot venture there." Twilight said. I made this world for the Clockworks so that they might experience what dreaming is like but it's only a simulation. We can't sleep, we can eat but it doesn't sustain us, we can't feel as everything is muted." Twilight sighed. "The very things that make life worth living is meaningless to us, I can no longer experience it and the clockworks have only ever experienced this false lie so they no not the difference." Luna frowned. "Such a life must be tortures; I cannot imagine what you have endured." She said as they exited the halls of the castle and entered the royal gardens. "Even still you seem to handle it strikingly well." Twilight shrugged. "I take each day as I can, still it is difficult. But I've long grown used to it." She replied. Luna stood quietly looking at the false sky, even though it was bright out in the streets it was from the lights of bulbs not the sun. Above them reaching out as fall as she could see was a painstakingly precise image of the night sky in all its glory. "You replicated my night." She said quietly. Twilight rubbed the back if her head, a look of embarrassment appearing on her face. "My children always say they want to see the stars so I did my best to let them." She said as she looked down. "I know it's not a perfect recreation but still-" Luna placed a hoof over her mouth. "Please Twilight, its perfect." She said as she leaned down and kissed the mechanical Alicorns cheek. "I'm not angry Twilight; in fact I'm flattered you'd be so dedicated to giving your children a sky like mine." Twilight looked away as her cheeks turned red with a blush. "Now that is cute." "Damn it." Twilight muttered as the Luna princess laughed. "I'll get you back for this Princess." She said grumpily. Luna giggled. "I'm sure you will." She replied with a smile. "Now I imagine you will want to get back to Canterlot soon to tell your ponies that they will be able to start living on the surface, so when will you be leaving?" Twilight stopped blushing and looked back to Luna with a more serious look. "Soon, Tomorrow I would like you and Celestia to meet someone at breakfast. I imagine you'll not be pleased with who they are bot I want you to hear them out." She said calmly. Luna frowned. "I doubt we will dislike any of your clockworks Twilight." Twilight shook her head. "They're not a Clockwork, but they will be returning to Canterlot with me, they have something there they must retrieve and I have no right to refuse them." As Twilight said this a clock tower began to chime and as it did the world around seemed to fracture like grass and shatter. Lunas eyes widened in shock as she watched the dream world begin to break apart around her. "Twilight what's happening!?" She asked in panic however Twilight simply smiled. "All dreams come to an end Luna and when the time comes the world is broken apart, each piece taken with the one who made it." Twilight said. "You above all should know that time is a fluid thing in dreams, the dawn draws near and as such the time of rest has passed. I'll see you for breakfast Luna."