I was… warm. I didn’t know dying would make me feel warm, but I was. I had my eyes shut though, didn’t want to accept that I was gone. Yet, I knew my time of suffering was ending, and I could finally sit at the right hand with the Father. That’s what they taught me, anyway, them folks at the other plantation.
Yet, I hadn’t heard of angels or any of the stuff I heard about them saying there was. All I heard was just noise. It wasn’t loud noise, just… noise. So, knowing I had nothing more to lose, I opened my eyes.
I was not expecting anything that I saw. I was in a room. There were no windows, and there wasn’t even a door. It was just four walls around me. I was sitting on a wooden chair at a rickety old looking table, and a tall white candle burned eagerly a small flame.
And then my eyes caught her. She was beautiful, if I ever could call someone that. She had skin darker than the soot from a fireplace, and eyes that were as blue as water Master drank. She had long, black hair that was straight as can be. She had a black dress on, and a dark purple crown resting on her head.
Didn’t know God looked like that.
“I am not who you think I am, Dyson.”
My eyes widened as her words carried a new weight on my chest. She was not God?! “Then how do ya know my name?”
She gave me a warm smile. “I am the one who dreams. I see what you see. Know how you are. Know of your kind. I would like to know you, but I am barred from seeing it. I can seek more, if you'd allow me.”
"Allow ya?”
She nodded. Her eyes looked softly into mine. “Do you allow me to see more of you?”
I couldn’t feel myself breathe, but if I could, I would. My heart would be racing, and yet, it did not feel like it was there. I felt nothing, but a whole lot of something. Just a dull bit of pressure right where those words hit me before.
Since I had no choice, I nodded slowly. “Yes, ma’am.”
That earned me a glare from her. “Do not feel like you must agree. I… shan’t indulge further if that is what—”
“N-No, ma’am. I… accept,” I stuttered out. “You know more of somethin’ that I don't...”
As I said those words, the room began to change. There was still no door or window, yet it felt like one was open, as a cold gust of air overcame the room. It nearly had blown the candle’s flame out, but it stayed still, only slightly affected by the wind. I could feel it’s chilling presence as it had passed too, the air sending a freezing sensation down my spine. However, as quick as the wind came, so did it leave.
During that sudden change, I had not once seen the woman’s face. Even now, I couldn’t read her, and I could understand why. The candlelight was not picking up her face. I blamed the wind for this, but the woman was also leaning back in her chair. Was she doing that on purpose? What was this woman thinking? More importantly, who was she?
“No, I am not doing this on purpose. I only... wish to be comfortable with you. And as for what I am thinking, and who I am, I... you will learn soon.”
Her voice was soft, yet so intense. I couldn’t help but lean in more. I was numb to it all, but I wasn’t numb to her words. “Then who are you?”
She leaned forward, her face being lit up by the candle. She gave me a toothy grin. “I told you. I am but a dreamer.”
“A dreamer?”
“Yes, one oversees others who sleep.”
I was sleeping? “Ya mean I’m alive?”
“Yes, Dyson. You are.”
It was like I was falling again, except faster. “H-How?”
“That… I am not sure. You are alive though, otherwise I would not be allowed here.” She must’ve seen how my face looked and held back a laugh with her hand. “I will… elaborate on that, then. I have the ability to oversee other’s dreams. How that is is of my own accord: I must have a connection with the other user’s magic with this world.”
“Magic?”
“Yes, magic is part of this world that you are now in. I know you are not of our kind—”
Of our kind… I gasped. “So are you one of those ponies too?”
She nodded. “I am.”
“Then why are you—"
“—one of your kind?” she interrupted. I bobbed my head rapidly in reply. She giggled. “I must be of your kind so you may not fear me. I… had found out about you from observing Rainbow Dash’s mind, and decided to extend my reach to you, therefore I must become like you to assure you I am not a threat. However, I found something alarming about you.”
I tilted my head. “What is that?”
She took a deep breath and said, “Your mind is in constant turmoil.”
“Turmoil?”
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. “Yes. For years, every single person, place, or thing that you encountered... you have reacted to them as if you were numb to them all. It's as if throughout your life, you... you had one thing in mind. Yet now, in our world, your mind is free to roam, and everything has hit you all at once." The woman paused, cleared her throat, and looked at me with a slight tilt of her head. "It has made you—" She pointed a finger at me and smirked. "—very hard to connect with.”
I found myself wanting to know more, but she was right, my mind was all over the place. I was so… anxious, by everything, that nothing was making sense, but I hadn't thought I had this happen to me for years. And I was numb to it all? That I had a one-tracked mind? What did she mean? "What do ya mean this has happened for years?"
"If I explained it to you, you would only just be hearing my words, not discovering the truth. This is part of your quest. Something that I mustn't indulge further. One must learn by doing, yes?"
I felt a beat in my chest, one that pulsed throughout me. And then, the dull pressure returned. "That's what my momma told me."
The woman laughed. "My mother has said that as well. You know, maybe you and I are not so dissimilar after all."
I smirked and fired back, "And I'm glad that ya ain't like the horses back home. From how Dash reacted, it sounded like somethin' terrible!"
If the woman could have laughed harder, than she did, her arms clenched at her stomach. She kept laughing for a while, until she ran out of breath. She breathed deeply and looked over at me with a toothy grin. "M-My stars… I had not laughed that hard in a millennia. Horses are a bit... complicated. They have such long faces and very crass ways of living, yet, there are so few where we are, so few that they are seen as a myth now." She sighed and put her hands under her chin. She beamed over at me. "You are a pleasure to talk to. I am much more eager for your arrival. And from what I saw in her dreams, Rainbow Dash is too.”
“She is?”
She smiled. “Of course. However, I mustn't tell you the details. Besides, I refuse to interact with her dreams at the moment. I can only ease the tension she feels. If I did anything more, she'd be begging me to tell her friends to save you both, and although I want you both back as soon as possible, I feel that something needs to be learned here."
"Learned here?" I asked. What did she mean?
She sighed. "I know of your path. Of your nature. Of you." She leaned back in her chair once again, submerging her form in the darkness of the room. "This shall change, since Rainbow Dash will guide you. Therefore, I must not interfere.”
That meant Rainbow Dash was alive too, but she… was my guide? This woman—pony refuses to interact with Rainbow Dash’s dreams? What did all of this mean?
“I can interact with her dreams, Dyson, but I shan’t. It’s my choice. I have already earned my freedom. You, on the other hoof, haven’t.”
“You can hear my thoughts?”
“Yes, because you allowed me so, remember?”
I blinked. I remembered how she looked. She had done… something, and that something must’ve made her hear my thoughts.
“Exactly—”
“Ma’am, pardon me for sayin’ this…”
She saw my gaze and smiled. “You are pardoned.”
“That’s very… awesome.”
The woman giggled at my choice of words, the pressure leaving my chest as she laughed. “I’m glad that you are learning from our dear friend. She… has a way with her words that I have struggled to possess.”
“Yes, Rainbow Dash does... have a way with words, ma’am.”
“Glad you see that too.” Her smile faded away. “You understand what I am telling you, though, correct?”
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. You… are tellin’ me that I need to—” I felt the pressure linger in my chest once again. “Let go.”
“Yes, what ails you now is what ailed you then. You had been asked before about freedom, yet you felt free already, didn’t you?”
Her soft voice made me shiver in my chair. “I… thought that before. But ever since Master changed after Mother Burr passed, I—”
“You felt as if it were your duty to stand by him?” The woman hummed softly. “I see. Trauma and fear willed you forth, did they not?”
She knew the answer, but she wanted me to say it. All those dry grains… that dry air… it was lodged in me again. “I… I did look at Master that way. B-But he helped me and my family survive. No other one had done that for me and—”
“Yet he hurt them too, did he not?”
“Yes but—”
I felt the room quake as she stood, her hands thrusting onto the table. “Then it should be obvious to you. Tell me, do you know what I am saying to you?”
I fell silent. My body was stuck in place. I could control my gaze, though, and I knew I had no right to look at her. Not one bit.
She sighed. “I see. Your quest will tell you this, I am sure.”
The room stopped shaking. I saw her out of the corner of my eye scooting the chair back. She was probably sitting back down in her chair. The only thing that stayed the same… was the pressure in my chest.
“I… don’t know what to say ma’am,” I said, voice dry as can be.
“Dyson, you don’t need to say much more. All I need from you is one thing, and then I will leave you to your quest.”
I looked up to her. “And what is that?”
She stared into my eyes. “Promise me you’ll complete it.”
“Promise ya?” I asked. “How do I promise ya that?”
She shook her head and told me my answer. “You reap what you sow, I suppose. I will keep watch over your dreams if you can keep Rainbow Dash and yourself in one piece.”
I felt my senses start to come to me. My legs, my arms, my heart; the numbness was gone. For the first time, I felt great. I felt ready. I felt…
“I will do my best, ma’am.”
“Then I will see you when you complete your quest, Dyson. Farewell.”
Then the candle fizzled out and the room was plunged into darkness.