“You may rest now, Trent.” Luna says, as I yawn.
“Cool.” I replied.
I stood up, and held onto the wall for support until the dizziness died down. That’s what happens when you stay in one place for a long time. Your blood doesn’t flow as much.
I waved goodbye to Luna as I stepped out of her chambers. I nodded to the guards and they nodded back.
I trudged down the hallway at a snail’s pace, trying to preserve the exhaustion. Walk too much and you get re-energized, and that’s something I didn’t want. I want sleepy time, damn it!
I took out the key to my bedroom, and jammed it into the hole. I turned it and opened my door, and I tossed my helmet onto my dresser.
I removed all my armor, along with my undershirt and combat pants. I climbed into bed and got all warm. Ah dammit.
I sighed, and got up.
I used the restroom and on the way back, turned on my fan. You can’t sleep without a fan! It’s impossible.
I climbed back into my bed and relaxed my body. I turned my head to the side and quickly fell asleep.
I fired a rocket at the shambler. He geared up to fire his lightning, so I hid behind my pillar. The lightning hit the pillar instead of my bones.
I turned out from my cover and fired three rockets. He charged it up again, and I hid.
After a bit, I turned out of my cover and was hit by a bolt of lightning. The bastard! He was waiting!
I fell to the floor, my limbs not responding. This gave him time to charge up another attack.
He fired more lightning, burning and paralyzing me again.
Is this it? Is this how I die?
He walked closer, preparing to (I’m assuming)eat me alive. What the fuck else are those razor teeth for?
I felt muscle control slowly coming back, so I grabbed my shotgun and fired, hoping to do something. It just fired another lightning bolt as my buckshot did nothing to harm its tough hide.
I narrowly dodged said lightning bolt. It roared and stepped on my leg, shattering the bone completely.
I yelled in pain as it also stepped on my hand, rendering both limbs completely unusable. I tried to move my other hand, but it stepped on that too.
I couldn’t feel anything. Too much pain coursed through my body as I lay there, broken. Why. Why won’t I just die? KILL ME YOU BASTARD! DON’T PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD!!
“Enough!” I heard a voice yell.
I couldn’t tell how far away they were. For all I know, they could’ve been right next to me. I wasn’t focusing on much.
The looming shadow of the shambler was blasted away by an unknown force.
“Trent, are you alright?” Someone asked. I cracked open my eyes, and saw that it was Luna.
“L-Luna? What are you doing here?”
“I got a bad feeling, and I had to check on the dreamscape. It seems I made the correct choice.” She explained.
“This is a dream?” I asked.
“Affirmative.” She replied.
You know, now that I think about it, I’m not actually in any pain. I feel completely fine.
Dreams are fuckin weird. BUT! Dreams can be controlled too, right?
I willed my limbs to reform, and they did. I mean, my leg didn’t come back correctly (I had two left feet now, sick) but it worked.
“So, how do I wake up?” I asked Luna.
She shrugged her.. shoulders? What the fuck did she just do? I’m pretty sure ponies can’t do that.
“Usually you can just will yourself awake. But come along with me, I wish to show you something.” She said, and held out a hoof.
I grabbed the hoof immediately. This is always what you want to do in these situations: Trust everything you see. That’s never ended badly.
She closed her eyes in concentration, and when she opened them, we were in a completely different environment. I looked around, spotting various bubbles. All of them were green, but one was red. There weren’t that many bubbles, but there was still a considerable amount.
“These are everypony’s dreams. Each bubble represents an individual subconscious. I do not know who’s subconscious each dream represents, but I can usually infer. The green ones are what I like to call ‘Happy dreams.’ While the red ones are nightmares. It is my duty to go to the red ones, and help the poor soul face their fear. I saw your dream as red, and I acted.”
“Thank you for that.”
“You are welcome. Would you like to help me face the fear of... Twilight Sparkle?” Luna said, acting all dramatic.
I gasped, my hands going to my face. “Twilight Sparkle?!?”
“Yes!”
“Who the fuck is that!?” I asked.
“She’s- wait, what? She was the one who teleported you into my bed.” Luna raised an eyebrow.
What the fuck! Ponies don’t have eyebrows!
“Oh, that purple horse was this Twilight person?” I asked. Luna nodded.
Luna walked over to the bubble and took it in her hands. She walked over to me, and guided my hand on top of it.
Her horn lit up, and I felt the weird sensation of teleporting again. It was like being squeezed through a key-hole.
After getting over my shock and motion sickness, all I heard and saw was destruction.
Is that... me?
I’m chasing the purple horse around the tree library, axe in hand. This copy of me is swinging at her repeatedly, but she’s dodging each time. This causes the axe to go into the floor, bookshelves, and even a poor purple and green dragon.
“Luna! Thank Celestia you’re here- AH!! THERE’S TWO OF THEM!!” She ran up some stairs.
“Well damn. Guess I made some sort of impact on her.”
“She’s been staying up for days on end. I would guess it’s because she thinks you’re going to somehow come back and cause harm, but that’s merely speculation. The reason she’s dreaming at the same time as you is because she got so exhausted, she just fell asleep. Your dream was at around.. 9:00 AM? That’s a time where most of the population is already awake.” Luna explained to me, and I looked at the floor.
“Well damn, now I feel bad. Maybe I shouldn’t have been holding my axe when I first knocked on her door.”
Luna giggled. “You think? Come now, let’s help her out.”
“How?”
“Just beat his.. ahem. Excuse my language.. just beat his flank. And then apologize.”
I held back a laugh. Flank? Is that a bad word here? Heh.
“Yeah, I got it.” I said, and cracked my knuckles. “Hey, bitch!” I yelled.
He turned to me, and raised his axe.
I raised my fists. “Let’s go.”
He charged, and slashed vertically. I dodged, and threw a right-hook. It slammed right into his armored head. Fuck!
Oh wait, dream.
I willed my double-barrel into existence.
“Groovy.” I said, quoting Evil Dead for no real reason.
Using the boomstick, I just shot the guy. Took a couple shots to pierce the armor, but I did eventually get him.
I rubbed my eye. Damn, itchy.
“Did you take care of him?” Luna asked from upstairs.
“Yeah. I forgot this was a dream.” I said, turning the gun into a candy bar and taking a bite. No taste, as I thought.
The dream realm was almost perfect.
“Come up here and talk to Twilight. Let’s clear your name, yeah?”
I nodded, and went to the stairs. I walked up, and took notice of the bed that had a quivering lump.
“That her?” I asked. Luna nodded.
“Twilight, come out. It is I, Princess Luna.”
The lump stopped quivering, and a head peeked out. She took one look at me, and got back under the cover.
“You lied!”
“No, I did not. Princess Twilight Sparkle, meet Trent McClane.” She said, and pointed a hoof to me.
Twilight looked out, and saw that I wasn’t immediately charging her with a weapon.
“Is.. is he-“
“He is a human, and is very nice.”
“Nah I’m kind of an asshole.” I interjected.
“He is a human, and he is nice in my eyes. You have nothing to fear. After all, he should fear USrather than us fearing him.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
Twilight shakily got out of her bed, and walked over to me. She held out a hoof.
I looked into her eyes. Hm.. they were purple, but.. there’s some sort of sheen on them. Like a glaze.
Probably just weird dream stuff. I shook her hoof, and gave her a smile. She smiled back.
“See, he’s not that scary, is he?” Luna said, like a parent to a child.
“No. Not really.”
Luna smiled.
“Well, we must be off. Goodbye, Twilight.”
“Bye Luna!”
We left the subconscious, and returned to the dream realm.
“Something was off about her.” Luna stated. I looked over at her.
“What do you mean?”
Luna stood for a moment, probably thinking of an answer.
“She.. never calls me just ‘Luna.’ Usually Princess Luna. And.. she’s never that scared. That’s something I can see Kindness doing, not Twilight. She’s usually the one that ‘Leads the pack’ so to speak.”
I thought it over.
She’s a Princess, right? Sending danger away at first glance seems highly irresponsible, especially if you’re just going to use a random teleport spell. What the hell is going on here?
“Hm. I’m probably overthinking things. You may leave the dream-realm, if you wish. Simply will yourself awake.”
And that I did.
At this point, I didn’t know what fucking time it was, all I knew is that I was hungry. And the first meal of every day MUST be breakfast. No exceptions. Even if you wake up at five, a good bowl of cereal will start your day off just right.
I groaned. I didn’t want to get up though! My bed was so comfy!
Someone knocked on my door. Fuck my ass dude.
I got up, and opened the door.
Luna stood there, and blushed. Oh wait, I’m not wearing a shirt. Or pants.
A girl is at my door.. and I’m in boxers.
Reminds me of High School.
I closed the door, and ran to my clothing. I tossed it on, but decided to leave the armor there for now.
I re-opened the door, leaning on it. “Heyyyy...”
She coughed. “H-hello, Trent. We were wondering if you wished to join us for Dinner? Or, well, Lunch for you, dinner for me. Would you like to come along?”
I nodded. “Sure. Let’s go.”
I sat down in the dining area, Celestia on my right. Luna in front of me. Blueblood to the right of her.
A chef pony brought out a salad for Luna, a salad for Celestia, and.. a salad for Blueblood. Damn, horses and their veggies. Someone set down just a bowl of cereal in front me. Frosted Flakes. Mmm.
I took a bite, and took a deep breath. This was SO MUCH BETTER THAN AN MRE!
I quickly ate the remaining cereal, and called for more.
“So, Trent.” Celestia asked. I looked over to her. “Would it be wise to reveal you to the public?”
I thought about it. I put my hand on my chin for emphasis and everything.
“Hm, well. Basically everyone in the castle already knows I exist, along with some ponies from Ponyville. I doubt it would make a difference. I doubt somebody will riot because a different species was discovered.” I chuckled.
Celestia smiled. “That is true. Well, how would we go about this?”
“Just don’t care. Live life as normal, and if someone sees me, explain it.” I said.
“Alright. As long as you’re prepared to answer to absolute bombardment.” She responded.
“I do not know, my Queen. He seems to be called a ‘Human.’ But he doesn’t seem to pose much of a threat.”
“Okay. Continue with the plan, then.”
“Yes, my Queen.”