//------------------------------//
// Chapter 62: Dreamscape 
// Story: Rosa 
// by awf 
//------------------------------//

Rosa's heart was pounding with both joy and terror as Dr. Mason led her down a different corridor on the top floor of the facility. Rosa's cell, she now knew, was on the first floor. They had taken an elevator ride and the mare had seen the numbers on the buttons. She didn't spend much time on this new revelation, though, not with how excited she was getting. Eliza was bringing Rosa to see Sky Light and the poor mare was desperately trying to control her breathing, lest she hyperventilated herself. Her throat was dry and her legs trembled a bit.

Would Sky Light be mad at her? After all, it was completely Rosa's fault that they were both stuck in this place. Had they beaten her, or starved her? Maybe the pegasus would hate her once friend and Rosa would be all alone and miserable in the scary facility. Was that what the humans wanted? It would probably make her easier to control.

Suddenly Rosa no longer had any time to guess and fear, because they were there. Dr. Mason stopped in front of a cell and Rosa came to stand beside her, heart hammering so loudly that even the doctor could probably hear it. There was Sky Light, sitting upright on a bed in a cell very much like Rosa's own. Her ears were perked up in surprise and, upon seeing her visitor, her face broke out in a relieved grin.

Rosa realized her friend was not mad, at least not so much that she hated her! Relief flooded through her body and Rosa almost fell to the floor as she sat on her haunches.

"No no no," Sky Light shook her head. She ran right up to the bars and stuck her hooves through. "C'mere!"

Rosa was only too happy to press herself against the iron as well, so her friend could give her a hug as best as she could. Sky even somehow managed to give Rosa a small nuzzle.

It all lasted just for a moment and then the pegasus released her. Hugging through metal bars was uncomfortable, but had done wonders to calm Rosa down. She was grinning like an idiot, but didn't care out of sheer relief that Sky was okay.

The other mare glanced briefly at the doctor, then decided to ignore her. "How are you? How are they treating you?" she asked.

"I'm fine!" Rosa assured her. "How about you? Have they- um. You know, after they caught us?"

Sky Light was good at guessing what Rosa was thinking and she shook her head. "No, they haven't beaten me, Rosa. It's just really, really boring. Sometimes I think regular beatings would be kinder." This statement made Sky chuckle and even Dr. Mason gave a short laugh.

The woman interjected at that point: "If Rosa vouches that you'll behave, I might be able to get you a radio or some books."

The pegasus lit up at this news. "Thanks. That'd be something. So, when will you let us go?"

Rosa's face fell and Sky Light's expression darkened as well when she saw the look.

"I see," she said, needing no answer other than what she could read in her friend's eyes.

She didn't understand! Rosa had to explain it to her, except she couldn't trust herself not to give something away. Casting an imploring look at the doctor Rosa made her ears go flat and eyes go extra large and wet. "Um, could we talk alone for a minute, Eliza?" she pleaded.

The doctor seemed a bit uncertain, looking from Rosa to the bewildered pegasus and back several times. Finally she shrugged a little. "I'll be just down the hall."

She walked away and Rosa waited until Dr. Mason was around the corner, then she leaned right against the bars again and motioned for Sky to do the same. It would be stupid to assume there were no microphones. The entire place was probably thoroughly bugged, at least the pony living areas. Hopefully whatever surveillance the humans had wasn't sensitive enough for her whisper.

"We're in danger," she told the pegasus. "They can't let us go because this place has to stay a secret."

"Okay," Sky Light answered," makes sense. So why haven't they just killed us?"

Rosa twisted herself around so that Sky could see a small plaster on a patch of bald skin on the back of her neck.

It made her gasp. "What the fuck is that?!" Sky hissed.

"Microchip. That's why I didn't go into heat. They put them in at birth. All ponies at my School have one."

"That's barbaric!"

"They're supposed to prevent cutie marks, too, but I guess sometimes they break or something. Mine kinda half-broke so they took it out. This-" Rosa patted her neck near the plaster, "is where they took it out."

Sky Light was silent for a while, but then she shook her head angrily. Rosa hadn't seen that expression on the normally carefree pegasus before. Perhaps the closest had been the time Rosa had gotten angry and told her she was leaving.

"Fuck," Sky Light said at last in a defeated tone of voice. "That's fucked up."

Rosa reached her hoof through the bars and her friend hugged it to herself. It was comforting and Rosa simply enjoyed the touch for a while.

"So what will they do to you now?" Sky asked.

Rosa was still not sure if she could believe Dr. Mason, but it was the best answer she had for the moment. "Indoctrinate me, I guess. I'm supposed to think these microchips are a good thing. If they believe me, they'll find me a job for my talent."

"What about me?"

This was a harder question and Rosa shook her head sadly. "Dr. Mason said you're too old to teach. If you behave they'll give you some job somewhere, but they'll keep an eye on you and you won't be allowed to leave."

Her lips pursed and Sky was about to swear again, but Rosa reached her other hoof through the bars and urgently grabbed her leg.

"Listen to me! Pretend, okay?!" Rosa said as quickly as she could in as quiet a whisper as she could manage." That's what I'm doing. They'll kill you if they think you'll fight them. Please, Sky."

Sky Light sneered in response. "I'd rather die than kowtow to these fuckers!"

"We can't escape if we're dead!"

The sudden, urgent whisper made Sky freeze and focus her ears, so Rosa went on quickly before her friend stopped listening to her. "I wanted to come find Maribelle, right? Well, it worked, we're here. And now I wanna escape and I won't stop until that happens too! They just need to let us go outside for a minute and we'll be out of here! Just- fucking pretend, Sky! For me."

The other mare seemed undecided, but then her ears sagged and Rosa relaxed a little. She could see from Sky's expression that she had won. "Oh fine. We'll try this crazy plan. At least, if we try to escape and they catch us again, they'll probably just kills us, right?"

Her thought was morbid and Rosa started to shake her head, but then caught a tiny smile on Sky's lips. Rosa grinned back at her. "That's right. If we'd rather die than serve we can't really lose."

Sky Light gave a solemn nod to that. "Okay, so what's the plan?"

Now it was time for Rosa to look embarrassed and blush a little. "Don't have one, yet. Just keep our eyes open, I guess. Pretend you're coming around to the idea, but not too quickly or it'll be suspicious. I'll try and come talk with you often, but I dunno if they will let me. Maybe if they think I'm helping change your mind." A new idea occurred to Rosa and she smiled in anticipation. "Oh! Pretend like you almost believe them after my visit, but then go back to resisting, so it looks like I'm convincing you!"

Sky Light's grin quickly matched Rosa's. "I like it. Devious little Rosa. These humans are gonna be sorry they messed with you."

The praise somehow reminded Rosa of the reason she was visiting and her ears splayed in misery. She looked Sky Light square in the face and sighed. "Look, we got caught because of me. I'm sorry."

The other mare just watched for a moment, then smiled faintly. "I wanted to come along. We both made plans, so I guess we both failed about the same."

"Yeah, but I-"

"Hush. I'm supposed to be the older one here. That's how responsibility works, you know? Then again, I guess if I was responsible I wouldn't live on the street..."

Rosa didn't quite understand where Sky was going with that, but she kept her legs through the bars so the pegasus had something to hug. "They'll let me see the other ponies here soon. I'll see Maribelle."

Sky Light managed a weak smile. "Well, you're right. Your plan did work."

Again Rosa lowered her voice to a whisper. "The next one will work, too! Just- don't give up, okay? Remember what I told you!" She didn't dare say anything more because she spotted Dr. Mason coming back.

Sky Light couldn't see the doctor yet, but she could hear the footsteps and she could read Rosa's expression. She released her friend's leg and spoke up. "Ahem. Yeah," she said a bit more loudly, "I'll think about it okay? I don't like any of this, but I trust you, Rosa."

Almost spoiling her lie, Rosa caught herself barely a moment before she would have asked Sky what she was talking about. She flashed her friend a quick, grateful smile, then looked up at the woman. "Um, thank you for letting us talk, Eliza," Rosa told her. "It really means a lot."

The lady leaned down to pat her head. "No problem, sweetheart. Ready to go back?"

Rosa stood up, waved a hoof at Sky Light and walked after the woman. If she pleaded and begged and resisted she would definitely never bring her again.

"Could I come visit Sky Light sometimes, Dr. Mason?"

"I think that can be arranged. Don't worry, Rosa, your friend won't be in that cell forever, just like you won't. Everything will turn out alright in the end, believe me."

Rosa nodded as happily as she could manage while the woman led her back to her cell. She had promised Rosa lunch, and then they had to do more tests, or maybe they were the same tests again, or a mixture of the two. One of them involved Rosa running on a treadmill for as long as she could. It sounded unpleasant, but at the same time Rosa knew some physical exercise should do her good. Hopefully she could keep that in mind when she was panting and sweaty again.

The doctor also wanted to do something called an 'MRI'. Rosa felt like she should know what the abbreviation meant, but she had forgotten. Something medical, she knew that much.

At least the day wouldn't be boring, Rosa thought to herself.





This time Rosa was quite happy and relieved to get her mysterious star-filled dream. Her life had changed so much, so quickly, that it almost felt like a return to normalcy.

Once again she was standing on a soft, warm surface, and there were no walls in sight, only the night sky. The place was absolutely quiet and Rosa turned around in a circle, looking for whatever creature had been visiting her.

"Hello? I made it to White Pigeon," she told it preemptively.

There was no answer, which made Rosa worry a little.

"What do I do now?"

Having nothing better to look at, she turned her eyes upwards and gazed at the night sky. It was full of stars and it felt absolutely, infinitely vast. Was it Earth's sky? Rosa shook her head and snorted at the silly idea. Of course it was Earth's sky. Either that or it was a complete fabrication. She hadn't seen any other skies for her subconsciousness to draw upon.

It was still nice to pretend that maybe she was actually looking at the Equestrian sky. Rosa wondered if she would ever get to see it for real. Probably not, she decided.

There was no visible moon this time and somehow that made Rosa feel a little more lonely.

"Rosa..." came a whisper, apparently from all around her. It was hard to tell, but Rosa thought it was the same voice as all the times before.

"Yes! I'm at White Pigeon. What should I do now?"

Maybe it really was a figment of her subconsciousness, but it hadn't lied to her yet. The White Pigeon thing had been nothing short of amazing. Some would have called it 'supernatural', but Rosa thought she must have heard the words spoken somewhere in the School and simply hadn't consciously remembered. There had to be a rational explanation, she was convinced of that. That was what Mr. Danhauer, her old Maths and Physics teacher, had always said. Everything had to have an explanation. Rosa wondered what that man would have said if confronted with magic. They only had stories, but Rosa had heard that back in Equestria a certain kind of pony - unicorns - could use magic.

Suddenly she realized that the voice hasn't said anything else. It felt like it had been getting weaker each time she had dreamed it. Rosa wondered what that meant. It probably wasn't coming from anywhere in this facility, then. It was as good as proven. If anything, the mysterious dream person would have been getting stronger as Rosa came nearer, wouldn't it?

Maybe it had been coming from her School after all?

"Hello?" Rosa prompted.

"You will... meet a pony," the unseen speaker said, again coming from all directions. "Her name- Starla."

"Okay?" Rosa tried to think back and remember if she had ever heard of a pony called 'Starla' back at the School. It had got to be coming from some hidden, forgotten memory, right? Actually, no, Rosa didn't know where it was coming from. The most logical explanation was that the voice was somehow her subconscious mind trying to tell her something, but it could also be coming from the outside. Maybe it really was something mystical.

"Tell her-" the creature said, but the words faded before Rosa could catch them.

"Yes?"

"Tell her eighteen sixty one. Remember."

Rosa tried to make sense of the number, then leaned her head to the side. "American Civil War? Why? What does that mean?"

The creature, whatever it was, ignored her. "Up."

For a moment Rosa didn't understand what it meant, but then she lifted her head and looked at the stars. A bright, larger-than-life, full moon hung in the night sky. It was weird that she could still see all the stars, though. Rosa remembered reading somewhere that the full moon was so bright that most stars became invisible. "Moon?"

"Tell... Starla eighteen sixty one. It will lead her to the moon. Remember."

Rosa shrugged a little to herself. The first explanation was starting to look like the true one. Her poor mind, with all the upheaval of the past few days, was finally going insane. Dreams were simply the first place where she was noticing it. She was probably mixing up Mr. Danhauer's lessons on astronomy with Mr. Marston's history, and dragging along a name of a pony Rosa had probably seen written down somewhere.

She wondered if it was even worth asking more questions? The voice was already pretty faint. "I'll remember," she assured the invisible speaker.

There was no reply and the place felt empty once more. The moon was still there, but its glow didn't illuminate whatever Rosa had been standing on. It was as if the floor was absorbing the light. It was still quite warm and soft, so she curled up and went back to sleep. It was a lot easier than under the lamp in her cell, even if Dr. Mason had managed to turn it down a tiny bit. Rosa really did need the sleep, she remembered. She would have an exciting day tomorrow. She would finally get to meet the other ponies in this place.

She would finally see Maribelle again.

The thought was enough to make Rosa smile as she fell asleep in that strange dreamscape.