//------------------------------//
// Chapter 10 
// Story: Beyond the Veil of Sleep 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Mira still wasn't sure if she could trust Sandy—but considering her luck with Kallisto, she didn't exactly feel like somepony with an overabundance of options. It was either accepting the guidance of a stranger, or else wander off on her own and pray that nothing found her.

The cat had been right about one thing, though—Hope was a great place to start. She had been in the city for at least an hour now, and it still hadn't been eaten by a monster tunneling through the soil. In terms of her experience with the Dreamlands, that was a record.

"We'll find him up in the tower," Sandy said. "He's always around—you know how dreamers are. Even the old ones."

"I, uh... I don't," she admitted. They flew together, along the roofs and balconies of the city. Amazing just how clear and perfect that water could be, even from up here. She could see right through the bay to the fish beneath. Maybe if she had a little extra time, she could try going for a swim. No chance of being stopped by a Celestial guard for questioning.

"You don't sleep, obviously," the moth said. "And you rarely enter sleepers' dreams, unless you're still alive. So he's here basically all the time. He calls it his 'retirement.'"

Somepony who didn't go to live in Erebus? Her interest was piqued. That did sound like the kind of pony who would be able to help. Even a dead bat from the past might care about the condition of Equestria today. Maybe even enough to help her in her mission.

They approached the balcony rapidly. Mira landed ahead of Sandy, her hooves clattering on a metal platform. Beside it was a single door, with a large window and the shutters drawn. A book rested on the little table here, but like so many others she found she couldn't read the text written on its surface.

"He is a very old dreamer," Sandy continued. "We must be calm and respectful. He has little power left, but much wisdom."

Whatever that means. She checked on the right side of her saddlebags, making sure that the cat was still securely inside. Only when she was sure did she step forward, lifting her hoof to knock.

The blinds snapped open, and a face appeared in the glass. Sandy had said old, but this stallion didn't look any older than Mira herself. His coat was bright, his eyes intent—and it took her almost five seconds to remember why. Like her teacher, he'd taken his afterlife as a healthy young pony. What she saw told her nothing of the pony's actual power.

"Well that's interesting," he said. His voice was thickly accented, but still understandable. Whether that was the magic of the real or the ancients had spoken the same tongue, she couldn't guess. "A stranger stands upon my balcony. Who do you bring to me, Sandy?"

The bug buzzed their way to the window, not actually landing. They lowered their head respectfully to the creature within, never meeting his eyes. "A dreamer on a desperate mission," they whispered. "She is ignorant, defenseless, and incompetent."

"Hey!" Mira snapped, turning to glare up at them. "That's overselling it a little. You can keep ignorant, not the rest of that stuff. You wouldn't last a fortnight where I grew up."

The stallion's grin grew wider. He brushed back a few strands of bright orange mane from a dark face—strange combination for a bat, such bright colors. Then he hopped down, and the door swung open. He blocked the doorway, not yet moving aside for them.

"I am Meridian," he said, extending one hoof in her direction. "What is your name, dreamer? What clan sent you? How are affairs in Ketumati?"

She took the offered hoof, meeting his eyes. "I am Mira, of clan Nightshade. As for Ketumati..." She leaned up to his ear, whispering. "The city is ashes. Its ponies are scattered, hiding, and enslaved. Our princess is banished."

Meridian twitched once, eyes unblinking. There was certainly something strange about him—a glow behind those eyes, and some faint patterns in the skin of his wings. They almost resembled the eye-marks on Sandy's wings, though they were so faint they might've just been strange birthmarks.

The tower room behind them was set up like an observatory, with a vast telescope located in the center and the walls covered in charts and stellar maps. True to Sandy's word, there was no bed in the space beyond. "Tell me truly, stranger. Why do you give me this news? What terrors drive you?"

What a silly question. Yet as she considered it, she couldn't help but think back to Erebus, shaking as its incredible structures collapsed. A whole afterlife's worth of bats, ancient and powerful—all gone. Was that worse than an evil sun princess?

I can't save two worlds. Focus on your mission, Mira. "My tribe are outcasts," she said. "We cling to old traditions, sheltered in caves. The solar army scours the countryside, dragging us away to captivity. We cannot be trusted to our own devices. And when they bring us, it is for a life of suffering. Our old ways are dying, almost forgotten."

Sandy landed on the balcony behind her, bug-eyes widening with horror. "I had no idea," they muttered, baffled. The poor bug looked like they could barely even comprehend such a description. But Mira didn't stop there.

"This is... awful news," Meridian said. "The worst possible. You shouldn't say it so loudly around here—the ponies of Hope can only handle so much bad news before they lose it."

I feel the same way, she thought. But I still have to live with it. She nodded anyway, with what she hoped was a little of the respect that this pony would expect from her. "I didn't come to the Dreamlands because I accept every horror that befalls me," she said. "Please, let me come in. I'll tell you my mission. If there's anything you could do to help."

He stepped aside, and Mira hurried through the door. She waited for Sandy to be inside with them before snapping it closed again. She glanced nervously through the glass, but Meridian didn't seem terribly concerned. Would the realm of Hope really be full of spies?

"You speak to me as though there was any possibility I could help my clan who yet walks the world of sleepers," Meridian said. He paced slowly around the telescope, touching it protectively with his wing as he went. The more she saw it, the more intricate it seemed. It didn't just match the description she had sometimes heard from unicorns—this thing was more complex than anything their observatories could boast.

Its opening was as wide as a pony, near the tower's roof. Over it were holes for half a dozen different lenses, each one made from glass as thick as her hoof. Strangely, the roof was open now, even during the day, though she couldn't see what it was pointed at. The room was shadowy, lit only by the light that bled through around the telescope, or streamed in through the still-open window.

"Don't take this as my being callus," the pony continued. "I care deeply for my cousins. If this horror is real, then... it is a great tragedy. I doubt the ponies of Erebus would tolerate it. Send your message to them."

He sighed, settling into a rocking chair beside the telescope. "But even they cannot go back with you and fight. Our bodies are gone, Mira. We have no life beyond the Dreaming. We can give you wisdom, or perhaps give nightmares to your enemy. We could guide you to their dreams, so an assassin appears in the bed of an evil creature. But it would still be you to hold the blade."

"It's too late for that kind of war," she said. "Erebus is gone too, Meridian. I flew from there." She hesitated. Maybe it would be better to speak with more sensitivity. This news had devastated Kallisto. How much better could this pony be? "It was crushed beneath an unknown attack. I barely escaped with my life."

"Impossible!" He crossed the room in an eyeblink, and suddenly was inches from her, hot breath against her face. His fangs were exposed, teeth bared, and eyes narrowed to slits. He gripped her shoulder with one hoof, so intense that the pain began to make her shake. "Say that again, Mira. The dreaming city of Erebus is not a place of stone and metal. It is here, in the Dreamlands. This is our domain. The dreamers rule here, living and dead. No force could strike against us."

She didn't look away. "I—"

"I saw it too," said a squeaking little voice, from her satchel. The kitten wiggled her way out, hopping painfully up onto her back. Sandy stared, but said nothing.

Meridian, though, he focused suddenly on her instead. "You speak for her, emissary of worlds?"

"Yeah yeah," the kitten mewed in annoyance. "I speak, she speaks, we all speak. I want some warm milk. Got any?"

"I... of course." The bat turned. Even he was apparently taken-aback by the cat’s behavior. "I will... right away."

There was no more enthusiasm in his motions as he crossed the room, and went to rummaging around through the kitchen. In a moment he had a little bowl, placed inside a metal box with a tiny window. It began to hum, and he finally turned back on Mira.

"The news is worse than I thought," he said. "The bats who lived there?"

"No bodies," she said hastily. "It looked like everypony had evacuated. Lots of doors were opened, stuff scattered everywhere. They left in a hurry."

"There wouldn't be bodies." The box chimed, and he opened it, removing the bowl and settling it onto the ground. The cat hopped off her shoulders, making her way to the bowl without a backward glance. "Our bodies were buried long ago, Mira. You may have seen our tombs, in fact. Once here, we are Essence, as surely as the moth beside you. Yet this does not mean they were slain. So many... I don't believe it could be. Did it look like a battle?"

"No," Mira said. "But I don't know battles very well. I was born hiding in a cave."

It took Meridian a full minute to say anything this time. So they sat in silence, broken only by the quiet slurping of the kitten and her bowl of warm milk. At least one of them had gotten what they wanted.

"I don't know what Sandy told you about me, Mira. But they're always overestimating what I can do. I chose Hope over Erebus because I enjoyed the company of their kind over my own. That doesn’t mean I want to abandon my brothers and sisters, but... what do you expect me to do? I'm just one bat."

Mira stood tall, right in front of him. She pointed at the telescope, puffing out her wings to try and make herself look bigger. She only had one chance to deliver this properly. "Nightmare Moon was banished from Equestria. Her sister locked her on the moon, unable to help us. I want to go up there and help her get back. I need somepony to help me find my way. Maps, charts, any kind of directions you can manage. Help me reach the moon."

Meridian stared, unblinking. She could read nothing on his face. "Banished, by Celestia? Was she responsible for Erebus as well?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I don't think so. I didn't see any of her magic there, or her soldiers."

"Reaching the moon... you have no idea how dangerous that is. Are you prepared to commit to a journey of that magnitude? How many monks are with you?"

"None," she answered. "I'm the last. Will you help us?"

Meridian groaned, rising from his chair. "The chartroom is downstairs. Let's see what I can find."