//------------------------------//
// Chapter 29 
// Story: Beyond the Veil of Sleep 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

The Diaspora raised no sail as she pushed off from the port of ancient Hope. Mira had a place of honor in a room called the “bridge,” where the ancient magic of the Diaspora was governed. Great windows covered the three largest walls, providing an unbroken view of the ocean all around them.

Mira had no experience aboard a ship, so she couldn't say if what she saw was typical of other vessels. Even the paintings she had seen of such ships depicted the helm as located on the highest deck, directly over the stern. Not deep inside metal walls, as near to the center of the ship as it could be. Were those even real windows?

After so long in the Dreamlands watching the perpetual sunset, there was great relief in seeing the sun finally sink over the horizon in front of them. Now that Hope was behind them, time was allowed to advance.

Hopefully not too much would pass outside her dreams in the meantime. She was less confident about those parts of her magic. Maybe the cat had inherited those, or maybe she just needed more time to practice.

The strangest part to her was what wasn't there. Kallisto hadn't been invited, or Sandy. Only Mira and Meridian were allowed inside. But she had a seat beside the captain, while Meridian was tucked away near the far wall, pouring over a glowing magical table with several other bats. They were entirely engrossed in another conversation; one she couldn't hear from the center of the room. She had more important things to worry about.

"We'll reach the storm wall by tomorrow," Captain Yi said, obviously speaking to her. "You can already see it now, if you squint—the border of the Astral Sea. The edge of rational. Once we reach it, abandon everything you know about the Dreaming. There we'll find the broken and abandoned pieces of dreams ancient and modern. If anything survives of what you're searching for, it will be there."

Mira nodded once, keeping as neutral as she could. At such a great distance, she could see little to inspire fear from the storm. "But we'll be fine, won't we? I'm told the Diaspora’s native waters are out there. You sail out into the storm and back all the time."

A nervous chuckle passed through the deck. Several of the crew laughed, but Captain Yi only nodded. "There is no ship in all the Dreaming that has spent more time in the Astral Sea. But that does not mean we can undertake the visit in safety. There are fierce storms to slow our progress, wreckage from other dreams moving unpredictably, and worse—other vessels that entered the Astral Sea and did not escape it. No matter what happens, we will see violence before we return to the storm wall a second time."

But in the way of dreams, Mira didn't feel as though she had a full day to explore the ship, getting to know the crew. What she cared about was across that wall. Time warped and twisted, and suddenly the Astral Sea was directly before them.

The storm wall rose taller than a building, taller than the impressive upper deck of the Diaspora. "Is that... a wave?" she asked, rising from her chair to squint at the distant window.

"No." Someone else answered before the captain—a navigator, though she couldn't be sure of their name. They were positioned ahead of the captain’s chair on the bridge, with their own instruments before them. Whatever curiosity Mira might feel to learn how everything worked on the unusual vessel could not compete with the far more pressing concerns she felt. The ways of the ancient bats could wait until the thestrals still alive were safe.

"It's a thunderstorm. Gale-force winds, lightning, thirty-foot swells. But not a solid wall, or no one could get in."

"The storm wants us inside," whispered someone else. That bat had patches of missing fur all over his body, burns or scars of some kind. His eyes were obscured by thick, mirrored lenses. "You feel it calling, hungry. We're nothing but more substance to dissolve."

Captain Yi tapped one hoof against the floor, impatiently. "Officer Deletant, please refrain from anthropomorphizing it. Remember: this child has no context to understand beyond what we give her. We will not be giving a powerful dreamer false impressions."

"Aye, sir." Deletant rotated his chair back around, facing the station. Though what he could possibly hope to accomplish with his head hunched away from the windows, Mira couldn't even guess.

Captain Yi stood from his chair, taking a few slow steps forward. When he spoke again, his voice echoed through the ship, magically amplified. There must have been a unicorn spell hidden somewhere on his uniform. "Yellow alert. All hands at stations. Marines stand in readiness. Our destination is deep into the Astral. Two minutes until storm wall."

His tail flicked back and forth, eyes never leaving the window. "I hope you understand what you ask of these men, Mira. Without a port, there is nowhere for us to go to refresh and regain our integrity. We have only each other to prevent ourselves from being warped and stretched beyond recognition. My crew are strong and capable, but even a great will can be eroded over eons. We were not meant to live so long."

Strange that he could switch the spell on and off without visibly doing anything. Was there a unicorn horn hidden somewhere in his mane?

"I doubt it will be anything as impressive as Erebus used to be," Mira said, standing too. She had to fight her instincts to approach the window, walking closer to that terrible gray wall. The closer they got, the easier she could see it—swirling black and gray clouds, flowing steadily upward. The occasional rumble of thunder sounded from far away, shaking her entire body.

"I've built an anchor in the real world. Not... a mental anchor, like Luna. One carved from stone, with gold to etch its runes. I have a work crew digging a place for it. When we find this old dream—I'm not just going to harvest the information inside it. I'll reshape it into another anchor. The Diaspora will be welcome in our port, once the process is complete."

Captain Yi said nothing for a long time, long enough that Mira was briefly unsure if he had even heard her. Then he settled back into his seat, gently adjusting the collar of his coat. "Do not tell anyone outside this bridge of your intentions. I don't want hope to spread over something we might not achieve. When the anchor is in place—if you are capable of such a thing—then we will discuss it."

Mira nodded, staring back out into the storm. The gray wall loomed huge overhead, the only source of light in the distant night.

"Red alert," Yi said. "All hands at stations. Brace for impact."

The strange light around the bridge all stained bright red, except for the windows. Those stained green instead, with the yellows and oranges of distant lightning turned instantly monochrome. A constant sound now echoed through the ship, a distant siren from one room to the next.

"Void siphon integrity nominal," said one of the many bats huddled at their stations.

"External hatches sealed," said another.

"You should sit down," the captain said, somehow switching off the booming echo of before. "This will be bumpy."

She hurried back to her smaller seat, then moved the straps across her chest.

Not a moment too soon. The Diaspora bucked violently under her. Metal groaned, straining under the incredible force. None of the windows cracked, despite the noise. They must be made of something unbelievably strong.

The ship tilted higher and higher upward, pressing Mira down into her seat. She gasped and strained against the sudden force, cast in dim red light that surrounded her on all sides.

Then they fell. Mira gasped, feeling the unmistakable weightlessness of a rapid descent. How could a whole ship—

They crashed into the water a few seconds later, smashing her down into her seat. She heard a faint gasp of pain from inside her cloak, as Pixie was squished just as she was. Mira twisted to one side, so she wouldn't crush the little cat up against the seat.

Then they were through. They emerged from a wall of solid cloud, onto an ocean surface broken by gigantic swells capped with foam. There were other shapes too, distant islands of broken rock in wild and dissonant configurations. One emerged from the water so close she could see the castles rising from it, made of stone that melted together like a sculpture made of ice, then left in the sun.

"Stations, report," the captain said, interrupting Mira's thoughts.

"No structural integrity vulnerabilities detected," said one. "One minor leak. Pumps are handling it."

"Void siphon is engaged. Entropy minimal. But captain—where are we going to repair the siphon? We have only a handful left in inventory. I don't even know the length of this voyage. What we have may not be enough."

The captain sat up, waving with one wing. "Navigator, have you spoken to our guest? What does the cartographer say?"

"Long," the bat answered. "Further than we would usually venture, captain. Beyond where the Astral's currents move in predictable ways. I believe I might be able to reduce the length by deviating from some of his instructions."

"No!" Meridian stepped forward, his wings opening to either side. "Captain, forgive me. But my map cannot be ignored. You must follow the route I've plotted in exactness."

Yi sighed, then waved the bat forward. "Please come here, cartographer."

Meridian did so, hurrying over until he was just beside Mira. If anything, he seemed relieved to be closer to her. "Captain Yi, sir," Meridian began, never looking directly into his eyes. "I don't mean to contradict your crew. I'm sure you're all experienced and skilled in all you do. Those ponies probably do exemplary work. But when it comes to the deep Astral, there's no artifice that can constrain its boundaries into Euclidean space. Your siphon will be useless—better deactivated entirely. If you leave the route I plotted, this ship will wander into unknown seas. Worse, we will be unable to return the way we came. We'll be hopelessly lost, and only able to find our way back by leaving the Astral and returning."

The captain lifted one hoof to his chin, stroking the thin goatee extending from his face. Finally, he spoke again, barely above a whisper. "Cartographer. If we deactivate the siphon, it will do more than lengthen our trip. The minds of everyone except Mira here will be naked to the Astral's madness."

Meridian didn't budge. "I've never heard of the magic, but it will make no difference. The distortion will just destroy your spell. Leave it on now—but once you see the complex looping maneuvers, there's no longer any point. We'll have to endure whatever the Astral has for us."

"Sir!" Another voice cut through their conversation, loud enough that everypony looked up. "There's something coming for us. Sixty degrees starboard."

Mira didn't know what that meant, but she could follow the eyes of all the other bats aboard. She did, and her mouth hung open.

There was another ship all right, headed straight for them.

A Celestial Dawnbringer, radiating light so bright the window could barely even contain the image outside. It warped and twisted on the edges. An explosion rocked the ocean just ahead, along with a flash—cannon fire.

"Battle stations!" Yi shouted, sitting up. "Looks like we had some friends waiting for us."

Another pony—the towering stallion Mira had met on her first day—leaned over the railing beside the captain's chair. "I reckon those ponies don't remember who we are, captain. Should we remind them?"

"I believe we should, Officer Abe. I believe we should."